US2018260A - Highway traffic directing device - Google Patents

Description

v Oct.'22, 1935.

C. HENDERSON HIGHWAY TRAFFIC DIRECTING DEVICE Filed Jan Patented Oct. 22, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HIGHWAY TRAFFIC DIRECTING DEVICE Application January 23, 1931, Serial No. 510,597

8 Claims.

My invention relates particularly to devices for indicating in streets and highways means for controlling the movement of traffic for both vehicles and pedestrians and for indicating various conditions to be observed, such as places to stop, parking spaces and ydirection of movement of travel.

Various appliances for this purpose have been devised with more or less satisfactory results. It

10 has been observed, however, that undesirable conditions arise from the use of devices that have been employed, such as injury to vehicle tires and the danger to pedestrians who may slip on the smoothed, worn surfaces of these devices, most particularly under wet or snowy weather conditions, all of which tends to personal injury and possible litigation and loss in suits for damages.

The principal objects of my invention are to provide traffic direction indicating devices, commonly known as traffic lane markers, that will not only be eiiicient in operation and economical to manufacture, but which will endure the severe trafc conditions incident to the pounding thereon and the skidding and sliding of vehicle tires thereover, and which will also lend themselves to the prevention of slipping of pedestrains feet thereon.

Other objects of my invention are to provide a tra'ic direction indicating device composed of a 3o resilient material and having a head arranged to overlie the surface of the street or highway and having a stem formed in unitary relation with said head and arranged to project into suitably provided cavities formed in the street or highway.

My invention further includes a retaining device comprising a sleeve engage-d in the street cavity and having means with which the stem of the resilient traffic direction indicating device may be engaged and prevented from accidental 40 displacement.

Another object of my invention is to provide a traffic direction indicating device that may be readily removed and replaced when worn, and in which the head and stern may be formed of compositions of relatively different consistency so merged as to f-orm a unitary structure.

My invention comprehends a traiiic direction indicating device formed of such a resilient cornposition and having a head and stem so 'constructed and arranged that the pressure on said head by the action of the vehicle traveling thereover tends to so expand the stem within the cavity in the street as to tend to tighten the stem in said cavity at the moment when pressure is brought to bear upon the head which might otherwise tend to displace said trafc direction indicating device from its position in said street or highway.

My invention also includes all of the various novel features of construction and arrangement 5 as hereinafter more definitely specied.

Specifically stated, the form of my invention as hereinafter described comprises a mushroomshaped tralc indicating device in which the head and stern are formed in unitary relation of a rel0 silient composition such as rubber, in combination with a flanged split tubular metal retaining device forming a sleeve which may be secured in a suitably prepared cavity in the street or highway, into which the stem of the indicating device may be in- 15 serted and retained by projectionsv extending inwardly from the walls of said tubular retainer, and means whereby said retainer may be permanently secured into the said cavity in the street or highway. 20

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a highway traffic directing device constructed in accordance with my invention; Fig.,2 is a central vertical sectional view of the highway traflic directing device shown in Fig. 25 l; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the split tubular retainer for said highway traiiic directing device; Fig. 4 is a perspective View of a slug which may be employed to secure said retainer in a suitably provided aperture in the highway; Fig. 5 is a 30 transverse vertical sectional view taken centrally through the highway traffic directing device and its retainer in position in the highway; Fig. 6 is a transverse vertical sectional view of the highway similar to Fig. 5 but showing the highway traiiic 35 directing device and its retainer in elevation for convenience of illustration; and Fig. 7 is a plan view of the retainer shown in Figs. 3, 5, and 6, the section line 5-5 thereon indicating the plane of section of the retaining sleeve shown in Fig. 5. 40

In said figures, the highway traiiic directing device may preferably be in the form of a mushroom and its body formed of a resilient or yieldable, tough material, suchas a rubbercomposition, having the head I and the stem 2 depend- 45 ing from the cupped under surface 3 of said head, the upper surface 4 of the head l being convexed and merging at the periphery with the beveled edge 5.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 5, the body of the high- 50 way traiic directing device may be provided with stabilizing or reinforcing means, preferably sheet fabric 6, which may be molded in the resilient material forming the body in any desirable manner.

While the head I and stem 2 of the highway traflic directing device are formed' in unitary relation, they may ordinarily be formed of a composition of the same consistency throughout. In some instances, however, it may be found advisable to form said head and stem of Vrelatively diiferent resiliency so that while the head has the maximum desired resiliency throughout, so that its under surface tends to better contact and engage the surface of the highway, the stem, which is arranged to form the attachment to the paving of the highway, may have characteristics which will best adapt it to be employed in connection with a retainer, and consequently be of a more Vcondensed consistency or' stiffer than the head from which it depends.

As shown in Figs. 3, 5, and 6, the retainer into which the stem 2 of the highway trac directing device may be forced and by which it is held in position in the highway, comprises a split tubularv structure forming a sleeve 'I having the longitudinal split 9 and'having its upper end ared outwardly to afford the ange I0, of any desired radial extent, which is provided with apertures II and aplurality of slits I2 extending longitudinally downward through the wall of said sleeve 'I to form tongues I5, of which there are three shown in the illustration in Fig. 3. These tongues I5 may be slightly bent outwardlyY to afford a tight t in the aperture I6, which may be provided for the sleeve 'I in the highway structure I'I formed of concrete, macadam, wood, or any of the numerous materials of which highways are usually constructed.

