Guardrail assembly method and device
OwnerJack J. Millerinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Guardrail assembly is performed by a vehicle carrying an inventory of guardrail sections and guardrail support blocks. The vehicle moves along a series of prepositioned guardrail posts and includes a side-mounted support frame allowing joining of guardrail sections and deployment rearward of a continuous ribbon of joined guardrail sections. As the continuous ribbon of joined guardrail sections is deployed, it is urged laterally outward and against attachment sites of the series of prepositioned guardrail posts. The continuous ribbon is then attached to the guardrail post, including mounting of an intermediate support block. The assembly and mounting under the disclosed method and apparatus is approximately half that of conventional guardrail assembly and mounting.
Claims14
An apparatus for guardrail assembly and attachment to at least one prepositioned guardrail post and in a given orientation, the guardrail assembly comprising guardrail sections joined together to form a continuous guardrail, the apparatus comprising:
- a support frame receiving at least two guardrail sections and supporting said at least two guardrail sections in said given orientation;
- a guardrail joint formation station maintaining said at least two guardrail sections in suitable relative orientation to permit joining of said at least two sections as a portion of said continuous guardrail;
- and
- a positioning and attachment station supporting said at least two guardrail sections as joined at said joint formation section and permitting positioning of at least one of said at least two guardrail sections against said at least one prepositioned guardrail post for attachment thereto as a portion of said guardrail assembly.
A method of guardrail assembly and mounting to prepositioned guardrail posts, the guardrail comprising guardrail sections joined together to form a continuous guardrail in a given orientation, the method comprising the steps of:
- supporting by frame structure at least two guardrail sections in said given orientation laterally adjacent a site of attachment to said prepositioned guardrail posts;
- joining together said at least two guardrail sections;
- exposing to said site of attachment a portion of said at least two guardrail sections as joined in said joining step;
- moving said portion of said at least two guardrail sections into an attachment position at said site of attachment;
- and
- attaching said portion of said at least two guardrail sections to said attachment site.
An apparatus for guardrail assembly and attachment to a series of prepositioned guardrail posts and in a given orientation, the guardrail assembly comprising guardrail sections joined together by overlapping joints to form a continuous guardrail ribbon, the apparatus comprising:
- a vehicle carrying an inventory of said guardrail sections;
- a rail support frame carried by said vehicle and supporting at least two of said guardrail sections in said given orientation whereby one of said overlapping joints may be formed between said at least two guardrail sections and a continuous ribbon of joined guardrail sections may be deployed rearward of said vehicle and attached to said series of prepositioned guardrail posts as said vehicle moves forward while ones of said guardrail sections are first positioned in a forward portion of said support frame then joined to a preceding one of said guardrail sections previously placed in said support frame.
A method of guardrail assembly and attachment to a series of prepositioned guardrail posts and in a given orientation, the guardrail assembly comprising guardrail sections joined together by overlapping joints to form a continuous guardrail ribbon, the method comprising the steps:
- moving a vehicle carrying an inventory of said guardrail sections along said series of guardrail posts;
- joining ones of said guardrail sections to form a continuous ribbon of guardrail sections;
- deploying rearward of said moving vehicle said continuous ribbon of joined guardrail sections;
- and
- attaching said continuous ribbon to said series of guardrail posts.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.