Anchored safety barrier
A barrier system located between an access area such as a road and an adjoining hazard has barrier elements mounted on posts secured to inwardly directed, buried and anchored beam members, which extend below the surface of the access area. The posts may be cantilevered from the beams, with bracing means connecting the system members. The post, beam and its anchor members may be pivotally linked, so as to be foldable. The beam anchor may be a cable connected beneath the road to an oppositely located beam and post. The posts can project below the beam support means, and can have stabilizing blades near their lower ends. Posts can be made withdrawable, and can be cross-braced to adjacent posts.
Not Applicable (N/A)
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT(N/A)
REFERENCE TO A SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING(N/A)
COMPACT DISC APPENDIX(N/A)
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. This invention is directed to a safety barrier system, and in particular to a barrier anchorage system for use in hazardous, environmentally difficult circumstances.
2. Many accessible traveled areas or surfaces such as roads, paths and parking areas are bounded by soft land, steep declines and shoulders, or border on water or precipices where the terrain makes the provision of safety barriers both imperative, and next-to-impossible to provide.
In one location in Ontario, Canada a narrow, twisting, much traveled road is bounded on one side by a canal, in an area that is subject to rain, snow and even black ice, such that several fatalities have occurred over the years, with vehicles leaving the road and crashing down the steep canal bank, through the ice, when present, and into the water, where some occupants have drowned. The absence of an effective shoulder, the steepness of the decline to the water, and the softness of the soil have prevented the use of traditional roadside barriers, and no effective solution has been put into practice to save lives.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention provides a barrier system for use between an access area and an adjacent environmental hazard, the system having elongated barrier elements supported upon upstanding posts, wherein the posts are each individually secured to post support means, each support means having an inwardly directed beam member extending beneath the surface of the access area, to retain the posts in predetermined, positioned relation with the access area
The subject barrier system includes anchor means extending beneath the surface and secured to the beam member, to secure the beam member substantially immovable.
In one embodiment the post is in cantilevered, substantially rigid secured relation with and extending upwardly substantially at right-angles from the beam.
This embodiment may include bracing means extending between the post and the beam member; and having the anchor means extending substantially at right-angles from the beam member, and substantially parallel with the surface of the area.
This barrier embodiment may also include bracing means extending between the beam and the anchor means, with the beam member being buried beneath the surface of the access area at a substantially predetermined depth. A suitable layer of concrete may be used to further secure the barrier anchorage.
In other embodiments, the post portion may extend downwardly below the level of the beam, into the substrata, to further stabilize the assembly when ground conditions are suitable. This depending post portion may include blade portions at its lower end, oriented at right angles to the beam portion, to furnish enhanced ground resistance to further stabilize the assembly, particularly against impact loads hitting the barrier.
The term “access area” is applied to roads, paths and areas accessed by the public, whether paved or unpaved, and where the terrain is ill-adapted for the effective installation of orthodox fencing, supported simply upon fence posts.
In several embodiments the anchor means extends substantially at right-angles from the beam member, and is substantially parallel with the surface of the area In another embodiment the anchor means is directed downwardly from the beam member inner end. In a further embodiment the post, beam and anchor members are pivotally linked together, enabling them to be compactly folded for easier transportation.
Burial of the beam member and its anchoring means beneath the surface of the access area at a substantial, predetermined depth, with a concrete and roadbed cover gives additional stability to the system.The barrier posts may be erected in back-to-back pairs, located on opposite sides of a road or path and having cable means crossing under the road or path in connecting, load transfer relation between the respective support means of the two, spaced-apart posts.
In a further embodiment, the supporting beam may have an end recess into which the barrier post is withdrawably inserted. This recess may consist of a pair of plates or flanges between which the post is inserted. The post may include a stop flange. Alternatively, the outer end of the beam may have the top and bottom plates cut away to form a slotted recess to receive the post, which is pinned to the beam recess side flanges. Inclined cross-bracing means connecting an upper end portion of a post with a lower connection point of another post serves to stabilize the barrier, and to transfer impact loading to the barrier beams and support system. The outermost ones of the posts of a barrier are braced outwardly to ground-anchor means.
