Patent Publication Number: US-2005135878-A1

Title: Temporary barrier

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      In order to protect the public from hazards existing at a construction site, most public authorities mandate that such sites be protected from public access by the construction of a suitable barrier such as a fence or hoarding. Usually the barrier fencing or hoarding is fastened to posts, which are dug, driven or otherwise placed in the strata surrounding the construction site where the conditions permit. The underlying strata may present unseen hazards when the installation of the barrier posts is undertaken. If the strata has previously been used as a building site, it may contain underground services such as electric, water and gas distribution services. If the site to be protected has previously been the site of a building, there may be concrete foundations which although not exposed, may be located near the surface of the strata on which a barrier is to be erected. Such conditions cause a contractor to be very cautious when installing posts for a hoarding barrier to be supported on posts.  
      In order to overcome the problem of driving posts into a strata containing unknown hazards, a portable barrier has been developed which sits on the surface of the strata of the site to be protected. This barrier is made up of individual elements which resemble a steel gate having flat feet protruding from either side at the bottom of the gate barrier to provide stability for the resulting barrier which is composed of many interlocking gate elements coupled together attached to provide a continuous string barrier. The advantages of this type of barrier are that it is quick and easy to install and does not penetrate the underlying strata. It does provide security against entrance of pedestrian traffic. The disadvantages of this type of barrier is that the resulting barrier must allow passage of the wind or the barrier would surely topple in the presence of strong winds; for this reason the protective barrier inside the steel tubing forming the frame must be similar to a wire fence to permit the passage of wind. This also means that the site to be protected can never be obscured from the curious eye of the public by such barriers. Heavy construction machinery may also easily move such barriers.  
      Thus the most obvious short comings of the two previously described barriers are: the instability of the barriers in which the feet of the barrier rest on the ground, and the potential hazard to the installation crew of the barriers using posts which must penetrate the supporting strata. Both barriers will require regular inspections and constant maintenance to ensure the integrity of the barrier.  
      Access to any construction site is a must and is usually provided by gaps in the hoarding or fencing for which gates are usually provided to close the access openings when it is desired to secure the site. Gate posts are almost a must and such posts must be securely anchored in the strata to provide sufficient additional strength to support a swinging gate. The additional load of a swinging gate on a temporarily installed post merely exacerbates the problem of providing a secure enclosure of a construction site under adverse conditions. Gate posts must therefore be carefully installed to decrease maintenance costs and regular inspection is a must.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      In order to overcome the above problems of securing construction and other sites where barriers of a temporary nature are required to prevent public access, it is proposed to provide a Jersey type barrier, which is modified to permit the installation of additional height barriers thereon to discourage the public from climbing over the barrier. Jersey barriers have become a “standard” for protection against penetration by motor vehicles along busy highways and because of the sheer mass and robustness of this type of barrier, it is not easily moved or overturned. The barrier is also almost maintenance free.  
      Jersey barriers have become an acceptable method of preventing traffic from crossing a median where such barriers are installed. It is understood that such barriers are not primarily designed to prevent pedestrians from mounting or jumping over the standard Jersey barrier, but they are effective in preventing motor vehicles from penetrating the barrier.  
      Because the typical Jersey barrier has no vertical walls in the finished state, it is most difficult to provide any additional height to the standard Jersey barrier by the attachment of hoarding etc. to the barrier.  
      This invention seeks to modify the standard Jersey barrier to provide a quick and easy installation of a supplementary vertical barrier, which will provide additional height to the Jersey type barrier to increase the difficulty of the public scaling and climbing over the barrier.  
      The barrier may comprise a complete sheet of material attached to a vertical wall provided by the modified Jersey type barrier. Alternately a series of recesses having a vertical surface(s) provided in the sidewalls of the barrier will permit the installation of vertical posts on the modified barrier. Continuous sheeting or boarding may be installed on the vertical barrier posts.  
     PERTINENT PRIOR ART  
      U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,812 issued Mar. 5, 1985  
      U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,306 issued Aug. 7, 1990 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  represents the profile of a standard Jersey Barrier.  
       FIG. 2  shows the profile of a modified Jersey Barrier, which shows one embodiment of this invention.  
       FIG. 3  shows a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of this invention.  
       FIG. 4  shows a perspective of a continuous barrier constructed of individual barriers of the type shown in  FIG. 3 .  
       FIG. 5  shows a perspective of the gate attachment to the barrier of this invention.  
       FIG. 6  shows a perspective view of an alternate construction to that of  FIG. 3 . 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      A standard prior art Jersey Barrier  10  is shown in the sectional view of  FIG. 1 . The barrier  10  has a widened base  12  and sides having two sloping sections  14  and  16 , and a flattened top surface  18 .  
      This barrier has become a “standard” for the provisions of providing an effective median barrier for most highways to prevent out of control vehicles from penetrating the barrier and crossing the median of highways. This barrier, usually made of concrete, is heavy and extremely durable, and has the correct shape and mass to effectively deflect most vehicles back into the traffic lane from whence they came.  
