GB2039354A - Hazard warning lamp device - Google Patents

Abstract

A warning lamp device for use at roadside workings consists of a standard road cone 1 having, mounted on its top, a conical mounting member 2 to which a lamp unit 3, 4 is attached. The conical mounting member is preferably in the form of a salvaged upper portion of a previously damaged daylight road marker cone which may no longer be usable as a free-standing daylight road marker cone simply because of the damage to its base having caused loss of the sand ballast. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Hazard warning lamp device The present invention relates to a hazard warning lamp device for use at roadside workings, for example road repair works.

Traditionally road repair works are marked at night-time by tripod lamps which may be either continuously lit of flashing, but are mounted on tripods having legs formed of steel rod or steel angle section. This arrangement has the disadvantage that when and if the tripod is toppled by the suction created by a fast moving heavy vehicle the tripod configuration implies that there will be a 50% chance that the lamp and tripod will fall into the traffic lane.

This will result in one of the legs of the tripod projecting upwardly at an angle to the road surface and presenting a considerable hazard to further passing traffic whose bodywork and tyres will be susceptible to damage by impact on the steel tripod legs.

It is an object of the present invention to avoid this danger at roadworks.

According to the present invention we provide a warning lamp device, for example for roadworks and other workings, comprising a daylight road marker cone having placed on its upper end a hollow mounting cone supporting a lamp unit.

The conicity of the mounting cone is preferably substantially 20ç.

The invention also embraces a method of making a warning lamp device comprising taking a daylight road marker cone, cutting an upper portion of the road cone away from the remainder of the road cone, securing a lamp unit to the top end of said upper portion, and placing the upper portion in intimate engagement removably on the top of a second daylight road marker cone.

This method allows damaged road cones to be used in the manufacture, on site, of lamp mountings and thus saves the need for special tripod frames to be bought for supporting warning lamps.

The invention also relates to a hazard warning lamp device constructed by the above method.

In order that the present invention may more readily be understood, the following description is given, merely by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side elevational view showing a warning lamp device in accordance with the present invention; and Figure 2 is a part-sectional detail of the device of Figure 1 on an enlarged scale.

Figure 1 shows a standard road cone 1 of plastics material moulded to have a truncated conical form.

On its upper end the standard cone 1 supports a mounting cone 2 carrying a delineation lamp comprising a lamp body 3 and a globe housing 4.

As indicated above, the conventional type of delineation lamp is mounted on a steel-legged tripod frame, for example of rod 5;8" in diameter, and weighs approximately 8 Ibs. It is quite common for these tripods to be toppled either by impact with light vehicles, in which case the vehicle itself will sustain considerable collison damage, or by the effect of suction behind a slab-sided heavy vehicle such as a lorry or coach.

In accordance with the present invention we propose that the delineation lamp be mountable on a standard road cone, such as the cone 1, by simply placing the hollow mounting cone 2 on the truncated top of the road cone 1. This provides a fitting, of the lamp and mounting cone combination on the road cone, which is sufficiently robust under normal conditions but is enhanced if the road cone 1 and/or the mounting cone 2 is wet at the time of assembly.

No separate fixing means would be required either under wet or dry conditions.

Another hazard of road works, particularly on high speed roads, is that the daylight marker cones, such as standard cone 1, are frequently damaged by vehicles running over the base of the cone, thus penetrating the base and releasing the sand ballast weight to leave the damaged cone unstable and unsuitable for further use for daylight delineation purposes. Whereas, in the past, these cones have been discarded as useless, there is now the possibility that the top part of the standard cone (for example the top 11 inches for a 30 inch cone or the top 6 inches for a 21 inch cone) may be cut away from the damaged base and used as the mounting cone 2 for a delineation lamp unit.

With the support 1,2 illustrated in Figure 1, the delineation lamp no longer suffers the disadvantages of earlier lamps in having a high risk of falling into the roadway and of presenting a hazard to passing traffic. Now, the circular cross-section of the cone leaves it no more likely to fall into the roadway than in any other direction, and in practice the effect of the suction of passing traffic, or impact with this passing traffic, is such that the cone will more often than not be thrown away from the traffic lane and into a safe location. Furthermore, even if these lamp carrying standard cones do unexpectedly fall into the path of oncoming traffic they now present a flexible plastic obstacle rather than the sharp steel rod which could penetrate bodywork and/or tyres further traffic.

