The subject of the invention is a tilting street bollard, intended to block or demarcate pedestrian areas, narrow lanes or parking areas and in this way prevent vehicles from accessing or crossing those areas, wherein its construction allows the unintentional knock by a vehicle without that vehicle being significantly damaged. In such a case, the bollard also remains undamaged and returns to its original, vertical position. The invention belongs to the E01F13/00 class of international patent classifications.

The tilting street bollard in line with the invention successfully solves the technical problem via the submitted constructive solution that represents a tilting bollard that tilts upon being unintentionally impacted by vehicles without the vehicle and the bollard being damaged and allows the vehicle to impact it without the object that exerted the force on the bollard (the vehicle) or the tilting bollard itself incurring damage, whereby the bollard - upon being released - once again returns back to its normal position. As such, the construction should be such that the mechanism is not visible externally and therefore, the tilting bollard maintains its appearance of a fixed street bollard, while at the same time, the construction should allow for the bollard to be able to deflect all the way to the ground without damage to the mechanism.

The existing known solutions of articulated bollards intended for parking areas or for the purposes of restricting access to an area, which mark, prevent or prohibit the access of vehicles to particular areas of a roadway, parking area or pedestrian area and which include constructive elements, which allow for the articulation of the bollard for the purpose of opening or closing access to an area, can be divided according to the system of their operation and, within this scope, according to the constructive solutions of individual embodiments. Movable bollards, which are controlled by a sensor and which move with the assistance of an in-built motor, do not solve the posed technical problem (the solution in accordance with the patent document EP0309488). The posed technical problem is also not solved by movable bollards that are moved by removing a safety mechanism that keeps the bollard in the vertical position, whereby the bollard can then be moved down into a horizontal position and returned back to the vertical position once we have driven over the bollard (patent document GB 2297781 or FR 2897369). Constructive solutions of movable bollards where the bollard is moved by a vehicle and returns itself to a vertical (locked) position when the vehicle is no longer in contact with it in most cases feature a spiral spring that connects the body of the bollard with a base unit, which is solidly fixed to the ground. A spiral spring enables the tilting of the bollard itself and its automatic return to the vertical position when external force is no longer applied by the vehicle (for example the bumper of the vehicle). Individual known solutions offer certain improvements in order to allow for improved deflection rates (for example the combination of a ball and socket in the solution in accordance with the patent document no. SI9200077, a larger number of spiral springs in accordance with the patent document no. GB 2392468), however the main problem still remains, namely the need for an embodiment, which would enable a suitable and satisfactory movement of the movable bollard in the presence of an external force without the bollard or the vehicle that came into contact with the bollard being damaged. In case stiffer springs are used that ensure the definite recoil of the movable bollard back into the vertical position, the possibility of damage to the vehicle, which caused the movement, is greater, while the use of weaker springs does not ensure that the bollard will definitely recoil to the vertical position. None of the known solutions allowing the articulation of the bollard are implemented in such a way that the mechanism, which enables this, remains hidden, thus providing for an embodiment that has the appearance of a fixed street bollard.

The tilting street bollard in accordance with the invention, which satisfactorily solves the posed technical problem, features a spring mechanism in the movable part that is flexibly attached to the supporting part via a protective edge, whereby, when there is a shift in the movable part of the bollard, a spring or system of springs works to force the bollard into the vertical position.

We will explain the invention in more detail on the basis of the implemented example and figures, which show:

Figure 1 a tilting street bollard in accordance with the invention by sets of components in cross section and side view;

Figure 2 the tilting street bollard in accordance with the invention in a partial cross section and side view;

Figure 3 the tilting street bollard in accordance with the invention in a partial cross section and side view in a partly tilted position;

The tilting street bollard in accordance with the invention is basically comprised of a supporting part no. 3, a movable part no. 1 and a spring mechanism no. 2. Parts no. 1 and no. 3 can have a round, square, rectangular, triangular or similar section. Depending on the section of parts no. 1 and no. 3, the sliding element no. 4 is correspondingly designed, as is the blocking bracket no. 5 and the protective edge no. 7. The spring mechanism no. 2 enables the movable part no. 1 of the bollard to shift vis-a-vis the supporting part no. 3 of the bollard. The protective edge no. 7 is attached at the point of contact between the supportive part no. 3 and the movable part no. 1, whereby the protective edge no. 7 terminates at the bottom in the seat no. 8 of the supportive part no. 3 of the bollard.

