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US 7,062,811 B2Granted
Collapsible bridge and method of making and using same
AssigneeEurobridge Mobile Bruecken GmbH
InventorsReinhold Fuessinger, Walter Steppacher
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AssigneeEurobridge Mobile Bruecken GmbH
InventorsReinhold Fuessinger, Walter Steppacher
Estimating the term…
A collapsible bridge has two track girders constructed as truss girders with a triangular cross-section. A chord profile is provided at each triangulation point and two corners of the triangular cross-section are situated at the same level with the third corner situated above the corner. A pair of truss planes are formed from diagonal struts, a lower chord and an upper chord, with lower and upper truss nodes respectively being formed at connection points of two diagonal struts and a lower chord and an upper chord respectively. The two track girders are force-lockingly connected by transverse girders. Roadway planks are provided which are aligned in the longitudinal direction of the bridge and are force-lockingly connected with the transverse girders. The transverse girders are fitted completely through the track girders and are force-lockingly connected with the latter, so that the transverse girders fix the distance between the two truss planes on the bottom side of a track girder as well as the two track girders with respect to one another. The transverse girders rest on lower nodes of the two truss planes of a track girder and are force-lockingly connected therewith. The two truss planes of a track girder are connected at the upper triangulation point of the track girder cross-section by a hinge, such that, when the bridge is taken down, the track girders can be folded together.
Collapsible bridge, having two track girders which are constructed as truss girders with a triangular cross-section, wherein a chord profile is provided at each triangulation point, and wherein two corners of the triangular cross-section are situated at the same level, and the third corner is situated above the latter, wherein, in each case, between one of the lower triangulation points and the upper triangulation point, a truss plane is formed comprising diagonal struts, the lower chord and the upper chord, wherein lower and upper truss nodes respectively are formed at the points of the connection of two diagonal struts and a lower chord and an upper chord respectively,
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Portable or sectional bridges: built-up from readily separable standardised sections or elements, e.g. Bailey bridges
Portable or sectional bridges: folding or telescopic bridges; Bridges built up from folding or telescopic sections
Construction of bridges, elevated roadways or viaducts
Term ended 24 Sep 2023 (estimated)
This application claims the priority of application no. 102 42 860.3-25 filed in Germany on Sep. 14, 2002, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a collapsible bridge; that is, a portable bridge for mobile use.
From German Patent Document DE 195 10 582 A1 (corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,691), a portable bridge is known whose track girders are force-lockingly connected by means of transverse girders. In this case, a transverse girder forms a part of the lower chord. Furthermore, roadway planks are provided which are aligned in the longitudinal direction of the bridge and are force-lockingly connected with the transverse girders. The track girders each comprise two truss planes of diagonal struts, the lower chord and the upper chord. These components forming the track girder are in each case mutually connected by means of connections which can be released again.
FIG. 1 is a lateral view of a bridge constructed according to a preferred embodiment of the invention comprising several bridge sections;
FIG. 1A is a sectional view transversely to the longitudinal direction of the bridge showing the bridge Section BS of FIG. 1;
FIG. 1B is a sectional view the bridge of FIGS. 1 and 1A with a substantially flat transverse girder;
FIGS. 1, 1A, and 1B show an embodiment of a bridge B according to the invention in several views. Bridge B comprises two track girders 3 which are constructed as truss girders with a triangular cross-section. In this embodiment, the track girders 3 are coupled together from three tack girder sections 31 along the longitudinal direction of the bridge and are closed off by means of end pieces E at their ends. The end pieces E are coupled to the outer bridge section and form defined bearings of the bridge.
Drive-up aids or ramps AF, which bridge the height difference between the river bank and the upper edge of the bridge roadway, are arranged between the end pieces E of the track girders 3.
At each triangulation point in the cross-section of the track girders 3, chord profiles O, U are arranged, the two lower chord profiles U situated at the same level forming lower chords, and the chord profile O situated at the upper triangulation point forming the upper chord.