Patent ID: 8596617

Claim:
A guardrail or other impact energy absorbing apparatus including at least one cable, the guardrail comprising: a cable routing means configured to provide a tortuous path for the at least one cable, wherein the cable routing means comprises a housing inside of which is housed a bar member having a rotational axis and including a cable entry port defining at least a portion of a cable route having a longitudinal axis, the cable entry port configured to have a circumference slightly larger than that of the at least one cable for which the tortuous path is to be provided, the cable entry port having a first non-tortuous orientation in which the bar member is in a first non-rotated position and wherein the at least one cable is threaded through the cable route, and wherein rotation of said bar member about the bar member's rotational axis within the housing orientates the cable entry port to a second position wherein the longitudinal axis of the cable route is angled away from the longitudinal axis of the at least one cable to create a second tortuous orientation which provides a tortuous path in which the at least one cable is retained, wherein the tortuous path through the cable route is due to a relative decrease in the diametric width of the cable entry port relative to the longitudinal axis of the at least one cable.