AU4680597A - An improved bollard - Google Patents

Description

P00011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act, 1990

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT TO BE COMPLETED BY THE APPLICANT NAME OF APPLICANT: ACTUAL INVENTOR: ADDRESS FOR SERVICE: JOHN WILLIAM ROACH JOHN WILLIAM ROACH Peter Maxwell Associates Level 6 Pitt Street SYDNEY NSW 2000 AN IMPROVED BOLLARD

NIL

INVENTION TITLE: DETAILS OF ASSOCIATED PROVISIONAL APPLICATION NO: The following statement is a full description of this invention including the best method of performing it known to me:- The present invention relates to a removable bollard assembly and, in particular, to a removable bollard assembly that provides strength, improved resistance to unauthorised tampering and relative ease of installation and removal. The removable bollard assembly of the present invention has particular application as a defense barrier against "ram raiders", but may also be used as a pedestrian safety barrier on pavements and the like, and as a wagon stay, although it is envisaged that many other uses are within the scope of the present invention.

Many commonly used pedestrian safety bollards are weakly connected to pavement or like surfaces, and offer little or no protection as a vehicle barrier. Their weak connection may make them prone to unauthorised tampering, destruction or theft, which may also result from unauthorised tampering with the locking mechanism.

Furthermore, conventional pedestrian safety bollards are installed and removed in a very time consuming manner and usually require bending or stooping of the person installing or removing the bollard. When such bollards are removed from their site of installation, they often leave unsightly or dangerous anchoring on the pavement, such as open holes which may cause physical injury.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome or at least substantially ameliorate the disadvantages or shortcomings of the prior art.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a removable bollard assembly where its increased strength as a vehicle barrier or the like is derived from an improved connection located at the pavement or like surface level between a removable bollard post component and a surface level anchored socket component of the bollard assembly.

26/11/97 It is a further object of the present invention to ensure that the improved surface level connection can be quickly and easily effected during installation or removal of the bollard post from the anchored socket, without comprising the increased barrier strength of the bollard post.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a removable bollard assembly where a vehicle or the like colliding with the bollard post thereof is significantly less likely, when compared to prior art bollards, to render inoperational the bollard assembly or, at least, compromise the increased strength of the bollard assembly, because of the improved surface level connection between bollard post and anchored socket.

According to the invention, there is provided a removable bollard assembly comprising socket means adapted for anchoring to a surface, a bollard post including an anchor shaft having an enlarged head portion, the enlarged head portion being adapted to be received within a cavity formed in the socket means and be moved from a first position within the cavity where the enlarged head portion can move freely into and out of the cavity, thereby enabling disconnection of the bollard post from the socket means, to a second position within the said cavity, where the enlarged head portion cannot move freely into and out of the cavity, the anchor shaft further consisting of a rotatable pin member with which the enlarged head portion is able to rotate and a rotatable tubular member concentrically surrounding the pin member and connected to the pin member by means enabling both the pin member and tubular member to be independently rotatable but simultaneously movable along their shared longitudinal axis, and locking means for preventing the rotation of the tubular member, whereby the enlarged head portion is moved from its first position to its 26/11/97 second position by longitudinal rotation of the pin member, and the enlarged head portion is locked within the cavity by actuating the locking means to prevent rotation of the tubular member, whereby the bollard post is unable to be disconnected from the socket means.

Preferably, the anchor shaft extends generally centrally through a housing for the bollard.

Preferably, the housing has an access opening for the anchor shaft at the upper end thereof.

In order that the invention may be readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Fig 1. is a side elevational view of an installed removable bollard assembly according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, Fig 2. is a sectional side view of the bollard post of the assembly of Fig 1, showing the anchor shaft before the enlarged head portion is moved into the cavity in the socket means, Fig 3. is a sectional side view of the socket means of the assembly of Fig 1, Fig 4. is a partly broken away sectional side view of the bollard post of Fig 1 after the enlarged head portion of the anchor shaft is moved into its first position in the cavity in the socket means, Fig 5. is a view similar to that of Fig 4 but showing the enlarged head portion of the anchor shaft in its second position in the cavity in the socket means, Fig 6. is a top view of the socket means of the assembly of Fig 1, 26/11/97 Fig 7. is an isolated top view of the locking arrangement of the assembly of Fig 1, Fig 8. is an enlarged broken away sectional side view of the connection between the bollard post and socket means of the assembly of Fig 1, showing the enlarged head portion in its first position, and Fig 9. is an enlarged broken away sectional side view of the connection between the bollard post and socket means of the assembly of Fig 1, showing the enlarged head portion in its second position.

