Protection Barrier
The present invention relates to ashoreline protection barrier, and method of deploying the same. The protection barrier has many applications such as , and in particular to a barrier for protecting the a shore from contamination by oil arising, for example, from an oil spill. A further application is of the barrier forming a security barrier for crowd control purposes. The present invention particularly relates to a rapidly deployable and easily transportable crowd control security barrier which can preferably be recovered after use, and re-used.
In relation to a first application of a protection barrier, Sshoreline contamination is one of the many problems and dangers posed when oil escapes, for whatever reason, into a body of water and drifts, or is blown, towards the shoreline.
While problems are associated with collecting any such water-borne oil, it can also prove particularly advantageous if as much oil as possible is prevented from washing up on the shoreline and so limit the damage by potential contamination and to limit the effect on the shoreline eco-system.
Once it is recognized that, for example, an oil spill has occurred that might be heading towards a particular area of coastline, steps can be taken to deploy some form of barrier arrangement seeking to prevent the water-borne oil from washing up on the shore.
Quite often however, geographical and/or geological characteristics at shorelines might serve to present a variety of obstacles to the delivery and deployment of a barrier system thereby limiting the effectiveness with which the barrier system can serve their purpose. Such systems thatdo not exhibit ease and compactness of storage, and ease of transportation,may not therefore be available for deployment.
A variety of barrier systems are known such as that of US Patent 5 591333 which discloses a barrier assembly including a plurality of oil-impermeable sheets. These are arranged to form a curtain-type barrier to prevent the oil washing up on a shoreline. However, the ease and efficiency with which the oil-impermeable sheets can be assembled to form the barrier system is disadvantageously limited and also the structural integrity and reliability is likewise limited and so potentially unreliable given the potential wide variety of environmental conditions that the barrier might have to withstand. Of course, the more severe the environmental conditions are, the greater the damaging effect of the oil spill is likely to be and so the more important the stability and structural integrity of the barrier.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved protection barrier; in particular, a protection barrier which does not suffer from the disadvantages mentioned heretofore in relation to the protection of a shoreline.
In relation to a further application of a protection barrier, security barriers which are also the subject of this invention may be used for temporary crowd control purposes, for example at conferences, summits, concerts, festivals, marches and potentially hostile congregations of people. In some cases, security barriers may also be deployed to afford temporary or semi-permanent access protection to protect military, diplomatic or civilian installations from personnel assault. For convenience, such security barriers will be referred to as crowd control security barriers.
One common type of security barrier currently in widespread use comprises a wire mesh fence panel extending between two posts, each of which is anchored in a supporting block, generally of concrete or recycled rubber. Such security barriers have been deemed appropriate for many uses, but they are not sufficiently stable or robust to withstand a determined assault, either by an individual or by a crowd attempting to breach the barrier. Other common types of security barrier are based upon similar principles, although the nature of the panel and its means of support may vary somewhat.
WO-A-90/12160 discloses wire mesh cage structures useful as gabions, security barriers with a different function from the crowd control security barriers of the present invention. These gabions are primarily for securing areas against assault by small arms fire, rockets missiles and vehicle-borne explosives, and also by elemental forces such as floods, landslides, avalanches and the like. The gabion cage structure is made up of pivotally interconnected open mesh work frames which are connected together under factory conditions so that the cage can fold concertina-wise to take a flattened form for transportation to site, where it can be erected to take an open multi-compartmental form for filling with a suitable fill material, such as sand, soil, earth or rocks.
WO-A-00/40810 also concerns a multi-compartmental gabion-type security barrier which folds concertina-wise for transportation, and which comprises side walls extending along the length of the multi-compartmental security barrier, the side walls being connected at spaced intervals along the length of the security barrier by partition walls which are formed from two releasably connected sections, which after use of the security barrier can be released, and the security barrier unzipped for recovery purposes.
Existing crowd control security barriers have certain disadvantages with respect to their efficacy, particularly in the face of determined assault. Although different problems pertain to different types of barrier, generally they are too easy to scale, topple, dismantle and/or otherwise breach. Gabion type security barriers have not generally been used as crowd control security barriers, and are generally not suited for this purpose.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved security barrier; in particular, a crowd control security barrier which is robust, and not easily breached.
The present invention seeks to provide for a barrier and method of deploying the same having advantages over known such barriers and methods.