Certain embodiments of the invention are illustrated, by way of example, without limitation of the invention thereto, other than as set forth in the accompanying claims; it being understood that further embodiments may be derived by one skilled in the art. Reference is made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The assemblies 10 are positioned with the post portions 12 located at the desired boundary, such as the edge of a road that lies adjacent a hazard, such as a body of water, a steep decline or the like, with the beam portion 14 extending away from the hazard.
The beam portion 14 and its associated anchor portion 16 are buried at a predetermined depth beneath the surface of the road, being preferably embedded in cement.
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It will be understood that the term cable includes synthetic engineered plastic filaments and the like, in plain or cable form.
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Alternatively, the outer end of the beam 74 may have the top and bottom plates cut away, so that the sides 75 form a slotted recess, having apertures 77 to receive a transversely inserted shear pin (not shown). A post 72 is slid into the recess and pinned to the slot sides 75 by the inserted shear pin.
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Cross brace members 86 are secured near the top of each post and anchored at or adjacent the post/beam juncture of adjacent posts, to provide stability and load sharing capability between the posts. The end posts of a barrier have their outward top diagonal brace members 86 secured to respective ground anchors.
In the event that a vehicle collides with the barrier plates 84, the forces acting along the barrier that tend to collapse it lengthwise, are partially transferred by tensioning of the adjoining crossbrace members 86, with loads transferred to the beam and anchor portions of the system, such that the load is substantially shared along the length of the barrier.
Claims
1. A barrier system for use between an access area and an adjacent environmental hazard, said system having elongated barrier elements supported upon upstanding posts, wherein said posts are each individually secured to post support means, each support means having an inwardly directed beam member extending beneath the surface of said access area, to retain said posts in predetermined, positioned relation with said access area.
2. The barrier system as set forth in claim 1, including anchor means located beneath said surface and secured to said beam member, to secure said beam member substantially immovable.
3. The barrier system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said post is in cantilevered, substantially rigid secured relation with and extending upwardly substantially at right-angles from said beam.
4. The barrier system as set forth in claim 3, including bracing means extending between said post and said beam member.
5. The barrier system as set forth in claim 2, wherein said anchor means extends substantially at right-angles from said beam member.
6. The barrier system as set forth in claim 2, wherein said anchor means extends substantially at right-angles from said beam member, and is substantially parallel with the surface of said area.
7. The barrier system as set forth in claim 5, including bracing means extending between said beam and said anchor means.
8. The barrier system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said beam member is buried beneath the surface of said access area at a substantially predetermined depth.
9. The barrier system as set forth in claim 7, wherein said beam and said beam/anchor bracing means are buried beneath the surface of said access area at a substantially predetermined depth.
10. The barrier system as set forth in claim 2, wherein said anchor means comprises a second upstanding post and second support means, and cable means connected in load transfer relation between said support means and said second support means.
11. The barrier means as set forth in claim 1, wherein said post extends downwardly below said support means.
12. The barrier means as set forth in claim 10, said post including stabilizing blade means located near the post lower end.
13. The barrier means as set forth in claim 1, wherein said posts are withdrawably attached to said post support means.
14. The barrier means as set forth in claim 13, wherein said posts include stop means to provide predetermined vertical positioning of said posts relative to said support means.
15. The barrier means as set forth in claim 13, the outer end of said post support means having a recess to receive said post in entered, secured relation therein.
16. The barrier means as set forth in claim 15, having a beam member of said post support means with top and bottom plate portions of the beam removed, whereby the remaining beam sides form a slotted recess to receive the post in pinned relation to the beam.
17. The barrier means as set forth in claim 1, including inclined cross-bracing means connecting an upper end portion of one said post with a lower connection point of an adjacent said post.
18. The barrier means as set forth in claim 17, having a plurality of said posts with said elongated barrier elements supported therebetween; and having said inclined cross bracing means supporting all intermediate ones of said posts in two-directional braced relation, with the outermost ones of said posts braced outwardly to ground-anchor means.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 21, 2006
Publication Date: Jan 10, 2008
Inventor: Ronald Coffey (Bradford)
Application Number: 11/471,529