The removable bollard assembly 10 shown in Figs 1 to 9 consists of a socket means 12 and a bollard post 14 mounted thereon.

The socket means 12 is anchored into a pavement 16 or any other suitable surface. Typically, the pavement 16, which in this embodiment is made of concrete, is cored or laid in such a way as to create a hole 18 that will readily accept therewithin the socket means 12. The hole 18 is dimensioned so that it is about 10mm larger than the socket means 12 and so as to form a continuous gap between the walls of the hole 18 and the socket means 12 when it is inserted therein. Epoxy resin or other similar flowable binding agent 20 is poured into the hole 18 and the socket means 12 is then sunk into the hole 18. The weight and displacement of the socket means 12 in the binding agent 20 causes the binding agent 20 to spread up and throughout the continuous gap between the walls of the hole 18 and the socket means 12. Any gap that remains after the socket means 12 has been sunk into the hole 18 to a sufficient depth that its uppermost surface is level with the pavement surface is filled with binding 26/11/97 agent 20 until the binding agent 20 is also level with the surface of the pavement 16.

The binding agent 20 is then allowed sufficient time to set hard so that it can bind the socket means 12 with the concrete pavement 16 and support the weight of the bollard post 14 without any substantial displacement of the socket means 12.

The bollard post 14 is then located over the so anchored socket means 12 for mounting thereon. It will be appreciated that, in some cases, the bollard post 14 may be mounted to the socket means 12 prior to insertion of the socket means 12 into the binding agent containing hole 18, although such cases will be rare.

The bollard post 14 consists of a generally cylindrical bollard housing 22 having an upper enlarged bulb portion 23 and a uniform diameter stand portion 25. The housing 22 surrounds an anchor shaft 24 which extends generally centrally through the housing 22 and protrudes upwardly therefrom through circular access opening 28 located symmetrically at the top of the bollard post 14.

The anchor shaft 24 consists essentially of an upper shaft portion 27, an intermediate engaging nut 34 and a lower anchor portion 29. The upper shaft portion 27 consists essentially of an elongated tubular member and a pin member 32 extending longitudinally therewithin, but protruding therefrom at its upper end in the form of a thrust handle 52.

The outer tubular member 30 is welded to the nut 34 which, in turn, is welded to an underlying washer 36. The bore of the nut 34 is defined by threading (not shown) which screwably receives external threading 38 of a threaded portion of the pin member 32, thereby enabling engagement of the outer tubular member 30 with the inner pin member 32. Therefore, the 26/11/97 tubular member 30 and pin member 32, while being simultaneously movable longitudinally, are independently movable about their shared longitudinal axes (ie. in rotating directions) by virtue of their threaded engagement via nut 34.

The tubular member 30 has a boss member 40 concentrically positioned at its uppermost end which emerges from the housing 22. The boss member 40 has a circumferentially extending aperture 43 for engagement of a spanner (not shown) which is used to screw the tubular member 30 downwardly relative to the pin member 32 by virtue of their threaded engagement.

The lower anchor portion 29 consists of an enlarged head portion 26 and a neck portion 31. The head portion 26 is in the general shape of an arrow head (see side view thereof in Figs 5 and 9).

As well as the nut 34, the tubular member 30 also has welded thereto a locking arm assembly 42 (shown in detail in Fig 7) and a washer 44. The tubular member 30 passes through a hole 45 formed in a compression spring restraining plate 46 which is screwed to the inner wall of housing 22. A slideable washer 48, through which the tubular member also passes, rests on the plate 46. Concentrically located around the tubular member 30 but between the washers 44 and 48 is a compression spring 50. The compression spring 50, being restrained by both the washer 44 and plate 46 (which are fixed in their positions in the housing 22), allows the anchor shaft 24 to stand under its own weight within the housing 22 in the pre-installation "standing" position for the bollard post 14 shown in Fig 2. In this position, the enlarged head portion 26 is completely enclosed within the housing 22.

