GB2244914A - Barriers for sports grounds - Google Patents

Abstract

A barrier primarily for use at public sports grounds comprises a number of resilient barrier elements (10). Each barrier element consists of a resilient cushion (12) overlaid with a flexible cover (30) which encloses the cushion and which is removably anchored to the ground. The cushion is such as to reduce the possibility of injury to players colliding with the barrier, and the barrier elements can replace advertising boards, in that they can themselves carry advertising material (32). <IMAGE>

Description

BARRIERS FOR SPORTS GROUNDS This invention relates to barriers for use at sports grounds, especially for use around the playing area itself, and to barrier elements which can be placed in position to form such a barrier. It must however be understood that the field of the invention is not limited to barriers when used in connection with sports, but includes barriers and barrier elements when used for any purpose for which they may be suitable.

Sports grounds such as stadia or other places where games such as football, rugby or cricket are played typically have walls, barriers or fences separating the spectators from the playing area. There is sometimes a danger of injury to players, particularly in fast games, from impact wit these barriers.

It is also common to place advertising boards on small trestles around the playing area. These are typically arranged at an angle of about 45 degrees to the horizontal, and are located quite close to the side lines of the pitch, thus presenting a further hazard which is substantially greater than that presented by the walls or barriers that merely separate the playing area from the spectators. In games such as football, players quite frequently crash into these advertising boards, or have to take rapid avoiding action to prevent impact.

It is also quite common for miscellaneous personnel, such as police officers, press photographers and officials, to stand quite close to the pitch, sometimes nearly on the side lines. There is thus an additional risk, both to such people and to the players, of collision between them.

According to the invention in a first aspect, a barrier element for use at sports grounds comprises a resilient cushion adapted to lie firmly on the ground, while in a second aspect the invention provides a barrier comprising a plurality of barrier elements according to the invention, which can be arranged so as to surround the playing area.

In a preferred form of the invention, the barrier element has a flexible cover overlying at least part of the cushion so as to present at least one exposed panel of the cover. The cushion preferably carries display means on at least part of its outer surface, this display means preferably comprising at least one display panel supported on the outer surface of the cushion. Where the cushion has a flexible cover as mentioned above, the latter preferably constitutes the display means itself.

The display panels can carry advertising material in the same way as conventional advertising boards, so that the soft cushioning barrier according to the invention takes the place of the latter. The barrier according to the invention thus not only reduces the risk of injury to players from collision with advertising equipment and with people standing close to the pitch, but it preserves the facility for advertising and also protects those standing around the pitch from collision by players.

The barrier elements may have means whereby they can be removably secured together to form a continuous barrier. Each barrier element preferably also has means for removably anchoring it to the ground.

Some embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an end elevation on a barrier element in one form according to the invention; Figure 2 is a plan view of the barrier of Figure 1; Figure 3, on a larger scale, is a scrap cross sectional elevation taken on the line III-III in Figure 2; Figures 4 and 5 are inverted plan views on part of a cushion of the barrier, in two different forms.

Figure 6 is a cut-away perspective view of part of a flexible cover of the barrier element; Figures 7, 8 and 9 are inverted scrap plan views, showing three different ways of attaching a flexible cover to a cushion; Figures 10 and 11 are end profiles of two further embodiments of a barrier element according to the invention; and Figure 12 shows one way of attaching two barrier elements together.

Referring first to Figures 1 to 4, a barrier element 10 comprises a resilient, elongate cushion 12 having a substantially constant cross section in the form of a trapezium, the longer parallel side 14 of which forms the base by which the cushion can lie firmly on the ground. The other three sides of the trapezium define two inwardly inclined side panels 16 and 18 and a flat horizontal top panel 20 of the cushion. The cushion has flat, vertical end faces 22.

