Energy absorbing bumper

An energy dissipating bumper for a motor vehicle, comprising:

• a core of compressible, open celled, thermoplastic foam, having a continuous front wall, rearwardly extending top, bottom and side walls contiguous with the front wall and with each other, and at least one column located between the top, bottom and side walls, extending rearwardly from the front wall;
• a resilient thermoplastic outer skin enclosing the core;
• the spaces between the rearwardly extending, skin covered walls and columns forming spaced apart, unfilled cavities open to the atmosphere along the rear side of the bumper module;
• and a means for attaching the foamed core in its outer skin to the motor vehicle;
• whereby the bumper is capable of substantial compression upon impact, and of returning to its original configuration with a diminished foam rebound effect.

An energy dissipating bus bumper module capable of substantial compression upon impact, of returning to its original configuration after an impact, and possessing a diminished collision rebound effect, comprising:

• a core of compressible, open celled, foamed, flexible polyurethane, having a continuous front wall of substantial thickness, four rearwardly extending outer walls contiguous with the front wall and with each other, and at least two spaced apart, rearwardly extending columns located between the outer walls;
• a resilient, un-foamed, polyvinyl chloride outer skin encasing the foamed core;
• the spaces between the skin covered walls and columns forming relatively large, spaced apart, unfilled cavities open to the atmosphere;
• the outer skin including a pair of integral flanges extending along the top and bottom edges of the back side of the module;
• and a means for supporting the bumper module on the bus.

An energy dissipating bus bumper which is capable of returning to its original configuration after a collision, comprising:

• a relatively stiff, elongated backing member;
• means for attaching the backing member to the bus;
• a plurality of bumper members having a core of compressible, open celled, thermoplastic foam including a continuous front wall and a plurality of spaced apart columns extending rearwardly from the front wall, and a resilient unfoamed thermoplastic outer skin enclosing the core, the spaces between the skin covered columns forming unfilled cavities open to the atmosphere along the rear of the bumper members;
• and
• means for supporting the bumper members on the backing member;
• whereby the collision rebound effect of the foamed core is diminished