Spacer for road safety barrier

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10648142-B2
Application number	US-201515562367-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 2, 2015
Priority date	Apr 2, 2015
Publication date	May 12, 2020
Grant date	May 12, 2020

Abstract

The present invention provides a spacer for a road safety barrier. The spacer includes a post and a rail connected to the post via an intermediary of the spacer and a connector. The spacer includes a rail support having a front face intended to be fastened to a rail, a rear face intended to be fastened to a post and a flange that connects the front face to the rear face. The front face includes a notch emerging on the upper edge of the front face, the notch includes a connector housing, located in the lower portion of the notch and two convergent lateral edges connecting the connector housing to the upper edge of the front face. The present invention also provides a safety barrier including a spacer and a fabrication kit for a safety barrier.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A spacer for a road safety barrier, the road safety barrier having a post and a rail connected to the post via the spacer and a connector, the spacer comprising:
a rail support comprising:
a front face designed to be fastened to the rail;
a rear face designed to be fastened to the post; and
a flange connecting the front face to the rear face;

the front face comprising a notch emerging on an upper edge of the front face, the notch comprising a connector housing, located in a lower portion of the notch and two convergent lateral edges connecting the connector housing to the upper edge of the front face.

2. The spacer as recited in claim 1 , wherein the connector housing is a hole, an edge of which is a portion of a circle, two ends of the connector housing are connected to the two convergent lateral edges.

3. The spacer as recited in claim 2 , wherein the connector housing is a hole, the edge of which is a semi-circle, a diameter of the hole being 1.01 to 1.25 times larger than a diameter of the connector.

4. The spacer as recited in claim 1 , wherein a minimum spacing between the two convergent lateral edges is between one-half and three-quarters of a diameter of the connector.

5. The spacer as recited in claim 1 , wherein a spacing between the two convergent lateral edges is strictly less than a diameter of the connector over at least one-half of a length of the two convergent lateral edges.

6. The spacer as recited in claim 1 , wherein a ratio of a length of the two convergent lateral edges to a diameter of the connector housing is between 1 and 3.

7. The spacer as recited in claim 1 , wherein the two convergent lateral edges are straight-line segments.

8. The spacer as recited in claim 1 , wherein a junction between the two convergent lateral edges and the upper edge of the front face comprises a rounded portion.

9. The spacer as recited in claim 1 , wherein the rail support is a tube with a rectangular or square cross section.

10. The spacer as recited in claim 1 , wherein the rail support is made of steel.

11. The spacer as recited in claim 1 , wherein the lower or upper ends of the rail support are beveled so that the rear face of the rail support is longer than the front face of the rail support.

12. The spacer as recited in claim 1 , further comprising a rail guide including, in succession, a fastening area suitable for fastening the rail guide to the post above the rail support, a connecting piece and a rail reinforcement area suitable for fastening the rail guide on a reverse side of the rail.

13. The spacer as recited in claim 12 , wherein the rail guide further includes an extension, located in the extended portion of the rail reinforcement area and capable of extending underneath the rail support.

14. The spacer as recited in claim 1 , wherein the rail support is made of steel.

15. The spacer as recited in claim 14 , wherein the rail support has a thickness between 3 mm and 8 mm.

16. The spacer as recited in claim 14 , wherein the steel has an elastic limit between 235 and 600 MPa.

17. A road safety barrier comprising:
a post;
a rail;
a connector; and
a spacer including a rail support comprising a front face designed to be fastened to the rail; a rear face designed to be fastened to the post and a flange connecting the front face to the rear face;
the front face comprising a notch emerging on an upper edge of the front face, the notch comprising a connector housing, located in a lower portion of the notch and two convergent lateral edges connecting the connector housing to the upper edge of the front face;
the post and the rail being connected via the spacer and the connector.

18. The road safety barrier as recited in claim 17 , wherein the connector is a bolt.

19. The road safety barrier as recited in claim 17 , wherein the connector is a bolt and the connector housing is a hole, the diameter of the hole being 1.01 to 1.25 larger than the bolt.

20. A fabrication kit for a safety barrier comprising:
a post;
a rail;
a connector; and
a spacer, the spacer including a rail support comprising a front face designed to be fastened to the rail; a rear face designed to be fastened to the post and a flange connecting the front face to the rear face;
the front face comprising a notch emerging on an upper edge of the front face, the notch comprising a connector housing, located in a lower portion of the notch and two convergent lateral edges connecting the connector housing to the upper edge of the front face;
the spacer being capable of fastening the rail to the post via the connector.

Assignees

• Arcelormittal

Inventors

• Gremling Michaël

Classifications

• E01F15/0438 Primary

  Spacers between rails and posts, e.g. energy-absorbing means (E01F15/0415 takes precedence) · CPC title

• E01F15/0423

  Details of rails (E01F15/0415 takes precedence) · CPC title

• E01F15/043

  with multiple superimposed members; Rails provided with skirts · CPC title