Roadside delineator

Abstract

A roadside delineator (A, B, C), of the type with reflectors and configured to be coupled to guardrails, Jersey barriers and other containment elements, particularly exposed to impacts of all kinds with passing vehicles, works vehicles and other vehicles, comprising at least one plate (A3, B3, C3) of a type chosen between reflector and light-emitting, at least one elastic element (1) being interposed between the plate and coupling means for the delineator and being configured to deform elastically and without damage upon impacts arriving from any direction, with consequent autonomous elastic return at the end of the mechanical stress due to the impact.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a roadside delineator.

[0002] As is known, all devices placed at the margins of roads to facilitate travel thereon by making the borders and the path of the carriageway more obvious, both with lines and other horizontal markings and with vertical signage elements of various types, are termed delineators.

[0003] Existing vertical delineators, and especially those that are already used to delineate the margins of mountain roads, are frequently exposed to the impacts of snowplows, lawn mowers and works vehicles in general, have serious limitations due to their established inadequacy against such stresses, which is attributable to the constructive characteristics of the items used so far in the described situations.

[0004] In fact, the reflector plates of such delineators are fixed in relief against the visible face of the supports made of aluminum sheet, which are bent in a lower region in order to allow the flat portion with said plates to rise vertically from the means for fixing to the guardrail and also to allow it to accommodate any frontal impacts by plastically accentuating the bends provided originally.

[0005] This, however, does not relieve the assigned workers of the burden of promptly intervening to lift and restore the configuration of delineators further bent by a frontal impact, or to remove and replace those irreparably destroyed by a lateral impact.

[0006] However, even frontal impacts and the consequent plastic accentuation of the originally existing bends cannot remedied indefinitely, since it is inevitable that by repeatedly acting on the same bend of an aluminum sheet it will have to fail by breaking.

[0007] This limitation has already been overcome in some delineators thanks to a preloaded spring which acts in the horizontal pivoting of the rigid portion, which is fixed to the guardrail, to the portion that is provided with the reflector plates and is intended to elastically accommodate frontal impacts.

[0008] However, it is quite unlikely that vehicle skids along the hairpin bends of a mountain road might end by colliding head-on with the delineators of a guardrail, whose replacement has not only an economic impact if one also considers the inevitable inconvenience to traffic and to those who, in any kind of weather, must promptly provide for the restoration of the downed signage.

[0009] The aim of the present invention is to provide a roadside delineator capable of solving these and other drawbacks, hitherto ignored, such as the latent danger of delineators made of aluminum sheet, especially for motorcyclists and cyclists but in general for anyone, when, due to the slippery road surface or for any other reason, they are thrown out, by inertia, by the violent stop of the vehicle against the guardrail and such delineators.

[0010] Within this aim, an object of the present invention is to provide a roadside delineator that is highly reliable, relatively simple to provide and at competitive costs.

[0011] This aim, as well as these and other objects that will become better apparent hereinafter, are achieved by a roadside delineator as defined in claim 1.

[0012] Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the description of preferred but not exclusive embodiments of the roadside delineator according to the invention, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of a first embodiment of the delineator according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the first embodiment of the delineator according to the present invention; Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view of a second embodiment of the delineator according to the present invention; Figure 4 is a perspective view of the second embodiment of the delineator according to the present invention; Figure 5 is an exploded perspective view of a third embodiment of the delineator according to the present invention; Figure 6 is a perspective view of the third embodiment of the delineator according to the present invention.

[0013] With reference to the figures, three embodiments of delineators according to the present invention, designated by A, B and C, are shown. The three delineators A, B, C shown differ from each other exclusively in the form of respective reflector plates A3, B3, C3 and corresponding supports A1, B1, C1 which, obtained by injection molding and preferably with a polymer compound reinforced with glass fibers or other, have adapted recessed seats A2, B2, C2 in which to accommodate and protect perimetrically the edge of the reflector plates A3, B3, C3 fixed thereto with screws or other means.

[0014] An appendage A4, B4, C4 extends downward from said supports A1, B1, C1 and ends with a cylindrical portion, which is externally threaded and onto which a few coils of a cylindrical spring 1, made of stainless steel, are to be screwed, the opposite end thereof being fixed, in the same manner, in the external thread of a grub 2 which is crossed axially by a bolt 3 onto which a nut 8 is to be screwed in order to tighten brackets 5 and 6 between washers 4 and 7 and obtain the tightening of the assembly, as well as its fixing to the guardrail or to other delimiting elements, even with brackets other than those shown.

[0015] This, in addition to making the assembly of the various parts easy and quick, also allows, if necessary, the reuse of some of them and especially of the cylindrical spring, the hardware and the brackets, since they are all made of stainless steel in order to withstand the weather and also the salt spread in winter on roads.

[0016] In conclusion, the road delineator thus conceived has all the necessary requirements to fulfill, in the best way, its function even in the worst conditions such as those of mountain roads in the winter season.

[0017] In fact: thanks to the cylindrical spring 1, which protrudes from the guardrail or any other protective barrier, the delineator according to the invention can yield, elastically and without damage, to impacts coming for any reason from any direction; by virtue of its production by injection molding of a polymer compound or equivalent, perhaps reinforced with glass fibers or other, the support A1, B1, C1 can plastically cushion impacts and still be harmless, i.e., incapable of producing injury to unfortunate persons who strike it; thanks to the recessed seats that accommodate them in such support, protecting its edge, the reflector plates, fixed in them, can better withstand shocks and especially jerks.

[0018] Finally, without prejudice to the general characteristics described and shown, it is not excluded that the present invention may be susceptible of modifications and variations which, comprised in any case within the scope of the accompanying claims, could relate to the shape of the reflective plates and of their support or to the replacement of the one or more cylindrical stainless steel springs with other equivalent elastic elements which are in any case joined to the support of the reflective plates and to the means for fixing them to the guardrail or to any other type of delimiting element.

[0019] Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.

Claims

1. A roadside delineator (A, B, C), of the type with reflectors and configured to be coupled by virtue of coupling means to guardrails, Jersey barriers and other containment elements, particularly exposed to impacts of all kinds with passing vehicles, works vehicles and other vehicles, characterized in that it comprises at least one plate (A3, B3, C3) of a type chosen between reflector and light-emitting, at least one elastic element (1) being interposed between said plate and coupling means for the delineator and being configured to deform elastically and without damage upon impacts arriving from any direction, with consequent autonomous elastic return at the end of the mechanical stress due to the impact.

2. The roadside delineator according to claim 1, characterized in that said at least one elastic element interposed between a support (A1, B1, C1) of said at least one reflector plate and the means for coupling to a guardrail is a cylindrical spring (1).

3. The roadside delineator according to claim 2, characterized in that said at least one reflector plate (A3, B3, C3) is recessed and fixed, with fixing elements of the type of screws and other equivalent components, within cavities (A2, B2, C2) of said support (A1, B1, C1) which are adapted to protect the edge thereof from impacts.

4. The roadside delineator according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said support (A1, B1, C1) of said at least one reflector plate (A3, B3, C3) is provided by injection molding of a polymeric compound, possibly reinforced with fibers chosen from glass fibers and fibers of a type equivalent thereto.

5. The roadside delineator according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the at least one cylindrical spring (1) and the metallic coupling means (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) are made of stainless steel.

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