Abstract:
Flexible reclining, thrusting and vertical supports for structures such as guard rail barriers. The design of the flexible supports allow them to absorb the kinetic energy of vehicles and other objects which collide with the guard rail barrier.

Description:
RELATED FOREIGN APPLICATION 
     The present application claims the priority of Mexican Application No. 9806683 filed Aug. 18, 1998, the entire contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to supports of the type used in guard rails installed on the side of roads and freeways. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Metallic fences or guard rail barriers installed on the side of the roads and freeways are typically held on supports made of reinforced concrete, wood or metal. The metal supports have structural shapes (“I” beam, “C” channel, “U” shape, rolled steel section, round or square tubular, etc.) that make the supports relatively rigid. Therefore, when a vehicle collides with a conventional guard rail barrier, the support&#39;s lack of flexibility is likely to cause the support to break or to cause the support to do extensive damage to the vehicle and injury to the vehicle&#39;s occupants. Usually guard rail barrier is so damaged that it is beyond repair, so the guard rail barrier has to be replaced. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a guard rail barrier support that is flexible and permits the absorption of the kinetic energy produced by the impact of a vehicle against the guard rail barrier to prevent a vehicle from being damaged or flipping over. 
     It is a further object of the present invention to provide a flexible support for a guard rail barrier that absorbs the kinetic energy of a vehicle that collides with the guard rail barrier, thereby increasing the safety of the passengers in the vehicle. 
     It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a flexible support for a guard rail barrier which will not need to be replaced every time there is a collision with the guard rail barrier. 
     In a first aspect, the present invention provides a flexible support comprising: at least one S-shaped support, the S-shaped support including: a substantially horizontal support anchoring portion; a reclining portion connected to the support anchoring portion by a first connecting portion, the reclining portion extending at a acute angle from the support anchoring portion; and a rail mounting portion for mounting a guard rail barrier on the flexible support, the rail mounting portion being connected to the reclining portion by a second connecting portion, the rail mounting portion extending in a substantially vertical direction and facing the reclining portion. 
     In a second aspect, the present invention provides a flexible support comprising: at least one thrusting L-shaped support, the L-shaped support including: a substantially horizontal support anchoring portion; a thrusting portion connected to the support anchoring portion by a first connecting portion, the thrusting portion extending at a acute angle from the support anchoring portion; and a rail mounting portion for mounting a guard rail barrier on the support, the rail mounting portion extending in a vertical direction from a top part of the thrusting portion and being connected to the thrusting portion by a second connecting portion. 
     In a third aspect, the present invention provides a flexible support comprising: at least one inverted U-shaped support, the inverted U-shaped support including: a substantially horizontal first support anchoring portion; a first thrusting portion connected to the first support anchoring portion by a first lower connecting portion, the first thrusting portion extending at a acute angle from the first support anchoring portion; a substantially horizontal second support anchoring portion; a second thrusting portion connected to the second support anchoring portion by a second lower connecting portion, the second thrusting portion extending at a acute angle from the support anchoring portion, the second thrusting portion facing and reclining away from the first thrusting portion; a first top part on the first thrusting portion for mounting a first guard rail barrier on the support; a second top part on the second thrusting portion for mounting a second guard rail barrier on the support; and a top member connecting the first top part and the second top part. 
     In a fourth aspect, the present invention provides a flexible support comprising: at least one inverted J-shaped support, the inverted J-shaped support including: a vertical portion; a rail mounting portion for mounting a guard rail barrier on the support, the rail mounting portion connected to the vertical portion by a connecting portion, the rail mounting portion extending in a substantially vertical direction and facing the vertical portion. 
     Other objects and features of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention will be described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional side view of a a preferred embodiment a flexible support and guard rail barrier of the present invention; anchored to a red to a horizontal surface; 
     FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional side view of part of the preferred embodiment of the flexible support of FIG. 1 anchored to a horizontal surface anchored to a horizontal surface; 
     FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional side view of part of the preferred embodiment of the flexible support and guard rail barrier of FIG. 1 anchored to a horizontal surface; 
     FIG. 4 is a front view of the preferred embodiment of the flexible support of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional side view of the preferred embodiment of the flexible support of FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional side view of a preferred embodiment of the flexible support and guard rail barrier of the present invention anchored to a horizontal surface; 
     FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional side view of a another preferred embodiment of a flexible support and guard rail barrier of the present invention anchored to a horizontal surface; 
     FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional side view of a another preferred embodiment of the flexible support and guard rail barrier of the present invention anchored to a horizontal surface; 
     FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional side view of a another preferred embodiment of a flexible support and guard rail barrier of the present invention anchored to a horizontal surface; 
     FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional side view of a another preferred embodiment of a flexible support and guard rail barrier of the present invention anchored to a vertical surface; 
     FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of part of the another preferred embodiment of the flexible support of FIG. 10 anchored to a vertical surface; 
     FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional side view of a another preferred embodiment of the flexible support and guard rail barrier of the present invention anchored to a vertical surface. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Definitions 
     For the purposes of the present invention, the term “reclining portion” refers to a portion of a flexible support which is angled away from a guard rail barrier mounted on the flexible support. An example of such a reclining portion is shown in FIG.  1 . For the purposes of the present invention, the term “thrusting portion” refers to a portion of a flexible support which is angled toward a guard rail barrier mounted on the flexible support. Examples of thrusting portions are shown in FIGS. 7,  8 , and  9 . 