The cushion 12 is in the form of a hollow shell of a soft, resilient material of a kind having high resistance to puncturing, generally good mechanical strength, and preferably having a high resistance to burning. One example of a suitable material for the cushion is a compound of Neoprene and nylon marketed by Greengate Polymer Coatings Ltd. This material is extremely soft but also mechanically very strong, is nearly non-combustible, and is difficult to puncture.

It has a high impact resilience.

The shell of the cushion may be filled with air or with a suitable foam material. In the example shown, Figures 3 to 4 show the cushion as being moulded in one piece, with a grid of integral internal stiffening ribs 24, Figure 4.

Figure 5 shows a modified cushion having a flat base 26, which may be applied during manufacture and after moulding of the shell, the latter being with or without stiffening ribs 24 as in Figure 4. It will be understood that the cushion may also have any other structure convenient to manufacture and enabling the cushion to act as an effective soft barrier to reduce or avoid injury to any person colliding with it.

Carrying handles 28 are moulded integrally on to the end faces 22.

The barrier element also includes display means in the form of a flexible cover 30, which may be of plastics sheet material (preferably perforated to prevent the build-up of condensation between it and the cushion).

The cover 30 may be made of te same material as the cushion 12, or another material of the same general kind. Alternatively, it may be of a woven or other similar material, again of the good mechanical strength and high resistance to burning. The cover 30 has a surface which can be painted or printed with display material, typically advertising material 32.

The cover 30 is stretched over the cushion 12 so as to present three exposed outer panels 34, 36 and 38 overlying the cushion panels 16, 20 and 18 respectively. The advertising material 32 is shown in Figure 2 applied on the cover panels 36 and 38, but may of course also be applied to the panel 34.

The construction of the cover 30 can be seen from Figure 6. It has an end panel 40 at each end, with a hole 41 in the panel 40 through which the crre.F.pcJnding handle 28 protrudes (see Figure 3). The bottom side edges of the cover are extended by a flap 42 which lies under the cushion, to which it is removably attached by cooperating strips 44 and 46 of the hook and loop fastener type, carried by the flap 42 and the underside of the cushion respectively. The lower edge of each cover end panel 40 is extended in an anchor flap 48, which as shown in Figure 3 lies flat on the ground and anchors the barrier element 10 to the ground in any suitable way. In this example this is achieved by the use of anchor pins 50 having smooth heads 52 and an optional lifting tab 54 for pulling the pin out of the ground. The risk of a player tripping up on the pins 50 is further reduced by the optional provision of a protective flap 56 extending from the cover end panel 40 and overlying the, anchor flap 48.

A continuous barrier can be formed by placing a succession of the barrier elements 10 together in endto-end relationship to form a straight line, or in any other desired relative orientation. In the former case, the barrier elements may be removably secured together by abutting their handles 28 together as shown in Figure 12, and fitting a spring clip 58 over them.

It will be appreciated that additional means may be provided for fastening two barrier elements together at an angle to each other. One possible means for this purpose consists of loops as indicated at 60 in Figures 1 and 2, moulded integrally with the cushion 12 at its bottom corners (the cover 30 then having holes through which the loops 60 can extend), so that a spring clip or other means can be used to attach a loop 60 to a similar loop on another barrier element.

The cover 30 need not be fastened to the cushion 12, but if it is, the use of hook and loop fasteners is only one possible way. Figure 7 shows the flap 42 secured by the fastener strips 44, 46 as described above; in Figure 8, the hook and loop fastener strip 46 on the cushion is located further inboard and the cover flap 42 has webbing straps 62 carrying at their outer ends transversely extending strips 64 of hook and loop fastener material which face the strip 46 and which are engaged with it. This arrangement facilitates stretching the cover neatly over the cushion. Figure 9 shows another arrangement, in which the cushion 12 has metal rings 66 sewn to it at intervals along its length, and the cover flap 42 carries resiliently mounted hooks 68 which are simply hooked into the rings 66.

The cushion 12 may have any desired cross section: in Figure 10 it has five flat outer panels instead of three, while in Figure 11 its whole outer surface is curved.

