Improved Energy Absorbing Guardrail System
AssigneeSafety By Design, Inc.
InventorsJohn R. Rohde, John D. Reid, King K. Mak, Dean L. Sicking
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A highway crash attenuation system having W-beam rail elements attached to a plurality of vertical posts. An impact terminal with a feeder chute guides one or more of the W-beam rail elements through the impact terminal. The feeder chute has an impact shield extending along a traffic-facing side of the chute from an upstream-most end to a downstream-most end of the chute closing the traffic-facing side of the chute. The system also has an anchor cable release mechanism for releasing the cable downstream of the first vertical post and an improved first breakaway post.
Claims9
A highway crash attenuation system comprising:
- W-beam rail elements attached to a plurality of vertical posts;
- an impact terminal having a feeder chute for guiding one or more of said W-beam rail elements through said impact terminal;
- a first anchor cable extending from a first breakaway post anchor to an anchor cable release mechanism releasably attached to at least one of said W-beam rail elements downstream of said first breakaway post anchor wherein said feeder chute has an impact shield extending along a traffic-facing side of said chute from an upstream-most end of said chute to a downstream-most end of said chute, said impact shield closing said traffic-facing side of said chute to prevent an impacting vehicle from wedging into said chute or said one or more W-beam rail elements from buckling out said traffic-forcing side of said chute.
A highway crash attenuation system comprising:
- W-beam rail elements attached to a plurality of vertical posts;
- an impact terminal having a feeder chute for guiding one or more of said W-beam rail elements through said impact terminal;
- a first length of anchor cable extending from a first breakaway post anchor to an anchor cable release mechanism releasably attached to at least one of said W-beam rail elements downstream of said first breakaway post, said anchor cable release mechanism comprising:
- a first cable release bracket releasably attached to said at least one of said W-beam rail elements;
- a cable through channel for receiving and releasably retaining a downstream end of said first length of anchor cable;
- and
- a cable release arm attached to said first bracket, said arm pivotable from a first cable retaining position to a second cable release position upon impact of said arm with a downstream end of said feeder chute.
A highway crash attenuation system comprising:
- W-beam rail elements attached to a plurality of vertical posts;
- an impact terminal having a feeder chute for guiding one or more of said W-beam rail elements through said impact terminal;
- an anchor cable extending from a first breakaway post to an anchor cable release mechanism releasably attached to at least one of said W-beam rail elements downstream of said first breakaway post, said first breakaway post comprising:
- an upper post section and a lower post section, said upper post section having a lateral support lip extending along a lower edge of a downstream face of said upper post section and having first through holes in opposing lateral sides of said upper post, said lateral support lip cooperating with a strut on a downstream face of said lower post section and through holes in opposing lateral sides of said lower post section to releasably retain said upper and lower post sections in a first vertically aligned position when a mounting bolt is extended through said first and second through holes in said lateral sides of said upper and lower post sections prior to vehicular impact with said first breakaway post.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.