Road structure – process – or apparatus – Traffic steering device or barrier
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-21
2001-11-27
Will, Thomas B. (Department: 3671)
Road structure, process, or apparatus
Traffic steering device or barrier
Reexamination Certificate
active
06322285
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to an apparatus for arresting a fleeing vehicle.
More particularly, the invention provides a portable and removable barrier which self-attaches to a fleeing car or truck and arrests same by causing locking of two wheels.
The present application is not concerned with fixed location barriers, as these can readily be configured to stop any vehicle.
The problem of how to stop the escape of a fugitive vehicle, for law enforcement or military purposes, has been well defined by Hutchinson in the foreword to U.S. Pat. No. 4,382,714. Portable barricades often fail when a vehicle crashes therethrough and continues on its way. Alternatively two or more police vehicles are parked across the road to form a road block. Quite often serious collisions occur as a result, causing injury to law enforcement personnel as well as to the fugitives, and severe damage to police vehicles. A further drawback of such methods is the requirement for about 5 or 6 law enforcement personnel to maintain the barricade.
Barrier failure is likely to lead to the use of firearms by police or armed forces which may injure bystanders, or fail to stop the fleeing vehicle, or possibly kill those riding in said vehicle who may be guilty of no crime more severe than for example driving with expired third party insurance.
In order to at least slow down a fleeing vehicle, various systems have been proposed for puncturing the tires of such vehicle when driven through a barrier. Such proposals are described and claimed in the following U.S. Patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,382,714 to Hutchinson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,774 to Dubiel, U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,397 to Soleau, U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,588 to Marts et al, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,408 to Abukhader. These documents also make reference to a large number of earlier designs.
A limitation of tire puncturing devices is that a vehicle riding on ordinary tires can still be driven, though at reduced speed, after tire deflation. The development of “run-flat” tires has however made prior-art puncturing devices practically useless. MACHINE DESIGN reported on Jul. 21, 1988 that the Ford HFX Ghia Aerostar has “run-flat” tires. The Goodyear company has long operated an aggressive program to develop such tires. Presently this company offers the “Eagle Aquasteel Run-Flat” tire for passenger cars which is designed to be driven with no air pressure for up to 50 miles at 55 mph. Tires of this type have been so successful that for 1997 General Motors marketed the Plymouth Prowler without a spare wheel or tire changing equipment. Clearly, the puncturing of tires can no longer be relied upon to stop a fugitive vehicle.
It is therefore one of the objects of the present invention to obviate the disadvantages of prior art vehicle barriers and to provide an apparatus which arrests a vehicle driven through a removable barrier without danger to law enforcement personnel or property.
It is a further object of the present invention to arrest such vehicle whether or not it is fitted with “run-flat” tires.
It is yet a further object of the invention to arrest a fugitive vehicle Without harming its occupants.
The present invention achieves the above objects by providing a removable vehicle barrier for stopping a moving vehicle, comprising at least one high tensile strength filament disposed transverse to the direction of vehicle movement, having spaced-apart tire adhesion elements attached to said filament, said adhesion elements being provided with adhesion means for attaching themselves to the tires of a moving vehicle when said vehicle passes over said barrier, thereby winding said at least one filament around a component of the vehicle underside and effecting the halting of said vehicle, characterized in that said adhesion means are covered to allow passage thereover by a vehicle front wheel without engaging said filament, front wheel passage causing exposure of said adhesion means which then attach themselves to the rear wheels of said vehicle.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention there is provided a vehicle barrier wherein said adhesion means are spiked plates or spikes.
In especially preferred embodiments of the present invention, said covering means are also provided with adhesion means which attach themselves to the front wheels of said vehicle without substantially interfering therewith.
Said adhesion means which are provided on said covering means, are preferably selected from the group consisting of spiked plates, spikes or glue.
It will thus be realized that the novel device of the present invention serves to lock the rear vehicle wheels as the high strength filament connecting two tire-adhering elements becomes tensioned, typically due to engagement with the vehicle differential housing or the driveshaft.
The sudden halting of the vehicle also provides an element of shock to its driver and passengers, which could provide police with the few extra seconds needed to make arrests.
As it is not the aim of the present device to harm the vehicle occupants, there is provided a device which locks the vehicle rear wheels. This is advantageous, as locking the front wheels could possibly cause the fleeing vehicle to overturn.
In JP 11036249 by Japan Aircraft Mfg. Co. Ltd., there is described and claimed a vehicle block net comprising a plurality of glass fiber cloth sewn on one side of a turnable rectangular sheet-like net and having an adhesive for making the fiber cloth adhere to a tire when the net is laid on a road surface, whereby after the fiber cloth sticks to the tire of the vehicle which has passed thereon, the net gets twisted around the tire.
As explained and stated hereinbefore, this solution is not acceptable to law enforcement and other users since it could possibly cause serious or even fatal injury to the occupants of a vehicle which is overturned due to the locking of its front wheels.
With regard to the high strength filament, it would seem at first glance that a steel cable would be the obvious choice. Surprisingly, other materials are preferable. In operation the filament is exposed to a sudden high tensile force when the filament terminals are wrapped partly around the tires and the central portion of the filament engages a component on the vehicle underside, for example the differential casing. Such sudden application of a high force is likely to snap a steel cable of moderate diameter, or if a heavier cable is used cause dislodgment of or from the adhesive element, or of the element from the tire. Thus a better choice is a web made of a high strength plastic fiber, which allows about 50% elongation, during the course of which elongation kinetic energy is absorbed over a longer time period, for example about 2 seconds instead of about 0.3 seconds which could be expected with a steel cable. Obviously the forces which need to be withstood by the apparatus arising from sudden locking of the wheels are far higher than those arising when the kinetic energy is absorbed over a longer period.
The invention will now be described in connection with certain preferred embodiments with reference to the following illustrative figures so that it may be more fully understood.
With specific reference now to the figures in detail, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present invention only and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4382714 (1983-05-01), Hutchinson
patent: 4995756 (1991-02-01), Kilgrow et al.
patent: 5123774 (1992-06-01), Dubiel
patent: 5322385 (1994-06-01), Reisman
patent: 5482397 (1996
Breiner & Breiner L.L.C.
Markovich Kristine
Will Thomas B.
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