Patent Application
20050135878
In order to protect the public from hazards existing at a construction site, most public authorities mandate that such sites be protected from public access by the construction of a suitable barrier such as a fence or hoarding. Usually the barrier fencing or hoarding is fastened to posts, which are dug, driven or otherwise placed in the strata surrounding the construction site where the conditions permit. The underlying strata may present unseen hazards when the installation of the barrier posts is undertaken. If the strata has previously been used as a building site, it may contain underground services such as electric, water and gas distribution services. If the site to be protected has previously been the site of a building, there may be concrete foundations which although not exposed, may be located near the surface of the strata on which a barrier is to be erected. Such conditions cause a contractor to be very cautious when installing posts for a hoarding barrier to be supported on posts.
In order to overcome the problem of driving posts into a strata containing unknown hazards, a portable barrier has been developed which sits on the surface of the strata of the site to be protected. This barrier is made up of individual elements which resemble a steel gate having flat feet protruding from either side at the bottom of the gate barrier to provide stability for the resulting barrier which is composed of many interlocking gate elements coupled together attached to provide a continuous string barrier. The advantages of this type of barrier are that it is quick and easy to install and does not penetrate the underlying strata. It does provide security against entrance of pedestrian traffic. The disadvantages of this type of barrier is that the resulting barrier must allow passage of the wind or the barrier would surely topple in the presence of strong winds; for this reason the protective barrier inside the steel tubing forming the frame must be similar to a wire fence to permit the passage of wind. This also means that the site to be protected can never be obscured from the curious eye of the public by such barriers. Heavy construction machinery may also easily move such barriers.
Thus the most obvious short comings of the two previously described barriers are: the instability of the barriers in which the feet of the barrier rest on the ground, and the potential hazard to the installation crew of the barriers using posts which must penetrate the supporting strata. Both barriers will require regular inspections and constant maintenance to ensure the integrity of the barrier.
Access to any construction site is a must and is usually provided by gaps in the hoarding or fencing for which gates are usually provided to close the access openings when it is desired to secure the site. Gate posts are almost a must and such posts must be securely anchored in the strata to provide sufficient additional strength to support a swinging gate. The additional load of a swinging gate on a temporarily installed post merely exacerbates the problem of providing a secure enclosure of a construction site under adverse conditions. Gate posts must therefore be carefully installed to decrease maintenance costs and regular inspection is a must.
In order to overcome the above problems of securing construction and other sites where barriers of a temporary nature are required to prevent public access, it is proposed to provide a Jersey type barrier, which is modified to permit the installation of additional height barriers thereon to discourage the public from climbing over the barrier. Jersey barriers have become a “standard” for protection against penetration by motor vehicles along busy highways and because of the sheer mass and robustness of this type of barrier, it is not easily moved or overturned. The barrier is also almost maintenance free.
Jersey barriers have become an acceptable method of preventing traffic from crossing a median where such barriers are installed. It is understood that such barriers are not primarily designed to prevent pedestrians from mounting or jumping over the standard Jersey barrier, but they are effective in preventing motor vehicles from penetrating the barrier.
Because the typical Jersey barrier has no vertical walls in the finished state, it is most difficult to provide any additional height to the standard Jersey barrier by the attachment of hoarding etc. to the barrier.
This invention seeks to modify the standard Jersey barrier to provide a quick and easy installation of a supplementary vertical barrier, which will provide additional height to the Jersey type barrier to increase the difficulty of the public scaling and climbing over the barrier.
The barrier may comprise a complete sheet of material attached to a vertical wall provided by the modified Jersey type barrier. Alternately a series of recesses having a vertical surface(s) provided in the sidewalls of the barrier will permit the installation of vertical posts on the modified barrier. Continuous sheeting or boarding may be installed on the vertical barrier posts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,812 issued Mar. 5, 1985
U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,306 issued Aug. 7, 1990
A standard prior art Jersey Barrier 10 is shown in the sectional view of
This barrier has become a “standard” for the provisions of providing an effective median barrier for most highways to prevent out of control vehicles from penetrating the barrier and crossing the median of highways. This barrier, usually made of concrete, is heavy and extremely durable, and has the correct shape and mass to effectively deflect most vehicles back into the traffic lane from whence they came.
While the shape of the Jersey Barrier is effective to prevent the passage of the moving vehicles across modem highways, it is not shaped to be an effective barrier for construction sites or other areas where it is desired to prevent public access.
Side 30 of the barrier of
In
Strut 62 is made to fit snugly into recess 60 such that bore 76 provided in strut 62 aligns itself with through hole 72 of barrier 50 when correctly installed. Bolt 74 may be engaged with nut 78 to secure strut 62 in recess 60 of barrier 50. It is expected that numerous recesses such as 60 will be formed in surface 56 to provide support for many struts such as 62.
Because surface 64 is vertical, strut 62 will assume a vertical attitude as well. A sheet barrier 80 may be mounted on strut 62 by means of bolts such as 82 to provide a continuous vertical barrier which when added to the height of barrier 50 makes scaling difficult and as such forms an effective barrier to prevent unwanted access to protected sites.
A gate 90 is hingedly secured to barrier 50 in the manner shown in
Each end of barriers 50 is provided with suitable interconnecting means, usually prongs such as 94 and the opposing end of the barrier 50 is provided with a pair of protruding “eyes” which mate with prongs such as 94 to interconnect the barriers 50. In
Hinge post 92 is provided with a pair of hinge pins 100 which receive hinge sleeves 102 mounted on gate 104.
An alternative construction for the barrier is shown in
It will be seen that this invention uses the massive concrete barriers to effectively permit the swift erection of vertically extending barriers at the top of the concrete barriers 22, 50, 110 etc. The resulting barriers are excellent devices for providing long term protection of construction sites against unwanted public access.
Because of the proven ability of the Jersey type barrier to withstand abuse from impact, fire, and weather and because no additional posts need be driven into the ground or other surface; these barriers with their vertically extending walls of suitable sheet material may be swiftly erected around a site to be protected, with little thought to ongoing maintenance.
Each barrier is traditionally provided with suitable attaching means at each end thereof (which may take on many forms) to permit the swift interconnection of individual barrier elements to form a continuous interconnected barrier. These attachments provided at each end of each barrier may also be used when needed to provide for the attachment of upright posts to the barrier, which may be ultimately used to hinge gates thereon where gaps must be provided in the barrier wall.
The acceptance of the Jersey type barrier by the public also tends to overcome any reluctance by contractors and other contracting personnel to install such barriers.
While other modifications to the barriers described in this specification will no doubt arise, the applicants prefer to limit the scope of their invention by the following claims.
