GB2498923A

GB2498923A - Coil spring barrier for fixing between traffic cones

Info

Publication number: GB2498923A
Application number: GB201122120A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ian James Prismall; Karl Trevor Prismall
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2011-12-21
Filing date: 2011-12-21
Publication date: 2013-08-07
Also published as: GB201122120D0

Abstract

A flexible barrier element (10) in the form of a tension spring formed from weather resistant plastics material coloured to aid visibility, with a first end region (6) and attachment means (12a), by way of example, for mounting on a road traffic cone (2) and a second end region (8) with attachment means (12b) that can be mounted on a second road traffic cone (4) to erect a temporary barrier, suitable for use in all weather conditions.

Description

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FLEXIBLE BARRIER ELEMENT

This invention relates to a flexible barrier element for use in the provision of temporary barriers to delineate or cordon off areas. By way of example, the invention may be used with a plurality of road traffic cones to cordon off road works. It will be appreciated that the flexible barrier element may alternatively be used in a wide variety of other temporary barrier applications.

Temporary barriers are well known in a variety of forms, for both outdoor and indoor locations, and are generally made up of some form of support, which may be a road traffic cone, an upright post placed in a socket or mounted on a heavy base or some form of stake pushed into the ground, and a means of demarcation by interconnecting the supports used, to form a barrier to indicate restricted access.

The means of demarcation can take the form of rope, chain, tape or a retractable tape unit that has a rotatable spring biased spool containing webbing or tape that is drawn off causing the spool to rotate and wind the spring, which when no longer required is rewound back onto the spool by the spring, or in some cases rigid boards or panels. With such arrangements transport to and from site, deployment and subsequent dismantling and storage can have disadvantages such as, in the case of loose rope, chain or tape, the likelihood of tangling, breakage or

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difficulty repacking for future use, as well as the time taken tying when deploying and untying after use, and in the case of rigid boards or panels, space for transport and storage and the lack of versatility in use, with the spring biased spool type it is likely that rewinding reliability will suffer if adverse weather or site conditions are encountered, also difficulty in cleaning without causing damage may be experienced.

It is an object of the invention to provide a temporary barrier system suitable for, but not limited to, use in outdoor applications in which the disadvantages set out above are overcome or of reduced effect.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a means of demarcation that is both versatile in use and convenient for transport, cleaning and storage.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a flexible barrier element with a first end and a second end, with inherent elastic properties that are produced by forming a close pitched helical or spiral tension spring that, together with attachment means if necessary, can be suspended by a plurality of any suitable type of support structure to form a temporary barrier system.

By way of example, the method of erecting a temporary barrier using the flexible barrier element of the present invention, would be to place two supports spaced apart in the desired positions, attach a first end of the flexible barrier

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element to one of the supports and stretch out the flexible barrier element until the second end can be attached to the other support.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a plurality of flexible barrier elements in the form of tension springs and a plurality of supports, wherein at least one flexible barrier element is attached interconnecting at least two suitably positioned supports.

Preferably the flexible barrier element is of one bright or of contrasting colours, for improved visual impact or made up of retro reflective or luminous or flourescent material, to cater for high visibility applications.

According to further aspects of the invention there is provided internal illumination for enhanced visibility, beneficially for situations such as of limited ambient light, the illumination could be constant, flashing or sequenced to, for example, convey a warning of a stationary broken down vehicle on the hard shoulder of a motorway.

The elastic properties of the flexible barrier element enable the supports to be spaced at varying distances, to suit the location and configuration of the temporary barrier or cordon to be erected, and upon subsequent dismantling will cause the flexible barrier element to contract in length for convenient storage, without becoming entangled. Such an arrangement has the advantage that a temporary barrier can be speedily deployed in a wide range of circumstances

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using, where available, pre-existing structures or readily available supports such as road traffic cones or a combination of all manner of suitable support structures.

Conveniently the close pitched tension spring takes a cylindrical form as described by the helical thread of a screw, but alternative forms such as conical, flat spiral or a combination of differing forms could also be used to create a tension spring form capable of the axial extension required, by the application of a pulling force to at least one end thereof.

The invention will further be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figures 1 and 2 are side and end views, respectively of a flexible barrier element in the contracted condition.

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic side view of the flexible barrier element of figures 1 and 2 supported by road traffic cones, to form a barrier system.

