US2579467A - Pavement lane marker - Google Patents

Description

` Decg2'5g1951" 'A EjBmC'KMAN' 2,579,467Y

PAVEMENT LANE MARKER 2 Sl-IEETS--SHEET l y Filed June 14, 1947 "f1 if /f f@ PIER ff 'f5 INVENTOR: '4m/v 5e/MMM BY: M

HIS ATTORNEY.

Dec. 25,1951 'ALE'.'mCKM'AN '2,579,467'

' PAVEMENT LANE MARKER I Filed June 14, 1947 2 Simms- Smm 2 l A F|E-7.

INVENTORE HIS ATTORNEY.

Y w if?? Patented Dec. 25, 1951 UNITED- srATE-s Pl yTENT FFICE- PAVEMENT LANEMARKER. Alan E. .B 'rickmam Worcester, Mass. ApplicationJune 14, 1947, serial No; 754,643

12 Claims. l..v

This invention relates` toa pavement lane marker' and more` particularly tosuch a marker for use between twol parallel slabs of concrete. Itis generallyV desirablev toseparate a highway into specific traine lanes` and' this is' frequently done by painting lines on the; pavement surface. Suchlane marking,` however, becomes; soiledi and Wears' ont; thus requiring frequent repainting Whichis a` hazardous task andl causes traino del'ay. Painted? lines cannot bef seen atnight in the glare of wet'- roads and transmit no'r feel' or sound. when crossed' or recro'ssedi. In.v the making of.' highways. concrete'. is. poured between road forms and. isfurther. divided into: lanes havingl a width equall to: that. desired` for traic control.

These divisions' which; extend: through thley thick:- nesslof. thef pavement.' are generally obtained by use of lane separator plates' which break'. the bond-.and interlock of: they cement andy aggregate. A further: purpose of these pavement separations isifto-providecforsexpansion, contraction andhinge reaction-which results. from temperature changes ande subgrade shifting.. In these reactionsv the separations. often open to` such extent as. to permit surface water, dirt and sand; to-infliter, this being, thepr-incipal cause4 of early pavement.I failures; In order to. overcome. such. pavement failune it isfnecessaryl to keep these separations.lledv with a poured hot mastic material.

It isV an object of this invention to provide a marker with anchoring means which may be installed permanently at the. time the road sur.- face is poured- Another object is to make the marker of rubber or` other. flexible materialA so that it can stretch, contract or bond to conform with changes vide amethod of making the marker;V

These-and. other' objects will be. more.- apparent after referring to the following-specificationand attached drawings, in which:

Figure' 11 is. a. planV View looking down on the `ralsedrib construction;

lanes of' traine.

FigureZlisa side elevational view of the rubber marker showing the anchorage andl raised; rib construction;

Figure 3 is a crossv sectional View of the rubber marker imbedded in aconcrete roadway;`

Figure 4- isa plan view*A similar to Figure 1, but showing a slight modification;

Figure 5 is an end View of a further modification;

Figure 6 is asectional vi'ewtaken through the center ofFigure 5; and

Figure '7 is a sectional View showing onestep in the method of making the lane marker.

Referring more particularly tothe drawings, reference numerals 2; and l indicate twov parallel slabsof concrete or the like which, as a safety measure, must be separated to' form individual Ordinarily, a separator platev 6 is used between thek slabs and forms. a plane of weakness whichcauses a crack. d' to form directly thereabove' when the concrete contracts. I provide a flexible line marker Iii, preferably made of rubber, which is imbedded in the poured concrete before it sets. The marker has a. body portion l2-y which extends across the joint between the slabs 2 andl with the top thereof. being in the same plane1A as the top of the slabs. The longitudinal edges |41 of the body member extend downwardly and outwardly from thev joint or crack 8, thus restraining Withdrawal:` of the marker from the slabs. On each` side'of theljoint ilA is a downwardly extending anchoring. rib: l5, each of which has a plurality of apertures vIt therein which are open at the. bottom to form lips 20. The apertures I8 in conjunction, with the lips 20,1. facilitate the. flow of the concrete around thei ribs' to provide good' anchorage for the marker. Extending upwardly from the body member lZare a` plurality of transversesubstantiallyV Vf-shapedV ribs 22 which provide reflecting surfaces 2li and 2E. rIhe surfaces 24 and 26 may be: coated withY apaint of any color or glass beads 2li maybe fastened thereto to increase the reflecting' qualities thereof. The endsV 30 of thetransverse ribseare; bevelled. downwardly andoutwardy. It will be seen thatmy invention provides a permanent pavement line marker which is readily visibleA at night-because of thev reflecting surfaces 24-x and'. 2.6- and? which is alsoy clearly visible durlng'the: day. Furthermorabecause of the raised ribs, the driver of the vehicle will both feel a bump and hear a noise when the wheel of his car passes over the ribs. Since the body member l2 extends across the joint 8, no ller is neces- Sary and the slabs 2 and 4 are free to contract and expand. Because of the flexibility of the marker l0, it is possible to bend the marker to follow the curvature of the road.

