US3502007A - Road marker - Google Patents

Description

March 24, 1970 1. J. R. ANDERSSON 3,502,007

ROAD MARKER Filed July 15, 1967 Fig.2

Fig.1

I u n m n u u INVENTUR INGVAR JOHN RUNE ANDERSSON ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,502,007 ROAD MARKER Ingvar John Rune Andersson, Marsgatan 4, Halsingborg, Sweden Filed July 13, 1967, Ser. No. 653,085 Claims priority, applicagioymswedeu, Jan. 23, 1967,

Int. Cl. E01f 9/01; E01c 23/16; G09f 9/00 US. Cl. 94-1.5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A road shoulder marker is disclosed which includes a flexible upright portion connected to a shaft portion for insertion into the ground. The entire marker is hollow and is constructed of a plastic material. The upright portion is relatively thin and flexible and may be of different cross section such as rectangular or circular while the shaft portion is relatively rigid and includes anchoring protrusions positioned therearound at the bottom thereof.

This invention relates to a road marker.

For marking of road shoulders, specially in bends, different types of screens or uprights have been used, said screens or uprights being provided with a coating or a plate of reflective material attached thereto. A motor vehicle running against such a screen or upright may be damaged or the upright be broken and therefore such markings cannot be regarded as satisfying in the present form.

According to the present invention there is provided a road shoulder marker of a new type by means of which the above mentioned disadvantages are eliminated. Said marker is made in one integral piece of a flexible plastic material and includes a slender upright and a shaft with said shaft having a greater rigidity than said upright, a bending indication between said upright and said shaft, and securing means on said shaft and integral therewith.

One modification of a marker according to the invention will be described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 shows a partly broken away vertical projection of a road marker.

FIG. 2 is a partly broken away vertical projection of the same road marker but at right angles to that shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross section view of the road marker illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 taken substantially on the line 33 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a cross section view of the road marker illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 taken substantially on the line 4-4 in FIG. 1.

The road shoulder marker shown in the drawing is preferably made by rotation moulding in one integral piece of a flexible synthetic plastic material. Thus, the marker comprises a relatively thin shell surrounding a completely closed hollow space. The marker comprises an upper blade part 1 which is relatively thin along its whole length with a slightly diminishing thickness from the base towards its top as shown in FIG. 2, and a shaft part 2 having a circular cross section and thus dimensioned that it has a greater resistance against bending than the blade part. The intermediate part 3 between the two parts 1 and 2 is due to their different cross-sectional form rather sharply marked.

The shaft part 2 which is intended to be secured in the ground up to the intermediate part 3 is provided with a number of protrusions 4 which are arranged to function as flukes so as to firmly secure the shaft part in the ground without the necessity of fastening with stones or the like.

3,502,007 Patented Mar. 24, 1970 At the lower end the shaft part is provided with a conical point 5 which on one hand facilitates the forcing down of the marker onto the ground and on the other hand contributes to the securing of the same in the earth by the fact that said cone has an upwards turned base with a greater diameter than the shaft.

Since the whole of the marker consists of a thin shell of flexible plastic material and specially the blade part 1 further has a relatively thin outer form the blade part easily bends when a motor vehicle runs against the same. However, in order to provide for a bending in the first place in the vicinity of the intermediate part 3 a transverse groove 6 with a curved cross-section may be formed immediately above the intermediate part 3 by indentation of the plastic shell. The groove 6 forms a weakening which serves as a bending indication.

A different rigidity of the shaft and the upright may be obtained by the rotation moulding technique which allows the formation of a thicker wall in the shaft than in the upright. It is also possible to premould a shaft part of a plastic material having a greater strength than the material of the outer shell forming the marker and insert such a premoulded shaft part into the rotation moulding form and then cast the integral outer shell.

Above has been indicated that the marker consists of a hollow body formed by rotation moulding. However, the marker may also be formed by casting of a suitable foamed synthetic plastic material with closed cells in which case the shaft part preferably is reinforced.

The material from which the marker is made may be mixed with a luminescent color before moulding or the upright may be painted with such a material.

A road marker according to the invention is easy to mount, is durable and needs no maintenance and further is securely anchored in the ground as compared with the known road markers which generally have a very short life and are easily removed.

The invention is not restricted to the road shoulder marker described above. Thus the thin blade part 1 may be replaced by a thin upright having approximately the same flexibility in all directions. This upright then may have a circular groove corresponding to the groove 6 that is the upright would have a cross section corresponding to the view shown in FIG. 2 which may serve as an illustration of such a road marker.

What I claim is:

1. A road shoulder marker comprising an integral hollow member of flexible plastic material including a relatively thin upright portion adapted to extend above the ground with the marker installed and to bend on contact, a relatively thick more rigid shaft portion adapted to be inserted into the ground with the marker installed for securing the marker in an installed location, said shaft portion of the integral hollow member including anchoring protrusions spaced angularly and longitudinally thereabout and a conical lower end having a greater maximum diameter than said shaft portion to aid in insertion of the marker into the ground and in securing the marker in the ground, and an intermediate portion between the upright portion and the shaft portion of the marker for connecting the upright portion and shaft portion of the marker.

2. Structure as set forth in claim 1, and further including a groove in the marker adjacent the intermediate portion for facilitating relative bending of the upright portion with respect to the shaft portion.

3. Structure as set forth in claim 1, wherein the entire marker is hollow.

4. Structure as set forth in claim 1, wherein the upright portion is flat, the shaft portion is generally round and the intermediate portion provides a transition between the flat upright portion and the round shaft portion.

5. A road shoulder marker comprising an integral hollow member of flexible plastic material including a relatively thin upright portion adapted to extend above the ground with the marker installed and to bend on contact, a relatively thick more rigid shaft portion adapted to be inserted into the ground with the marker installed for securing the marker in an installed location, and an intermediate portion between the upright portion and the shaft portion of the marker for connecting the upright portion and shaft portion of the marker wherein the upright inter mediate and shaft portions of the marker are all hollow, the upright portion of the marker is fiat, the shaft portion of the marker is round, and the intermediate portion of the marker forms a transition between the upright portion and shaft portion of the marker, grooves extend across the wide surface of the fiat upright portion of the marker adjacent the intermediate portion of the marker to facilitate bending of the upright portion of the marker with respect to the shaft portion of the marker, and means integral with the shaft portion of the marker for facilitating insertion of the shaft portion of the marker into the ground and for maintaining the shaft portion of the marker in the ground including a conical end on the shaft portion having a maximum diameter larger than the maximum diameter of the shaft, and angularly and longitudinally spaced apart generally triangular protrusions extending radially outwardly from the shaft.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 210,648 12/1878 Turner 52-165 661,830 11/1900' Webster.

686,433 11/1901 Zickefoose 52-165 1,676,843 7/1928 Stephens 94-1.5 1,778,110 10/1930 Hartzler 94-1 .5 1,931,174 10/1933 Withers 94-15 2,121,961 6/1938 Gill 94-15 3,058,246 10/ 1962 Schoefiler 40-145 FOREIGN PATENTS 79,523 11/ 1962 France. 1,326,604 4/ 1963 France.

107,616 6/ 1939 Australia.

JACOB L. NACKENOFF, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

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