Improvements in safety barriers for roads

Abstract: The barrier consists of a series of light weight modules, filled of a conventional material as ballast to give them stability and resistance. The modules are noticeably rectangular prismatic bodies with top apertures (4) which act as loading nozzles for the filling material, and with lower transversal canals for the circulation of water. One type of module is male and the other female, and to form the barrier they are placed alternatively the ones on the others on the wearing course of the road. The modules can be dismantled to leave an open way in the barrier; they can be articulated or even rigid between themselves and anchored to the ground.

Description: The invention is about some improvements on safety barriers for roads, which enable the installation of typical dividing walls for roads, dual carriageways, etc., in a simple, quick and economical manner. It also offers the possibility of making the barrier mobile, semirigid, demountable or fixed. Until now, various solutions had been conceived for the installation of safety barriers for roads -such as those claimed by USA Patents 4,348,133 and 4,496,264- using concrete, sand or any other type of heavy material as ballast. The barriers built according to the object of the above mentioned Patents use the same basic concept for their construction, and vary only the type of material used for the barrier itself and for its external finish, as well as the type of fixing to the ground. Regardless of the type of fixing to the ground used in the barriers described in the two above mentioned USA Patents, the limitations they both present are those of their rigid constitution and of being anchored to the ground, which does not allow the dismantling of part of the barrier in case of accidents closing up one of the directions of the road, and thus prevent the opening of lanes which could release the potential traffic jam caused by the accident. Another safety device is known from FR-A-2,585,047 which shows inside the safety device vertical nerves or partitions and a water-tight longitudinal tube adapted for receiving a threaded rod joining adjacent devices. As background, we could also mention the Spanish Patent 8702657 (ES-A-2 005 324), which claims a procedure to manufacture dividing walls or safety barriers for roads in situ, based on lost moulds made of a light material placed where the barrier or dividing wall is to be installed, and then fill up those moulds with an appropriate material (concrete or a similar one), and thus fix correlatively the various blocks which will make up the dividing wall or barrier. Although it solves the problems presented by the USA Patents, this procedure has the disadvantage of not offering alternative ways of performance, and of being designed only to be filled up to concrete or a similar material, therefore having to be considerably thick in the wall to offer enough resistance to the filling material. The safety barrier according to claim 1 of the present invention solves definitely, efficiently and economically the problems presented by the above-mentioned designs of barriers or dividing walls. In order to achieve this, the mould produced according to one of the objects of the invention includes one or more top apertures for water extraction and filling when this component is used as filling material, which is convenient to create separations in road maintenance or upgrading works carried out sporadically. According to another object of the invention, the mould presents a series of internal nerves or ribs which make it highly resistant against cracks or damage caused by the weight of the filling material. According to another object of the invention, the mould is made in two versions -male and female. The former is equipped with side projections which fit in complementary recesses in the female mould, enabling them to be dismantled even with the barrier already in place, just by lifting up one of the moulds and then dismantling the remaining ones simply moving them. The moulds also offer the possibility of being equipped with some side hook rods to make up dismountable barriers, since those hook rods act as articulations between moulds, and therefore between modules. The device also enables the moulds to be equipped with side bars, perpendicular to the side face, to make up armour means which cause the barrier to be rigid. Finally, there remains to be said that moulds, and therefore the modules are designed to be anchored to the ground or tar which conforms the road, forming a fixed as well as rigid barrier. In order to make the characteristics of the device more easily understood, there follows a detailed description based on a set of drawings which are attached to the present description as an integral part of it, and where the following has been represented with a merely indicative and not limitative character: Figure 1 shows a stretch of barrier built according to the object of the invention, that is to say, placing continuously male and female mould or modules. Figure 2 shows a transversal section of one of the modules or moulds. Figure 3 shows a detailed side view of the most favourable arrangement of nerves and internal fobs of the module or mould. Figure 4 shows a detailed cross section of two parts of modules joined articulately. Figure 5 shows another detail like the one in the previous figure, but with a rigid joint between modules. Finally, figure 6 shows the same detail as figure 5, with the addition of vertical anchoring of modules to the ground. As can be seen the above mentioned figures, the barrier devised is based on a couple of modules (1) and (1′), being the former a male module and the latter a female one. These modules will be preferably 2 metres long, without rejecting the possibility of employing other lengths, and will weigh approximately 22 kgs. each. They will be made of a compound of polyester resin fibre, structurally designed to bear the hydrostatic pressure exerted by the filling material (concrete, water, sand, etc.) Both modules differ only in that the male one (1) is equipped with vertical projections (2) in its end faces, whereas the female module (1′) is equipped with complementary recesses (3). As regards the other characteristics of these modules (1) and (1′), they are both the same, with marked apertures (4) in their top faces which enable a valve to be installed, if desired, for the extraction of water when it is used as filling material, for example in mobil road works. As figure 1 shows, a barrier is made just by placing aligned empty male (1) and female (1′) modules alternatively, fitting in the projections (2) of the male modules (1) in the recesses (3) of the female modules (1′). This is done directly on the tar or wearing course (5) of the road, and the modules are then filled up through the loading apertures (4). When the modules are full, these apertures or mouths (4) can be closed or not. This barrier can be dismantled in any of its sections, just by starting the operation lifting up, with a crane, one of the male modules (1), and then moving away the adjacent modules. In their base, the above mentioned modules (1) and (1′) have transversal canals or outlets (6) to allow rain water to circulate, and inside these modules (1) and (1′) there and nerves or ribs (7) which cross their main walls (8) transversally, as well as other nerves or ribs (9) which run parallel to them. Figure 3 shows in detail the lay out of these nerves or ribs (7 and 9) on the inner side of the main walls (8) of the module, being noticeable how the number of transversal nerves (7) doubles in the lower area. Finally, it is necessary to point that the barrier built according to the above described procedure does not need to have modules (1) and (1′) fixed to the ground or tar (5), since, having a flat base, the full module will not float. On the subject of the design of modules (1) and (1′), and taking into account the material they are made of, it is possible to foresee certain areas with a small thickness of wall, which allows them to be broken at will to act as filling aperture, or water canals, or even as orifices to install elements which articulate, or make rigid, or anchor to the ground, the consecutive modules. Regarding this point, it can be said the versatility of the basic module enables the construction or installation of at least four types of barriers: Barriers to be used in mobil road works. Articulate barriers. Rigid barriers. Rigid and fixed barriers. Ecological barriers. As regards the type of barriers used in mobil road works, it can be said that it is the one shown by figure 1, where modules (1) and (1′) are assembled and filled with water or another light, easy to pour material, to allow the modules to be easily moved. This type of barrier is ideal to protect workers carrying out road works. In this case, the modules can be equipped with electric contacts closing a circuit, so that if by accident there is a cut in the series of modules, the inactivation of a relay will activate an optical and/or audio alarm in the area where workers are working. As for articulate barriers, the difference offered is that modules (1) and (1′) include L-shaped (10) and hook (11) roughturned rods respectively, enabling an articulate joint to be performed in order to a) absorb the impact energy in its component vertical to the barrier itself, and b) offer the possibility of dismantling any module or modules any time. Figure 4 shows the above mentioned articulation. As for rigid barriers, these are formed when modules (1) and (1′) have blind orifices in their end faces - preferable two in each end face - to allow the inclusion of roughturned rods (12) in the facing and assembly of modules, to make rigid each couple of consecutive modules (1) and (1′). This design is shown in figure 5. Finally, in the fixed and rigid type of barriers, modules (1) and (1′) apart from being assembled trough the roughturned rod (12) like in the previous case, are also fixed to the floor or tar (5) through vertical or roughturned rods (13) placed partially in lower orifices in each module, and with their protruding part in concrete mortars (14) performed in the floor or tar (5). This type of barrier is shown in detail in figure 6.

