Sound barrier wall construction using tire sections

A wall-like sound barrier for placement along the shoulders of a highway is formed of a plurality of arcuate tire sections arranged in stacked rows to define a vertically-extending wall of such tire sections. The concave, partly open face of each tire section is oriented in confronting opposition to a source of sound or noise to be damped and reflected, such as a roadway. Each tire section may be inclined so as to encourage runoff of rainwater and the like that could otherwise collect in the interior of the tire section. The inclination may be defined by orienting each tire section so that its convex exterior is elevated above its concave interior, and/or by orienting each tire section so that one of its ends is elevated above the other of its ends. In addition, the tire sections foxing each row may be arranged so that the tire sections are vertically aligned from one row to the next to form columns of tire sections in the resulting wall, or may be staggered from row-to-row so that each tire section lies immediately above portions of two tire sections of the row of tire sections upon which it is stacked.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates generally to sound barriers and, more particularly, 
to wall-like barriers for placement along the sides or shoulders of 
highways, construction sites and airports and the like. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Sound barriers are becoming increasingly important for assuring homeowners 
and potential homeowners and residents proximate major roadways of the 
ability to peaceful enjoyment of an urban lifestyle. In densely populated 
suburbia, new residences are now being built in areas that were once 
deemed undesirable such, for example, as those immediately adjacent to 
high-speed expressways. Purchasers of these new residences soon become 
intolerant of the constant bombardment of noise from highway vehicles and 
travellers and often barrage local authorities with requests to erect 
expensive sound barriers. 
In another instance, construction must at times be carried out in heavily 
populated areas. Typically, such construction sites are merely surrounded 
by a wooden or chain link fence formed of a single layer of thin plywood 
or of metal wire. Construction noise is rarely attenuated by such fences 
since their primary purpose is to keep trespassers from wandering onto the 
construction site, rather than preventing machinery noise from projecting 
outward therebeyond. 
In yet another common situation, sound barriers may be employed around 
sections of airports where intense aircraft engine noise is desirably 
attenuated. The impact-absorption qualities of such sound barriers are 
also an important consideration because of the possibility of an 
out-of-control aircraft careening into the barriers. 
To attain their sound absorption qualities, sound barriers often make use 
of the damping characteristics of certain constituent materials and/or the 
geometric configurations of their surfaces. The constituent materials may 
include plastic foam, shredded rubber, sponge, fibers, or any aggregation 
thereof. These materials are typically encapsulated within an outer shell 
such, for example, as an aluminum extrusion. The surface geometries of the 
sound barrier may also include numerous holes and/or gaps so that sound 
can be trapped and/or absorbed within the sound barrier. Such barriers, 
however, suffer the disadvantages of relatively high cost and 
susceptibility to degradation over a short period of time in an 
environment exposed to the elements. 
A particularly common form of sound barrier in use today is that 
constructed of concrete or masonry, a design that is relatively simple as 
compared to those previously discussed. Such barriers operate primarily by 
reflecting sound back toward the roadway; sound absorption or damping is 
minimal with such barriers and, indeed, is not generally their major 
intended utility. 
Unit cost of a sound barrier is of paramount concern since the barriers 
must typically extend for at least long sections, often of many miles, of 
high-speed roadways. Barriers of complex or extravagant structure or 
requiring highly labor-intensive installation are accordingly generally 
considered commercially impractical. 
Various sound barrier structures are disclosed in the U.S. patented art. 
For example, the Coburn patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,271) discloses a sound 
barrier wall construction comprising a plurality of wire cages containing 
a mixture of crushed stones and shredded tires. Coburn teaches that the 
crushed stones serve as ballast while the shredded tires provide both 
sound and shock absorbing qualities. 
The Schmanski patent (U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,284) similarly discloses a sound 
barrier wall comprising a plurality of containment panels or members, each 
of which is filled with a resilient composite made up of shredded tires 
(i.e. "rubber chips") and binder materials such as thermosetting resins. 