Figure 4 is a side view of an alternative design of flexible barrier element in an extended condition.

Figures 5 and 6 are side and end views, respectively of the flexible barrier element of figure 4 in a contracted condition.

Figures 7 and 8 are side and end views, respectively of a further alternative design of flexible barrier element in a contracted condition.

Figures 9 and 10 are side and end views, respectively of a possible

development of the flexible barrier element of figures 7 and 8.

Figure 11 is a plan view of an attachment loop.

Figures 12 and 13 are plan views of an alternative design of attachment loop.

Figures 14 and 18 are side and plan views, respectively showing three nested supports of an alternative temporary barrier system.

Figures 15, 16 and 17 are side, front and plan views, respectively of a suitable support for use in arrangements as shown in figures 14, 18 and 19.

Figure 19 is a diagrammatic side view illustrating the partial deployment of the alternative barrier system of figures 14 and 18.

The accompanying drawings illustrate examples of flexible barrier element and their use as temporary barriers in association with examples of support structure.

Referring to figures 1,2 and 3 a coil of material formed into a helical tension spring 10 has an end region 6 and a distal end region 8 with attachment means 12a and 12b respectively, shown in figure 3 with attachment means 12a mounted on a first road traffic cone 2 and attachment means 12b mounted on a second road traffic cone 4, spaced at a distance from the first road traffic cone, in order to extend the spring 10, from its normally contracted length of figure 1, to form a temporary barrier.

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Illustrated in figure 4 is an alternative, generally conical and reverse conical, tension spring 20 shown in an extended condition. Referring to figures 5 and 6, the spring 20 can be seen in its normally contracted condition, showing regions 24 and 28 which are conical and reverse conical, respectively and a region 26 of cylindrical form. It will be appreciated that varying the proportions of the aforementioned regions 24,28 and 26 will produce different tension and extension properties, if the attachment means 22a and 22b require to be spaced at widely differing mounting positions.

In the example shown in figures 7 and 8 the tension spring 30 takes the form of a flat spiral in the contracted condition, with an outer end region 36 leading through region 34 to an attachment means 32a, with an opposing inner region 38 leading to attachment means 32b, whereby extension can be induced by spacing apart the attachment means 32a and 32b, in a similar manner to the preceding examples, to produce a generally conical shape in the extended spring.

Referring to figures 9 and 10 it will be seen that a multiple arrangement of flat spiral forms is envisaged, in this example two disc like forms make up the spring 40. Starting at the attachment means 42a at the central region of the left hand spiral of figure 9 with consecutive laps overlaying each other, thereby increasing the diameter, until the outside lap 48 is reached, with a cross over portion 46 leading into the outside lap 44 of the right hand spiral of figure 9,

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which has consecutive laps underlying each other, thereby reducing the diameter, until the central region of the right hand spiral is reached, finishing at the attachment means 42b. When extended as previously described, the spring will produce a generally conical and reverse conical shape. It will be appreciated that any number of flat spiral forms could be combined to generate increasingly lengthy flexible barrier elements, that would take up little space when in the contracted condition, for transport and storage.

In any of the above examples of flexible barrier element it will be understood that the tortion effect induced in the coiled material by extending to a given length, caused by applying a tensile force, will naturally urge the flexible barrier element to retract back to its original form upon release of that force. It should be noted that excessive extension, for example, beyond the yield point of the material should be avoided. The ratio between extended and retracted length and the tensile reaction can be manipulated by adjustments to any one or more of the diameter, the number of turns and the form of the spring design.

Preferably the flexible barrier elements are manufactured from slightly flexible, resilient and weather resistant plastics material. It is also desirable, but not essential, to utilise hollow section material to reduce weight, without reducing the inherent torsion characteristics in direct proportion, hence limiting the vertical deflection effects of gravity, particularly when in use.

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In preferred arrangements the use of bright and or contrasting colours to improve visual impact is foreseen, for example, red and white or black and yellow, other arrangements may include the use of retro reflective, luminous or fluorescent materials.

Further enhancements envisaged include internally illuminated versions with constant, flashing or sequenced lights that could be powered, for example, from a vehicle cigarette lighter socket to enable roadside or highway use. Making an illuminated temporary barrier system for emergency deployment suitable for carriage by, for example, breakdown service, police or fire service vehicles.