In particular, the present invention seeks to provide for a barrier that can be deployed having a relatively high degree of structural integrity whilst being relatively easily transported, delivered and deployed from a configuration of compact storage, in a relatively quick and simple manner, without the necessity for particularly skilled/trained personnel. In particular, the present invention can seek to rely upon various readily/freely available materials likely to be found at the coastal site for enhancing the stability and structural integrity of the barrier.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided an articulated shore-protection barrier for protecting a shoreline from contamination by oil, the barrier comprising a plurality of panels pivotally connected to form an articulated panel line and arranged such that, when deployed, various of the panels serve to define compartments spaced along the panel line and arranged to receive stabilising fill material.the barrier comprising a plurality of panels pivotally connected to form an articulated panel line and arranged such that, when deployed on a shoreline, various of the panels can serve to define compartments spaced along the panel line and arranged to receive stabilizing fill material.
Thus, the invention provides an articulating barrier comprising a multiplicity of panels pivotally connected together to form an articulating panel line, the panel line being punctuated by a series of polygonal compartments for receiving a fill material.
Preferably the polygonal compartments are openable for facilitating removal of a fill material on recovery of the barrier.
By “punctuated” is meant that the polygonal compartments are space along the panel line, leaving gaps between compartments, in which gap the panel line is present; but no polygonal compartment.
The invention is therefore advantageous in that, through use of the plurality of pivotally connected panels, a barrier of appropriate length and structural rigidity can be readily deployed through a quick and relatively easy formation of the panel line with spaced compartments. Insofar as the compartments are formed from various of the plurality of panels of the panel line, structural rigidity of the barrier is insured insofar as the compartments will comprise integral elements of the panel line.
The requirement that the compartments are spaced along the panel line (with gaps therebetween where the panel line but no polygonal compartment is present) – in other words that the compartments punctuate the panel line – is highly advantageous because of the resulting flexibility of the barrier. The deployed barrier thus comprises both uncompartmentalised panel line portions and compartmentalised panel line portions, preferably interspersed so that a compartmentalised panel line portion is adjacent a non-compartmentalised panel line portion. This arrangement means that in the deployed configuration the barrier is easily able to articulate around obstacles, or turn corners, or otherwise be configured to meet the requirements of the terrain.
While, as noted above, the barrier can be deployed in a quick and efficient manner, the ready pivotal connection between the panels allows for easy and compact storage of the barrier. Transportation of the plurality of connected panels to the exact shoreline location where the barrier can be best deployed is therefore greatly assisted. This may be, for example, at a shore line or a crowd control incident.
The term “spaced” used herein is intended to confer that the compartments have some form of gap between one another, whether or not the gap is constituted by a non-compartmentalised panel. It could be said that the compartments are not directly connected to one another in this sense.
The compartmentalised panels defining a compartment may be punctuated by at least one non-compartmentalised panel.
The compartments may be separated by at least one non-compartmentalised panel.
At least a portion of the panel line may have compartments which are spaced regularly. Alternatively or additionally, at least a portion of the panel line may have compartments which are spaced irregularly.
The defined barrier thus enables a panel line to be formed while minimising the number of compartments necessary to maintain the structural integrity and efficacy of the barrier. By minimising the number of compartments, labour is reduced together with cost and complexity of deployment. By reducing the level of complexity of deployment, the barrier becomes available for use by lesser skilled personnel which is also advantageous in that the barrier may accommodate use by a greater number of people.
Further, stable deployment is readily assisted insofar as any freely available material found at the shoreline site, for example, can comprise the fill material required to be introduced into the compartments.
To assist with the structural rigidity, while maintaining ease of transportation, each of the panels can comprise a framework panel which, as one example, can comprise open mesh panels.
The barrier can further comprise an oil-resistive lining material arranged to extend over the face of a panel.
As a should be appreciated, any appropriate material, such as a geotextile material, can be employed as the liner and indeed, as a possible alternative, the material of the panel itself can exhibit at least some form of oil resistive characteristic.
If a form of liner is employed this can be provided in a single, or multi-, layer configuration as required.
Such oil-resistive lining material can further serve to act as means for retaining the fill material within each compartment.
Yet further, the oil-resistive lining material can be arranged to extend over a plurality of the said pivotally connected panels and thereby also extend over the region of pivotal articulation between adjacent panels.
