GB2308609A - A ballasting member for road furniture - Google Patents

Description

A BALLASTING MEMBER The present invention relates to a ballasting member which can be attached to a temporary structure such as a road sign or traffic cone in order to ensure that it remains stable during use. The invention is not, however, limited to such uses of the ballasting member.

Road signs, of the sort generally used on road workings for providing warnings or information for road users or pedestrians, suffer from certain drawbacks. In particular, because these signs are free standing and not permanently attached to a solid mounting, they have a tendency to be knocked or blown over. To avoid this the signs are usually made out of a heavy material such as metal to increase their weight, or are weighted down in position by applying sand bags or other weights to the body of the signs.

These previous methods of ballasting are relatively crude, often simply having sand bags sat or slumped over a part of the frame of a road sign to hold it in place. As the frame of the road sign is frequently sharp, the sand bag has a short life if it frequently applied and removed, for example during diurnal imposition of a roadworks and a nocturnal removal of the roadworks for freeing the traffic flow.

The need for road signs to be heavy also adds to their expense. There is no need, other than the requirement for stability, to make the sign out of such heavy and potentially expensive material. Another problem with the use of road signs is that they are not adjustable and are generally designed to be positioned on level ground. However, the nature and layout of roadwork sites are such that it is often not possible to position the sign on such level ground. For example, the sign may be on inclined ground or the sign may be partially on a kerbstone and partially on the road. As a consequence it is either necessary to rest the roadside legs of the sign on a support, or to leave the sign at an angle, further decreasing its stability.

Therefore, according to the present invention there is provided a ballasting member comprising a pneumatic tyre casing and connecting means for connecting such tyre casing to an object requiring ballasting.

The present invention aims to provide a ballasting member for a road sign or traffic cone which is more durable and more reliable than traditional methods, yet still economical to manufacture. By utilising used vehicle tyres as the main element in the ballasting member, the overall cost of the ballasting member can be minimised.

The raw material cost of such a ballasting member is relatively low or even non existent as there is a readily available supply of surplus vehicle tyres. This has led to a situation where a charge can be made simply for removing surplus tyres from garages and tyre installation depots, thus effectively providing a negative material cost which may, for example, offset the cost of the other elements required to construct the completed ballasting member.

Currently, in the United Kingdom a charge of Cl per used tyre is paid in order to have the tyre disposed of.

The ballasting members according to the present invention are much more easily moved into position. Sand bags are by their very nature heavy and bulky, making them awkward and difficult to carry. The construction of the ballasting member allows it to be simply rolled into position, thus avoiding the need for them to be carried.

Where the ballasting member is to be used in conjunction with a road sign it may be provided with connecting means for connecting the tyre to the leg of the road sign. The connecting means for connecting the tyre to the road sign may be adjustable such that the height at which the leg is supported can be adjusted. Therefore, if the road sign is being used on uneven ground, the adjustability of the connecting means can be used to balance the sign appropriately by adjusting the height at which the leg is supported.

In order that the present invention may more readily be understood, the following description is given, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a cut-away perspective view of a ballasting member in accordance with the present invention (as the inclusion of ballasting in the tyre is optional, this has been omitted); Figure 2 is a cross sectional view along line Il-Il of Figure 1 which has had additional ballast inserted between the side walls of the tyre; Figure 3 shows a road cone before application of the ballasting member of Figure 1; Figure 4 shows the road cone of Figure 3 after application of the ballasting member of Figure 1 and illustrates the compactness of such a ballasted road cone; Figure 5 shows the ballasting member attached to sign;; Figure 6 shows an accessory strap for use with the ballasting member according to the present invention; Figure 7 shows an alternative construction of the present invention having additional weight provided by a second tyre laid on or attached to the first tyre.

Referring to Figure 1, the present invention resides in the use of worn or otherwise surplus vehicle pneumatic tyre casings as an annular ballasting member. The tyre is provided with a connecting means 31,32 which can be used for attaching the ballasting member to a road sign. The connecting means comprises a tyre engaging portion 31 which comprises of a ring of material (e.g. metal, plastic, etc) which is passed through at least one of the side walls of the tyre. Thus, the tyre engaging portion 31 is firmly attached to the tyre. The second part of the connecting means, the sign attachment portion 32, is provided with a loop 34 on the bottom which is interlocked with the ring 31 to allow the sign attachment portion 32 to be pivotable in almost any direction.