     Description 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a flexible support structure  2  made according to the present invention. Flexible support structure  2  includes an S-shaped support  4  having a longitudinal axis therethrough on which is mounted a W-shaped guard rail barrier  6 . Support  4  includes a horizontal anchoring portion  8  connected to a reclining main vertical portion  10  by a lower connecting portion  12  which is preferably curved. A rail mounting portion  14  is connected to reclining main vertical portion  10  by an upper connecting portion  16 , which is preferably curved. Although guard rail barrier  6  is only shown being supported by a single support  4 , in many applications, such as roadside barriers, two or more supports may be used to support a given section of guard rail. 
     Support  4  is mounted on a horizontal surface  18 , such as an asphalt road, a concrete highway or the ground, by an anchoring assembly  20  which anchors horizontal support anchoring portion  8  of support  4  to horizontal surface  18 . As shown in FIG. 2, anchoring assembly  20  includes two anchoring screws  22  which extend through a mounting mat  24  having two openings  26 . Anchoring assembly  20  also includes two lock washers  28  and two hexagonal nuts  30 . Screws  22  also extend through two openings  32  in anchoring portion  8  of support  4 . In some applications, anchoring screws  22  are embedded in concrete and mounting mat  24  and support are mounted over screws  22 . Mounting mat  24  is preferably made of rubber or a rubber-like material such as neoprene. The mounting mat serves at least three functions: to flatten the region to which the support is anchored, to absorb part of the kinetic energy of a collision with the guard rail barrier, and to avoid cathodic corrosion of the support. Although the support shown in FIG. 1 is shown being anchored by an anchoring assembly having nuts and screws, the support of the present invention can be anchored to the ground or a roadway using a variety of means such as welding or bolting the support to a platform which is in turn anchored to the ground. The anchoring portion of the support may also be buried in the ground to anchor the support. Preferably, the support of the present invention is anchored by at least two anchoring devices, such as two or more screws, bolts, etc., to allow for kinetic energy to be absorbed by the successive pulling out of each anchoring device in the event of particularly severe collision. 
     As shown in FIG.  1  and in greater detail in FIG. 3, guard rail barrier  6  is mounted on the descending rail mounting portion  14  of support  4  by means of a rail mounting assembly  34  consisting of a screw  36  which extends through a opening  38  in rail mounting portion  14 , two washers  40 , preferably made of plastic, one lock washer  42  and an hexagonal nut  44 . Guard rail barrier  6  may also be mounted on support  4  by other conventional means such as welding, bolting, etc. Guard rail barrier  6  is similar to conventional guard rail barriers and may be made from a long strip of metal or other resilient material such as plastic. 
     Support  4  in FIG. 1 is further illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 which show in detail openings  32  in anchoring portion and openings  38  in rail mounting portion of support  4 . In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, flexible support  4  has a greater height than width. However, in some applications, it can be desirable to have a flexible support which has a greater width than height to give greater support to the guard rail barrier along the length of the guard rail barrier. The flexible support can be made of metal, plastic, metal reinforced plastic or other resilient material. 
     As shown in FIG. 1, flexible support  4  has a reclining main vertical portion  10  which is angled at an acute angle with respect to horizontal anchoring portion  8 . Together, reclining main vertical portion  10 , horizontal anchoring portion  8 , and curved lower connecting portion  12  act as a spring so that when a car or other object strikes guard rail barrier  6 , flexible support  4  can bend back under the pressure of the impact, and, if the impact is not too great, even spring back to the original condition of flexible support  4 . By bending back under an impact, the guard rail barrier of the present invention can absorb some of the kinetic energy of a car which collides with the barrier and cause less damage to the car and less injury to the car&#39;s occupants than a conventional rigid barrier would. Also, because the guard rail barrier of the present invention will flex during a collision, there is a decreased possibility that a car colliding with the guard rail barrier will flip over or leave the road. 
