Road structure – process – or apparatus – Traffic steering device or barrier
Patent
1994-09-23
1995-10-31
Neuder, William P.
Road structure, process, or apparatus
Traffic steering device or barrier
49 49, E01F 1300
Patent
active
054623847
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The field of the invention is that of street furniture.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a multifunction, self-contained, dispensing bollard device, the height of which can be varied by vertical translational movement, said bollard also incorporating technical equipment such as electricity supply sockets or plugs, or low electricity connectors, or connecting devices for various fluids. By virtue of its vertical movement, said self-contained bollard may also serve, when in its raised position, to prevent motor vehicles gaining access to certain areas and to allow access after it has been released and retracted fully into the ground.
Self-contained bollards of variable height already exist, in particular those described in French patent application No. 8717193 and in European patent application No. 90/430022.5 of Nov. 7, 1990, in the names of G. Clapier, Y. Ariandais, J-M. Alamelle and J. M. Belaval.
In those patents, the self-contained bollards of variable height are located on vehicle car parks, or on public or private roads, in order to reserve space, prevent or control access, and more generally to ensure security for users or to protect premises. The design of those bollards allows great versatility and good security for users, since in the event of a violent shock of predetermined intensity, the bollard can separate from its support, avoiding severe physical injury, as described and claimed in the cited patents.
Those same devices, which use gas springs for vertical translation, which are held in the raised and lowered positions, which are locked by a socket wrench, which have guides for the moving equipment, and which include a housing sunk into the ground and having a cover, are applicable to the multifunction technical bollards constituting the subject matter of the present invention.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A first object of the invention is therefore to provide a device which allows electrical power or various fluids to be dispersed to users located in public places or places open to the public, such as marketplaces, fairs, squares, pedestrian precincts, sports grounds, camping and caravan sites, quays or piers at marinas, airports, factory yards or service stations.
Advantageously, the self-contained dispensing bollard of the invention is retractable below ground level when its use is not required, and its mechanical strength allows any motor vehicle to pass over it when in the retracted position.
Another object of the invention is to provide a device which can deny access to the sockets or plugs--referred to as "sockets" in the following description--without requiring the bollard to be retracted. It may be useful overnight to prevent use of the sockets whilst still maintaining an obstacle which prevents intrusion onto the location concerned. Advantageously, the dispensing bollard has a window which gives access to the sockets; said window may be covered by a semi-cylindrical rotary blind, called a shutter, whose axis of rotation is the axis of the bollard itself, the shutter being operated by an authorized official using a socket wrench-type key which is inserted into a lock situated on the top surface of the body of the bollard. Advantageously, said lock, or bolt, is operated with the same socket wrench that co-operates with the lock of the device which holds the moving equipment of the bollard in the raised position or the lowered position, as described in the above-cited European patent.
Another object of the invention is to ensure the safety of the user: the rotary shutter is contained entirely within the volume of the generally cylindrical bollard, there is no risk of incorrect operation, such as a badly-closed socket shutter being torn off while the bollard is being retracted. Moreover, the functions of closing the rotary shutter and of retracting the bollard may be linked to one another or they may be independent; thus, the bollard may be retracted regardless of whether the shutter is open or closed, or if necessary the shutter may be compulsor
REFERENCES:
patent: 3086430 (1963-04-01), Emmel
patent: 3660935 (1972-05-01), Boots
patent: 4576508 (1986-03-01), Dickinson
patent: 4666331 (1987-05-01), Riley
patent: 4715742 (1987-12-01), Dickinson
patent: 4919563 (1990-04-01), Stice
patent: 5192159 (1993-03-01), Higginson
5-These Industrie
Neuder William P.
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