Protective fence

©) Holder: Idem (7d) (74) Agent: Bugnion associates,

116, bd Haussmann, 75008 Paris.

D

Sale of booklets at IMPRIMERIE NATIONALE, 27, rue de la Convention - 75732 PARIS CEDEX 15

- 1 protective palisades to protect participants in the exercise of a sport

The present invention relates to a protective fence to protect people engaged in the exercise of a sport or spectators of this sport, in particular on the ski slopes, this fence being provided with a reception net or tensioned stop between stakes anchored on the ground and a flexible cover or chapp ', by which the st akes are covered at least partially, on the side of the track.

It is known to erect such protective fences, in particular at the location of the starting routes. The receiving net is for this purpose frequently anchored to stakes driven into the ground and / or to trees, and it is known to cover said stakes and trees in particularly dangerous locations with straw bales on the side of the track. , in order to mitigate the consequences of a shock. The protective effect obtained by said straw bales is actually relatively satisfactory when they are put in place correctly, but there remains however the danger that said bales undergo displacement by sliding or that the sportsman's equipment is hung in the bales of straw, causing damage. The receiving or stopping effect of bales of straw is greatly reduced during humidity accompanied by frost and the straw undergoes rotting over time. In addition, the arrangement of the straw bales is felt awkward from the aesthetic point of view. In addition, transport and storage pose difficulties.

The object of the invention is to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks and to improve a protective fence of the type mentioned above, so that optimum protection independent of atmospheric conditions and time is obtained, with simpler mounting. and faster, and that the transportation and storage of said fence are affected by the lowest possible expenses.

The aforementioned objective as well as others which will appear in what follows, are achieved according to the invention by the fact that the cover is composed of flexible elastic plastic bodies, by which are covered at least the sides of the stakes facing towards the track, each cover being detachably held on the associated stakes, by means of

- 2 fixing means.

Suitably, the cover has a substantially planar rear wall, at least partially surrounding the stake so as to be assembled in conformation with the latter, said rear wall extending parallel and close to the receiving net. Thus, the gap between the cover and the receiving net is as small as possible, so that a snag between them is largely avoided.

In a particularly advantageous manner, for simple mounting, it can be provided in the rear wall of one of the stakes, longitudinal grooves serving at least partially the engagement of associated elements. For fixing the ends of the net, a double post is advantageously used and in this case a protruding bead between the two posts can be placed on the rear wall of the cover. The fixing means are then suitably arranged on at least one edge of the longitudinal grooves or on the protruding bead in order to obtain simple and rapid assembly and disassembly. The manufacture and also in particular the assembly and disassembly of the covers on the stakes are made particularly simple due to the fact that articulated locking parts serve as fixing means more advantageously than flat iron sectors.

In a particularly advantageous manner, the rear wall can have several longitudinal grooves for increasing the elastic flexibility. By the arrangement of longitudinal grooves, the manufacturing becomes particularly simple, but it can however also be provided an arrangement of grooves of transverse shape which is accompanied by a corresponding greater rigidity. However, by an appropriate choice of material thickness, the elastic flexibility of the cover can be adapted to requirements within wide limits. In a preferred embodiment, the depth of the grooves is approximately 10 mm for a wall thickness of the material of approximately 1.5 mm.

In a particularly advantageous manner, the front wall of the cover turned towards the post side, has an arcuate cross section, circular to oval, said front wall covering the stake in a substantially concentric manner and at a distance from the side of the track, said front wall and said wall

- 3 front and said rear wall jointly forming, in a particularly advantageous manner, a flexible elastic hollow body on the post. To increase the rebound effect, the hollow body can even be arranged densely and filled with a gas.

The cover may, however, also be made, by fulfilling a similar function, of a foamed plastic surface material with suitably closed cells, to prevent the penetration of moisture.

The hollow body can be produced in a particularly simple manner at least in its cross section, in one piece, by blowing, a plastic pipe which can, in effect, serve as a raw material, said pipe possibly being directly molded by extrusion before the blowing process.

In another embodiment, the front wall and the rear wall of the cover can be securely linked along the longitudinal edges, for example by spot or roller welding, gluing, riveting or the like.

To save material and increase flexibility, the front wall can be arranged in a wavy fashion, to be able to absorb as much deformation work as possible. Particularly suitably, the corrugations can extend in a transverse orientation to the longitudinal axis, for a simple manufacture of the tooling, the transverse sections of the^Jcorrugations which can be arranged semi-circularly, for example with a semi-circular radius of approximately 5 mm.

The cover is suitably made from a plastic material with a relatively thin wall, which is not brittle at low temperatures (up to -40 ° C. at least), for example from black-tinted polyethylene, to be insensitive to intense UV radiation at altitude.

The upper end of the cover is particularly advantageously arranged in the shape of a cap, in this embodiment, the upper end of the stake being covered by the attachment device or securing said cap. The disassembly of the stakes themselves can be carried out in a simple manner known in itself, by tensioning cables fixed to the ground, but it is however also possible to use rigid struts in bending, preferably formed by tubes, which are

- 4 - 'connected to the upper end of the stakes, for example by an annular engagement or by one end of the strut folded into a U, rising inside the stake.