Claims: A safety barrier for roads applicable when used as a dividing wall between two lanes of opposite directions, or as a side wall on the outer side of a road (5), or when used in mobile road works, said safety barrier being formed of a succession of hollow modules (1, 1') made of plastic material, placed directly on the wearing course, all the modules including top apertures (4) to load a filling material such as concrete, and lower transversal canals (6) for the passage of rain water, characterized in that some of the hollow modules are equipped with a vertical projection (2) in both of their end faces, forming male modules (1), while the other hollow modules have complementary recesses (3) in both end faces for said projections (2), forming female modules (1'), in that the walls (8) of each module have internal nerves or ribs running both longitudinally (9) and transversally (7), forming a reinforcement lattice to bear the hydrostatic pressure exerted by the filling material, in that the end faces and the base of each module are equipped with orifices to respectively install joining rods (10, 11, 12) between the modules and/or rods (13) anchoring to the ground, and in that the modules (1, 1') have certain areas with a small thickness of wall, which allows them to be broken at will to act as filling apertures (4), water canals (6) and/or orifices to install the joining rods (10, 11, 12) and/or the anchoring rods (13). A safety barrier according to claim 1, characterized in that some end face orifices of the hollow modules are equipped with a L-shaped rough-turned rod (10), other end face orifices being equipped with a hook rough-turned rod (11), said joining rods (10, 11) being able to crimp each other to form an articulated joint, between a projection and the facing recess, dismantlable just by simply lifting up two adjoining modules one from another. A safety barrier according to claim 1, characterized in that some end face orifices of the modules (1, 1') can house a rough-turned rod (12), said joining rod (12) being common for each couple of facing orifices of two adjoining modules, determining a rigid joint of said modules. A safety barrier according to claim 3, characterized in that the hollow modules (1, 1') have in their bases other rough-turned rods (13) which protrude through the lower orifices in the lower side to enable them to be fixed onto a special mortar (14) placed to that purpose in the ground or wearing course itself, determining a fixed anchorage of the modules to the ground. A safety barrier according to any of the foregoing claims, characterized in that the modules (1, 1') are equipped with some electric contacts which close a circuit in such a manner that, should the series of modules be cut accidentally, the inactivation of a relay would activate an optical and/or audio alarm in the desired area.

Inventors: GARCIA BALLESTEROS ANGEL, GARCIA BALLESTEROS, ANGEL
Applicants: GARCIA BALLESTEROS ANGEL, GARCIA BALLESTEROS, ANGEL
Application year: 1991
Main classification: E01F15
IPC codes: E01F15, E01F9