These prior art structures, however, require a great deal of labor, and 
corresponding expense, to acquire and prepare the materials from which the 
barrier is constructed and to form the barrier from such materials. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention is directed to wall-like sound barriers formed of 
sectioned tires such, for example, as half-tires defining arcuate tire 
sections that are vertically stacked one atop the other so that the open, 
inner surfaces of the sectioned tires face the highway or noise-generating 
source. In this arrangement, substantial amounts of noise from the highway 
or other source are advantageously trapped and absorbed by the open, inner 
surfaces of the tire sections, while the remaining unabsorbed sound is 
reflected back toward the noise generating site such, for example, as a 
highway. The stacked tire sections are, in addition, preferably oriented 
so that they lie at a relatively small angular incline whereby moisture 
such as rainwater will drain off from, rather than collect within, the 
open interior of each tire section. The stacked tire sections may be 
further enclosed within a mesh or set of fences or positionally secured to 
each other by, for example, a cage or gabion or the like. 
The present invention has the significant advantage of providing 
substantial noise reduction about and along high-speed roadways, 
construction sites, airports and the like while reusing or recycling worn 
tires which have heretofore been regarded as relatively useless and 
environmentally undesirable articles. Another advantage of the invention 
lies in the noteworthy durability of the inventive sound barriers by 
virtue of the extremely slow and minimal degradation of the rubber 
compounds in the tires, even when continuously exposed to environmentally 
harsh conditions. Yet another advantage is the fact that the invention 
alleviates overburdened landfills of worn tires. Still another advantage 
is that the invention provides a practical and inexpensive sound barrier 
construction. 
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent 
from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the 
accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings 
are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition 
of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the 
appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
As seen in FIG. 1, a tire section 10 for use in a most preferred form of 
the present invention is formed by cutting a whole tire--as of a car or 
truck or other vehicle--in a direction generally transverse to the arcuate 
side wall 12 of the whole tire or, put another way, through and 
substantially perpendicular to the rotative plane of the tire. To maintain 
at least a rough uniformity of the tire sections 10 of which the inventive 
sound barrier is constructed, it is most preferred that automobile tires 
be employed in forming the tire sections. It is generally contemplated 
that the tire from which a section 10 is defined be a worn or used or 
discarded tire that is no longer needed or useful for operatively 
supporting a vehicle, although those skilled in the art will recognize 
that the age or condition of the tire from which such sections 10 are cut 
or otherwise formed is not, for the most part, relevant to its ability to 
be employed in accordance with the invention. It is further anticipated 
that the sections 10 be formed from tires comprised at least in part of 
rubber, although here too tires constructed of other materials may be 
utilized so long as the material provides sufficient structural rigidity 
and sound absorbing and reflective properties as will hereinafter become 
apparent. 
Each tire section 10 thus formed is shown as having a substantially 
semi-circular shape defining an arc of approximately 180.degree., as in a 
most preferred form of the invention each whole tire is cut approximately 
in half to provide two generally like-sized sections 10. Thus, in this 
preferred configuration the cutting of each whole tire is effected along 
or substantially perpendicular to a full diameter of tire, i.e. along the 
largest width within the rotative plane of the tire. Embodiments in which, 
by way of nonlimiting example, a whole tire is cut in thirds to provide 
three such tire sections 10, each defining an arc of approximately 
120.degree. as shown in FIG. 6, or in which each tire is cut so as to 
define differently-sized segments or arcs, are also within the intended 
scope and contemplation of the invention. In each such variation, however, 
it is generally intended that the tire be cut so as to maintain the 
arcuate, concavely-open tire wall configuration which is defined by the 
vehicle-supporting tread portion and the opposed tire sidewalls that 
unitarily extend from the lateral sides of the tire tread. As seen in FIG. 
1, each tire section 14 thus includes an open, generally arcuate inner 
surface 14, a pair of opposed concave edges defining a concave portion 16 
facing the forward direction (in FIG. 1), and an outer face or convex 
portion 18 facing the rearward direction. 
