WO2007115572A1

WO2007115572A1 - Safety shield for a vehicle

Info

Publication number: WO2007115572A1
Application number: PCT/DK2007/000173
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jan Erik Krusaa
Original assignee: Jan Erik Krusaa
Priority date: 2006-04-07
Filing date: 2007-04-04
Publication date: 2007-10-18

Abstract

The present invention concerns a safety shield (1) on a vehicle where the safety shield is flexible and provided along the side of the vehicle, preferably in the opening between its wheel sets, for example on a lorry or a lorry trailer. The safety shield (1) is designed with a flexible frame, where the frame consists of at least two, substantially vertically disposed frame parts (4), and at least two substantially horizontal frame parts (3, 5), where the at least two vertical frame parts (4) are each connected with at least one spring element (6), and where a membrane or canvas is fixed to the frame. In that the vertical frame parts are connected with at least one spring element, it is achieved that the free end of the frame part can be moved in practically any direction, so that if the vertical frame part strikes the roadway or other solid obstacle, the vertical frame part moves and the obstacle may be passed without any damage occurring to the safety shield.

Description

Safety Shield for a Vehicle

Field of the Invention

The present invention concerns a safety shield for use on a vehicle where the safety shield is flexible and provided along the side of the vehicle, preferably in the opening between its wheel sets, for example on a lorry or a lorry trailer.

Description of Prior Art

From lorries it is commonly known that a guard is fitted under the front and rear bumpers to prevent a car from driving in under a lorry.

It is also well-known that a side guard is fitted in the opening between the wheels. The purpose of such a side guard is to provide an effective protection for exposed road users against the risk of falling in under the sides of the vehicle and get in under the wheels. Exposed road users in this connection are defined as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists using the road in a way so that they are prone to fall in under the sides of the vehicle and fall in under the wheels.

Moreover, from US 4,688,824 is known a safety device for mounting primarily on school buses. This device may be adjusted manually or automatically at positions from no protection at all to the point where the safety device extends from the chassis of the bus and to the roadway. However, this device has another purpose, as the purpose is to prevent children from crawling in under the bus, e.g. for getting a ball or similar, while the bus is standing still. Moreover, the system is not suited to be activated when the bus is driving, as it is not designed to withstand contact with the road surface.

The requirements made by the authorities to a side shield are, however, not sufficient to prevent accidents. The side shield may be mounted with up to a distance of 55 centimetres from the lower edge to the roadway. If a cyclist during a right turn of a lorry come into contact with the side guard, there is thus a great risk that the cyclist is thrown off the bicycle and comes under the wheels, side shield or not.

The prior art solutions to side shielding surely prevent some accidents, but cannot be said to be sufficiently safe. It is thus the purpose of the invention to indicate a safety shield for mounting at the sides of lorries, lorry trailers and the like, where the shielding is flexible and where the space between the wheels is filled more optimally than by the prior art types.

Description of the Invention

As mentioned, the invention concerns a safety shield for use on a vehicle, where the safety shield is designed with a flexible frame, where the frame consists of at least two substantially vertically disposed frame parts, and at least two substantially horizontal frame parts, where the at least two vertical frame parts are each connected with at least one spring element, and where a membrane or canvas is fixed to the frame.

Li that the vertical frame parts are connected with at least one spring element, it is achieved that the free end of the frame part can be moved in practically any direction, so that if the vertical frame part strikes the roadway or other solid obstacle, the vertical frame part moves and the obstacle may be passed without any damage occurring to the safety shield. The spring elements may be helical springs, rubber rods or other kinds of spring elements allowing the frame part to move.

The vertical frame part can be with a spring element disposed at the upper end of the frame part, but may also be provided with a plurality of spring elements, e.g. disposed evenly spaced over the length of the frame part. With a plurality of spring elements, where the individual spring elements have varying spring force, there is possibility to incorporate a special spring characteristic in the safety shield. For example, it may be attractive to have the spring elements yielding the most closest to the roadway, but different conditions may of course apply.

