US1718877A - Highway fence - Google Patents

Description

June25,1929. J.H.RAMSEY 1,718,877

HIGHWAY FENCE Filed Deo. lq, 1928 atented L`.lune 25, 1929.

TDSEPH H. RAMSEY, OFALBANY, NEW YORK.

HIGHWAY FENCE.

Application filed lDecember 10, 1928. Serial No. 325,002.

'llhis invention relates to protection barriers, and more particularly to highway fences.

For some years it has been recognized that tratlic conditions necessitated the construction of barriers for maintaining vehicles upon the highway, in the event that the person responsible for the locomotion thereof lost control of the same. 'lhe lack of vsuch barriers has, in many accidents, permitted vehicles which wandered from the highway gto strike immovable objects on adjacent liti land, and has permitted many other vehicles to fall into depressions or down embankments.

'llhe necessity for placing barriers along dangerous portions of highways has become more apparent in recent years because of the astounding increase in the number of such accidents as previously referred to, for it has been found that the construction. of smooth and wider roadbeds and the improvements in the construction of motor vehicles, has resulted in a greatly increased average speed of travel.v rlhe highways, although improved by being widened and given a better surface, largely follow the same general courses as they followed-in thedays when highway travel was at a relatively low speed, which courses necessitate the presence of various turns or curves in the roadbeds; and it has been found that numerous accidents occur especially at such bends, these accidents quite often being attributed to shielding of the vehicle due to the failure of the operator to reduce the speed of travel sufficiently permit the traversing of the bends.

ln order to protect the operators of motor `vehicles and to eliminate property damage as far as possible, attempts have been made to prevent vehicles sliidding from the roadways at the bends and in dangerous passes, by the construction of rather heavy fences formed of rigid posts with stringers arranged between them. Much difficulty has developed as the result of the employment of this type of highway fence for the reasonl that the speed of a motor vehicle, together with its weight, created such a forcible impact between the fence and the slridding vehicle that portions ofthe fence were brolren away, thereby permitting the passage of the vehicle through the same.I` While, in. some instances, the momentum of a vehicle has been checlred upon engaging such a fence,

nevertheless in a large number of instances" a fence of this construction proved to be of little value. Furthermore, the tendency of a fence thus constructed to splinter often resulted in severe injury to occupants of the vehicle.`

ll/lany improvements upon highway fences constructed entirely of rigid supports and stringers have been made with the view of providing a. fence strong enough to meet the utmost demands to be placed upon it, butso far asili am aware such attempts have resulted in the production of fences which have proven to be inefficient. Among the numerous types of fences which have heen constructed, are those having concrete post supports and Wooden s tringers and those having concrete posts and cables extending throughout the length of the fence, the cables being anchored at "their ends. 'lhe concrete `posts proved dangerous in use because of the lach of resiliency, and when employed with wooden stringers, the stringers were easily brolren away from the remainderof the structure and, too, the stringers splintered in the same manner as when employed with other rigid posts. Jinside from the objection to the concrete posts, the fence employing such posts in connection with wire cables stretched between the same, proved somewhat more edicient than the structures which had preceded them; but as the fences were not continuous, the anchorage for'the ends of' the cables presented obstacles which were not readily overcome. Such anchorage is necessary to take the strain to which the cables are subjected when they are struck by a. vehicle. lin' structures heretofore used, the anchors have been crude andunsightly.- lhey have a low visibility, deteriorate rapidly, have little resiliency .and are often destroyed by theft oli the parts. 'lhus arcominon form of anchorage consists of'twisted cables secured to the end post of the'fence and to alog or timber which is buried inthe ground. 'llo provide the necessary tension, the cables are twisted with a bar of wood or metal after they are connected to the post and log or timber.. ln suoli a structure the cables rust where they enter the ground and the wood rots, so that the life pf the structure is relatively short. Vlhe structure has comparatively little strength and resiliency, low visibility to the driver of a vehicle and is sightly., l

. A modified form of thisv anchorage strucllltl llltl ture employs metal rods with turn-buckles to provide tension. The` rods are connected to the end posts and to buried posts or concrete anchors, but these structures, like those above referredto, have many disadvantages and have not proven very satisfactory.