26/11/97 As well as the plate 46, the housing plate 22 also has secured thereto a lock actuating arrangement 53, comprising a key operated cam lock 55 and a locking block 57, which is adapted to lockingly engage the locking arm assembly 42.

The compression spring 50 may be compressed by applying downward pressure on the thrust handle 52 of the pin member 32, thereby forcing the anchor shaft 24 to move downwardly from its "standing" position and resulting in the enlarged head portion 26 passing through a symmetrical opening 54 in the annular base 56 of the housing 22 for engagement of the enlarged head portion 26 with the socket means 12, and in the locking arm assembly 42 being brought into contact (as shown in Fig 4) against the lock actuating arrangement 53.

The cam lock 55 has a cam member 58 (not shown in Fig 7) which may be turned by operation of a key (not shown) between an upright position (as shown in Figs 2 and 4) and a downward position (as shown in Fig The locking block 57 is adjacent to, but both horizontally and vertically displaced from, the cam lock 55 and has a downwardly inclined upper corner portion 90 nearest the cam lock 55. The locking arm assembly 42 has a locking arm 91, a hinge 25 welded to the tubular portion 30 for allowing the locking arm 91 to pivot, and a downwardly projecting cut out tooth portion 92 for abutting against the tubular portion when the locking arm 91 is horizontal, the tooth portion 92 thereby limiting the pivot stroke of the locking arm 91 so that it does not pivot below the horizontal position as shown in Fig 2.

When the cam member 58 is in the upright position and the thrust handle 52 is pressed downwardly to its full extent, the locking arm 91 abuts against the cam member 58 and is caused to pivot slightly upwardly 26/11/97 (as shown in Fig 4) so that it is vertically displaced from the locking block 57, which will now not interfere with the rotation of the locking arm 91 (and hence the anchor shaft 24) whilst the cam member 58 is in the upright position. The presence of the downwardly inclined upper corner portion 90 in the locking block 57 also ensures that the locking block 57 does not interfere with such rotation.

The pin member 32 of the anchor shaft 24 may now be rotated about its longitudinal axis by manipulation of the thrust handle 52 so that the enlarged head portion 26 may be engaged within the socket means 12.

The direction of the threading 38 of the threaded portion of the pin member 32 is such that the pin member 32 is only able to be screwed in an anticlockwise direction relative to a position of reference over the top of the bollard post 14.

The socket means 12 consists of a generally cylindrical socket body housing 60 and an annularly shaped socket cap 62, the housing 60 and cap 62 defining an internal socket cavity 63. The socket housing 60 has a base member 64 to which is centrally mounted a coil spring 68. The upper part of coil spring 68 is engaged within a slot 70 of a socket plug 72 which may be made of nylon or like material. The socket plug 72 has a roughly oval shaped upper portion 73 as shown in Fig 6 and a circularly shaped lower portion 75 which defines the slot 70. As required, the socket plug 72 is able to slide upwardly and downwardly through the socket cavity 63.

When the weight of the anchor shaft 24 is applied downwardly on the socket plug 72 by abutting against the upper surface 74 of portion 73, the socket plug 72 slides downwardly against resistance applied by the coil spring 68. When the shaft 24 is raised upwardly through the socket cavity 63, the socket plug 72 slides upwardly under force exerted by the 26/11/97 extension properties of the coil spring 68. When the anchor shaft 24 does not occupy the socket cavity 63 (as shown in Fig. the effect of the coil spring 68 is to lift the socket plug 72 so that its upper surface 74 is level with the upper surface of the socket cap 62, and hence is level with the surface of the pavement 16.

The opening passageway of the socket cap 62 shown occupied either by the plug 72 or neck 31 of the enlarged head portion 26, which enables access to the socket cavity 63, is roughly oval shaped to correspond to the shape of the plug upper portion 73 so as to receive therethrough the enlarged head portion 26 of the anchor shaft 24 and the roughly oval shaped upper portion 73 of the socket plug 72. Below the passageway 76 is a symmetrically aligned cylindrical passageway 78 of the same diameter as the maximum diameter of the oval shaped passageway 76, the passageway 78 being defined by the inner cylindrical wall of the socket housing 60. The socket cavity 63 is thereby defined by the walls of the adjoining passageways 76 and 78 which are interrupted by a shoulder 79, the shoulder 79 being defined where the passageway 76 (being constricted because of its oval shape in relation to passageway 78) meets passageway 78.

