ZA201102561B - Free standing traffic marker - Google Patents

Description

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FREE STANDING TRAFFIC MARKER

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a free standing traffic marker that may, but not necessarily, assume the form of a traffic cone, typically made of brightly coloured material.

Such free standing traffic markers are widely used for the purpose of temporarily demarcating roads and parking areas in order to restrict or guide traffic past or around temporarily restricted areas. One example of such restricted areas is road-works and other maintenance activities in public areas. Another example of their use in relation to roads is as a warning to drivers of a dangerous situation on the road such as, the scene of an accident, or a stationary or broken down vehicle.

They may also be used for temporarily marking restricted areas in many different situations in which pedestrians or personnel are restricted from entering particular areas. Whilst there are numerous other situations in which such free standing traffic markers can be employed, applicant is particularly interested in their utilization in underground mining situations for the purpose of warning pedestrians and personnel of dangerous areas such as where mining activities such as blasting or rock clearing activities may be taking place.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Free standing traffic markers that are presently in common use may assume the form of a traffic cone that is typically of right circular conical shape so as to be equally visible from all directions. As a general rule, such traffic cones

P2108ZA00 Complete Specification (Collapsible Traffic Marker) i are moulded from a somewhat resilient but rigid plastic material. They are hollow in order to render the cones stackable for transport and storage purposes whilst also facilitating handling. Transport and storage of individual traffic cones is, however, not practical in many instances.

Thus, for example, in the instance of motor vehicles, a standard accessory is typically the well known flat reflective triangle that has a folding base so that it can be deployed for use whenever the need arises to warn other road users of a dangerous situation. However, as will be apparent from the foregoing, such a traffic marker cannot be adequately seen from some directions and it is also generally somewhat squat so that it can easily be obscured from view.

Whilst applicant is aware of some proposals for collapsible traffic cones, none of these appear to be currently available commercially.

United States patent number 4,197,807 describes a traffic cone formed as a resilient spiral strip made to assume a conical shape in the relaxed expanded condition and to be collapsible generally axially to a flat storage condition against the resiliency of the strip. Manufacture of such a traffic cone may well be problematic.

United States patent number 5,488,792 describes a traffic cone formed as a spiral spring with a flexible fabric covering that together in the relaxed, expanded condition assume the form of a conical shape and can be collapsed to a flat storage condition in which it is held by means of a sleeve.

A spiral spring of this nature is generally costly to produce whether it be made in metal or plastic.

United States patent number 6,971,329 01 describes, inter alia, a traffic cone formed of a plurality of segments, typically four or five, that collapse axially by nesting one in the other. The collapsed condition of the nested segments is nevertheless of appreciable height.

P2108ZA00 Complete Specification (Collapsible Traffic Marker)

= 2011709561

United States patent number 4,426,801 describes a collapsible generally tetrahedral shape of traffic marker that must either be rather large or it may become easily obscured from view.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of this invention to provide a collapsible free standing traffic marker of the general type outlined above that has one or more enhanced features.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with this invention there is provided a collapsible, free standing traffic marker comprising a base and an operatively generally upright collapsible elongate body having an outer flexible covering wherein the body tapers from a large operatively lower end supported by the base to a small operatively upper end, the traffic marker being characterized in that, in an operative erected condition, the outer flexible covering is supported by a series of vertically spaced rings of progressively smaller diameter from the lower end to the upper end with the flexible covering being attached to the rings at least at selected positions around the circumference thereof and wherein the traffic marker has a collapsed condition in which the rings are accommodated one within the other with zones of the flexible covering located between adjacent rings in a doubled over condition and wherein the flexible covering, or a support layer inside the flexible covering, or a combination of both, is sufficiently rigidly flexible to maintain the traffic marker in the erected condition.

Further features of the invention provide for the flexible covering to be a flexible fabric; for the cross-sectional shape of the free standing traffic marker to be circular, or pyramidal having a polygonal base; for the vertically spaced rings to each conform to the general shape of a truncated cone or pyramid

P2108ZA00 Complete Specification (Collapsible Traffic Marker) ]

having substantially the same cone angle or apex angle as the traffic marker itself or, alternatively, for the vertically spaced rings to be of right circular cylindrical or polygonal shape; for the flexible covering to be supported by a support layer conveniently in the form of a plastic mesh having required 5 rigidly flexible properties; for the flexible covering and any support layer to be attached to the individual rings by means of multiple circumferentially spaced fasteners that are typically in the form of injection moulded plastics clips having a bifurcated shank with latching formations at the operatively inner end: for the flexible covering to be brightly coloured and optionally provided with additional light reflective patches or the like on the outer surface; and for the flexible covering and any support layer to be translucent to at least a limited extent.

Still further features of the invention provide for the base to have an internal flashing light assembly capable of illuminating the flexible covering from the inside thereof; and for the top of the traffic marker to be provided with a removable flashing light unit that is conveniently stored in its inoperative position in a complementary recess in the base.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood one embodiment thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Inthe drawings:-

Figure 1 is a partially broken away isometric view of one embodiment of freestanding traffic marker in the form of a collapsible traffic cone in the erected condition; and,

Figure2 is a partly broken away sectional elevation of the freestanding traffic marker in a collapsed condition.

P2108ZA00 Complete Specification (Collapsible Traffic Marker)

DETAILED DESCRIPTION WITH REFERENCE TO THE DRAWINGS

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, a collapsible free standing traffic marker [1] comprises a hollow base [2] and an operatively generally upright collapsible elongate conical body [3] tapering from a large operatively lower end [4] supported by the base to a small operatively upper end [5]. The shape and size of the traffic marker in the erected condition may be substantially the same as a conventional traffic cone.