A sound barrier wall 22 formed of a plurality of such tire sections 10 in 
accordance with the present invention is shown in FIG. 2 in association 
with a noise generating or other sound source 20. The noise source 20 may, 
for example, be vehicles moving on and along a highway, in which case it 
is generally anticipated that one or more walls 22 be located along the 
lateral edges or sides or shoulders of the highway. As seen in FIG. 2, the 
sound barrier wall 22 is formed by placing a plurality of tire sections 10 
one adjacent the next in a linear fashion atop a support surface, with 
each tire section 10 oriented so that its concave portion and inner 
surface 14 faces or confronts the noise generating source 20--e.g. the 
roadway. This construction forms a first row 24 of tire sections 10. A 
second row 26 of tire sections 10, and successive rows stacked thereupon 
and above, is similarly formed by placing a plurality of tire sections 10 
atop the immediately underlying tire sections forming the immediately 
underlying row, thus building up and defining a substantially vertical 
wall-like structure. It should be pointed out that although the tire 
sections 10 forming each successive row are shown as arranged with each 
tire section lying immediately above and in substantially end-to-end 
alignment with the next to define a series of aligned columns of tire 
sections, alternate arrangements in which the tire sections 10 forming one 
row are longitudinally staggered relative to those forming the immediately 
adjacent row--i.e. so that each tire section 10 lies immediately above 
portions of two tire sections forming the adjacent row, as for example in 
FIG. 5--are also within the intended scope of the invention. The height of 
the barrier 22 may of course be varied by selectively utilizing as many 
rows of tire sections 10 as may be desired or appropriate for a particular 
application. 
As will be apparent, the sectioned tires of each column may optionally be 
secured to each other through mechanical fasteners such, for example, as 
by a combination of studs and nuts. Thus, a plurality of threaded studs 
may be journalled through pre-drilled apertures in each tire section 10 to 
clamp adjacent sections 10 together by attaching and engaging appropriate 
washers and nuts and the like from one or opposite ends of the studs. 
Other, alternate or supplemental forms of adhesion or securement of the 
tire sections to each other, and/or to any associated supporting 
structures or bases or the like, may also be employed as appropriate to a 
particular environment or as a general matter of design choice. 
It is also generally preferred and intended that a sound barrier wall 
formed in accordance with the invention include some structure for 
surrounding or enveloping the stacked tire sections 10 that form the 
vertically-extending barrier, as for example to improve the appearance of 
the barrier. Toward that end, the stacked tire sections may be enclosed 
within a fence formed of a metal wire or mesh or the like, such as a 
chain-link fence or so-called chicken wire fencing 28. Such wire fencing 
28 is preferably placed along both the front and rear surfaces of the tire 
section wall and, optionally, over and along the top of the wall, and may 
be anchored or retained in position by posts 30 located at appropriate 
intervals along the sound barrier wall. Such fencing may, of course, 
alternatively be formed of other, nonmetallic materials as general matters 
of cost, availability, appearance and design choice. Arrangements of this 
type are primarily intended to be constructed in situ, i.e. at the site at 
which the sound barrier wall is to be located for normal use in 
attenuating locally-generated noise. 
In another contemplated form of the invention, predetermined numbers of 
rows of the tire sections 10 may be pre-arranged and secured to each other 
in transportable cages or gabions, atop suitable platforms, at a remote 
location for transport and set-up at the intended noise reduction site. As 
will be appreciated, a modular sound barrier wall 22 so constructed may be 
quickly and efficiently assembled at such diverse locations as 
construction sites and the like where sound barriers may be required for 
only brief or determinable periods of time, and then disassembled and 
transported to a new or different site for reuse. 
To further diminish the escape of noise from the roadway or other noise 
source through the substantially unavoidable gaps between 
adjacently-disposed tire sections 10, a second plurality of stacked rows 
or layers 30 of tire sections 10 may be placed behind the first stacked 
rows or layers 32, i.e. so that the first rows 32 are disposed between the 
second rows 30 and the noise source 20; these second layers 30 are 
preferably offset relative to the first layers 32 such that the gaps 34 of 
the first layers 32 are appropriately blocked by the second layers 30. 
Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that such additional 
layers 30, in addition to blocking the escape of noise from gaps in and 
between the first layers 30 of tire sections 10, also advantageously 
increase both the noise damping abilities of the completed wall 
construction and the capability of the wall structure to absorb impacts 
from and protect the occupants of out-of-control vehicles that come into 
contact with the wall 22 of the invention. 
In order to minimize deterioration of the tire sections 10 forming the wall 
22 and prevent the undesirable accumulation of rainwater and other 
liquids, fluids and particulate matter within or on the arcuate interior 
surfaces 14 and associated portions or regions of the tire sections 10, 
the sections 10 are preferably disposed in an angularly-inclined 
orientation so that the convex portion 18 of each section is elevated 
above the concave portion 16 thereof. Put another way, the central portion 
of the arc of the convex portion 18 is disposed at an elevation higher 
than the elevation of the ends of the arc. In this manner, rainwater and 
the like will flow, under the force of gravity, out of the interiors of 
the tire sections 10 through, for example, the open ends of the arcuate 
segments forming the sections 10. As illustrated in FIG. 3, this angular 
inclination--which, by way of example, may be on the order of 
approximately 5.degree. to 15.degree.--may be accomplished by positioning 
a suitably-configured wedge-like member 34 having a predetermined 
inclination in supporting relation under the lowermost row 24 of tire 
sections 10. Where the barrier wall 22 is constructed or situated atop a 
supporting surface, as for example of concrete or packed soil or the like, 
that has been prepared or is to be utilized for the purpose of supporting 
such a wall, the angular orientation of the tire sections 10 may 
alternatively be implemented, in whole or in part, by correspondingly 
inclining the supporting surface so prepared or otherwise present or 
established. 
FIG. 4 depicts an alternate arrangement for angularly orienting the tire 
sections 10 of the sound barrier wall 22. As there shown, each tire 
section 10 is angled along its longitudinal plane--i.e. so that one of its 
ends 36 is positioned higher than its opposite end 38. This inclination or 
orientation may be implemented in any suitable manner as a general matter 
of design choice, as for example by providing a wedge under each tire 
section 10 forming the first or bottommost row of the vertically-extending 
wall or by appropriately shaping or configuring the underlying support 
surface or base or layer upon which the sound barrier wall of the 
invention is to be constructed or erected. The FIG. 4 arrangement, like 
that described in connection with FIG. 3, is also effective in preventing 
the accumulation of rainwater and the like within the arcuate interior of 
the tire sections 10; flowable liquids and the like are directed, under 
the force of gravity, out of the tire section interior through the lower 
of the two ends 36, 38. 
It will also be recognized that this FIG. 4 embodiment may, in certain 
instances, be even more effective than the FIG. 3 arrangement in 
minimizing the escape or passage of noise or sound beyond the barrier wall 
since the opening or entry window into the arcuate interior of the concave 
portion 16 of each tire section 10 is effectively maximized. That is, with 
each tire section 10 angled in the manner depicted in FIG. 3, the plane 
defined between the concave lips of the concave portion 16 and into which 
noise from the source 20 enters the tire section is oriented at an angle, 
generally corresponding to the angle of inclination of the tire section, 
to the substantially vertical or upward elevation of the wall 22. In the 
FIG. 4 embodiment, on the other hand, the plane defined between the 
concave lips or edges of the concave portion 16 of each tire section is 
substantially parallel to the vertical or upward elevation of the wall 22, 
thus maximizing the opening or window through which noise from the source 
20 will enter the tire section and thereby be prevented from escaping or 
passing beyond the barrier or perimeter defined by the wall 22. It should 
also be noted that constructions in which the tire sections 10 are 
angularly oriented in the manner of both of these embodiments--i.e. both 
from front-to-back (FIG. 3) and from end-to-end (FIG. 4)--are likewise 
within the intended scope and contemplation of the invention. 
Thus, while there have shown and described and pointed out fundamental 
novel features of the invention as applied to several preferred 
embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and 
substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices 
illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the 
art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, it is 
expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method 
steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the 
same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the 
invention. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated 
by the scope of the claims appended hereto.