The sign attachment portion may be comprised of a substantially tubular section of material into which the leg of the sign is inserted. This tubular section of material may have a square or rectangular section to accommodate round and the more typical angle section shaped legs used on road signs. The sign attachment portion may include a locking device 33 such as a clamping screw. The locking device may be formed by a threaded rod being screwably insertable through a side wall of the tyre attachment portion to abut against the leg of the sign when inserted into the sign attachment portion, to lock it relative to the sign attachment portion. The locking device may include a handle or lever to allow ease of use.

During manufacture the ring 31 is initially an open link which is passed through one or both side walls of the tyre through a hole/holes 3 cut therein. The ring is then passed through the loop 34 on the bottom of the sign attachment portion. The gap in the ring 31 is then crimped closed and the join welded together.

In use, the leg of the sign may be inserted into the sign attachment portion and once set at the correct height be locked in position by the locking device 33.

Alternatively, an accessory strap 40 such as that shown in Figure 7 may be used in conjunction with the ballasting member 1.

This strap 40 is provided with a hook 42 at one end and a straight flat part 44 at the other end so that when the flat part 44 is inserted into the sign attachment portion 32 and clamped by the locking device 33, the hooked portion 42 will be at a fixed distance above the tyre 2 and can be hooked over an appropriate portion of the sign, (for example a cross member thereof). The locking device 33 allows the strap 40 to be adjusted within the stand engaging portion to apply tension to the strap to avoid inadvertent separation of the strap 40 from the stand frame.

If desired, as shown in Figure 5, a chain 52 may be hooked over the hook portion 42 and passed around the top of the stand 50 of a road sign 46, in order to allow a sign of a greater height to be held down with this system. In Figure 5, the side panel 48 stops short at the top of the side frame 50 to allow the chain 52 to be looped over the top of the stand to form an extended link between the ballasting member tyre and the frame of the sign. This allows the force holding the sign down to be applied centrally to the frame of the sign rather than at the front or back (i.e. near the lower ends of the legs of the trestle-shaped stand frame 50 which would be necessary with a shorter link such as the strap 40 alone).

In more extreme conditions such as in high wind, the additional length provided by the tyre and connecting means may not be enough to provide the sign to which they are attached with sufficient stability in all conditions.

Therefore additional weight may be added.

The interior of the tyre may be at least partially occupied by ballasting material which gives the tyre increased mass and allows it to be more effective as a ballasting member. One form of such internal ballasting comprises the filling of a pneumatic tyre tube with material such as sand, gravel or cement, or even partially shredded tyres and sealing of the tube to maintain that ballasting material enclosed, the tube then being placed within the hollow defined by the side walls and tread region of the tyre, and being retained in place by the application of connecting means between the beads of the tyre casing.Preferably such inner tube ballasting container may comprise an inner tube cut into several pieces, for example four pieces, with the ends of each piece sealed after the introduction of ballasting material therein, in order to avoid spillage of any particulate ballasting material used.

Alternatively the ballasting within the tyre casing may be in the form of loose particulate material in some other container such as a bag or pouch of rubber, plastic, or any other suitable material. Several of these bags or pouches can be distributed around the interior of the tyre casing to provide the appropriate ballasting.

Figure 2 shows such a ballasting member 1 in which the channel between the upper side wall 3, the tread region 5 and the opposite side wall 7 is occupied by a ballast container 9 enclosing sand as ballasting material 11. The opposite beads 13 and 15 of that tyre are then clipped by a plurality of clips 17, only one of which can be seen in Figure 2. The beads may, if desired, be held in contact with one another as a result of this clipping.

Alternatively the beads can be fastened together by means of adhesive, preferably with radial slits cut into the beads to release the tension in the beads as this tension tends to pull the opposed beads apart from one another.

An alternative connecting system such as stapling or stitching may be used.

However, the additional weight provided by a sand filled inner tube may not be required in all situations.

Therefore it would be beneficial to allow weight to be added as and when it is need. An additional tyre 38, with or without additional sand bags may be used in this case (see Figure 7). It can be laid on top of the main tyre of the ballasting member of the present invention. By way of example a ballasting member according to our co-pending British Patent Application No. 95183109 (GB-A- ) may be added. Alternatively, if the sand weighted base is insufficient, and additional weight is required permanently, such an additional tyre 38 may be attached permanently to the top or to the bottom of the main tyre.

