US3322400A

US3322400A - Anti-dazzling panel

Info

Publication number: US3322400A
Application number: US439677A
Authority: US
Inventors: Trucillo Giovanni
Original assignee: P V R PLASTICI VETRO RINFORZAT
Current assignee: P V R PLASTICI VETRO RINFORZAT; Pvr Plastici Vetro Rinforzati SpA
Priority date: 1964-03-18
Filing date: 1965-03-15
Publication date: 1967-05-30
Anticipated expiration: 1984-05-30
Also published as: FR1426706A; DE1534547A1; GB1055341A; BE660933A; CH403826A; NL6502605A; AT257675B

Description

May 30, 1967 G. TRUCILLG ANTI-DAZZLING PANEL 5 Sheets-Sheet Filed March l5, 1965 ATTORNEYS May 3o, 1967 INVENTOR Giovanni ruci//o ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,322,400 ANTI-DAZZLING PANEL Giovanni Trucillo, Naples, Italy, assignor to P.V.R. Plastici Vetro Rinforzati, S.p.A., Milan, Italy Filed Mar. 15, 1965, Ser. No. 439,677 Claims priority, application Italy, Mar. 18, 1964, 6,022/ 64 1 Claim. (Cl. 256-24) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An anti-dazzling barrier 4for road medians having a substantially rectangular frame vertically and iixedly mounted with respect to the ground and a plastic panel having suitable opaque characteristics and xedly mounted within the frame.

. The present invention relates to a panel for anti-dazzling barriers for road use, to be preferably disposed on the median strip of roads, turnpikes, or the like.

The anti-dazzling barriers in present use are constituted of hedges. Hedges, however, require some growing time before gaining suflicient growth to be useful and a periodical trimming to be kept at uniform lheight and thickness. Consequently, besides the initial installation cost, hedges involve high maintenance expenses.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an anti-dazzling barrier which can eliminate the above cited disadvantages. v

It is also an object of the present invention to provide an anti-dazzling barrier that may be easily installed and requires only simple maintenance.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an anti-dazzling barrier which has low installation and maintenance c-osts and an extended useful life.

The present invention consists lof a rigid rectangular frame carrying an anti-dazzling screen constituted of a plate of plastic material, as for instance polyester resin reinforced with glass bers, having suitable opaque characteristics.

In a preferred form of embodiment of the invention, the screen is constituted by a plate -of polyester resin reinforced with glass bers and polyamide threads.

The screen is preferably provided with undulations. Particular advantages may be obtained when these undulations have a rectilinear path, running in horizontal sense. Panels of this configuration installed on the median strip of a two-directional road do not give rise to any reflection of the lights of the headlights of vehicles against the latter or against the following vehicles travelling in the same direction. Moreover, the undulations also have the task of discharging, on the vertical elements of the frame, the stresses exerted by the wind on the screen, and thus reduce the -bending stresses on the horizontal elements of the frame.

The panel is preferably installed in conjunction with the posts supporting the usual guard-rails. vIts height is such as to prevent dazzling by the vehicles travelling in the opposite direction. In general, the upper horizontal element of the frame is at a level not less than 1.10 m. from the ground and the lower horizontal element of the frame may be approximately at the level of the guard-rail. Where no guard-rail is provided, or when it is not desired to use the guard-rail, the panel is secured to the ground by means of posts of suitable height, or the vertical elements of the frame are prolonged for a length which will place the screen at suitable height.

The frame consists of particular metallic units having a structural sectional shape in the form of a rectangular box. The greater sides of the rectangle are disposed in the foregoing objects and other be apparent to those skilled in the are set forth in the following speciare illustrated in the accompanying a basic embodiment of the present of the panel assembled on a view of the means for installing FIGURE 4 is a sectional detail of the lower horizontal element of the frame, taken along plane 4 4 of FIGURE 1 v FIGURE 5 is a sectional detail of a vertical element of the frame, taken along plane 5-5 of FIGURE l;

FIGURE 6 is a detail view of a partially assembled panel;

FIGURE 7 is a perspective and the associated gaskets.

Referring now to the figures, the rectangular screen 1 is made of polyester resin reinforced with glass bers, illustrated in front view in FIGURE 1. The screen 1 is inserted in a frame constituted by two vertical elements 2 and by two

horizontal elements

3 and 4. The downward prolongations of the vertical elements 2 are the extensions 5 (illustrated in detail in FIGURE 2) for fastening the panel to the guard-rail. The upper corners of the panel are provided with hoodshaped angles 6 which serve to connect the vertical elements 2 with the horizontal element 3. The angles are attached by any suitable means such as screws or bolts. The extensions 5 are stiffened by means of struts 7 which are rigidly attached to the associated members. FIGURE l illustrates the invention installed in conjunction with a pre-existing guard-rail 17 and posts 18. The invention may be rigidly attached to the posts by any suitable means such as bolts. FIGURE 2 is a detailed view of one means for assembling the invention to posts 18 which may or may not vbe ass-ociated with a guard-rail. In this particular embodiment, extensions 5 of the vertical elements 2 are rigidly attached to the posts 18 by means of bolts 19.

Referring to FIGURES 3 and 4, the

horizontal elements

3 and 4 have a section approximating a rectangular box, in which the greater sides are horizontal. For the purposes of the present invention, the words horizontal and verticaL referring to the panel, respectively indicate the directions parallel to and perpendicular to the roadway where the invention is installed, bearing in mind the fact that the roadway may be inclined.

