PARKING STALL BARRIER
A parking stall barrier includes an elongated horizontal member and a pair of supports. The pair of supports are positioned in spaced relation and support the opposed ends of the horizontal member. The horizontal member is movable vertically along the supports between a raised barrier position and a lowered access position. A locking latch mechanism secures the horizontal member in the raised barrier position. When the locking latch mechanism is released, the horizontal member can be moved from the raised barrier position to the lowered access position to facilitate vehicle ingress and egress.
The present invention relates to a barrier which prevents persons from parking their vehicles in reserved parking stalls.
BACKGROUNDSome drivers do not respect signs designating reserved parking stalls. To address this problem a number of devices have been proposed, as described in the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 3,849,936; U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,472; U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,910; U.S. Pat. No. 4,879,554; U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,200; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,702.
SUMMARYThere is provided a parking stall barrier which includes an elongated horizontal member and a pair of supports. The pair of supports are positioned in spaced relation and support the opposed ends of the horizontal member. The horizontal member is movable vertically along the supports between a raised barrier position and a lowered access position. A locking latch mechanism secures the horizontal member in the raised barrier position. When the locking latch mechanism is released, the horizontal member can be moved from the raised barrier position to the lowered access position to facilitate vehicle ingress and egress.
These and other features will become more apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the appended drawings, the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to in any way limit the scope of the invention to the particular embodiment or embodiments shown, wherein:
A parking stall barrier generally identified by reference numeral 10, will now be described with reference to
Structure and Relationship of Parts:
Referring to
Operation:
The use and operation of parking stall barrier 10 will now be described with reference to
Barrier 10 may be provided to prevent unauthorized entry into any type of space. Examples of various types of spaces that barrier 10 may be used with include private apartment, company, and handicapped parking. Barriers 10 may be used singularly or in multiples. Barrier 10 has the advantage of removing the need for a manned security post. Any attempt to compromise barrier 10 may activate a pressure sensitive switch mechanism (not shown) that may in turn activate an alarm. Alternatively, an alarm could be activated by motion or heat sensors.
Barrier 10 may also function as an anti-theft device. Once a vehicle is locked in by barrier 10, a thief cannot easily remove the vehicle from behind barrier 10. A panic button may be provide on wireless actuator 36 in order to allow a user to activate the alarm if suspicious activity is spotted by the user. Barrier 10 may also be provided with, or installed as part of, a surveillance system.
In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be one and only one of the elements.
It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the illustrated embodiments without departing from scope of the Claims.
Claims
1. A parking stall barrier, comprising:
- an elongated horizontal member having opposed ends;
- a pair supports positioned in spaced relation and supporting the opposed ends of the horizontal member, the horizontal member being movable vertically along the supports between a raised barrier position and a lowered access position;
- a locking latch mechanism securing the horizontal member in the raised barrier position;
- means for releasing the locking latch mechanism to enable the horizontal member to be moved from the raised barrier position to the lowered access position to facilitate vehicle ingress and egress.
2. The parking stall barrier of claim 1, wherein springs bias the horizontal member into the raised barrier position, pressure from vehicle tires being able to temporarily overcome the biasing force of the springs to move the horizontal member from the raised barrier position to the lowered access position when the locking latch mechanism is released.
3. The parking stall barrier of claim 1, wherein the locking latch mechanism comprises a lock controlled by a solenoid and the means for releasing the locking latch mechanism is a wireless actuator capable of actuating the solenoid remotely.
4. The parking stall barrier of claim 1, wherein the supports are a pair of hollow support posts each having a side wall that defines an interior cavity with a vertical opening through which one of the opposed ends of the horizontal member extends into the interior cavity, the horizontal member being movable along the vertical opening between the raised barrier position and the lowered access position.
5. A parking stall barrier, comprising:
- an elongated horizontal member having opposed ends;
- a pair supports positioned in spaced relation and supporting the opposed ends of the horizontal member, the supports being a pair of hollow support posts each having a side wall that defines an interior cavity with a vertical opening through which one of the opposed ends of the horizontal member extends into the interior cavity, the horizontal member being movable vertically along the vertical opening between a raised barrier position and a lowered access position;
- springs biasing the horizontal member into the raised barrier position;
- a locking latch mechanism securing the horizontal member in the raised barrier position, the locking latch mechanism having a latch controlled by a solenoid;
- a wireless actuator capable of actuating the solenoid remotely to release the latch on the locking latch mechanism to enable pressure from vehicle tires to temporarily overcome the biasing force of the springs to move the horizontal member from the raised barrier position to the lowered access position to facilitate vehicle ingress and egress.
6. The parking stall barrier of claim 5, wherein the horizontal member has a transverse curvature.
7. The parking stall barrier of claim 5, wherein a flexible ground engaging shroud overlies the horizontal member.
8. The parking stall barrier of claim 5, wherein signage is supported by the supports.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 24, 2008
Publication Date: Sep 30, 2010
Inventors: A. Wayne Goodman (Andrew), Vincent House (Andrew)
Application Number: 12/740,503
International Classification: E01F 13/04 (20060101);