In the spring mechanism no. 2, the spring element no. 9 is installed, which is anchored to the movable part no. 1 of the bollard in its upper part via the upper anchor point no. 10, while it is anchored to the sliding element no. 4 in its the lower part with the bottom anchor point no. 11 , whereby the sliding element no. 4 is connected with bracket no. 13 of the spring mechanism no. 2 via the connecting element no. 12. The connecting element no. 12 can be made from chain, steel wire or something similar. In the spring mechanism no. 2 - between the sliding element no. 4 and the blocking bracket no. 5 - spring no. 6 is inserted in such a way that one end of it rests against the said blocking bracket which is implemented in the movable part no. 1 of the bollard, while the other end of spring no. 6 does not touch the said sliding element whilst movable part no. 1 is in an upright position. The spring element no. 9 can be a tensile coil spring, a gas spring or something similar, while the spring no. 6 is a compression spring.

The supportive part no. 3 of the bollard is rigidly attached to or in the foundations. The upper surface of the supportive part no. 3 of the bollard has a built in bracket no. 13 and a protective edge no. 7. The protective edge no. 7 takes the shape of the movable part no. 1 of the bollard and is conically shaped towards the top. The protective edge no. 7 enables the movable part no. 1 of the bollard to deflect in a controlled manner under load and to return to the original starting (vertical) position after the load is removed. The function of the protective edge no. 7 is also to prevent access to the bracket no. 13 of the supporting part no. 3 and so prevent damage to the base, which could arise upon the return of the movable part no. 1 into the upright position. An additional function of the protective edge no. 7 is also that, when the movable part no. 1 is at a larger angle due to the connecting element no. 12, it increases the tension in spring no. 6 and thus enhances the resistance of the movable part no. 1 of the bollard towards the original position.

The structure of the tilting street bollard, due to the already described component parts enables the movable part no. 1 to begin deflecting when force is exerted on the movable part no. 1, for example upon the impact by a car. The sliding element no. 4, which is rigidly connected to bracket no. 13 of the supportive part no. 3 via connecting element no. 12 and in this way fastened to the supportive part no. 3 of the bollard, works on spring no. 6, which begins to compress because it presses against blocking bracket no. 5. When the force is no longer exerted on the movable part no. 1 , movable part no. 1 once again returns to the starting (vertical) point because of the force exerted by spring no. 9.

Due to the described construction of the designed spring mechanism no. 2, the deflection in the moving part no. 1 of the bollard in accordance with the invention is made possible already in the presence of smaller forces exerted on the moving part no. 1 of the bollard, that is, moving part no. 1 of the bollard does not offer greater resistance to the force being exerted upon it. Upon forces being increased, the resistance increases and so prevents the intentional deflection of the bollard; at the same time, the spring mechanism no. 2 allows deflection, which means that the bollard can reach all the way down to the ground (up to 90 degrees). Due to this, the shift of the movable part no. 1 of the bollard is possible already upon very small forces, which consequently means that extensive damage to the object exerting the force on the bollard, for example from an automobile or a part thereof (bumper, fender, etc), is prevented. Furthermore, when the force is no longer exerted on the movable part no. 1 of the bollard, the certain return of the movable part no. 1 of the bollard to the starting (vertical) position is possible, whereby protective edge no. 7 ensures that it is stable when seated in the supporting part no. 3 of the bollard. The above described construction of the tilting street bollard in accordance with the invention, which is intended to block or mark parking areas or pedestrian zones and thus prevent vehicles from entering or crossing to such places, successfully solves the embodiment of such a type of tilting bollard, which deflects upon coming into minor contact with vehicles and allows access of the vehicle without damage to the object exerting the force on the bollard (a vehicle) and the tilting street bollard and once again returns to the normal position upon being released. All the while, it does not show its tilting characteristics with its appearance, as the mechanism is not visible from the outside.

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