Further advantages of the cones proposed in accordance with the present invention, and particularly evident from the preferred arrangement shown in Figure 1 where a recycled standard cone upper portion is used for the mounting body 2, are that (a) such delineation lamp devices are easier to handle as there are no sharp edges or welds; (b) the delineation lamp devices are easier to stack and therefore are simpler for transportation; (c) some damaged road cones can be re-used, thereby saving on the cost of materials for the delineation lamp devices; (d) all of the components on the site will now be standard, namely standard daylight marking cones which serve also as the support basis for the night delineation lamps, and a few delineation lamp units each comprising the mounting cone-and-lamp unit assembly 2,3,4 shown in Figure 1; (e) the position of the lamp globe 4 can easily be altered to allow for placing art a bend in the road, without automatically altering the orientation of the tripod legs as was the case in the prior art; and (f) lamps when supported in this way will be maintained in the correct position longer, partly by virtue of the fact that they are standing on a correctly ballasted cone giving much higher stability, and partly also because of the fact that in daytime any such delineation lamp devices which have been left in position will be more readily visible than would the framework tripod used in the prior art.

Furthermore the cost of the increased number of additional standard cones in order to allow for enough to be available for lamp bases by night in addition to the cones used by day, can be offset by the fact that in some cases the same standard cone 1 can be used for a daylight marker and a night-time support base on the same site.

In the specific Example illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, the cone used is a standard 30 inch road cone and the lamp unit is a "Tildawn" night flashing lamp Hiway "F" Mk.ll made by Tildawn Electronics Ltd.

The method of mounting this delineation lamp unit atop the mounting cone 2 is illustrated in more detail in Figure 2 as involving the use of a tension bolt 5 spread between an upper mounting plate 6 in the base of the lamp body 3 (or the base itself where the lamp unit has a sufficiently strong base), and a circular lower mounting plate 7 inside the top of the mounting cone 2. The assembly 2,3,4 is clamped together by means of a nut 8. As shown, the diameter of the lower rim of the mounting cone 2 is 150 mm, and the length of the mounting cone 2 is 240 mm. The angle of conicity of the mounting cone 2 is 20 , giving a half angle of 10 .

The mounting system shown in Figure 2 can readily be adapted for use with other delineation lamp devices. For example when using a Dorman Smith "Trafilamp" (RTM) lamp type TL2S, the part of the assembly inside the top of the mounting cone 2 will be nearly the same as for Figure 2 except that the hole drilled in the baseplate of the body 3 of the lamp unit and in the mounting plate 6 will need to be slightly off-centre in order to avoid certain components of the lamp which are positioned directly in the centre of the baseplate.

Where the mounting cone is to be used with a high intensity flasher lamp (of 100 Candelas) the base cone must be painted yellow.

Although, in the preferred form of the device illustrated in the drawings the mounting cone 2 is the salvaged top part of an old standard daylight cone whose base has been damaged, it will be understood that the invention can also be embodied in a device where the mounting cone 2 is a purpose-built conical member.

Claims (10)

1. A warning lamp device, for example for roadworks and other workings, comprising a daylight road marker cone having placed on its upper end a hollow mounting cone supporting a lamp unit.

2. Awarning lamp device according to claim 1, wherein the mounting cone 2 and the said daylight road marker cone and the mounting cone supported thereby both have an angle ofconicity of substantial liy20.

3. A warning lamp device according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said mounting cone is of moulded plastics material of truncated conical form.

4. A warning lamp device according to claim 3, wherein said lamp unit is clamped to the said mounting cone by means of a circular mounting plate positioned inside the top of the mounting cone and secured to the base of the lamp unit by means of a tension bolt.

5. Awarning lamp device substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.

6. A method of making a warning lamp device comprising taking a daylight road marker cone, cutting an upper portion of the road cone away from the remainder of the road cone, securing a lamp unit to the top end of said upper portion, and placing the upper portion in intimate engagement removably on the top of a second daylight road marker cone.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the first-mentioned daylight marker road cone is one the lower portion of which has been damaged prior to the cutting operation leaving the upper portion intact and the lower portion devoid of ballast.

8. A method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the first-mentioned daylight road marker cone and/ or the further daylight road marker cone is moistened before assembly of the cut upper portion of the first-mentioned cone with the further cone.

9. A method of making a warning lamp device, such method being substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

10. A warning lamp device made by the method of any one of claims 6 to 8.