GB2393312A

GB2393312A - Parking positioning aid

Info

Publication number: GB2393312A
Application number: GB0221586A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Rene Otto Hendrikus Welling
Original assignee: MACRO FAR EAST Ltd
Current assignee: MACRO FAR EAST Ltd
Priority date: 2002-09-17
Filing date: 2002-09-17
Publication date: 2004-03-24
Also published as: GB0221586D0

Abstract

A parking safety device includes a body 10 formed of soft, low-density material having an advertising area 12. The advertising area 12 displays advertising material. The body 10 has a hole 13 and a cord 18 of adjustable length extending from the hole 13 by which the body 10 can be suspended at a parking space. The device can be hung at the parking space such that the body 10 will be positioned against a front or rear windscreen of a vehicle when the vehicle is at its desired parking position. When manoeuvring the vehicle in the parking space, the driver can view the body 10 until the front or rear windshield engages with it.

Description

239331 2

Parking Positioning Aid Back round of the Invention g The present invention relates to a device to assist in positioning motor vehicle safely when parking. More particularly, although not exclusively, the invention I elates to a device to be positioned at a car-parking 10 space and with which a part of a car such as its Windscreen can engage to identify to the driver the car's position relative to an, obstacle such as a garage wall.

When parking a vehicle in a garage for example, it can IS often be difficult to gauge the position of the car's extremities with respect to an end wall of the garage.

For example, although it might appear to the driver that the front bumper bar is just inches from the garage wall, there might in fact be a foot or more space available.

20 If the car is large for example, the driver might turn off the engine and secure the vehicle, only to find that the garage door will not clear the back bumper bar. On the other hand, the driver might underestimate the space between the front bumper bar and the garage wall and a 25 collision inadvertently might result.

Visual advertising material such as posters and billboards are generally glanced at very quickly by motorists and it might be said that they therefore have little promotional

-2 effect. Similar comments apply in respect of television advertising, as viewers tend to look away or do other things during the commercials. A mare effective means of visual advertising would be to force the viewer to 5 concentrate visually on the advertising material.

Objects of the Invention It is an object of the present invention to overcome or 10 substantially ameliorate at least one of tile above disadvantages and/or more generally to provide a safety cevice for preventing parking-damage to vehicles.

i'- is a further object of the present invention to provide 15 such a safety device having advertising material thereon at which a driver must look in order that the device can function as intended when positioning a vehicle while parking. 20 Disclosure of the Inventio

there is disclosed herein a parking safety device comprising a body tor,.. ed of soft, low-density material having an advertising area adapted to display advertising, 25 the body having a hole therethrough, and a cord of adjustable length extending from the hole and by which the body can be suspended at a parking space.

-3 Preferably the body compries a convex surface and the advertising area has a surface contoured differently Lo said convex surface.

5 Preferably the advertising area in adapted to receive printed advertising material.

Alternatively, the advertising can be debonsed, printed directly onto, fixed, mounted or embossed onto the body.

Preferably the body is solid.

Preferably the body is substantially spherical and there are two of said convex úur.faces defining upper and leer 15 hemispheres, each hemisphere separated by said advertising area, said advertising area forming an equatorial band.

Preferably a printed strip of advertising material extends at least substantially about the equatorial band.

Preferably the hole has a wide portion and a narrow portion, the wide portion housing a knot or faster at an end of the cord, the cord extending through the narrow portion, Preferably the cord has affixed thereto a length adustment plate.

-4 Preferably a distal end of the cord has a fastener by which the cord can be attached to a fixture at the parking space such as a ceiling or rafter.

5 Preferably the body is formed of foam plastics material such as PVC, PE, or rubber for example.

There is further disclosed here in a method of positioning a motor vehicle within a parking space, the method 10 comprising: suspending the above-disclosed safety device at the parking space such that the body will be positioned against a front or rear windscreen of a vehicle when the vehicle is at its desired parking position, and 15 manoeuvring the vehicle into the parking space while viewing the body until said front or rear windscreen engages therewith Brief Des crint i on o _t he Drawings A preferred form of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein.

25 Plgure 1 is a schematic perspective illustration of a solid lowdensity foam body,

Flgure 2 is a schematic cross-sectional elevational view of the body of Figure 1, Figure 3 is a schematic inverted plan view of the body, Figure 4 is a schematic perspective illustration of a cord length-adjustment plate, Figure 5 is a schematic perspective you of a strip of 10 advertising material to be attached to the body of Figure 1, Figure 6 is a che,naic elevational view of the body of E'lgure 1, Figures 7 and 8 are schematic elevational views of a motor car being driven forwards into a parking space including the safety device suspended therein, and 20 Figures 9 & 10 are schematic elevational views of a motor car being reversed into a parking apace including the safety device suspended therein.

Description of the Preferred Embodiment

- In Figure" 7 to 10 of the accompanying drawings there is schematically depicted a safety device comprising a low d-nsity foam body 10 susperded by a cord 18 from the

-6 ceiling C of a garage having a rear wall W. The body 10 might be moulded polyurethane for example.

