IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFETY BARRIERS FOR ROADS

BARRIERES DE SECURITE ROUTIERE

English Abstract

The aim of the invention is to supply a safety barrier
which acts as a dividing and/or protecting wall between
lanes of opposite directions in roads. 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 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.

French Abstract

Cette invention concerne une barrière de sécurité destinée à séparer et/ou à protéger les voies de circulation d'autoroutes à double sens. La barrière se compose d'une série de modules légers remplis de ballast pour les rendre stables et résistants. Les modules sont des corps rectangulaires prismatiques et comportent une ouverture sur le dessus pour la mise en place du ballast et des canaux transversaux à la base pour l'écoulement de l'eau. Les modules sont de deux types, mâle et femelle, que l'on alterne pour former une barrière continue sur la chaussée. Les modules peuvent être désassemblés pour ménager une ouverture dans la barrière; ils peuvent être articulés les uns aux autres ou parfaitement solidaires et ancrés au sol.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A safety barrier suitable for use as a dividing
wall between two lanes of opposite directions, as a side
wall on the other side of a road, or when used in mobile
road works, said safety barrier being formed of a
succession of hollow modules made of plastic material,
placed directly on a wearing course, said modules each
including walls, a base, end faces and top apertures to
load a filling material and lower transversal canals for
the passage of rain water, at least some of said hollow
modules equipped with a vertical projection in both said
end faces, forming male modules, other said hollow modules
including complementary recesses in both end faces for said
projections, forming female modules, said walls of each
module including internal reinforcements extending
longitudinally and transversally forming a reinforcement
lattice to bear hydrostatic pressure exerted by said
filling material, said end faces and base of each module
equipped with orifices to respectively install joining rods
between said modules, said modules including areas of
reduced wall thickness for allowing breakage at will to act
as filling apertures to install said joining rods.
2. A safety barrier according to claim 1, wherein at
least some end face orifices of said hollow modules are
equipped with a L-shaped rough-turned rod, other end face

orifices being equipped with a hook rough-turned rod, each
said joining rod being able to crimp each other to form an
articulated joint between a projection and facing recess
and disengagable by lifting adjoining modules one from
another.
3. A safety barrier according to claim 1, wherein
some end face orifices of said modules house a rough-turned
rod, said joining rod being common for each couple of
facing orifices of two adjoining modules forming a rigid
joint of said modules.
4. A safety barrier according to claim 3, wherein
said hollow modules include in their bases rough-turned
rods, said rods protruding through lower orifices for
fixing onto a mortar placed to that purpose in the ground
or wearing course itself forming a fixed anchorage of said
modules to the ground.
5. A safety barrier according to any of the
foregoing claims, wherein said modules include electric
contacts, said contacts being in an alarm circuit whereby
should the series of modules be cut accidentally,
inactivation of a relay activates an alarm in a desired
area.

Description

CA 020~0674 1998-12-22
IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFETY BARRIERS FOR ROADS
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 Invention 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 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.
As back ground, we could also mention the Spanish Invention
Patent 8702657, 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
-- 1 --

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.
~0 The improvements object of the present invention solve
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
include 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 aspect of the invention, the mould
presents a series of internal nerves which make it highly
resistant against cracks or damage caused by the weight of
the filling material.
According to another aspect 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

2~ ~P67~
. ..,~
one of the moulds and then dismantling the remaining ones
simply moving them.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention,
there is provided a safety barrier suitable for use as a
dividing wall between two lanes of opposite directions, as a
side wall on the other side of a road, or when used in
mobile road works, the safety barrier being formed of a
succession of hollow modules made of plastic material,
placed directly on a wearing course, the modules each
including walls, a base, end faces and top apertures to load
a filling material and lower transversal canals for the
passage of rain water, at least some of the hollow modules
equipped with a vertical projection in both the end faces,
forming male modules, other the hollow modules including
complementary recesses in both end faces for the
projections, forming female modules, the walls of each
module including internal reinforcements extending
longitudinally and transversally forming a reinforcement
lattice to bear hydrostatic pressure exerted by the filling
material, the end faces and base of each module equipped
with orifices to respectively install joining rods between
the modules, the modules including areas of reduced wall
thickness for allowing breakage at will to act as filling
apertures to install the joining rods.
The moulds also offer the possibility of being equipped with
some side hook rods to make up dismountable barriers, since
those hook roads act as articulations between moulds,
- 2a -
l ~

CA 020~0674 1998-12-22
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 continu-
ously male and female moulds or modules.
Figure 2 shows a transversal section of one of the modules
or moulds.
Figure 3 shows a detailed side view or 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.
-- 3

CA 020~0674 1998-12-22
As can be seen in 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 comple-
mentary 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 alterna-
tively, 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')
-- 4 --

CA 020~0674 1998-12-22
have transversal canals or outlets (6) to allow rain water
to circulate, and inside these modules (1) and (1') there
are 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 out 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 apertures, 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 that the versatility
of the basic module enables the construction or
installation of at least four types or 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,

CA 020~0674 1998-12-22
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 the 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 through 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.
-- 6 --

Representative Drawing