WO1994026981A1

WO1994026981A1 - Painting apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO1994026981A1
Application number: PCT/FI1994/000198
Authority: WO
Inventors: Risto Jormanainen
Original assignee: Risto Jormanainen
Priority date: 1993-05-18
Filing date: 1994-05-17
Publication date: 1994-11-24
Also published as: FI932269A0; FI932269A; AU6652394A

Abstract

A painting apparatus for painting road markings comprises spray painting means with nozzles, a body frame (1), a painting slide (3) movable along said body frame, a nozzle (4) carried by said painting slide and communicating with a spray painting unit (5), and control means (6) for controlling the movements of the painting slide relative to the body frame.

Description

PAINTING APPARATUS

The present invention concerns a painting ap¬ paratus for painting road markings, said apparatus com- prising spray painting equipment with nozzle(s).

Guiding signs which have to be made on the driveway, such as markings for a pedestrian crossing, lane selection and guide arrows, interdicted zones and other various guiding, directing and informative signs are nowadays applied on the driveway mainly manually altogether. The commonest procedure is to use a sten¬ cil, which is placed on the driveway, thereafter painting with a hand spray gun the surface area defined by the stencil. Such work is slow and cumbersome, and it is also risky when the workers have to stay for prolonged periods in the midst of traffic, engaged in a painting job requiring concentration and which gives the persons no chance to observe the traffic around them. The object of the invention is to eliminate the drawbacks mentioned. Specifically, the object of the invention is to disclose a painting apparatus with the aid of which road markings can be painted without stencils and in a safe and fast way by means of control accomplished e.g. from the roadside or from another safe location.

Regarding the features characterizing the invention, reference is made to the claims section.

The painting apparatus of the invention, which is connected to suitable spray painting equipment known in itself in the art, comprises a body frame, a pain¬ ting slide movable along this body frame, and a nozzle carried on the painting slide and which communicates with a spray painting unit. Furthermore, on the pain- ting apparatus have been provided control means by which the movements of the painting slide relative to the body frame can be controlled. Advantageously, the body frame is adjustable of its length. Thus, advantageously, the length and/or breadth dimensions of the body frame, the painting slide or the nozzles on the painting slide have been so selected that the figure or sign most commonly emplo¬ yed, e.g. one line of a pedestrian crossing, fits in the confines defined by said dimensions.

Advantageously, the painting slide carries two or more nozzles, and it is possible with the aid of the controls to operate one or several of these nozzles simultaneously, in the manner implied by the figure which one aims to paint. Advantageously, the nozzles are either turnable or the edgemost nozzles are so directed that the outer margin of their spraying sector is perpendicular against the surface that is being painted, whereby the margins of the painted figures will be sharp.

Advantageously, on the body frame are provided suitable displacement members, wheels, caterpillar tracks or equivalent, by the aid of which the body frame can be moved along the surface which is being painted. Advantageously, the displacement members are disposed on both ends of the body frame. It is equally possible that, for instance, the body frame is pivot- ally mounted on a suitable vehicle so that it is up¬ right in transporting position and for use it is low¬ ered down close to ground surface. In that case there may belong to one extreme end thereof suitable carrying elements, rollers or wheels, so that the body frame is held at a predetermined distance from the surface which is being painted.

Advantageously, on the painting slide is pro¬ vided a suitable power means, e.g. a step motor, servo motor, etc., communicating with the control means of the painting apparatus so that the painting movements are accurately adjustable as desired. Likewise, advan¬ tageously, the displacement members belonging to the body frame are provided with suitable power means, e.g. likewise step motors communicating with the control means for moving the entire body frame, accurately and exactly, in the way implied by the figure which is being painted, along the surface being painted.

Thus, while the control means accurately and exactly control both the movements of the body frame over the surface which is being painted and the move¬ ments of the painting slide along the body frame it becomes possible in the control means to use a suitable memory and programming unit in which the figures to be produced have been programmed, so that the control means will automatically guide the painting apparatus to produce a figure of a given shape once they hare been given a control command. In this way, a figure that has been drawn or in another way designed can advantageously by means of appropriate programming techniques be entered in the memory of the apparatus, whereby the memory of the apparatus can hold a great multitude of different and different-sized figures or signs, among which merely the figures and signs to be painted are selected at the painting site.

The body frame of the painting apparatus of the invention may be a substantially rectangular frame on which the painting slide is carried on its long sides, or on guides running in the longitudinal direc¬ tion of the frame. The body frame may, however, equally be substantially nothing but a straight beam, e.g. a square beam or rectangular beam, the painting slide moving carried thereon. In that case the painting slide comprises, advantageously, an aperture of a shape con¬ sistent with that of the beam and through which the beam can pass comparatively freely in the longitudinal direction but rigidly in respect of torsion in the lateral direction. Length adjustment of such a beam may be implemented in telescopic fashion, or it may compri¬ se extension parts of which an adequate number is con- nected in extension of the beam.

