An impact absorber roller

Abstract

 An impact absorber roller, formed by a hollow roller surrounding a post (1) supporting a rail along a road and consisting of a rigid, internal cylinder (2) able to rotate around the post (1) and an external cylinder of a larger diameter, made of a soft, bumping material in order to withstand an impact of a car or a person's body projected against said rail (5) for alleviating possible damage.

Description

GROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention refers to an impact-absorber roller which includes significant novelty features and advantages in relation with prior art means for the above mentioned purposes.

[0002] More specifically, the new invention consists of a roller mounted on each of the vertical posts supporting fender rails along roads and formed by a rigid, hollow cylinder rotatable around said post and an external cylinder of absorbing properties in order to withstand impacts due to collisions by cars or a person's body, thus reducing damages to them.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Protection fences along road sides are usually set up in order to avoid or at least to mitigate consequences of accidents due to vehicle deflections. Said fences use to be rails supported by metal posts set apart regular stretches, withstanding impacts due to collisions by cars or bodies as a result of a wrong driving or a first collision.

[0004] Known rails along roads usually show sharp edges, so that they very often originate wounds and even amputations in people colliding with them and serious damage to vehicles striking them.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0005] The impact absorber roller defining the subject matter of this invention comprises a structural device allowing protection to a car or a person's body against a high speed impact with posts supporting rails.

[0006] In fact, this new roller has a simple structure which includes an internal cylinder made of a rigid and resistant material, turnably mounted around a supporting post and below the rail supported by the post. Another cylinder made of an absorbing material is born outside the first cylinder with a rather large diameter so that its peripheral surface projects in the front edges of rail.

[0007] The ground part of the post shows a circular base defining a supporting track for the lower side of the internal cylinder, making easy the turning thereof and avoiding the direct contact of said internal cylinder with uneven ground surface, which could jeopardize the correct operation of the roller.

[0008] In case of a car or a person's body collision, the external, soft material cylinder absorbs a great deal of energy through its own deformation, and the impact produces the roller to turn, thus deflecting the body towards the road area or, running in parallel with the rail, towards the following post and roller.

[0009] Therefore, the roller according the invention reduces effects of collisions in three different ways:

a) first, absorbing the strike against the device,

b) then, transforming a part of the striking motion into rotary motion, and

c) impeding people or vehicles from suffering consequences of direct impact, consisting mainly in being caught in the part of posts accessible under the rail.

[0010] To make the comprehension of this description easier and the understanding of the invention's features, an example of the preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in the appended drawings, given solely as an illustrative and non limitative way.

BRIEF DESCRIPCION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] Figure 1 is an axial section of the device defined by the roller of the invention.

[0012] Figure 2 is a side elevation of a road protection with a roller according to the invention.

[0013] Figure 3 is a transverse section view given by a horizontal plane A-A' in figure 1 and showing a vertical plane B-B' resulting in the section of figure 1.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0014] According to the appended drawings and the numbering thereof, a preferred but not restrictive embodiment of the impact absorber roller is shown.

[0015] The roller is formed by a rigid and resistant cylinder (2) bearing a surrounding cylinder (3) made of a soft, impact absorbing material, which has a large diameter, the whole being mounted around a post (1) supporting a rail (5) along a road.

[0016] Cylinder (3) has advantageously its external contour projecting before the front edges of rail (5), and the height of cylinder (3) is such that its upper side remains under the lower edge of rail (5), according to figure 1.

[0017] Post (1) has in its lower part a circular seat (4) defining a supporting track for the lower part of cylinder (2), making easier revolving thereof.

Claims

1. An impact-absorber roller, characterised in that it comprises an internal, hollow cylinder (2) made of a rigid, resistant material, said cylinder (2) bearing externally another cylinder (3) of a large diameter, made of an impact-resistant material, operatively appropriate to be coaxially mounted around each post (1) bearing the protective rails (5) along roads.

2. An impact-absorber roller, according to claim 1, characterised in that the inside diameter of cylinder (2) is larger than the diagonal of the cross-section of post

(1) around which it is mounted, being able to freely and loosely rotate;
   in that the height of cylinder (3) is such that the distance of its upper side in respect of ground is slightly lesser than the distance of the lower edge of rail (5) in respect of ground;
   in that the external contour of cylinder (3) is approximately aligned with the external edges of rail (5), and
   in that the post (1) supporting the rail (5) has in its ground part a surrounding seat (4) acting as a support for the cylinder (2) and operatively helping said cylinder

(2) to rotate in case of a collision of a body at a certain speed.

Drawing