Vehicle access control system

• US 4,711,608 A
• Filed: 06/27/1985
• Issued: 12/08/1987
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/1985
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Abdallah E. Ghusn
• Original Assignee: Abdallah E. Ghusn
• Inventors: Ghusn, Abdallah E.
• Primary Examiner(s): NOT, DEFINED
• Assistant Examiner(s): Odar, Thomas J.
• Application Number:
  US06/749,225
• Time in Patent Office: 894 Days
• Field of Search: 404/6, 404/7, 404/8, 49/35, 49/41, 49/49, 49/131
• US Class Current: 404/6
• CPC Class Codes: E01F 13/08 by swinging into closed position about a transverse axis situated in the road surface, e.g. tiltable sections of the road surface, tiltable parking posts
• CPC Class Codes: E01F 13/12 for forcibly arresting or disabling vehicles, e.g. spiked mats
• CPC Class Codes: E01F 13/123 depressible or retractable below the traffic surface, e.g. one-way spike barriers, power-controlled prong barriers

Abstract

Apparatus and method of operation for controlling vehicular traffic entering or leaving a secured facility. The apparatus consists of a tire-puncturing spikes assembly, movable post assemblies, ditch/cover assemblies, fixed posts, a gate arm, and a safety hose & pressure switch assembly. Tire-puncturing spikes are mounted on a rotateable shaft imbedded in the roadway that will raise or lower the spikes in conjunction with the gate arm to control traffic. Movable posts can be raised or lowered to stop or permit traffic movement. Mechanically operated ditch covers can be opened to provide impassable traps for vehicles (or tanks). A gate arm operated in conjunction with the spikes will direct vehicles to stop before reaching raised spikes. A safety pressure switch and hose assembly is located immediately downstream of the spikes assembly and will automatically activate the entire apparatus into a "failsafe" mode if a vehicle passes over the hose while the spikes are in the raised position.

Fixed pipe barriers imbedded in concrete will channel vehicles over and prevent bypassing of the controllable system. A bullet-proof booth provides safety for the security guard. Integrated controls prevent unauthorized operation of the system, alert facility security in the event of danger, and automatically raise all barriers in the event of power failure or tampering. Mechanical power to operate all security barriers is provided from a compressed air system located away from the barriers, which includes emergency and backup sources of power that are activated automatically whenever the pressure in the primary source of power drops to predetermined levels.

Claims

1. A failsafe system for protecting a facility from unauthorized entry by a road vehicle, the system including:

an enclosing vehicle-impervious barrier for surrounding the perimeter of the facility,

at least one controlled entry and exit vehicle lane for road vehicles extending through the barrier at a predetermined location, the lane including;

plural spaced apart fixed lane delineation means for defining the right and left boundaries of the lane through the barricade, the lane delineation means being reinforced, slightly wider than the widest of road vehicles authorized access to the facility and of a height above a road surface of the lane for effectively blocking and preventing travel of a road vehicle except over the surface of the lane between the right and left boundaries thereof, the delineation means including physical obstructions for constraining vehicular traffic to a predetermined passageway adjacent said facility,

a series of operably releasable reinforced barricades placed in the lane, each barricade having an obstruction position effective to block vehicle movement therebeyond, the barricades being arranged successively in the lane, so that if a first barricade in its obstruction position is passed by an unauthorized vehicle, a second barricade in its obstruction position remains in its path, and if the second barricade in its obstruction position is passed, a third barricade in its obstruction position remains in its path,

a series of prime movers, each prime mover being connected to operate a said barricade so that it may be released and withdrawn under positive control from its obstruction position;

the system further including integrated controller means for controlling the operations of the prime movers so that the barricades may be emplaced in their obstruction positions and may be released from their obstruction positions to enable a single authorized vehicle at a time to pass said barricades, the integrated controller means being adapted to emplace and maintain the barricades in their respective obstruction positions in a failsafe mode in the absence of a control signal generated to permit passage over the lane by an authorized vehicle; and

, a bullet-proof observation booth that houses the primary controls for the entire security system and from which an operator may see all vehicular traffic approaching and entering said lane and from which said single controller means may be controlled.

