AU2009238374A1 - Wheel stop - Google Patents

Description

P/o0/01 1 Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: Wheel stop The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: 2 Wheel stop Field of the invention The invention relates to wheel stops. Background of the invention 5 Wheel stops are used to demarcate parking spaces within car parks. A wheel stop, for example in the form of a wooden sleeper, is typically positioned towards the end of a parking space. The wheel stop provides a physical obstruction for stopping the wheels of a car at a predetermined location within the parking space. The wheel stop is typically positioned in the parking space so that a car can be driven into the parking space until D the wheels abut the wheel stop and car is correctly positioned. Although there are significant advantages in use of wheel stops in parking spaces, there are some drawbacks. Wheel stops present a tripping hazard to pedestrians and similarly can damage a vehicle if the driver does not see the wheel stop and approaches the wheel stop at an excessive speed. Some prior published wheel stops 5 are therefore adorned with highly visible markings. Other prior published wheel stops are adorned with other markings for example advertisements or indicators of the owner of the parking space. However, because of repeated contact with car wheels, any markings on the wheel stop are vulnerable to damage. Because wheel stops are used in sealed car parks, they can change the drainage 0 patterns of the car park. For example, water can accumulate against the sides of the wheel stop undesirably causing puddles within the car park. Some prior published wheel stops are attached to the car park floor using bolts passing vertically downwardly through the wheel stop and into the car park floor. As the car wheel abuts the wheel stop it causes a sheer stress within these bolts. From time to 5 time these mounting bolts fail.

3 Due to the substantial loads placed upon the wheel stop caused by the abutment of car wheels, it is important that the wheel stop is strong and durable. On the other hand it is desirable to reduce the weight of the wheel stop. Material costs are a significant proportion of the total cost of each wheel stop. Weight is also a safety issue since some 5 manual handling is required to install the wheel stop. It is not admitted that any of the information in this specification is common general knowledge, or that the person skilled in the art could be reasonably expected to have ascertained, understood, regarded it as relevant or combined it in anyway at the priority date. O Summary of the invention Accordingly the invention provides a wheel stop configured to be mounted on a vehicle parking surface, the wheel stop including an elongate body having: a surface engaging portion adapted to engage the vehicle parking surface to support the wheel stop; 5 at least one wheel engaging portion adapted to be contacted by a vehicle wheel in use; at least one drainage formation defining at least one drainage path from one side of the elongate body to another side thereof. In a preferred form the drainage formation forms a discontinuity in the surface engaging 20 portion. Most preferably the drainage formation includes at least one recess defining an upwardly extending channel in a bottom surface of the elongate body. Preferably the elongate body includes a top wall and at least one peripheral wall defining one or more downwardly open channels within the wheel stop, each channel having a wall portion on each longitudinal side thereof. In this case the drainage 25 formation can include at least one recess in each wall portion.

4 There is also provided a wheel stop for seating on a car park floor at a location selected to demarcate an end of a parking space; the wheel stop predominantly consisting of an elongate integrally formed body: the body having a length which is in use horizontal, two side regions, two ends 5 and a cross section transverse to the length; an exterior of the cross section being shaped to obstruct a wheel of a car to stop the car; wherein the body includes recessed regions bearing advertising indicia. There is also provided a wheel stop for seating on a car park floor at a location selected 0 to demarcate an end of a parking space; the wheel stop predominantly consisting of an elongate integrally formed body: the body having a length which is in use horizontal, two side regions, two ends and a cross section transverse to the length; an exterior of the cross section being shaped to obstruct a wheel of a car to stop 15 the car. The wheel stop preferably has at least one, and preferably two, flow paths arranged to convey water from one side region to the other side region to prevent water puddling against the one side region. The flow paths are preferably formed by downwardly open channel formations within the body and by the car park floor. Thus the invention also 20 provides a method of demarcating parking spaces including the use of an aforedescribed wheel stop to substantially avoid puddles forming against the side regions of the wheel stops. The invention also provides such a wheel stop in use.