A preferred variant of a safety shield according to the invention is with a hinge system where the safety shield is connected to the chassis of the vehicle and extends mainly between the chassis of the vehicle and the roadway. By this solution there is achieved optimal protection, as the entire space between the wheels of the vehicle is closed off. If a pedestrian or a cyclist comes into contact with the vehicle in right turn or similar situation, the situation is of course still serious, but the risk that the weak road user goes under the wheels is largely obviated. In a variant of a safety shield for use on a vehicle according to the invention, the safety shield is connected to the chassis of the vehicle with a hinge system allowing an approximately vertical displacement of the safety shield up along the side of the vehicle. With such a solution there is obtained the possibility that the driver while driving on e.g. a building site or in a gravel pit may elevate the safety shield while manoeuvring in a rough terrain. The function may also be used in servicing or in other situations where it is expedient that the safety shield is removed.

A particular variant of the invention indicates that the mainly vertical frame parts are with means for individual adjustment of the height of the safety shield. The shielding may thus be adapted to different levels, and thereby one type may be used on a plurality of different heights of vehicles.

A further variant of a safety shield according to the invention has a wearing edge at the edge facing the roadway, preferably a replaceable wearing edge. This wearing edge may be of metal, rubber, plastic or other suitable material. The main thing is that it can withstand contact with the roadway without being destroyed or worn rapidly. With such a wearing edge, the protective shielding may close off the space between chassis and roadway completely.

Yet a variant according to the invention is where the safety shield between the substantially vertical frame parts and at the edge facing the roadway has a substantially horizontal frame part, e.g. a steel wire, on which a number of ballast elements are mounted. These ballast elements have the purpose to ensure that the shielding hangs right down to the roadway, whereby there is achieved an increased security against a colliding cyclist or pedestrian will come in under a loosely suspended safety shield. The ballast may be said to ensure that a person collided with is fairly swept away from the dangerous wheels.

In a preferred embodiment, the ballast elements are made ball-shaped and may act as wearing edge. The ballast elements are preferably made of a hard and durable material, e.g. metal or plastic. In that the ballast elements are ball-shaped and mounted on an approximately horizontal steel wire (as pearls on a string) or similar, there is obtained the clear advantage that the ballast elements do not easily get caught if they get in contact with curb stones or with a person collided with. The ball shape do in some way glance off from the obstacles with which it comes into contact.

A safety shield according to the invention is, as previously mentioned, a flexible frame covered with canvas, e.g. a tarpaulin canvas. This tarpaulin canvas may possibly be with a single wall, it may be with a double wall with stuffing between the layers, and it may also be inflatable where pressurised air is continuously supplied to the safety shield from the compressor of the vehicle, or just occasionally.

Such a canvas or membrane for a safety shield can be made in several ways.

A tarpaulin canvas made of the type of tarpaulin used for coverings on lorries has good properties, as it is strong and robust. It may furthermore be made so that it is equipped with eyelets, straps, rod pockets and other details which are needed to mount the canvas on the flexible frame.

Yet a variant of a safety shield according to the invention is where the canvas on the flexible frame is used for placing commercials. This space for commercials may of course be used according to wish, and may possibly also be used as mark of warning that a vehicle is about to - or is waiting to — perform a right turn. The mark of warning may be signs, but may also be light signals and sound signals.

Short Description of the Drawing The invention is described in more detail with reference to the drawing, where:

FIG. 1 shows a frame for a protective shield without canvas.

FIG. 2 shows a second variant of the frame also without canvas.

FIG. 3 shows a protective shielding with canvas.

FIG. 4 shows a protective shielding with a warning sign on the canvas.

Detailed Description of the Invention

Fig. 1 shows a safety shield 1 in a basic form. The protective shield 1 is to be mounted below a vehicle bottom on a lorry or a lorry trailer. The bottom of the vehicle is shown schematically here as transverse reinforcements 2 under which there is mounted a longitudinal beam 3 to which the safety shield 1 is fitted. hi the shown variant, the safety shield 1 is built up with a flexible frame consisting of three vertical frame parts 4 and two horizontal frame parts 3 and 5. The vertical frame parts 4 consist of three spring elements 6 which are mounted between rigid tubular members 7. This design ensures that the vertical frame part 4 is movable in all directions and still has the rigidity needed for preventing something from coming in under the shielding 1.

hi the shown variant, the vertical frame parts 4 are built up from round tube pieces 7 with helical spring elements 6 between. These spring elements 6 may in principle be made in other ways, as well as the rigid members 7 can be made in other ways.