Figure 4 shows a slight modification of my invention in which the ribs 22 are arranged at a slight angle 32 with respect to a transverse plane through the road. This angle may be of the order of and serves to reflect light more directly back toward the vehicle. This modification will be used only when the lines of traffic on the opposite sides thereof are moving in opposite directions.

Figures 5 to 7 disclose a further modification of my invention and the method of making it. As best shown in Figure '7, the body portion 34 of the marker is made from a sheet of rubber 38 and the V-shaped ribs 3B are made from a second sheet of rubber 40 into which has been milled reflector beads 42, these being generally spherical in shape. After the reflector beads 42 are milled into sheet 40, the sheets 38 and 48 are placed between two mold parts 44 and 46 and pressure and heat is applied thereto to force the beaded sheet 4!) into the corrugation cavities 48 and to bond the unbeaded sheet 38 to the sheet 40, thus forming the marker shown in Figure 6. Some of the beads appear on the surface of the corrugations while others show up when the rubber wears and fluxes under car action. The rubber as it comes from the mold is smooth with few beads showing, so that for best results it is necessary to wear away part of the rubber surface to expose more beads. This is ordinarily done by means of a wire brush. ln Figure 6 the dividing line between the sheets 38 and 4l) is exaggerated to show the flow under molding pressure, but in the cured article there is no segregation at this dividing line. This construction and method enables the expensive beads to be better utilized and to remain imbedded in the rubber. The sheet 38 can be made of a cheaper and/or stiffer rubber than the sheet 40 so that the corrugations can be made of a grade of rubber which withstands wear and nexes freely, this latter being necessary to prevent damage thereto when snow is cleared from the road by a plow blade which is not raised suiciently to clear the corrugations. If desired, the sheet 40 can be made of white rubber for dark concrete and black for white concrete. It can also be made yellow or red to meet certain code requirements.

While several embodiments of my invention have been shown and described it will be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the following claims. I claim:

l. A flexible pavement line marker for use between two parallel slabs comprising a body member adapted to extend across the joint between tend downwardly into the slab on each side of 4 said joint, each of said ribs having apertures therein, said apertures being open at the bottom of the rib, transverse substantially V-shaped rubber ribs extending upwardly from said body member, and reflecting beads milled into said ribs.

3. A exible pavement line marker for use between two parallel slabs comprising a body member adapted to extend across the joint between the slabs, a longitudinal anchoring rib on each side of saidbody member extending downwardly into the slab, each of said ribs having apertures therein, said apertures being open at the bottom of the rib, transverse substantially V-shaped rubber ribs extending upwardly from said body member, and reflecting beads milled into said ribs.

4. A pavement line marker comprising a body member, means for anchoring the body member to the pavement, a raised rubber rib surface extending upwardly from said body member above the surface of said pavement, and reflecting beads milled into said rib surface.

5. A pavement line marker comprising a body kmember, means for anchoring the body member to the pavement, transverse substantially V- shaped rubber ribs extending upwardly from said body member, and reflecting beads milled into said ribs, the ends of said transverse ribs being bevelled downwardly and outwardly.

6. A pavement line marker comprising a body member, a longitudinal anchoring rib on each side of said body member extending downwardly into the pavement, transverse substantially V- shaped rubber ribs extending upwardly from said body member, `and reflecting beads milled into said ribs, the ends of said transverse ribs being bevelled downwardly and outwardly.

7. A flexible pavement line marker for use between two parallel slabs comprising a body member made of relatively stiff rubber and extending across the joint between the slabs, a downwardly extending longitudinal anchoring rib on each side of said body member, transverse substantially V- shaped ribs made of relatively soft rubber extending upwardly from said body member, and reecting beads imbedded in said ribs.

8. The method of making `a pavement line marker comprising forming two sheets of rubber, milling reflector beads in one of said sheets, placing the two sheets together in a mold, and applying heat and pressure thereto to bond the sheets together and form substantially V-shaped ribs from the sheet with the reflector beads therein and anchoring means from the other sheet.

9. The method of making a pavement line marker comprising forming a sheet of relatively soft rubber with reflector beads milled therein, forming a sheet of relatively stiff rubber, placing the two sheets together in a mold, 'applying heat and pressure thereto to bond the sheets together and form substantially V-shaped ribs from the soft sheet and anchoring means from the stiff sheet.

l0. The method of making a pavement line marker according to claim 8 in which at least part of the surfaceV of the V-shaped ribs is brushedaway to expose part of the beads.

1l. The method of making a pavement line marker according to claim 9 `in which at least part of the surface of the V-shaped ribs is brushed away to expose part of the beads.

12. A pavement line marker comprising a body member, means for anchoring the body member to the pavement, a exible .rib surface extending upwardly from said body member, and reflecting beads milled into said rib surface.

ALAN E. BRICKMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the tile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Number Number Name Date Fischer Nov. 27, 1934 Segelhorst June 18, 1935 Korf June 9, 1936 Vostrez Dec- 26, 1939 Gramelspacher May 7, 1940 Stedman Nov. 5, 1940 Tiberghien Feb. 29, 1944 Morris Jan. 2, 1945 French Jan. 9, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain 1935

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