The sleeve 'I may be provided, preferably interposed between the tongues I5, with inwardly struck projections preferably inclined downward to afford prongs I9 which extend into and distort the stem 2f, as brest shown in Fig. 5, so as to prevent the accidental displacement of the stem from the sleeve and incidentally to so hold the stem when forced into said sleevefI that the cupped under surface 3 of the head I will lie flat upon the upper surface of the highway.

This retainer sleeve 1 may be of such a spring nature as to be self-sustaining in the aperture I6, which is provided to receive it in the highway structure I'I. However, where traffic may be usually heavy, I have deemed it advisable to provide means arranged to hold the sleeve in rigid engagement with the walls of `said. aperture I6, and, therefore, I have provided the slug 20, which may be formed of lead, or other suitable material, and which may be provided with the longitudinal grooves V2| so as to permit it to pass the projections I9 when dropped through the sleeve to the bottom of the aperture I6, as shown in Fig. 5. After having been placed in this position, said `slug 20 may be engaged by a suitable tool and by a hammer blow on said tool the Yslug will be forced into the several apertures II in the wall of the sleeve near its bottom, as shown in Fig. 5, and also it may be forced into the slit 9 to maintain the sleeve spread against the side walls of the aperture I6 and thereby rigidly hold it in place in said aperture in the highway.

vAlthough I have described the slug 20 as being thus expanded by a hammer blow, it is obvious that it could be melted by a torch after having been placed in the bottom of the sleeve. Similarly, the slug 20 may be formed of other material such as a pitch product and thus melted by the-torch, or melted lead or pitch may be ladled into said sleeve. l Y

Furthermore, it may be found desirable in some instances to dispense with the retainer herein shown and described, and to cement or otherwise attach the stem directly to the walls of the cavity in the highway, or to employ other retaining means. 5

It will be obvious that having once established the .sleeve in place in the highway, it will be maintained as a permanentV fixture with which a trafc directing device comprising the head VI and stem 2 may be replaceably engaged when they 10 become worn or destroyed. Thus the cost of replacement will be incident to the cost of the mushroom-shaped body comprising the head I and stem 2.

My invention is advantageous in that the re- 15 placementY will be easy and inexpensive. Furthermore, by providing a resilient body as thus described, the hammer blows incident to the wheels of vehicles passing over the head tend to so expand the body of the device as to cause 20 the stem to bear hard against the walls of the retainer sleeve 'I and thereby add to the frictionalcontact between said stem and the sleeve at the moment whenv the most tenacious hold, tending to prevent separation of these parts, is re- 2'5 quired'.

Although I have shown and described a traffic directing device in the form of a mushroom, it will be obvious that the headI of this device may be of any desired contour or may be elongated and provided with twoor more stems for engagement with suitably spaced apertures in the highway, and, therefore, I do not desire to limit my invention to the precise details of construction and arrangement as herein set forth, as other 354 modifications may be made therein without departing from the essential features of my invention as defined in ther appended claims.V

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. The combination with a highway traffic di- 4.0i

recting device comprising a body of yieldable material having a unitary head and stem, of a retainer into which said stem may be tted, and Y comprising a sleeve arranged to be entered into a suitably provided aperture in the highway and u provided with means arranged to engage said stem to prevent its accidental displacement therefrom, and a readily distortable slug distinct from said sleeve arranged to be expanded in said sleeve to force it into frictional contact with the walls of said aperture. Y

2. The combination with a highway traffic directing device comprising a body of yieldable material having a unitary head and stem, of a retainer into which said stem may be fitted, and '7- ture and thereby prevent displacement of said sleeve, and inserting into said sleeve the stern of a body having a head arranged to overlie the surface of said highway and be retained by said projections.

4. The method of attaching highway traffic l directing devices to the highway, which consists in forming an aperture in the highway, inserting a split sleeve therein having internal projections and apertures in its walls, and provided with a iiange, introducing a retaining means into said sleeve to prevent it from being accidentally displaced, expanding said retaining means by a hammer blow, and thereby distorting it, and inserting into said sleeve the stem of a body having a head arranged to overlie the surface of said highway and be retained by said projections.

5. The combination with a highway traffic directing device comprising a body of yieldable material having a unitary head and stem, of a retainer into which said stem may be fitted, and comprising a iianged sleeve arranged to be inserted into an aperture in a highway and having a1- ternately disposed tongues and prongs respectively arranged to bear against the walls of said aperture and to engage and retain the stem of said device when it is disposed in said sleeve.

6. In combination, a highway trafl'ic directing device comprising a cylindrical sleeve provided with an outwardly iiared slitted iiange aiording regions that may be bent outwardly to rictionally engage the wall of an aperture in the highway into which said sleeve may be inserted, and having a plurality of inwardly projecting prongs, and a body of yieldable material having a unitary head and stem of relatively diierent resiliency, said stem being entered into said sleeve and prevented from longitudinal displacement by said prongs and from relative rotation by the slits in said sleeve.

7. The combination with a highway traffic directing device comprising a body of yieldable material having unitary head and stem, of a retainer into which said stern may be fitted, and comprising a flanged sleeve having relatively movable tongues cooperative with its body to form its free edge arranged to be entered into a highway and provided with stem-engaging means to prevent the accidental displacement of said stern therefrom, said sleeve being also provided with apertures in its wall, and means introduced into said sleeve and retained therein to secure said sleeve in said aperture.

8. The combination with a rubber traii'ic lane marker having a head and an integral stem, of a tubular anchor adapted to be secured in a pavement, the stern of the marker and the tube being of such relative diameters that considerable pressure is necessary to force the stem into the anchor, and projections in the tube adapted to compress the stem as it is driven in, the stem adapted to extend into the tube beyond the projections and expand beneath same as and for the purpose specied.

CHARLES HENDERSON.

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