5 Optionally the body may include recessed regions bearing markings, the recessed regions being recessed, preferably by about 5mm, to shield the markings from damage. The markings may include advertising indicia and/or highly visible markings such as reflective markings. The use of highly visible markings helps to reduce the tripping hazard presented to pedestrians and to reduce the risk of inadvertent vehicle strike. According to the preferred form of the wheel stop one or both side regions bear centrally mounted advertising. Ideally one or both side regions include reflective markings toward each end. At least one, but preferably both, ends include a highly visible marking. Brief description of the drawings / figures A preferred form of the present invention will now be described by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:. Figure 1 is a top perspective view of a wheel stop according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a bottom perspective view of the wheel stop of figure 1; 5 Figure 3 is a top view of the wheel stop of figure 1; Figure 4 is a side view of the wheel stop of figure 1; Figure 5 is an end view of the wheel stop of figure 1; and Figure 6 is a bottom view of the wheel stop of figure 1. Detailed description of the drawings 0 The illustrated wheel stop includes an integrally formed body 10 which has ends 80, 90 and sides 100, 110. The body 10 is sized to fit a parking space and is preferably wider than the track of most vehicles using the parking space. In this case the wheel stop is about 1,650mm long and about 100mm high. The base surface 20 which in use is configured to enaaae a Darkina surface is about 160mm wide wheren- ton siirfnrp *n l 6 about 80mm wide. The top surface 30 centrally overlies the base surface 20. A horizontal outwardly projecting lip 40 defines the periphery of the base surface 20. The lip 40 presents a more or less a vertical outer surface 50 which is about 16mm high. The lip 40 includes a more or less horizontal surface 60 extending about 10mm inwardly 5 from the top edge of the outer surface 50. An inclined surface 70 extends upwardly from the inner edge of the horizontal surface 60 to the top 30 at an angle. In use this surface 70 engages a vehicle's wheels to stop it. The wheel stop thereby presents a cross section, as illustrated in figure 5 which is generally in the form of a truncated triangle. The inclined surface 70 similarly presents a tapered appearance when viewed side on ) as in figure 4. The wheel stop is in use fastened to a car park floor using bolts. For this purpose the body 10 includes a series of three bolting apertures 120 equally spaced along the length of the body 10 at a pitch of about 680mm centred both in the length and width directions. The bolting apertures 120 each have a diameter of about 20mm and include 5 a counterbored portion 125 of about 35mm diameter at their upper extent so that the mounting bolts in use may be flush mounted. The mounting points are positioned to reinforce the wheel stop so that the tyres of the car cannot bend the wheel stop, for example when impacted at higher than recommended speed. The body 10 is hollow and is downwardly open to allow the internal features to be 0 formed by a mould tool. As illustrated a continuous wall 70A which is about 25mm thick defines the surface 70 and an internal void 130. The upper extent of the void 130 is defined by a horizontal wall 30A which also defines the external top surface 30. Full height bridging portions 140 extend in a width direction across the void 130 at locations corresponding to the bolting apertures 120 to join portions of the wall 70A adjacent each 5 side 100, 110. The bridging portions 140 are full height in that they extend from the base surface 20 to the wall 30A. Half height bridging portions 150 similarly join portions of the wall 70A adjacent each of the sides 100, 110. The half height bridging portions 150 are half height in that they extend downwardly from the wall 30A about half way to the base surface 20. A half height bridging portion 150 is positioned midway between 0 each pair of full height bridging portions 140. Webs 160 each interconnect a portion of the wall 70a with the wall 30A. Each web 160 extends downwardly from the wall 30A to 7 about the same height as the half height bridging portions 150, and project horizontally inwardly from the wall 70A by about 10mm or so from the innermost extent of the wall 70A. The inner most extent of each web 160 is more or less vertical. A total of eight webs 160 are provided: four pairs spaced along the length of the body 10. The webs 160 within each pair are arranged in opposition on opposing sides of the void 130. The hollow construction including the void 130 leads to a relatively lightweight wheel stop. The inclusion of the various reinforcements - the bridging portions 140, the bridging portions 150 and the webs 160, results in a wheel stop of satisfactory strength and durability. ) The wheel stop is preferably formed of rubber and most preferably from recycled automotive tyres. The described preferred form of the wheel stop using this material weighs only 12kg. This is a substantial improvement over known similarly dimensioned wheel stops made from similar materials which typically weigh about 17kg, and is a very substantial improvement over the more common solid concrete wheel stops. 5 Each side 100, 110 of the wheel stop includes two channels 170 extending through their respective side wall 70A. The channels 170 pass through the wall 70A, horizontally in a direction transverse to the length of the wheel stop and are centrally located and spaced about 390mm apart. Each channel 170 is in the form of a downwardly open recess. In use, when the base surface 20 of the wheel stop is seated on a car park floor, each 0 channel 170 together with the car park floor defines a tubular aperture. Thereby in use each channel 170, along with its counterpart channel 170 on the other side 100, 110 of the body 10 and a portion of the void 130 defines a flow path. Each flow path allows water to drain from one side 100, 110 to the other side, 100, 110 of the wheel stop and thereby eliminates or at least substantially reduces the problem of water puddling 5 against the side 100, 110 of the wheel stop. As best illustrated in Figure 1 each surface 70 of the wheel stop is contoured so as to include regions 180A, 180B and 180C which are recessed relative to regions 190A, 190B. The recessed portions are configured to receive reflective material or advertising signs. By being recessed the reflective surface and advertising signs are somewhat 8 protected from the wheels of vehicles and thus the useful lifetime of the reflector on signage can be extended. The recessed region 180B is centrally mounted on each side 100, 110 of the wheel stop and is about 515mm long. The recessed region 180B occupies the full height of the surface 70 in that it extends from the lip 40 to the top 5 surface 30. As best shown in Figure 4 the ends of the recessed region 180B are more or less vertical. In this embodiment the recessed region 180B includes advertising (not shown). By way of example in a commercial car park for a shopping mall the advertising space may be rented out. Two recessed regions 180A are provided towards the ends 80, 90 on each side 100, ) 110 of the wheel stop. The recessed regions 180A on each side are arranged symmetrically about the central recessed region 180B and bear reflective material. Recessed regions 180C are also provided at each end 80, 90 of the wheel stop. These are of a similar configuration to 180A, 180B and also bear a similar reflective surface. Use of these reflective portions serves to make the wheel stop highly visible and 5 thereby reduce the tripping hazard and reduce the incidents of inadvertent vehicle strike. The wheel stop is shaped so that when a tyre strikes the wheel stop the tyre applies more downward pressure and less horizontal pressure. This reduces the sheer loading on the mounting bolts. The shaping is related to the height of the wheel stop, the width 0 of the wheel stop and the degree of inclination of the surface 70. The shape is designed to apply more surface area against the tyre of the car. This more effectively stops the vehicle at low speed and minimises damage to the wheel stop by eliminating the tyre strike on a comer as would be the case with a vertical surface. It will be understood that the invention disclosed and defined in this specification 5 extends to all alternative combinations of two or more of the individual features mentioned or evident from the text or drawings. All of these different combinations constitute various alternative aspects of the invention.

