GB2156409A

GB2156409A - Temporary road marker or sign

Info

Publication number: GB2156409A
Application number: GB08407577A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Lloyd
Original assignee: Glasdon Ltd
Current assignee: Glasdon Ltd
Priority date: 1984-03-23
Filing date: 1984-03-23
Publication date: 1985-10-09
Also published as: GB2156409B; GB8407577D0

Abstract

A temporary road marker or sign having a base which stands on a road surface. The base supports an elastomeric friction material 22 to increase the resistance of the marker to sliding over a road surface on which the marker is positioned. The friction material may be in the form of an extrusion received in a slot in the base. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Temporary road marker or sign This invention concerns temporary road markers or signs.

The temporary road signs or markers act as indicators giving warning of road hazards, for example road works, and/or to indicate segregation or delineation of part of a road, and are stood by their bases on the road surface to perform their indicating function.

One example of a temporary road marker or sign is the road cone.

In order to produce a road cone at an acceptable cost and with a sufficient resistance to impact damage in handling or contact with vehicles, known cones are usually made of low density polyethylene with or without the addition of EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) though a small percentage are manufactured from plasticised PVC (polyvinyl chloride). These materials have the advantages of meeting the cost and flexibility requirements but they have unfortunately a relatively low coefficient of friction in contact with road surface materials, particularly when the road is wet.

Since a road cone is used as a temporary warning or traffic delineator, a prime requirement is that is should remain where it has been placed, and should resist movement by strong gusts of wind, particularly when these are supplimented by violent air currents caused by the passing by of large high speed vehicles. A road cone requires a certain basic mass related to its height and base area in order to resist the tendency of the cone to be overturned by wind forces. But once that basic mass has been achieved a problem still remains with extreme wind conditions which cause the known low friction cones to skate across the road surface, still in an upright position. Attempts have been made to combat this skating by merely increasing the mass of the cone.But this is not entirely effective and incurs the penalty of making the cones more awkward to handle, slowing down the operation of setting out cones on the road, reducing the number of cones that can be safely carried on a particular vehicle, and also increasing the risk of personal injury or damage in the event of a vehicle colliding with a cone.

An object of the invention is to provide a temporary road marker or sign which may be made of low friction plastics but in which the chance of the marker skating or skidding over the road surface can be reduced without increasing the mass of the marker beyond that which is needed to prevent the marker overturning.

According to the invention a temporary road marker or sign comprises a base part to stand on a road surface to maintain the marker or sign upstanding, and the upstanding marker or sign having a relatively high resistance to skidding over the road surface by provision on said base of elastomeric friction material which engages the road surface.

The elastomeric friction material may be rubber or like elastomeric material.

Preferably, the elastomeric material is disposed adjacent an outer periphery of the base part.

The elastomeric material may be in strip form, and may be an extrusion.

The strip elastomeric material may be engaged in at least one slot in the base part from which part of the strip material projects so that the projecting strip part can engage the road surface.

Said projecting part of the elastomeric strip material may be deformable under the weight of the marker or sign so as to substantially conform to the surface of the road engaged by the strip.

In cross-section said slot may have a substantially key-hole shape or at least a wider part beyond a narrower or neck part. The strip material in cross-section may have a head portion disposed in said wider part and retained by the neck part. Also in cross-section the strip material may have a narrower or tail part extending through the neck part of the slot from the head portion and forming the projecting part, which may have the form of a flange or blade, which engages the road surface.

The elastomeric strip material may be arranged on different sides of the same vertical axis.

The elastomeric strip material may be arranged along a curved path.

Preferably, the elastomeric strip material is disposed in an array defining a substantially closed figure, for example a circle. If desired, the projecting part of the elastomeric strip material may be inclined relatively to the vertical so that it flairs or splays outwardly along a direction from the base to the lower edge of the projecting part.

The base part of a first said sign or marker may have an upper surface formed with a groove arrangement to receive the projecting part of the elastomeric strip material of a second substantially similar marker or sign stacked on the first. In this way stacking of markers or signs need not result in the elastomeric strips of the upper markers or signs being crushed in the stack.

The marker or sign may be a road cone having a substantially upright conical part ascending from a base extending outwardly transverse to the cone axis, beyond the lower end of the conical part.

Therefore, preferably, the elastomeric strip is disposed radially outwardly beyond the lower end of the conical part. The base of the road cone may comprise walls of a tank or chamber formed by the base. The tank or chamber may be capable of receiving ballast material, for example granular or particulate material or water, to ballast the road cone.

The invention will now be further described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a temporary road marker, in the form of a road cone, formed according to the invention; Figure 2 is a diagrammatic and perspective view from below and partly in section of the road cone in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a plan view of the road cone in Figure 1; Figure 4 is a fragmentary section on line IV-IV of Figure 3, and also shows a similar section of another similar cone stacked on the cone in Figure 1; Figure 5 is a fragmentary section on line V-V of Figure 3 likewise showing the other similar cone stacked on the cone of Figure 1; Figure 6 is a section similar to Figure 4 of the road cone using a modified form of elastomeric strip, and Figure 7 and 8 are fragmentary and sectional views of two further forms of elastomeric strip.