It is not essential that the barrier elements carry advertising or other display material at all. They may be used in situations where such display is inappropriate, for example in industrial use, in warehouses or on building sites for instance. Where used as sports equipment, the barrier elements may not need to carry advertising material, e.g. in a large gymnasium. At a public spouts ground, however, the fact that they can carry such material if required enables the barrier to serve the double function of a soft cushioning barrier and an advertising medium.

The provision of the cover 30, though preferred (partly because the cover protects the cushion and partly because a cover advertising one product or service can easily be replaced by one advertising another product or service when required) is not essential. Any one or more of the cushion panels 16, 18, 20, 22 may have advertising or other messages permanently marked on them, or they may be adapted to carry individual removable panels, e.g. as indicated in phantom lines at 70 in Figure 2 on the panel 16.The removable advertising panel is preferably of a soft material similar to that of a cover 30 or similar to the cushion material, and may be attached with hook and loop fastener strips, which in this case are preferred to alternative fastening means such as metal studs, though such alternatives may be used if desired. Thus there may be separate display panels covering only part of the outer surface of the cushion.

Although it is preferred that the barrier element be anchored to the ground in use, this is not essential (but where an anchoring facility is provided it may take any suitable form besides that described).

The cushion may be inflatable so that it can be stored in a collapsed state. To this end its shell will then extend over the bottom to form an airtight body (as in Figure 5, for example), with a suitable inflation valve, not shown, at any convenient location on the shell. It may be inflated with air. When filled with foam, the cushion is again preferably fully enclosed by its shell, the foam being introduced through a suitable valve. The cushion shell may be quite thin, rather than relatively thick as in Figure 3.

Claims (20)

1. A barrier element for use at sports grounds, comprising a resilient cushion adapted to lie firmly on the ground,

2. A barrier element according to Claim 1, in combination with a flexible cover overlying at least part of the cushion so as to present at least one exposed panel of the cover.

3. A barrier element according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the cushion carries display means on at least part of its outer surface.

4. A barrier element according to Claim 3, wherein the display means comprise at least one display panel supported on the outer surface of the cushion.

5. A barrier element according to Claims 2 and 4, wherein the display means is the flexible cover, the or each said exposed panel of which constitutes a display panel.

6. A barrier element according to any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the cushion is of elongate form with a substantially constant cross section.

7. A barrier element according to Claim 6 wherein the cross section of the cushion is a trapezium, with its longer parallel side adapted to lie on the ground, whereby to define two inwardly-inclined side panels and a horizontal top panel.

8. A barrier element according to aig one of the preceding Claims wherein the cushion has means for attachment of the display means to it.

9. A barrier element according to any one of the preceding Claims, having means whereby it can be attached to another barrier element to form a continuous barrier.

10. A barrier element according to any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the cushion has flat, vertical end faces.

11. A barrier element according to any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the cushion has a lifting handle at each end.

12. A barrier element according to Claims 10 and 11, wherein each lifting handle is adapted to be removably secured to a similar handle of another barrier element.

13. A barrier element according to any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the cushion comprises a hollow shell of soft resilient material.

14. A barrier element according to Claim 13, wherein the cushion has integral stiffening means within the hollow shell.

15. A barrier element according to Claim 13 or Claim 14, wherein the hollow shell is filled with a foam material.

16. A barrier element according to Claim 2, wherein the cover extends across the ends of the cushion.

17. A barrier element according to Claim 2 or Claim 16, wherein the cover has means for anchoring the barrier element to the ground.

18. A barrier element for use at sports grounds, substantially as described herein with reference to Figures 1 to 3 and Figure 6 of the accompanying drawings.

19. A barrier element according to Claim 18, substantially as further described with reference to a Figure of the accompanying drawings selected within at least one of the groups comprising Figures 4 and 5, Figures 7 to 9, and Figures 10 and 11.

20. A barrier for use at a sports ground, cirising a plurality of barrier elements according to any of the preceding Claims.