When the enlarged head portion 26 is passed through passageway 76 and fully enters the passageway 78, the enlarged head portion 26 is able to be rotated within passageway 78 by turning the thrust handle 52, thereby rotating the pin member 32 independently about its longitudinal axis. There is an anchor head portion lock recess 80 (shown occupied by the enlarged head portion 26 in Figs. 5 and 9) located symmetrically inwardly of the shoulder 79.

26/11/97 The recess 80 is also roughly oval shaped as shown in Fig. 6 and has its major horizontal axis of symmetry at 900 to the major horizontal axis of symmetry of passageway 76. The recess 80 extends only partly through the socket cap 62. The recess 80 thereby locks the enlarged head portion 26 to the socket means 12 when the enlarged head portion 26 is caused to rotate 900 from its entry position in the socket cavity passageway 78. The annular ridge surface 82 of the enlarged head portion 26 abuttingly engages against the opposed walls defining the recess 80, the enlarged head portion 26 being maintained in that locked position by the upwards force exerted by the coil spring 68 and the interference to further rotation provided by the abutting side walls of the recess The enlarged head portion 26 may be disengaged from within recess by pressing downwardly on the thrust handle 52 a sufficient distance so that the enlarged head portion 26 is no longer located within recess 80 (but is located within cylindrical passageway 78) and rotating the pin member 32 (by turning the thrust handle 52) about 90' so that the enlarged head portion 26 may be moved upwardly through the passageway 76 and so exit the socket means 12.

As will be described hereinafter, the ability of the anchor shaft 24 to be engaged to and be disengaged from the socket means 12 will also depend on the pivotal position of the cam member 58.

In order to mount the bollard post 14 to the anchored socket means 12, the bollard post 14 is placed centrally over the socket cap 62 and the tip of the enlarged head portion 26 is pressed down (by pressing downwardly on the thrust handle 52) against the socket plug 72 to its full extent as mentioned earlier so that the enlarged head portion 26 penetrates into the socket means 12 until it enters the passageway 78, whereupon 26/11/97 the pin member 32 is rotated through 900 for the enlarged head portion 26 to engage within recess 80. During this rotation of pin member 32, the tubular member 30 does not rotate and the locking arm 91 remains abutted against the cam member 58.

Although the pin member 32 of the anchor shaft 24 is not able to be rotated whilst the enlarged head portion 26 is engaged in recess 80, the enlarged head portion 26 is still able to being pressed out of the recess by downward pressure applied on the thrust handle 52.

To avoid this, the annular base 56 of the housing 22 should be first tightly mated to the socket cap 62 by rotating the tubular member 30 with the aid of a spanner engaging the boss member 40 as mentioned earlier so that the nut 34 with its attached washer 36 screwably descend over the threading 38 of the threaded portion of the now immobile pin member 32.

Fig. 5 shows the extended position of the boss member 40 (and hence the tubular member 30) relative to the thrust handle 52 (and hence the pin member 32) after the tight mating of the annular base 56 with the socket cap 62, which may be contrasted with their closer relative position prior to the aforementioned mating procedure (see Fig In this way, the boss member 40 is moved closer to the access opening 28, and its resulting distance from the defining wall of opening 28 is less than the distance required for the enlarged head portion 26 to travel downwardly to exit the recess 80. Therefore, because of the tight mating described above, the anchor shaft 24 is no longer able to be pressed downwardly sufficiently for the enlarged head portion 26 to be able to be rotated 900 so as to then exit the socket means 12. During this mating rotation of the tubular member which may consist of two complete rotations, and is in the direction of arrow A shown in Fig. 7, the locking arm 91 is able to ride over the locking 26/11/97 block 57 because of the pivotal lift given to it when it contacts with the upright cam member 58 and slides up the cam surface (not shown) of the cam member 58. The pivotal height which the locking arm 91 attains by virtue of its encounter during rotation with the upright cam member 58 is therefore sufficient for it not to collide head on with the locking block 57 (which would otherwise stop its rotation) but rather ride over the top surface of the locking block 57.

