Energy absorbing guardrail system
OwnerJohn R. Rohde, Dean L. Sicking +2inventors
InventorsJohn R. Rohde, Dean L. Sicking, King K. Mak, John D. Reid
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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.
Claims11
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 and wherein said feeder chute has inwardly rolled edges to prevent cutting as said chute travels along said W-beam rail elements during a vehicular impact.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.