The present invention relates to a safety road barrier consisting of one or more longitudinal insets made of hard rubber or similar material. Such insets, in the form of a curb, can be applied either within the slots formed by the outlines of the barriers themselves already in use on roads and highways, or else, in the course of manufacturing, on the contoured steel band intended for the construction of the barriers themselves.

Said insets, even in the case of concrete barriers of various shapes, can be applied onto the barriers, longitudinally, by means of suitable attachment systems that range from riveting to simple application of an adhesive substance suited to the purpose.

The same applicant has already filed Italian patent application no. MI91A 002635 which contains part of the concepts relating to the object of the present application, which is intended to provide some further innovations for the improvement of the invention.

By this point it is known that almost all roads and highways, as well as turn-offs and access roads, are equipped with horizontal barriers formed either by contoured steel bands suitably supported by vertical posts or by concrete casings, barriers that have the task of absorbing eventual collisions of motor vehicles and of

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keeping them within the roadway.

Said horizontal barriers have evolved in the last years until they have attained well defined contours, according to predetermined deformation and absorption loads, and they exhibit easy assembly and restoration of safety conditions after eventual accidents.

However, said improvements do not include any type of horizontal inset, suitable for contributing to the absorption of the shock or else for limiting the damage to the motor vehicle due to the impact between the vehicle and the barriers, with even the possibility of starting a fire because of sparks originating during the friction between them.

Furthermore, reflective horizontal insets have never been provided to continuously indicate the limits of the roadway, dangerous curves, humps, service areas, but single reflective elements are used mostly along with vertical support posts.

The present invention can therefore be considered the right solution for the above, since it is proposed as a technically complete safety barrier, which can even be constructed merely by reworking the barriers already in use. Indeed the invention relates to an improved safety road barrier, characterized by the fact of comprising one or more longitudinal elastic elements, that cover the barrier only partially, and which are applied to the barrier so as to achieve a more gradual absorption of the force of the collision of the motor vehicle in the case of

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an accident, thus limiting the damage resulting from the impact and the friction between the vehicle and the barrier.

Said elastic elements are composed of one or more horizontal curbs made of rubber or similar material, suitably contoured and applicable to existing safety barriers, either, with various contours, to steel bands that are variously contoured for barriers of new profile, in any case always respecting the usual project parameters including absorption, rupture load and the deformation limit imposed by the regulations in force in the individual states in matters of traffic safety for motor vehicles.

These and other particular characteristics of the invention will be even better clarified in the subsequent detailed description, given only for the purpose of illustration and not to limit the scope of the invention, using various tables of illustrative drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a view of the cross section, with respect to a barrier according to the present invention, obtained by applying a longitudinal curb onto a contour sheet metal safety barrier of known type, that is already in use; figure 2 shows a view of the cross section of a new possible horizontal barrier made of sheet metal, equipped with a double longitudinal curb made of rubber, fastened with threaded vertical elements; figure 3 shows a view of the cross section of a barrier similar to that in figure 2, in whose horizontal

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casings are fastened the rubber curbs with the impact zone having a tubular section; figure 4 shows a view of the cross section of a further variation to the contouring of the barrier, equipped with a double horizontal curb made of rubber with a swallow-tailed connection; figure 5 shows a view of the cross section of a barrier with contouring similar to that of figure 4, but equipped with a single rubber horizontal curb, still equipped with a swallow-tailed connection but with a large section with respect to the previous case; figure 6 shows, purely as an example, a section of a barrier of a known type, to which a protective elastic horizontal curb has been applied; figure 7 shows, still as an example, a barrier of the new type, equipped with a double horizontal curb, according to the present invention; figure 8, finally, shows a view of the cross section of a barrier made of concrete with two longitudinal curbs applied to it.

Making reference to figure 1, the present invention provides for the execution of horizontal curb 1 with a contour conforming to the profile of barriers 2 of known type, and therefore applicable to those already placed in use, by suitable means, thus obtaining a more functional barrier. With reference to figure 2, the invention provides for the execution of safety barrier 4 with a profile in which two horizontal housing casings 5

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are made, such as to allow for the application of as many rubber curbs 6, to be suitably fastened with vertical threaded elements 7.

Referring to figure 3, the invention, according to a first variation as referred to in figure 2, provides for the application of horizontal curbs 8 of which the part intended for the dynamic absorption of the shock exhibits tubular contour 9.

Said tubular part allows for an initial deformation upon shock without affecting the actual barrier itself and thus can further limit eventual material damage to the motor vehicle.

Making reference to figure 4, the invention, according to a second variation, provides for the use of barrier 10 with a contour similar to the previous one but with curbs 11 and corresponding casings 12 for a swallow- tailed connection, thus with greater stability of the latter in case of collision.

Referring to figure 5, a further variation of the invention consists in the production of a barrier similar to that which is represented in figure 14 , but which is equipped with single casing 13 and corresponding rubber longitudinal curb 11 with a swallow-tailed attachment, with a larger section in comparison to the previous case. As can be seen from the various figures and in particular from figures 6 and 7, the assembly of barriers 17 mentioned above provides for the use of stanchions 15 in metallic contour and corresponding threaded elements 16, as

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has already been done for all safety barriers of the known type, widely used on roads and highways.

As already mentioned, onto the above barriers can be applied one or more reflective adhesive or painted strips, phosphorescent or fluorescent for horizontal indication, as stipulated in the traffic code, thus presenting itself as a useful complement for every necessity for such a purpose, which proves particularly useful in the case of night fog or low visibility to indicate the limits of the roadway and/or zones of particular danger. Such strips are illustrated as an example on figure 4 (central strip 18 and edge strip 19) , on figure 6 (strip 19) and on figure 7 (central strip 18) .

Moreover, the rubber protection safeguards the barrier from rust in that it covers a good part of the barrier, thus avoiding the sight of rusted barriers that are anti-aesthetic. The type of rubber used should have good resistance to corrosion from atmospheric agents, acids and salts. According to a further embodiment, both the rubber curbs and the reflective strips are also applied on concrete elements 20, by suitable systems of fastening εuch as expansion bolts, adhesives (not represented) or by a swallow-tailed connection. Figure 8 illustrates precisely one of barriers 20 thus obtained, with two longitudinal curbs 21 applied to it and fastened by the system just cited.

It is obvious that such insets 21, by varying the

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system of fastening, can also be applied either onto barriers already placed in use, and on barrier elements in the manufacturing process.

A further embodiment of the invention is indicated in which the longitudinal elastic curbs, no matter whether it is a barrier made of sheet metal or is one made of concrete, are made with a type of rubber whose mixture contains elements suitable to conferring it with an effect of fluorescence. By means of this last creation it is obvious that the result of optimum nighttime visibility of the barrier is achieved, which, without having to resort to the application of other elements, can effectively fulfill the function of indicating the direction of the roadway. The fact should be emphasized that the described embodiments do not limit the scope of the invention, but rather it must be understood that numerous modifications, additions, variations or substitutions of elements can be applied to the present invention, without thereby altering either its spirit or its scope, or without going beyond its scope of protection, as defined in the attached claims.

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