The lower face of the element 3 and the upper face of the element 4 are provided with an opening 8 for installation and fastening of the screen 1. A wall 9 extends from inside of the lbox and projects outwardly from the opening 8 towards the area of the screen, for a height wall 9 serves for view of an end of a panel and the angular member 10 thereby avoiding possible displacements or vibrations of the screen.

As previously mentioned, the screen 1 is provided with rectilinear horizontal undulations 15 (best seen in FIG- URES 6 and 7) which are intended to avoid the reflection of the lights of the headlights of the travelling vehicles against themselves or against the following traic. The undulations also serve to prevent the flexion of the horlzontal elements of the frame due to the stresses exerted by the wind on the major surface of the screen. As will be seen in FIGURES 3 and 4, the horizontal undulations are asymmetric and comprise two adjacent segments of different inclination.

The vertical elements 2 also have a section in the form of a rectangular box (see FIGURE 5). The width of the elements is equal to that of the

horizontal elements

3 and 4. The opening, indicated by reference 12, is considerably wider than the openings 8 and is flanked by two

walls

13 and 14 which are similar to the previously described walls 9.

Walls

13 and 14 are disposed symmetrically with respect to the centerline of the rectangular section, and define the above mentioned opening 12.

The

walls

13 and 14 constitute a vertical opening or channel 12, which contains the vertical margins of the screen 1. Because of the undulations 15, these openings must have a width greater than the openings 8.

In order to reinforoe the screen in the two vertical channels and to increase its resistance to the stresses dueto the wind, the corresponding margins of the screen are reinforced by means of elastic gaskets 16 (see FIGURES 3, 4, 5, and 7). The gaskets may be made of the same material as the screen and must have the same prole as the screen. There are at least two gaskets for each vertical margin and their height is substantially equal to that of tre screen. FIGURE 7 illustrates the relative positioning of the gaskets to the screen.

The gaskets are shown in an installed position in FIG-

URES

3, 4 and 5. There are a sufficient number of gaskets installed to prevent the screen from loosely moving within the channel 12. A rst pair of gaskets enclosing the screen may have a width which is slightly smaller than the height of the channel 12. A second pair of gaskets may also be disposed between the first gaskets and the

walls

13 and 14 of the channel and may have a greater width in order to increase the stability of the anchorage and to facilitate the removal of the screen from the installed panel, as it is hereinafter explained.

The particular system for fastening the screen to the

horizontal elements

3 and 4 has an advantage of facilitating the removal and the replacement of the screen 1, thus reducing the cost of this operation. In fact, the invention may be disassembled by removing the two hood-shaped angles 6, loosening the angles 10 and removing the element 3. The vertical elastic gaskets 16 may be removed either separately, horizontally from channel 12 or together with the screen 1 vertically from the top of the frame. The screen may be replaced with another screen by carrying out the same operations in inverse order.

It has been stated above that the screen 1 has suitable opaque characteristics. This is intended to mean that a certain amount of light Afrom the headlights of oncoming vehicles will be absorbed by the screen.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or central characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claim rather than the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency in the claim are therefore to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:

A panel for anti-dazzling barriers for road use comprising a rigid rectangular frame having horizontal and vertical elements, an anti-dazzling screen mounted in said frame, a lower portion of said vertical elements of said frame extending beyond said screen to be anchored to means fixed into the ground, said screen comprising a plate having suitable opaque characteristics, preferably of polyester resin reinforced with glass fibers, said plate of plastic material being provided with a plurality of rectilinear undulations along a horizontal plane, said frame elements -having a section in the form of a substantially rectangular box having greater and minor sides, the greater sides of said rectangle being disposed in the sense of the panel thickness, one of said greater sides of each said element having a continuous opening therein, the opening in the greater sides of the section of said horizontal elements having a width less than the height of said undulations in said plate, said elements being assembled with said openings being inwardly directed to provide means for containing and fastening the screen therein, a wall member secured in and to one side of said opening of each said horizontal element of the frame, one edge of said wall member being xedly mounted on the inside of said element and the opposite edge extending outwardly from said opening towards the area of the screen for a height nearly equal to that of the minor side of said element, at least one wall member being secured to each side of the opening of each said vertical element, each said wall member having one edge secured at the bottom of said element and the opposite edge extending outwardly towards the area of the screen, said wall members in said vertical elements defining therebetween a channel symmetrically disposed with respect to the mid line of each said element, an angular member detachably fastened to the other side of said opening of each said horizontal element, said screen being anchored between said wall member and said angular member, and a hood-shaped angle means detachably mounted for securing the upper horizontal element to the vertical elements.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,130,287 3/1915 Horvath 256-24 2,336,999 12/ 1943 Peelle 52--624 X 2,589,517 3/1952 Stelzer 52-625 X 2,723,107 11/1955 Parker 256-24 2,808,355 10/ 1957 Christie et al 52-624 X 2,873,094 2/1959 Blum 256--31 2,992,711 7/1961 Mitchell et al 52--625 X 3,037,593 6/ 1962 Webster.

FOREIGN PATENTS 228,822 8/1963 Austria. 1,300,536 6/1962 France.

671,339 2/1939 Germany.

DAVID I. WILLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner.

HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Examiner.

D. L. TAYLOR, Assistant Examiner.