-.,ture has been completed.

It is a further object of the present invention to construct a fence having uprights or'supports t'or a'cable which are adapted to be moved transversely to the roadway,

including `in combination therewith means for anchoring the ends of the cable, such anchoring means being adapted to function with the supports and be movable trans'- versely to the roadway to thereby eliminate stretching of the cable to a minimum degree, and to avoid a breakage'of the anchoring means. i

The invention furtldi'erJ contemplates the construction of a highway-fence employing a plurality of cables, whereby upon collision the cables, due to their manner of support,

effect automatic adjustment'with respect to each otherin opposite directions transverse tothe highway, or in the same direction, and movable anchorage means forthe cables which tend to equalize the strain placed thereon.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent upon a consideration of the following detailed description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,

' wherein in this application .to illustrate the manner Fig. 1 is a view ofan end-sujlport showing the cables in position and t eadjacent anchorage means in combination therewith;

and

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of a highway fence embodying the present invention.

As the detailed fence including the supportis illustrated and claimed 1n my copending application Serial 154,138, and as the detailed anchorage construction is illustrated and claimed in my copend'ing application Serial No. 243,805, it is .only necessary to describe these elements in j suilicient detail in-which both constructions combine to form the fence of the present invention.

Ip referring to the drawings ill/detail, the

numeral 1 designates generally the supports which are adapted to sustain a plurality of guardl rails 2. The guard rails are prefer'- ably steel cables attached by clips 3 to the forward projecting extremities of equalizving members .4, so that the guard rails are suppoirted in spaced'relationship one above the other. y The guard rails or cables 2 arc slidably mountedin the clips 3, the cables being passed first through a clip on one support and then through the clip of an adjacent support throughout thelength of the fence. The ends o? anchorage mechanism designated at 5 so that the cables can be maintained under tension throughout the whole section of fence.

Each of the equalizing, members V4 is pivoted at6 so as to rock on a horizontal airis in the upper end of an upright member 7. It will, of course, be understood that th'e horizontal axis will in each instance extend parallel to the edge of the roadbed at that particular point. The upright member 7 is com osed of two similar plates clamped toget ier at their upper ends b bolt 8, therebyvproviding a bearing on whic 1 member 4 may 'rock relatively to melnber 7. The lowerfends of the side plates of the member 7 are pivoted in a similar manner by a bolt 13 passing horizontally through the center of the cup-shaped bearings formed by convex and concave surfaces to lock them in place. It will be noted that the plates of the upright member 7 are spaced much wider apart at the bottom than they are'at their upperends, which imp-arts lateral'rigidity to the structure.

. Between the plates of thel upright member 7, substantially at the same lane as the bottom of the equalizing mem `er A4, is a circular swivel plate 14 provided with trunions 15 projecting through holes in the plates of the upright member 7. Pivotally connected to the lower end of the member 4, opposite the swivel plate 14, is a bolt 16 projecting horizontally through the center of plate 14. Surrounding the bolt 1G between a suitable seat on member 4 and plate 14, is a resilient compression member, which may be of rubber but is preferably in the form of a coiled spring. 18. Between plate 14 and washer 19 on the free end of bolt 16 is a similar resilient'member or coiled spring 20. By means of nuts lon bolt 16, any desired pressure may be maintained on spring 18 and 20. It will be appreciated that by the above arrangement member) 4 is resiliently held vin vertical osition, and if it be moved from that position it will automatically return to its normal position as soon as it is released.