The body has an outer flexible fabric covering [6] supported on an inner rigidly flexible support layer [7] both of which are supported in the conical configuration by a series of vertically spaced rings [8] of progressively smaller diameter from the lower end to the upper end. The fabric covering is brightly coloured, typically either bright luminescent orange or luminescent yellow and, in this embodiment of the invention, has additional light reflective bands

[9], typically of a silver colour, on the outer surface towards the upper end.

The support layer is, in this instance, in the form of a rigidly flexible plastic mesh that is typically colourless. The combination of the support layer and : fabric covering is also translucent to at least a limited extent for the purpose that is indicated below.

The fabric covering and support layer are attached to the rings at selected spaced positions around the circumference of each ring by means of multiple plastic clips [10] that conveniently have a head that engages the fabric on the outside and a bifurcated shank with latch formations projecting laterally outwards at the free inner end so as to lock behind the ring on diametrically opposite sides of a hole through the ring and through which the shank passes.

P2108ZA00 Complete Specification (Collapsible Traffic Marker)

The vertically spaced rings, in this embodiment of the invention, each conform to the general shape of a truncated cone having substantially the same cone angle as the conical body and the cone angle is selected such that in a collapsed condition of the traffic marker, the rings are accommodated one within the other with zones of the fabric covering and support layer located between adjacent rings in a doubled over condition, as illustrated in Figure 2.

The combination of the fabric covering and inner support layer is sufficiently rigidly flexible to maintain the body of the traffic marker in an erected condition in which all of the individual rings are spaced apart and conform to the general shape of the cone, as illustrated in Figure 1. However, a physical force is needed to move the rings and combined fabric covering and support layer from their erected condition to the collapsed condition, and vice versa. :

In this embodiment of the invention the base has an internal flashing light assembly [11] capable of illuminating the fabric covering from the inside thereof when it is operative.

Also, in this embodiment of the invention the top of the traffic marker has a removable flashing light unit [12] that is removably received axially in a socket [13] provided at the upper end of the body. in order to ensure that the : collapsed condition of the traffic marker is as compact as possible, the removable flashing light unit is conveniently stored in a complementary recess [14] in the base in its transport and storage inoperative position.

It will be understood that, in the collapsed condition of the traffic marker described above, it can be easily and conveniently stored in a small space and, in particular, stored in a vehicle ready for deployment as and when necessary. }

P2108ZA00 Complete Specification (Coflapsible Traffic Mat ker)

In the erected condition, it is highly effective and, especially in instances in which one or more flashing lights are employed, it is particularly effective at night.

It will also be understood also that numerous variations may be made to the embodiment of the invention described above without departing from the scope hereof. In particular, the cross sectional shape of the body is not limited to circular so that the general shape of the erected condition of the collapsible freestanding traffic marker is not limited to conical but could be pyramidal of various polygonal shapes in cross-section such as triangular, square, or hexagonal.

The invention therefore provides an extremely convenient and relatively inexpensive collapsible freestanding traffic marker.

P2108ZA00 Complete Specification (Collapsible Traffic Mar ker) ;

Claims (1)

1. CLAIMS:

   1. A collapsible, free standing traffic marker comprising a base and an operatively generally upright collapsible elongate body having an outer flexible covering wherein the body tapers from a large operatively lower end supported by the base to a small operatively upper end, the traffic marker being characterized in that, in an operative erected condition, the outer flexible covering is supported by a series of® vertically spaced rings of progressively smaller diameter from the lower end to the upper end with the flexible covering being attached to the rings at least at selected positions around the circumference IS thereof and wherein the traffic marker has a collapsed condition in which the rings are accommodated one within the other with zones of the flexible covering located between adjacent rings in a doubled over condition and wherein the flexible covering, or a support layer inside the flexible covering, or a combination of both, is sufficiently rigidly flexible to maintain the traffic marker in the erected condition.

   2. A collapsible, free standing traffic marker as claimed in claim 1 in which the flexible covering is a flexible fabric.

   8. A collapsible, free standing traffic marker as claimed in either one of claims 1 or 2 in which the cross-sectional shape of the free standing traffic marker is circular, or pyramidal having a polygonal base.

   4. A collapsible, free standing traffic marker as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the vertically spaced rings each conform to the general shape of a truncated cone or pyramid having substantially the same cone angle or apex angle as the traffic marker itself. P2108ZA00 Complete Specification (Collapsible Traffic Mar ker)

   5. A collapsible, free standing traffic marker as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 in which the vertically spaced rings are of right circular cylindrical or polygonal shape. .

   6. A collapsible, free standing traffic marker as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the flexible covering is supported by a support fayer in the form of a plastic mesh having required rigidly flexible properties.

   7. A collapsible, free standing traffic marker as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the flexible covering and any support layer are attached to the individual rings by means of multiple circumferentially spaced fasteners in the form of injection moulded plastics clips having a bifurcated shank with latching formations at the operatively inner end.

   8. A collapsible, free standing traffic marker as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the flexible covering is brightly coloured and provided with additional light reflective patches or the like on the outer surface.

   9. A collapsible, free standing traffic marker as claimed in any one of the : preceding claims in which the flexible covering and any support layer are translucent to at least a limited extent and the base has an internal flashing light assembly capable of illuminating the flexible covering from the inside thereof.

   10. A collapsible, free standing traffic marker as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the top of the traffic marker is provided with a removable flashing light unit that is conveniently stored in its inoperative position in a complementary recess in the base. P2108ZA00 Complete Specification (Collapsible Traffic Marker)

   11. A collapsible, free standing traffic marker substantially as herein described and exemplified with reference to the accompanying drawings.

   Dated this 5" day of April 2011 VON SEIDELS Intellectual Property Attorneys for the applicant

   I P2108ZA00 Complete Specification (Collapsible Traffic Marker)