At the lower edge facing the roadway, the shielding 1 is, as mentioned, provided with a horizontal frame part 5, shown here with ballast elements 8. The horizontal frame part 5 is here constituted by a steel wire 9, and the ballast elements 8 are mounted on the wire 9 in through-going holes, hi principle, these ballast elements 8 have several purposes. Namely to ensure that the protective shield is kept right down at the roadway. At the same time, it is the object that the ballast elements 8 "push" possible items away from the wheel area - e.g. a cyclist collided with - so that a serious accident is prevented.

The safety shield may be mounted with not shown hinges under the vehicle frame so that it maybe elevated up along the side of the vehicle, or is opened/removed in other ways according to need.

Fig. 2 shows yet a variant of a protective shielding 1 where the vertical frame parts 4 are covered with a rubber surface 10, whereby wear between frame part 4 and the not shown canvas is minimised. The vertical frame parts 4 are furthermore with height adjusting means 11 so that the shield 1 can be adapted to various levels.

In Fig. 3 appears a safety shield 1 for mounting under a vehicle bottom or similar, where four horizontal frame parts 5 are shown between the vertical frame parts 4. These horizontal frame parts 5 are disposed behind the canvas 12 which covers the vertical as well as the horizontal frame parts 4, 5, and have the purpose of supporting the canvas 12 so that it is not impressed in case of a possible collision. The canvas 12 is shown here as a double- walled membrane 12 where pressurised air is supplied via pneumatic hoses 13, so that the canvas in principle is a kind of air bag. The horizontal frame parts 5 and the inflated canvas 12 act as reinforcement on the entire shield 1 without the flexibility disappearing.

Finally, a protective shield 1 is shown in Fig. 4, fitted under a vehicle bottom between two wheels 14 on a lorry. In the shown variant there is a warning sign 15 on the canvas 12. The warning sign 15 may be printed thereon, but may also be with light markings and possibly with a sound emitter, so that a cyclist's attention is directed against the lorry when this performs or is to perform a right turn. The ballast elements 8 and a replaceable wearing edge 16 are seen at the lower edge.

Claims

1. A safety shield on a vehicle where the safety shield is flexible and provided along the side of the vehicle, preferably in the opening between its wheel sets, for example on a lorry or a lorry trailer, characterised in that the safety shield is designed with a flexible frame, where the frame consists of at least two, substantially vertically disposed frame parts, and at least two substantially horizontal frame parts, where the at least two vertical frame parts are each connected with at least one spring element, and where a membrane or canvas is fixed to the frame.

2. Safety shield on a vehicle according to claim 1, characterised in that that the safety shield is connected to the chassis of the vehicle via a hinge system and extends mainly between the chassis of the vehicle and the roadway.

3. Safety shield on a vehicle according to any of claims 1 and 2, characterised in that the safety shield is connected to the chassis of the vehicle with a hinge system allowing an approximately vertical displacement of the safety shield up along the side of the vehicle.

4. Safety shield on a vehicle according to any of claims 1 - 3, characterised in that the mainly vertical frame parts are with means for individual adjustment of the height of the safety shield.

5. Safety shield on a vehicle according to any of claims 1 -4, characterised in that at the edge facing the roadway, the safety shield has a wearing edge, preferably a replaceable wearing edge.

6. Safety shield on a vehicle according to any of claims 1 -5, characterised in that the safety shield between the substantially vertical frame parts and at the edge facing the roadway has a substantially horizontal frame part, e.g. a steel wire, on which a number of ballast elements are mounted.

7. Safety shield on a vehicle according to claim 6, characterised in that the ballast elements are ball-shaped, act as wearing edge and are made of a hard and durable material, e.g. metal or plastic.

8. Safety shield on a vehicle according to any of claims 1 -7, characterised in that the canvas, e.g. a tarpaulin membrane, is double-walled and inflatable.

9. Safety shield on a vehicle according to any of claims 1 -8, characterised in that the canvas is used as space for commercials.