Figure 11 shows and example of attachment loop 50 suitable for permanent or semi permanent attachment to a support when closed with, for example, a crimped or clamped fitting 52, as part of an end region of a flexible barrier element that continues on from the loop at 54.

Figures 12 and 13 show examples of temporary attachment loop 60 in the open and closed positions, respectively that are closed by the hook 56. When used as part of an end region of a flexible barrier element that continues on from the loop at 54, attachment and detachment can conveniently and repeatable be achieved.

A further aspect of he present invention will now be described, with the use of flexible barrier elements in association with alternative supports as illustrated,

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for example, in figures 14 to 18, wherein supports 70 are designed to nest with one another by virtue of the shape of bases 72, of generally 'V' form, from which upstanding members 74 rise to allow holes 76, or other suitable connection means, to be located on or near the uppermost part thereof. As will be seen most clearly in figure 18 the area taken up by the nested supports 70a, 70b and 70c is relatively small and will enable any number of supports to be closely positioned for convenient transport and storage.

Referring to figure 19 it will be seen that three flexible barrier elements 10 are already attached to connection means 76 of supports 70a, 70b and 70c by, in this example, semi permanent loops 50 allowing for easy deployment of the flexible barrier element 10, of support 70b by the use of temporary attachment loop 60b to support 70c, as shown if it is assumed that support 70c was spaced apart from support 70b before connection of the flexible barrier element.

It will be appreciated that permanent or semi permanent attachment loops, or other means, could be used such that both ends of the flexible barrier element were attached to respective supports prior to deployment, so that spacing one support from another support would automatically deploy the flexible barrier element, alternatively both ends of the flexible barrier element could be mounted to pre-spaced supports of, for example, the design shown in figure 19.

It will further be appreciated that flexible barrier elements could be

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mounted using separate or alternative attachment means, whether from end regions or any other part thereof, and also that a flexible barrier element may be mounted by, or supported from, any number of supports at any position along its deployed length.

It will also be appreciated that the description herein before is merely of examples of the invention and that the invention is not restricted to the specific arrangements shown. A number of modifications or alterations may be made to the described arrangements without departing from the invention. Further, the invention may be used in other applications, for example as the flexible barrier material of a retractable barrier system as described in GB 2412399B.

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Claims

1. A flexible barrier element in the form of a helical or spiral tension spring capable of elastic extension.

2. A flexible barrier element in accordance with claim 1 of a generally cylindrical form.

3. A flexible barrier element in accordance with claim 1 of at least partly conical form.

4. A flexible barrier element in accordance with claim 1 of a generally conical and reverse conical form.

5. A flexible barrier element in accordance with claim 1 of a generally flat spiral form.

6. A flexible barrier element in accordance with claim 5 wherein a combination of two or more flat spiral arrangements are combined to form a battery.

7. A flexible barrier element made up of any combination of the forms of claims 2 to 6 inclusive.

8. A flexible barrier element according to any preceding claim manufactured from plastics material.

9. A flexible barrier element according to any preceding claim manufactured from hollow section material.

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10 A flexible barrier element according to any preceding claim where one or both ends are finished with a permanent or semi permanent closed loop.

11. A flexible barrier element according to any preceding claim where one or both ends finish with a loop closed by a hook.

12. A flexible barrier element according to any preceding claim wherein at least one separate attachment means is provided.

13. A temporary barrier system with at least one flexible barrier element according to any preceding claim that is deployed with one or more flexible barrier element already attached.

14. A flexible barrier element according to any preceding claim wherein one or more colours are provided to enhance visual impact, particularly when in use.

15. A flexible barrier element according to any preceding claim wherein at least a portion of the spring is of a contrasting colour or colours.

16. A flexible barrier element according to any preceding claim made up at least in part of a retro reflective material.

17. A flexible barrier element according to any preceding claim made up at least in part of a luminous or fluorescent material.

18. A flexible barrier element according to any preceding claim wherein there is provided internal illumination.

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19. A flexible barrier element in accordance with claim 18 where the illumination is intermittent or flashes.

20. A flexible barrier element in accordance with claim 18 where the illumination is sequenced to generate a pattern.

21. A temporary barrier system of at least two supports interconnected by at least one flexible barrier element in the form of a spring coil capable of elastic extension.

22. A method of forming a temporary barrier substantially as described herein.

23. A flexible barrier element substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.