     Because reclining main vertical portion  10  is angled away from guard rail barrier  6  in flexible support  2  of FIG. 1, reclining main vertical portion  10  is considered to be in a reclining configuration for the purposes of the present invention. Additionally, because of the reclining configuration of reclining main vertical portion  10  and the fact that rail mounting portion  14  is connected to reclining main vertical portion  10  by a curved upper connecting portion  16 , rail mounting portion  14  can bend back, like a spring, towards the facing reclining main vertical portion  10  when guard rail barrier  6  is struck by a vehicle or other object. Although upper connecting portion  16  connecting reclining main vertical portion  10  and rail mounting portion  14  shown in FIG. 1 is curved, and semicircular in shape, the upper connecting portion of the present invention may be more oval in shape or even rectangular. Preferably the upper connecting portion connecting the main vertical portion and the rail mounting portion is a shape which allows the rail mounting portion to bend back toward the main vertical portion. 
     FIG. 6 illustrates a flexible support structure  46  of the present invention in which a guard rail barrier  48  having a three peaked wave-shaped cross section is mounted on a rail mounting portion  50  of an S-shaped support  52 . Rail mounting portion  50  is connected by a curved upper connecting portion  54  to a reclining main vertical portion  56 . Main vertical portion  56  is connected by a curved lower connecting portion  58  to a horizontal support anchoring portion  60 . Support anchoring portion  60  is anchored to a horizontal surface  62  covered by a mounting mat  64  by an anchoring assembly  66  which is similar to the anchoring assembly shown in FIG.  1 . Guard rail barrier  48  is mounted on rail mounting portion  50  of support  52  by means of two conventional mounting assemblies  68  which are each similar to the rail mounting assembly of FIG.  1 . The greater length of rail mounting portion  50  of support  52  and the greater height of guard rail barrier  48  of flexible support structure  46 , as shown in FIG. 6, allows for more force to be absorbed by flexible support structure  46  when rail mounting portion  50  bends back towards main vertical portion  56 . Although guard rail barriers having only two types of cross-sections are shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, the guard rail barrier of the present invention can have any conventional guard rail barrier cross-section shape, including a flat shape. Also, although the guard rail barrier shown is preferably made out of metal, the guard rail can also be made from metal reinforced plastic, metal reinforced rubber, plastic, rubber, or any other resilient material. 
     FIG. 7 illustrates a flexible support structure  70  of the present invention having a thrusting L-shaped support  72 . Thrusting L-shaped support  72  includes a thrusting main vertical portion  74  connected by a lower connecting portion  76  to a horizontal support anchoring portion  78 . Support anchoring portion  78  is anchored to a mounting mat  80  and horizontal surface  82  by two anchoring assemblies  84  which are each similar to the anchoring assembly shown in FIG.  1 . Connected to and extending from the top of thrusting main vertical portion  74  by an upper connecting portion  86  is a vertical rail mounting portion  88 . A W-shaped guard rail barrier  90  is mounted on rail mounting portion  88  by means of a conventional rail mounting assembly  92  which is similar to the rail mounting assembly of FIG.  1 . In flexible support structure  70  shown in FIG. 7, thrusting main vertical portion  74  is a thrusting portion because thrusting main vertical portion  74  extends towards rail mounting portion  88 . 
     FIG. 8 illustrates a flexible support structure  94  of the present invention having a thrusting L-shaped support  96  that is similar to thrusting L-shaped support shown in FIG.  7 . Thrusting L-shaped support  96  includes a thrusting main vertical portion  98  connected by a lower connecting portion  100  to a horizontal support anchoring portion  102 . Support anchoring portion  102  is anchored to a mounting mat  104  and horizontal surface  106  by two anchoring assemblies  108  which are each similar to the anchoring assembly shown in FIG.  1 . Connected to and extending from the top of the thrusting main vertical portion  98  by an upper connecting portion  110  is a vertical rail mounting portion  112 . A three peaked wave-shaped guard rail barrier  114  is mounted on rail mounting portion  112  by means of two conventional rail mounting assemblies  116  which are each similar to the rail mounting assembly of FIG.  1 . In comparison to the guard rail barrier shown in FIG. 7, in order to accommodate the taller guard rail barrier  114  of flexible support structure  94 , rail mounting portion  112  is taller and two mounting assemblies  116  are used to mount guard rail barrier  114 . In flexible support structure  94 , as shown in FIG. 8, main vertical portion  98  is a thrusting portion because main vertical portion  98  extends towards rail mounting portion  112 . 
