Metal beam rail terminal
AssigneeThe Texas A&M University System
InventorsDon L. Ivey, Carl E. Buth, King K. Mak, Dean Sicking
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Abstract
The invention features a new and improved safety treatment for rails, such as a highway guardrail or barrier, which through compression of elongated segments of a telescoping terminal dissipates energy from vehicle impacts approaching from substantially upstream of the rail and reduce the hazard of "spearing." The impact energy is resisted by frictional and, in preferred embodiments, mechanical compression by a smaller segment of a filler disposed within a larger segment. In some embodiments, the invention further provides a nose piece to further reduce the spearing effect.
Claims20
A terminal including a downstream end for attachment to a roadside or median guardrail or barrier, said terminal also including an upstream end to receive and attenuate vehicle impacts, said terminal comprising a telescoping assembly of nested, elongated tubular-like segments including an inner segment and a cross-sectionally larger outer segment that concentrically and telescopically receives and envelops the inner segment in response to pressure applied to the terminal's upstream end.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.