The body lo is to be positioned in the garage where it 5 will engage with either the front or real windscreen of the owner's motor vehicle 17. Most owners, by habit, either forward or reverse their vehicles into their private garage the same way every time. Therefore, the hody lo need be suspended in only one position. This lo will be a position whereat either the front or rear bumper bar will be safely spaced from the rear wall W j, ust as the body 10 engages the windscreen as shown in Figures 8 and lo.

15 As illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3 & 6, the foam body lo has upper and lower substantially hemispherical surfaces ll and an equatorial band 12 therebetween. The equatorial band 12 receives a stripped 15 of advertising material as shown in Figure 5. The strip would typically 20 be a strip of printed paper or plastics material, There is a hole extending through the body 10 having an upper narrow portion 13 and a lower wide portion 14, The cord 18 might have a knot in its end or a bead or other 25 termination to be received within the wide portion 14 such that the cord extends upwardly through the narrow portion 13. The cord can be attached to a length-

adjustment plate 16 or other length adjusting mechanism.

-7 As an alternative, there might be no adjustment mechanism provided and instead the cord might be cut to length as desired. At the distal end of the cord, there might be a crew-in eyelet or other fasting means, perhaps having an 5 adhesive pad, by which the body 10 can be suspended from the ceiling C, or a rafter or other fixture.

For initially positioning the device, the owner's vehicle can be parked in its most-desired position within the 10 garage. Then, the body can be suspended from the ceiling with the cord such that it just touches the front or back Windscreen, depending on the owner's usual parking orientation. The length of the cord can be adjusted, for example so that the body lo sits just above one of the 15 windscreen wiper blades for example.

Subsequent parking is made easy by simply manosuvring the vehicle into the parking space until the windscreen touches the body. As the body is made of low-denity 20 material, it will not damage the windscreen in any way.

Also, as the band 15 has advertising material on it, the driver has no choice but to view the advertising material when parking his or her vehicle. The device might be 25 imminently suitable for the promotion of motor vehicle insurance companies.

It should be appreciated that modifications and

-8- alterations obvious to those skilled in the art are not to be considered as beyond the scope of the present invention For example, the body need not be substantially spherical, as it might instead be in the 5 form of a cube or any other shape onto which advertising aterial can readily be affixed. For example, cubes, Cylinders, triangles, balls, rectangles, bottle-shapes, cigarette shapes, can shapes and car shapes might be formed.

Claims

-- CLAIMS:

1, A parking safety device comprising a body formed of soft, low-density material having an advertising area 5 adapted to display advertising, the body having a hole therethrough, and a cord of adjustable length extending from the hole and by which the body can be suspended at a parking space.

10

2. The device of Claim l wherein the body comprises a

convex surface and the advertising area has a surface contoured differently to said convex surface.

3 The device of Claim l wherein the advertising area in 15 adapted to receive printed advertising material.

4. The device of Claim 1 wherein the body is solid.

5. The device of Claim 2 wherein the body ls 20 substantially spherical and there are two of said convex surfaces defining upper and lower hemispheres, each hemisphere separated by said advertising area, said advertising area forming an equatorial band.

25

6. The device of Claim 5 further comprising a printed strip of advertising material extending at leant substantially about the equatorial band.

-10

7. The device of Claim 1 wherein the hole has a wide portion and a narrow portion, the wide portion housing a knot or faster at an end of the cord, the cord extending through the narrow portion.

8. The device of Claim 1 wherein the cord has affixed Thereto a lengthad5ustment plate.

9. The device of Claim 1 wherein a distal end of the lo cord has a fastener by which the cord can be attached to a fixture at the parking space such an a ceiling or rafter.

10. The device of Claim 1 wherein the body is formed of foam plastics material.

11. A method of positioning a motor vehicle within a parking space, the method comprising; suspending the device of any one of the preceding claims at the parking space such that the body will be 20 positioned against a front or rear windscreen of a vehicle when the vehicle is at its desired parking position, and manocuvring the vehicle into the parking space while viewing the body until said front or rear windscreen engages therewith.

if / N ASTOR IN PEOPLE Application No: GB 0221586.1 Examiner: Hayley Yates Claims searched: 1-1 l Date of search: 4 March 2003 Patents Act 1977: Search Report under Section 17 Documents considered to be relevant: Category Relevant Identity of document and passage or figure of particular relevance to claims X:Y X:1, 3, 9 US 2002/0069493 Shepherd; see figures 16; [0015], [0017], and lO A1 [0021], [0031 - 0034] and [0036] Y US 3874332 Brauer; see figures 1 and 2 A DE 19926392 A Wilding; see figure 2 A DE 2980406 U Koch; see figure 2 Categories: X Document indicating lack of novelty or inventive step A Document indicating technological background and/or state of the art

Y Document mdcatmg lack of mvenbve step If combined P Document pubhshed on or after the declared priority date but before the with one or more other documents of same category filing date of this invention & Member of the same patent family E Patent document published on or after, but with priority date earlier than, the fihng date of this application.

Field of Search:

Search of GB, EP, WO & US patent documents classified in the following areas of the UKCV: Worldwide search of patent documents classified in the following areas of the IPC7: G09F; E04H I

The followm: online and other databases have been used in the preparation of this search report: Online: JAPIO, WPI, EPODOC l An F,xccutve Agency of the Department of Trade and Industry