2. The system set forth in claim 1 further comprising alarms, emergency and safety switches that alert a central security area of the facility to potential danger while simultaneously preventing any vehicle from entering the facility.

3. The system set forth in claim 1 wherein said fixed lane delineation means comprise fixed pipes imbedded in concrete.

4. The system set forth in claim 1 further comprising local and remote operator actuated controls and automatic safety controls, any of which can independently place the entire system in a failsafe mode and block vehicle access to the facility.

5. The system set forth in claim 1 wherein one or more of said barricades comprises a plurality of raisable gang operated spaced apart tire puncturing spikes in the lane adapted for puncturing all the tires of a vehicle that does not stop when said spikes are raised.

6. The system set forth in claim 1 wherein at least one of said barricades comprises a plurality of movable reinforced posts across the vehicle path that may be raised to physically stop a vehicle that is not authorized to proceed, said posts for crushing the vehicle and forcing a change in its alignment causing it to jam into the fixed and movable posts.

7. The system set forth in claim 1 wherein at least one of said barricades includes a plurality of transverse ditches in said lane and cover plates that are raised in the obstruction position to expose the ditches for trapping the tires of the vehicle and preventing it from proceeding.

8. The system set forth in claim 7 in which the cover plates have secondary plates attached thereto and substantially perpendicular therewith near the hinge pin and pointing in the direction from which vehicle is approaching, the combination of said plates and said secondary plates creating a barrier, part of which blocks the forward motion of the vehicle and part of which comes in contact with the underside of the vehicle tires or the tank treads causing the weight of the vehicle or tank to act against and prevent the forward motion of said vehicle or tank.

9. The system set forth in claim 1 further comprising a liquid-filled hose disposed across the lane adjacent the first barricade that senses the weight of a vehicle and automatic control means communicating with the controller means for automatically operating said prime movers to move said barricades to their obstruction positions to block vehicle entry in the event a vehicle crosses over said hose unless said automatic control means is first overriden and disabled by said control signal.

10. The system set forth in claim 1 further comprising a plurality of programmable barricade controllers, there being at least one controller in said observation booth, and a like plurality of individual magnetic control cards each being assigned to an operator located at each said controller, each said controller being responsive to a magnetic card.

11. The system set forth in claim 10 in which a controller is adapted for receiving an operation code manually insertable therein by an operator, and wherein a correct code must be entered into the programmable controller after the magnetic card is inserted to remove the barricades and permit a vehicle to pass over said lane.

12. The system set forth in claim 10 adapted for automatically placing the entire security system in its failsafe mode and for alerting central facility security in the event a wrong code is entered into the programmable controller in the observation booth more than once in succession.

13. The system set forth in claim 10 further comprising remote over-ride emergency safety switches that allow central facility security operators to emplace all said barricades.

14. The system set forth in claim 1 further including means for sensing irregularities in vacility electric power supply and for thereupon tripping a ground-fault-circuit-interrupter thereby automatically emplacing all said barricades.

15. The system set forth in claim 14 further comprising air supply for operatively emplacing said barricades and normally open and solenoid maintained control valves for automatically opening in case of electric power failure.

16. The system set forth in claim 1 further comprising an emergency signalling means in said bullet-proof guard booth for sounding alarms while simultaneously activating all security systems to emplace said barricades and thereby prevent vehicles from entering or passing along said passageway.

17. The system set forth in claim 15 further comprising backup sources of compressed air actuating power for all said barricades in the event of irregularities in facility electric power by providing normally open emergency and backup compressed air supply valves that require facility electric power in order to remain closed and which open automatically if facilities electric power is interrupted.

18. The system set forth in claim 15 further comprising reserve air supply means including a plurality of removable compressed air bottles that may be removed, recharged and connected to the compressed air system to provide the actuating power for operating the security barricades, said air supply means being available to operate said system in the event of an extended power failure.