Each of the. lates of the upright member 7 is provided) wardly projecting arm 21. Between these arms 21 is a swivel platel 22 *from which the cables are fixed to near its bottom with a rearprojects trunnions 23 through holes in arms 2l, while between plate 22 and base plate 12 is a resilient cushion preferably in the form of a coiled compression spring 24, which is aligned in operative position by a socket in plate l2 and a base on plate 22. Passing vertically through plate 22 and spring 24C is a bolt 2T, the lower end ot which is anchored preferably in foundation 287 set into the ground to support the whole structure. The upper end of the bolt 2 passes through plate 22 and is fitted with nuts 29 by means of which the proper pressure may be applied to spring 2l.

By adjusting nuts 29 the outer end of the structure may easily be lnoved back or lforth transversely to the highway for properly aligning the tence.

lt will be appreciated that when an alitomobile contacts with the. guard rails or cablesI 2, the blow will be cushioned by the resilient supporting structure as described.

Adjacent each end support l of the :tence is an anchor to which all the guard rails or cables 2 are secured. Each ot these, anchors which are indicated by the numeral llpconsists ot' a base 3i ot concrete or other suitable material and a bracket 35. 'llhe bracket may be made of cast iron, ttor example, and may consist of a t'oot 36 adapted to be secured by bolts 3T `to the base 34 and an upright member 38. 'llhe foot and upright member may have. lugs 39 and 4() thereon to receive a pin al, wherebya pivotal connection is provided. Sheaves 4t2 may be mounted on a, pin 43 extending through and secured in spaced lugs 44C on the upright; member. 'llhe guard rails or cables 2 extend about the sheaves and the upper ends thereof are secured by clamps 45 consisting, for example` ot lll-bolts adapted to straddle the strands of the cable. The til-bolts may be held by keepers @t6 and nuts 4T.

F rom the foregoing description it will be understood that should a vehicle skid or otherwise be thrown against the, guard rails 2, the force, of the impact will cause. the upright members to rock upon thein pivots with a resulting tendency to cause, a detor mation ot' the guard rails. Such a deformation ot the guard rails tends to produce an elongation ot the same, but as the bracket 35 ot the anchor to which the ends ot the rails are connected is mounted to swing on an axisextending parallel to the rails, the elongation thereof will, to a large extent, be

eliminated by the bracket 35 swinging on its pivot to :tollow generally the direction ot deformation. llt will also be apparent that should the entire force of the impact oit the Vehicle be directed against only'one ot the guard rails, the. equalizing members will oscillate on their respective pivots and thereby transmit a Vportion of the strain to the other guard rail. The tendency ot the bracket 35 ot the anchor to assume an intermediate position with respect to the two rails readily permits the equalization of the strain.

l claim:

1. A highway fence construction comprising a barrier extending along the highwav.r a support lor the barrier mounted to yield in a direction transverse to the highway, and anchoring means for at least on-e end ot said barrier, said anchoring means including an element to which said barrier is secured, said element being movable about an axis extending substantially parallel to the barrier at that point.

2. A highway fence construction comprising a barrier extending along the highway. a pivoted support therefor adapted to yield upon the imposition ol a force against the barrier, and an anchoring means for the ends of the barrier, said anchoring means including an element to which said barrier is secured, said element being pivoted to permit movement in a direction transversely of the barrier at that point. y

3. A highway fence construction comprising a barrier extending along the highway, support therefor pivotcd on an axis substantially parallel to the barrier7 and anchoring means including a base member and a bracket pivoted thereto on an axis exteinling subw stantially parallel to the barrier at that point, said barrier being secured to said bracket.

et. A highway fence construction comprising a pair ot flexible guard rails, an equalizing member by which the rails are carried, a pivoted upright member for supporting the equalizing member and anchoring means for the pair of guard rails, said anchoring means including an element pivoted on an axis extending substantially parallel to said rails at that point and to which the rails are secured.

ln testimony whereof lt atiix my signature.

.iosiarn n. nitMsnY.

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