     FIG. 9 illustrates a flexible support structure  118  of the present invention having an inverted U-shaped flexible support  120 . Inverted U-shaped support  120  includes a horizontal top portion  122  connected to two thrusting main vertical portions  124  by respective curved upper connecting portions  126 . Each of two support anchoring portions  128  are connected to a respective one of the thrusting main vertical portions  124  by a respective curved lower connecting portion  129 . The two support anchoring portions  128  are anchored to two mounting mats  130  and a horizontal surface  132  by two anchoring assemblies  134  which are similar to the anchoring assembly shown in FIG.  1 . Each of two W-shaped guard rail barriers  136  is mounted on a respective one of the thrusting main vertical portions  124  by means of a conventional rail mounting assembly  138  which can be similar to the rail mounting assemblies of the guard rail barriers shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. In many ways, each side of flexible support structure  118  shown in FIG. 9 functions similarly to the flexible support structure shown in FIG.  7 . In order to mount a larger guard rail barrier, such as the three peaked wave-shaped guard rail barrier shown in FIG. 8, a flat mounting portion (not shown) can be included between the top each of the main vertical portions and the respective upper curved connecting portions to accommodate the taller guard rail barrier and additional mounting assemblies in a fashion similar to the way that the taller rail mounting portion of FIG. 8 accommodates a taller guard rail barrier. Flexible support structure  118  may be used in locations where guard rail barriers are needed on both sides of a U-shaped flexible support such as on a median strip in the middle of a highway. 
     FIG. 10 illustrates a flexible support structure  140  of the present invention which includes an inverted J-shaped support  142  which is mounted on a vertical surface  144 , such as a wall, by means of an anchoring assembly  146  and a mounting mat  148 , which are shown in greater detail in FIG.  11 . Support  142  of flexible support structure  140  includes a support anchoring portion  150  having a pair of openings  152  therein, through which screws  154  of a support anchoring assembly  156  are inserted. Anchoring assembly  156  also includes lock washers  158 , and hexagonal nuts  160  for each of the respective screws  154 . Mounting mat  148 , which is similar to the mounting mat shown in FIG. 1, has two openings  162  through which screws  154  extend. Preferably, mounting mat  148  is made of a rubber or rubber-like material such as neoprene. In flexible support structure  140 , support anchoring portion  150  is the lower part of a main vertical portion  164 . A rail mounting portion  166  of support  142  is connected to main vertical portion  164  by a connecting portion  168  which is preferably curved. A guard rail barrier  170  having a W-shaped cross section is mounted on rail mounting portion  166  of support  142  using a conventional rail mounting assembly  172 , such as the type used in the guard rail shown in FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 12 illustrates a flexible support structure  174  of the present invention which includes an inverted J-shaped support  176 . A support anchoring portion  178  of support  176  is mounted on a vertical surface  180  by means of an anchoring assembly  182  and a mounting mat  184 , which are similar to the anchoring assembly and mounting mat shown in FIGS. 10 and 11. In flexible support structure  174 , support anchoring portion  178  is the lower part of a main vertical portion  186 . A rail mounting portion  188  of support  176  is connected to main vertical portion  186  by a connecting portion  190  which is preferably curved. A guard rail barrier  192  having a three peaked wave-shaped cross section is mounted on rail mounting portion  188  of support  176  using two conventional rail mounting assemblies  194 , such as the type used in the guard rail barriers shown in FIGS. 1 and 10. Guard rail mounting portion  188  is longer than the guard rail mounting portion of the guard rail barrier of FIG. 10 in order to mount the taller guard rail  192  of flexible support structure  174  shown in FIG.  12 . 
     The flexible support of the present invention may be made of any sturdy, flexible material such as thin strips of metal, plastic, metal reinforced plastic, etc. that provides sufficient flexibility and ductility for the purposes of the present invention. Preferably, the blank of material used to make the flexible support of the present invention has a thickness of 0.125 inches to 1 inch, a width of 2 to 8 inches, and a length of 24 inches to 144 inches. For a given section of guard rail barrier to be supported, there can be several flexible supports. 
     The guard rail barriers that can be installed in the flexible support of the present invention can be stiff like conventional guard rail barriers, or can be made of a more, flexible material such as thin strips of metal, plastic, metal reinforced plastic, rubber, metal reinforced rubber, etc. Because the load bearing requirements on the guard rail barriers are less than on the flexible support, the guard rails can be made of less sturdy materials than the flexible support. 
     In addition to being used to mount guard rail barriers, one or more flexible supports of the present invention may be used to support other structures such as a seat or a bench. 
     Although the present invention has been fully described in conjunction with the preferred embodiment thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that various changes and modifications may be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as included within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims, unless they depart therefrom.