When the tubular member 30 has been rotated sufficiently a complete number of turns for mating purposes, the locking arm 91 will have returned to its pivotally raised abutting position on the cam member 58.

Locking engagement of the locking arm assembly 42 with the lock actuating arrangement 53 may not be carried out by operation of a key on the cam lock 55 to turn the upright cam member 58 to its downward position (as shown in Fig. 5) so that the locking arm 91 is allowed to pivot down to its horizontal position where any further rotation of the tubular member 30 in the direction of arrow A will be prevented by the locking arm 91 colliding head on with the locking block 57. Such collision occurs between co-planar surfaces 97 and 78 of the locking arm 91 and locking block 57 respectively.

With the locking arm 91 and boss member 40 in the aforementioned positions, the anchor shaft 24 cannot be disengaged from the socket means 12 because the enlarged head portion 26 is prohibited from moving downwardly at all or far enough to clear recess In order to disengage the bollard post 14 from the socket means 12, the locking arm 58 is turned to its upright position, and the mating procedure is carried out in reverse so as to allow the enlarged head portion 26/11/97 26 to exit recess 80. The pin member 32 is then rotated 900 within passageway 78 so that the enlarged head portion 26 (now vertically aligned with passageway 76) can be passed upwardly through passageway 76 and so exit the socket means 12. The socket plug 72 is simultaneously forced upwardly through socket cavity 63 by action of the coil spring 68 until the upper surface thereof is level with the upper surface of the socket cap 62.

Various modifications may be made in details of design and construction without departing from the scope or ambit of the invention.

26/11/97

Claims (9)

1. A removable bollard assembly comprising socket means adapted for anchoring to a surface, a bollard post including an anchor shaft having an enlarged head portion, the enlarged head portion being adapted to be received within a cavity formed in the socket means and be moved from a first position within the cavity where the enlarged head portion can move freely into and out of the cavity, thereby enabling disconnection of the bollard post from the socket means, to a second position within the said cavity, where the enlarged head portion cannot move freely into and out of the cavity, the anchor shaft further consisting of a rotatable pin member with which the enlarged head portion is able to rotate and a rotatable tubular member concentrically surrounding the pin member and connected to the pin member by means enabling both the pin member and tubular member to be independently rotatable but simultaneously movable along their shared longitudinal axis, and locking means for preventing the rotation of the tubular member, whereby the enlarged head portion is moved from its first position to its second position by longitudinal rotation of the pin member, and the enlarged head portion is locked within the cavity by actuating the locking means to prevent rotation of the tubular member, whereby the bollard post is unable to be disconnected from the socket means.

2. The removable bollard assembly of claim 1 wherein the anchor shaft extends generally centrally through a housing for the bollard. 26/11/97

3. The removable bollard assembly of claim 2 wherein the housing has an access opening for the anchor shaft at the upper end thereof.

4. The removable bollard assembly of claim 2 or claim 3 wherein the housing has a generally cylindrical uniform diameter stand portion and an upper enlarged bulb portion.

The removable bollard assembly of any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the anchor shaft consists of an upper shaft portion, an intermediate engaging nut and a lower anchor portion which includes the enlarged head portion.

6. The removable bollard assembly of any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the pin member protrudes from the upper end of the tubular member in the form of a thrust handle.

7. The removable bollard assembly of claim 5 wherein the tubular member is welded to the nut which is welded to an underlying washer.

8. The removable bollard assembly of claim 7 wherein the nut has a bore which is defined by threading which screwably receives external threading of a threaded portion of the pin member, thereby enabling engagement of the tubular member with the pin member and facilitating the simultaneous movement longitudinally of the tubular member and the pin member and the independent rotating movement of the tubular member and the pin member about their shared longitudinal axes. 26/11/97

9. The removable bollard assembly of any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein the tubular member has attached thereto a locking arm assembly of the locking means for the bollard post. A removable bollard assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated this 26 day of November, 1997 JOHN WILLIAM ROACH Patent Attorneys for the Applicant PETER MAXWELL ASSOCIATES 26/11/97