The ballasting member according to the present invention may also be utilised for providing additional ballasting to a conventional motorway road cone. Figure 3 shows such a motorway road cone 20 of a type which is frequently used on motorway roadworks, for example by being stacked side-by-side in the lead-in to such roadworks. The cone 20 has a conical portion 22, frequently painted with red and white stripes, having a formation at the top for attachment of a sign or warning lamp and a base 24 at the bottom for standing the cone up stably. When used in the lead-in to motorway roadworks, the cones 20 have their substantially square bases 24 arranged with the longer side parallel and touching so as to provide the minimum spacing between the cones, giving the passing motorist the impression of a virtually impenetrable wall of cones.

It has been found that one conventional type of motorway cone 20, standing of the order of one metre high, has a base which will neatly coincide with the plan forum of a motor vehicle tyre casing designed for a 14" diameter vehicle wheel rim. This configuration of a ballasting member 2 on the cone 20 is illustrated in Figure 4. The fit of the tyre while over the base 24 of the cone is such that the cones of Figure 4 can still be stacked just as close to one another as the cones alone, but are much more stable. It may help to appreciate that a conventional motorway cone such as cone 20 shown in Figure 3 may have a weight of several kilograms but the combination of the cone 20 with the ballasting member 1 provides a combination which has a weight of four or five times that of the cone alone.Thus whereas the wind effect due to the slip stream of passing vehicles may cause a road cone such as 20 to shift sideways by sliding over the ground, such shifting is virtually impossible once the cone has been ballasted by the annular ballasting member 1.

Many alternative applications for the ballasting member of Figure 1 may be found each of them using the very cheap effective ballasting member in accordance with the present invention.

In order to make the ballasting member more conspicuous the exterior surface of the tyre casing is preferably sprayed with a bright or effective paint, for example the bright orange known as Day-glo red and possibly may have reflective patches applyed thereto.

By virtue of the removable nature of the ballasting member 1 of Figure 1 used in conjunction with cones such as is shown in Figure 3 and 4, it is still possible for the cones to be stacked in a nested configuration and for the annular ballasting members themselves to be stacked in a pile for ease of transportation. It is then simply necessary to carry the individual cones to the location of use and to roll the individual ballasting members 1 up to the appropriate cones and to place them over the cones into the configuration shown in Figure 4.

Claims (21)

1. A ballasting member comprising a pneumatic tyre casing and connecting means for connecting such tyre casing to an object requiring ballasting.

2. A ballasting member according to claim 1 wherein the connecting means comprises a tyre engaging portion comprised of a circular ring of material which passes through at least one of the side walls of the tyre.

3. A ballasting member according to claim 2 wherein the connecting means further comprises attachment means which is engaged with said tyre engaging portion, for attachment to said object requiring ballasting.

4. A ballasting member as claimed in claim 3 wherein the attachment means is pivotally engaged with said tyre engaging portion.

5. A ballasting member as claimed in claim 4 wherein the attachment means includes an enclosed loop which is linked with the ring of the tyre engaging portion.

6. A ballasting member as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the or a attachment means of the connecting means includes a tubular portion into which a leg of a road sign or other elongate member is insertable.

7. A ballasting member as claimed in claim 6 where the attachment means further includes a locking means for releasably locking the leg or elongate member inserted into the attachment means.

8. A ballasting member as claimed in claim 7 wherein the leg or elongate member may be locked in various positions along the tubular portion.

9. A ballasting member as claimed in claims 7 or 8 wherein the locking means comprises a threaded rod which can be screwed in and out of the wall of the attachment means to push against the leg or other elongate member to clamp it to said attachment means.

10. A ballasting member as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the side walls of the tyre are attached together.

11. A ballasting member as claimed in claim 10 wherein the side walls are stitched together.

12. A ballasting member as claimed in any one of the preceding claims where the tyre casing is ballasted.

13. A ballasting member according to claim 12 wherein the ballast is provided by an additional tyre attached to the first-mentioned tyre casing.

14. A ballasting member according to claim 12 wherein the ballast is provided by a weight provided in the space between the side walls of the tyre casing.

15. A ballasting member according to claim 14 wherein the weight is provided by sand bags.

16. A ballasting member according to claim 14 wherein the weight is provided by a sand filled vehicle tyre inner tube or a portion thereof.

17. A ballasting member according to any of the preceding claims having applied thereto a bright or reflective paint to cover the exposed surfaces of the tyre casing.

18. A ballasting member substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.

19. A traffic sign ballasted by one or more of the ballasting members according to any one of the preceding claims.

20. A traffic cone ballasted by a ballasting member according to any one of claims 1-18.

21. A traffic cone according to claim 20 wherein the ballasting member is loosely placed over the conical portion of the cone to sit on the base of the cone.