With reference to Figures 1 to 5, a road cone 2 of low friction plastics (for example of low density polyethylene with or without EVA, or of plasticised PVC) is moulded in one piece and has a hollow, open topped, conical part 4 ascending from an annular base 6 having an hexagonal outer periphery.

The base 6 defines within it an annular chamber 8 to which access can be had through an annular slit 10 between an inner wall 12 of the base and the bottom of the cone part 4. To weight the base of the cone, the chamber 8 may contain granular ballast B (see Figure 4) introduced through slit 10.

Underside 14 of the base 6 is flat, and in it is formed a circular groove or slot 16 surrounding and centred on the axis of the cone and preferably disposed adjacent to the outer periphery of the base. This slot 16 is of triangular cross-section narrowing to neck 18 at its apex level with the underside 14 in which is formed a recess 20 coinciding with and having the same depth as the slot 16.

This recess gives access to the slot 16 for a leading end of an extruded strip 22 of elastomeric material which is then pushed substantially around the slot until, preferably, the leading end substantially meets the trailing end of the strip. The ends of the strip may then be welded or otherwise adhered together, if desired. The strip 22 has in cross-section a head part 24 of triangular shape complementary to that of the groove 16, from which head part a tail part constituting a flange or blade 26 descends through the slot neck 18 to project below the base underside 14. The neck 18 serves to retain the strip 22, which may be a snug fit in the slot 16, though, if desired, the strip may also be held therein by adhesive.

The strip 22 is of rubber or other elastomeric material having a relatively high coefficient of friction in relation to usual road surfacing materials, for example, tarmacadam, concrete, ashphalt, stone chips, flags or sets. Consequently when the road cone 2 is stood on a road surface R (Figure 1) with lower edge 28 of the blade 26 in engagement with the road, the elastomeric strip gives the cone a high resistance against skidding or skating if the cone if subjected to horizontal force.

Preferably, the strip 22 has sufficient elasticity to allow the edge 28 to spread somewhat under the weight of the cone to increase the area of contact of the strip with the road and also deform to conform to the contour of the road surface to increase the chance of the strip being in contact with the road along substantially the whole of the strip length.

In its top the base 6 has an annular groove 30 coincident with the slot 16. The depth of groove 30 is sufficient to accommodate (preferably without crushing) the blade 26 of the elastomeric strip of another road cone 2A similar to the cone 2, when the cone 2A is telescopically stacked on the cone 2 (as shown in Figures 1 and 5) with the base of the upper cone sitting on the base of the lower.

At its corners the upper part of the base 6 is castellated at 32 due to the formation between the corners of depressions 34 having floors level with the base of the groove 30. The depressions 34 allow dirt to escape from the groove 30 to leave it clear.

In the modification in Figure 6 the blade 26a of the elastomeric strip 22a is inclined to the vertical, so that on the road cone the annular blade 26a flares outwardly downwards. In this case the flared blade also provides a butressing effect against sliding of the cone.

In Figures 7 and 8 the elastomeric strips 22b and 22c have heads 24b and 24c respectively, of different cross- sectional shapes. Therefore, the slot 16 (in Figures 1 to 6) receiving the head 24b or 24c will be modified to have a cross-section similar to that of the particular head.

Claims

1. A temporary road marker or sign comprising a base part intended to stand on a road surface to maintain the marker or sign upstanding, wherein the base part is provided with elastomeric friction material to engage the said road surface and to thereby provide a relatively high resistance to skidding over that road surface.

2. A marker or sign according to claim 1, wherein the elastomeric friction material is rubber.

3. A marker or sign according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the elastomeric material is disposed adjacent an outer periphery of the base part.

4. A marker or sign according to any preceding claim, wherein the elastomeric material is in strip form.

5. A marker or sign according to claim 4, wherein the elastomeric material is in the form of an extrusion.

6. A marker or sign according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the elastomeric material is engaged in a slot in the base part from which part of the strip material projects so as to be able to engage the said road surface.

7. A marker or sign according to claim 6, wherein the elastomeric strip material is deformable under the weight of the marker or sign so as to substantially conform to the shape of the said road surface.

8. A marker or sign according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the slot is of substantially key-hole shape in section and the strip material has a head portion engaged in the wider part of the said key-hole shaped cross-section.

9. A marker or sign according to claim 6, 7 or 8, wherein the projecting strip part is inclined relative to the vertical so that it flares outwardly relative to the base.

10. A marker or sign according to any one of claims 6 to 9, wherein the base part has an upper surface formed with a groove to receive the projecting part of the elastomeric strip material of a second substantially similar marker or sign stack thereon.

11. A marker or sign substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.