In an embodiment, the painting apparatus com¬ prises a suitable heating unit and a suitable pumping unit, which enable the pumping and spraying of more viscous compounds to produce given figures on the road surface.

The painting apparatus of the invention af¬ fords, as an advantage over the technique of prior art, the speed, simplicity and versatility of the painting process, whereby one and the same apparatus can be used to make many different road markings and there is no need to carry along any great number of different- shaped and different-sized stencils.

In the following the invention is described in detail, referring to the attached drawing, wherein a painting apparatus according to the invention is pre¬ sented.

The painting apparatus depicted in the drawing comprises a body frame 1, telescopically adjustable of its length. A painting slide 3 has been disposed to run upon the body frame on rails 2 thereto affixed, this slide carrying a row of nozzles formed by three nozzles 4. The nozzles communicate with a spraying unit 5 known in itself in the art, this unit comprising a suitable paint pump 11 and a suitable paint container 12. The painting slide 3 further comprises a step motor 9, communicating with the control means 6 of the painting apparatus for moving the slide in controlled manner along the rails 2. Furthermore, on both ends of the body frame 1 are affixed displacement members 7, i.e., track wheels, to which also have been connected step motors 10, which likewise communicate with the control means 6.

The apparatus of the invention, presented in the drawing, is operated as follows, for instance when painting the markings of a pedestrian crossing. The body frame 1 is deposited on one side of the road, parallelling the road and with the track wheels 7 at right angles to the road. Next, the length of the body frame 1 is adjusted to be appropriate, and the length and breadth of the stripes for the pedestrian crossing are selected, these data being entered in the control means 6. The control means is similarly given the dis¬ tance which the markings are to have from each other. The apparatus then moves on its track wheels to the site of the first stripe to be painted and stops there, the painting slide then moving from one end to the other of the body frame, moving the nozzles close to the road surface while the nozzles spray a painted stripe of suitable width on the road surface 8.

Hereafter the track wheel sets move the body frame into position for the next stripe, and as the painting slide returns to the other end, the next stripe of the crossing is produced. Painting of the pedestrian crossing is in this way accomplished rap¬ idly and safely, all control and supervision of the apparatus being accomplished at a suitable location as implied by the job and by traffic safety.

If the pedestrian crossing is painted somewhat obliquely across the road, as one must often do at crossroads, the track wheel sets 7 may be turned to a suitably oblique position relative to the body frame 1, whereby they will move the body frame across the road in oblique position relative to the direction across the road, while the body frame will still retain its positioning longitudinally to the road, whereby the stripes of the pedestrian crossing will be made paral¬ lel with the road.

In the foregoing the invention has been desc¬ ribed by way of example with the aid of the attached drawing, while different embodiments of the invention are well feasible within the scope of the inventive idea delimited by the claims.

Claims

1. A painting apparatus for painting road markings, comprising spray painting means with nozzles, characterized in that the painting apparatus comprises a body frame (1), a painting slide (3) movable along said body frame, a nozzle (4) carried by said painting slide and communicating with a spray painting unit (5), and control means (6) for controlling the movements of the painting slide relative to the body frame, and that the painting slide (3) comprises a power means (9) communicating with the control means (6) for moving the painting slide in controlled manner as implied by the figure one desires to paint.

2. Painting apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the body frame (3) is adjustable of its length.

3. Painting apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the painting slide (3) carries two or more nozzles (4), of which the operation can be controlled and selected with the control means (6).

4. Painting apparatus according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that the body frame (1) comprises wheels, rolls or equivalent displacement members (7) for moving it over the surface to be painted (8) .

5. Painting apparatus according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that the body frame (1) comprises at least one rail (2) along which the paint- ing slide (3) is movable in the way implied by the figure to be painted.

6. Painting apparatus according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that the displacement members (7) include power means (10), e.g. step motors, communicating with the control means (6) for moving the painting apparatus in controlled manner, as implied by the figure to be painted, over the surface to be pain- ted (8) .

7. Painting apparatus according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that the control means (6) include memory and programming means for programming the figures to be painted or the event of their pain¬ ting in advance in said control means.

8. Painting apparatus according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that the painting slide (3) and/or the nozzles (4) comprise adjustment means for adjusting the distance of the nozzles from the surface to be painted.

9. Painting apparatus according to any one of claims 4-8, characterized in that the displacement mem¬ bers (7) are placed on both ends of the body frame (1).

10. Painting apparatus according to any one of claims 4-9, characterized in that the displacement members (7) include a turning pivot for making the body frame (1) travel along a curved path or for displacing the body frame in oblique position over the surface to be painted.