The upper end, with the cap-shaped cover, can be arranged in one piece with the front wall or the rear wall, but it can however also be applied as a separate part.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge more clearly from the description which follows of some embodiments given by way of indicative example, but in no way limiting, with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a top view of the end region of a fence intended to be erected in the snow;

Figure 2 is a view of the end sting of the palisade to be erected in the snow, shown in Figure 1, with a cover seen from the viewer's side;

Figure 3 is a corresponding view of an intermediate stitching, which is supported on the one hand by a tensioning cable (left side of the representation) and on the other hand by a strut (right side of the representation);

Figure 4 shows a side view of a blanket in the direction of arrow IV in Figure 2;

Figure 5 shows a partial view, corresponding to Figure IV, of another embodiment;

Figure 6 shows a sectional view of the protective fence in the region of an end stake, along line VI-VI of Figure 2; and

Figure 7 shows a view corresponding to Figure VI in the case of an intermediate stake, corresponding to the line VII-VII of Figure 3.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 1, one end of a net 1 for receiving or stopping is engaged on an end stake 2 in two parts, while the other end not shown is also held by such a double stake. The receiving net 1 is supported by intermediate stakes 3 and also fixed in height. The stakes 2, 3 are tensioned by a tensioning cable 4, this tensioning cable 4 being secured on the one hand to the ground parallel to the receiving net 1 and

- 5 at a short distance from the latter, and on the other hand fixed to the upper end of the stakes 2, 3. For this purpose, the ends of the tensioning cable 4 are hooked, by means of hooks 5, in a plate 6, said plate 6 having, in the case of the end stake 2, two interruptions for the engagement of the free ends of the double stake. Instead of the tensioning cable 4, a strut 7 can also be provided.

For the release of the reception net 1, this can be reinforced on the upper side, but also also on the lower side, by a tensioning cable 8 around which the outer edge of the reception net is wrapped to reduce the risk of 'damage. The stakes 2, 3, themselves have a base plate 9 and an anchor piece 10 only sketched, which driven into the ground or snow. By a tube 11, one can plant deep in the ground with a corresponding length, an anchoring mandrel. To increase the rigidity, the tube 11 is welded to the anchoring piece 10 in the form of a shoring plate, and to obtain additional regulation, a junction sheet 12 can also be provided extending perpendicularly to said anchor piece. The stakes 2, 3 are hidden, at least on the side 13 of the track, by a cover 14 for the protection of athletes. The covers 14 used are arranged in the form of a hollow body and have a front wall 15 of substantially circular cross section and a rear wall 16 arranged in a substantially planar manner, as can be seen in particular clearly in FIGS. 6 and 7. In the embodiment of Figure 7, the cover 14 is arranged in one piece, for example by blowing. The rear wall 16 has a longitudinal groove 17, between which an intermediate stake 3 engages, assembled to conformation and fixedly held in place by several locking pieces 18. The locking pieces 18 are flat iron sectors of particularly interesting value, which are pivotally fixed, preferably by riveting, at least on one side for easy removal of the covers 14.

To reduce the danger of damage during the impact of an athlete on a cover 14, the rear wall 16 is arranged in a flexible manner by the provision of longitudinal grooves 19, the flexibility being adaptable by a corresponding choice of thickness.

- 6 wall and groove conformation, depending on requirements.

Likewise, the front wall 15 is arranged in a wavy fashion, as can be clearly seen in particular in FIG. 4.

To this end, the corrugations 20 preferably extend perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the stake. The corrugations 20 can be composed of semicircles for simple manufacture, the diameter of the semicircles and consequently also the depth of the corrugations being able to amount to approximately 10 mm for a wall thickness of the front wall 15 of approximately 15 mm. As the material, a non-brittle plastic material at low temperatures is also used for the cover 14, preferably polyethylene. As the protective fence is particularly suitable for the preservation of ski and toboggan runs, in particular a black plastic material stable with respect to UV rays is used, to thus also ensure long durability in high mountain areas covers 14.

In the exemplary embodiment of FIGS. 4 and 6, the corrugations 20 end at the side edges with surfaces of shape substantially perpendicular to said corrugations, the rear sides of said surfaces serving as bearing surfaces 21, for the rear wall.

16. The edges of the front wall 15 and of the rear wall 16 are arranged overlapping and connected jointly to the hollow body, for example in the form of spot welding or continuous welding with a roller, by gluing or also by riveting.

The upper end of the cover 14 is arranged in the shape of a cap, so as to engage in protection mode by its attachment device on the upper end of the stake. The cap or cap 22 thus formed can be molded in one piece on the front wall 15 or on the rear wall 16, but to obtain a less complicated conformation of the cover 14, it can also be designed as a separate part. to be connected to the front wall 15 and / or the rear wall 16 by welding, gluing, riveting or the like, as shown in the exemplary embodiments of FIGS. 4 and 5.