      While the shape of the Jersey Barrier is effective to prevent the passage of the moving vehicles across modem highways, it is not shaped to be an effective barrier for construction sites or other areas where it is desired to prevent public access.  
       FIG. 2  shows the profile of a modified Jersey Barrier  20  which is the subject of this invention. Here the bottom surface  22  corresponds to bottom surface  12  of the barrier of  FIG. 1 . Sides  24 ,  26  correspond to sides  14  and  16  of  FIG. 1 ; top surface  28  corresponds to surface  18  of  FIG. 1 .  
      Side  30  of the barrier of  FIG. 2  now is vertical and is joined to is lower sloping side  32 . Holes  34  and  36  are provided in barrier  20  to provide for bolts  38  and  40  (shown in phantom) for the attachment of barrier  42  to the barrier to increase the height of barrier  20  to prevent easy scaling of the resulting barrier in order to prevent easy access to a site where danger exists.  
       FIG. 3  shows a modified Jersey Barrier  50  having the same profile as the barrier shown in  FIG. 1 . Here base  52  corresponds to base  12  and sides  54  and  56  correspond to sides  14  and  16  of the barrier of  FIG. 1 . Top surface  58  corresponds to top surface  18  of the Jersey Barrier of  FIG. 1 .  
      In  FIG. 3 , barrier  50  is provided with recesses  60  for the reception of struts such as  62  therein. Here recess  60  is made to have a vertical surface  64  and orthogonal surfaces  66 ,  68  and  70 . A through hole  72  (in phantom) is provided in barrier  50  to permit the passage of bolt  74  through the barrier  50 .  
      Strut  62  is made to fit snugly into recess  60  such that bore  76  provided in strut  62  aligns itself with through hole  72  of barrier  50  when correctly installed. Bolt  74  may be engaged with nut  78  to secure strut  62  in recess  60  of barrier  50 . It is expected that numerous recesses such as  60  will be formed in surface  56  to provide support for many struts such as  62 .  
      Because surface  64  is vertical, strut  62  will assume a vertical attitude as well. A sheet barrier  80  may be mounted on strut  62  by means of bolts such as  82  to provide a continuous vertical barrier which when added to the height of barrier  50  makes scaling difficult and as such forms an effective barrier to prevent unwanted access to protected sites.  
       FIG. 4  illustrates a series of barriers  50  suitably connected together having a series of sheet barriers  80  attached thereto to form a continuous barrier of substantial height.  
      A gate  90  is hingedly secured to barrier  50  in the manner shown in  FIG. 5 . Here a hinge post  92  is attached to connecting prong  94  by means of sleeve  96 . Sleeve  96  is rigidly attached to hinge post  92  and sleeve  96  is locked in place on prong  94  by suitable locking means.  
      Each end of barriers  50  is provided with suitable interconnecting means, usually prongs such as  94  and the opposing end of the barrier  50  is provided with a pair of protruding “eyes” which mate with prongs such as  94  to interconnect the barriers  50 . In  FIG. 5  the connecting prong serves to mount hinge post  92  on the barrier  50 .  
      Hinge post  92  is provided with a pair of hinge pins  100  which receive hinge sleeves  102  mounted on gate  104 .  
      An alternative construction for the barrier is shown in  FIG. 6 . Here barrier  110  is provided with a wedge shape protrusion  112  formed on surface  114  of barrier  110 . Barrier  110  is provided with a bore  116  passing therethrough so that it passes through the center of protrusion  112 . Here bolt  118  and nut  120  hold strut  122  in place in a vertical altitude on barrier  110 . Sheeting may be installed on struts such as  120  to increase the height of barrier  110  to prevent easy scaling of the barrier  110 .  
      It will be seen that this invention uses the massive concrete barriers to effectively permit the swift erection of vertically extending barriers at the top of the concrete barriers  22 ,  50 ,  110  etc. The resulting barriers are excellent devices for providing long term protection of construction sites against unwanted public access.  
      Because of the proven ability of the Jersey type barrier to withstand abuse from impact, fire, and weather and because no additional posts need be driven into the ground or other surface; these barriers with their vertically extending walls of suitable sheet material may be swiftly erected around a site to be protected, with little thought to ongoing maintenance.  
      Each barrier is traditionally provided with suitable attaching means at each end thereof (which may take on many forms) to permit the swift interconnection of individual barrier elements to form a continuous interconnected barrier. These attachments provided at each end of each barrier may also be used when needed to provide for the attachment of upright posts to the barrier, which may be ultimately used to hinge gates thereon where gaps must be provided in the barrier wall.  
      The acceptance of the Jersey type barrier by the public also tends to overcome any reluctance by contractors and other contracting personnel to install such barriers.  
      While other modifications to the barriers described in this specification will no doubt arise, the applicants prefer to limit the scope of their invention by the following claims.