In one particular embodiment, a sheet of oil-resistive lining material extends along one face of the articulated panel line.
If required, the lining material can be arranged to be attached to the plurality of panels in situ or can be provided integral with the panels.
With regard to a particular embodiment of the present invention, adjacent panels are pivotally connected at adjacent edges to advantageously assist with the manner in which the articulated panel line can be configured, manipulated and adjusted as required.
In particular, adjacent panels can be pivotally connected by means of at least one intermediate connecting member.
Such an intermediate connecting member can comprise at least one loop arranged to pass through an opening in the edge regions of adjacent panels.
Preferably, the intermediate connecting member comprises an elongate helical coil member extending substantially along the length of the edge regions of adjacent panels and through apertures provided therein so as to link adjacent panels in the said pivotal manner.
According to a particular advantage to be discussed further below, the intermediate connecting member is arranged to be interleaved with a like connecting member connecting a further pair of panels. This serves to align the openings of each of the intermediate connecting membersand which can be arranged to receive an elongate securing member extending therethrough.
In particular, respective intermediate connecting members are arranged to be interleaved and aligned in a coaxial manner.
As an alternative, the respective intermediate connecting members can be arranged to be secured adjacent one another in a side-by-side manner and with elongate fixing members passing there-through. If required the fixing members can be arranged to extend into the surface upon-which the barrier sits for further improved security of connection for the respective adjacent panels.
In one example, the fixing members can comprise the two legs of an elongate U-shape fixing pin.
As will be appreciated, a variety of potential shapes and configurations for the panel line and compartments can be provided and the compartments can comprise polygonal compartments. In one example, the compartments can comprise three-sided compartments therefore having a triangular transverse cross section.
In this manner, the plurality of the panels can be pivoted and connected at appropriate locations so as to form a series of triangular compartments wherein an apex of each triangle can serve to connect the compartment to the panel line.
As will be appreciated from the following description, release of this connection at the said apex effectively serves to “open” the compartment to allow for easy removal of the fill material from the compartment when the barrier is to be “decommissioned” and removed from its shoreline location.
The barrier arrangement can further comprise a plurality of liner receptacles arranged to be at least partially filled with fill material and then deposited within a compartment as required.
In one further embodiment, the barrier can comprise a continuous line of panels and, in particular, the panels can be folded as appropriate about the points of pivotal connection for efficiency of storage in a concertina-wise manner.
In one particular embodiment, various pairs of the panels are arranged to be folded, and joined, at the point of pivotal connection so as to form the said compartments as required.
In one or more embodiments, a barrier may be formed so that at least one of said compartments is bounded by a front panel; a rear panel and/or side panel(s); and a bottom panel.
Of course, in some embodiments, the bottom panel may be replaced by a liner or the like.
It may be that when the barrier is deployed, the height of the rear panel and/or side panel(s) is lower than the height of the front panel.
It may be that the height of the rear/side panel(s) is not more than about 1.52m [5 feet].
It may be that the height of the front panel is at least about 1.82m [6 feet].
The fill material may bear upon the bottom panel and be effective, through connection of the bottom panel to at least two of the front panel, the rear panel and/or side panel(s), to prevent toppling of the barrier when pushed or pulled from the front.
The invention can further provide for an articulated shore-protection barrier as defined above and as located in situ on a shoreline with the compartments at least partially filled with fill material.
The fill material may comprise big bag filled or part-filled with sand, earth, soil, stones, rocks, rubble, concrete, debris, snow, ice, water, and combinations of two or more thereof.
According to a further aspect, the present invention comprehends the use of a barrier as defined herein in protecting a shoreline from contamination, preferably protecting a shoreline from contamination by oil.
According to yet a further aspect, the present invention contemplates the use of a barrier as defined herein in the form of a security barrier, preferably as a crowd control security barrier.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of forming an articulated protection barrier, comprising providing a plurality of pivotally connected panels to form an articulated panel line, and further providing various of the panels to define compartments spaced along the panel line and adding stabilising fill material to the said compartments.
a method of forming a shore-protection barrier for protecting a shoreline from contamination by oil, comprising the steps of pivoting a plurality of pivotally connected panels at a shoreline location to form an articulated panel line, and further pivoting various of the panels to define compartments spaced along the panel line and introducing stabilizing fill material to the compartments.