Claims (18)

1. A wheel stop for seating on a car park floor at a location selected to demarcate an end of a parking space; the wheel stop predominantly consisting of an elongate integrally formed body: 5 the body having a length which is in use horizontal, two side regions, two ends and a cross section transverse to the length; an exterior of the cross section being shaped to obstruct a wheel of a car; the body being shaped to define at least one flow path for conveying water from one side region to the other side region to prevent water puddling against the one side J region.

2. The wheel stop of claim 1 wherein the flow paths are defined by downwardly open channel formations within the body and by the car park floor.

3. The wheel stop of claim 1 or 2 wherein the body includes regions bearing markings, the regions being recessed, to shield the markings from damage. 5

4. The wheel stop of claim 3 wherein the regions are recessed by about 5mm.

5. The wheel stop of claim 3 or 4 wherein the markings include advertising indicia.

6. The wheel stop of any one of the preceding claims wherein one or both 0 side regions bear centrally mounted advertising.

7. The wheel stop of any one of claims 3 to 6 wherein the markings include reflective markings. 10

8. The wheel stop according to any one of the preceding claims wherein one or both side regions include reflective markings toward each end.

9. The wheel stop according to any one of the preceding claims wherein at least one end includes a marking highly visible when the wheel stop is viewed end on. 5

10. A wheel stop for seating on a car park floor at a location selected to demarcate an end of a parking space; the wheel stop predominantly consisting of an elongate integrally formed body: the body having a length which is in use horizontal, two side regions, two ends and a cross section transverse to the length; D an exterior of the cross section being shaped to obstruct a wheel of a car; wherein the body includes regions bearing advertising indicia, the regions being recessed to shield the indicia from damage.

11. The wheel stop of claim 10 wherein the regions are recessed by about 5mm. 5

12. The wheel stop of any one of claims 10 or 11 wherein one or both side regions bear centrally mounted advertising.

13. The wheel stop of any one of claims 10 to 12 including reflective markings.

14. The wheel stop according to any one of claims 10 to 13 wherein one or both side regions include reflective markings toward each end. 0

15. The wheel stop according to any one of claims 10 to 14 wherein at least one end includes a marking highly visible when the wheel stop is view end on. 11

16. A wheel stop for seating on a car park floor at a location selected to demarcate an end of a parking space; the wheel stop predominantly consisting of an elongate integrally formed body: the body having a length which is in use horizontal, two side regions, two ends 5 and a cross section transverse to the length; an exterior of the cross section being shaped to obstruct a wheel of a car; wherein at least one end includes a marking highly visible when the wheel stop is viewed end on.

17. The wheel stop of claim 16 wherein the markings are reflective markings. D

18. The wheel stop of any one of the preceding claims in use.