International Tools (1973) Ltd.

Itl Industries, Inc.

Robin A Arnott

John F Domaracki

Donald C Suhr

Peter Hedgewick

A pavement marker of the type including a shell-like body of light transmitting material, such as synthetic resin, having a reflective wall formed thereon, and which is filled with epoxy resin or the like for reinforcing the shell-like body against external forces applied by vehicles. The body has a fore and aft axis that intersects the reflective wall and extends parallel to the direction of travel of vehicles when the base of the pavement marker is secured to a roadway. The reflective wall has a lower edge adjacent the plane of the base that is spaced forwardly of the upper edge thereof such that the reflective wall is in nonperpendicular relationship with the plane of the base, and the outer surface of the reflective wall is curved outwardly and downwardly between the upper and lower edges. The reflective wall also curves rearwardly from the fore and aft axis on opposite sides thereof. The body also has a top surface that is convexly curved. The convex curvature of the reflective wall and top wall in opposition to external forces provides additional strength to the shell-like body.

Pavement marker

A pavement marker having a relatively fragile pavement marker housing and a snow plow frame for guiding snow plows and similar implements over the pavement marker housing. Retrodirective reflector elements may be included in the pavement marker housing. The snow plow frame includes a unitary sheet metal body adapted to be secured to the roadway surface and having a base member with a fore and aft axis that extends parallel to the direction of travel when the body is secured to the roadway, and a transverse axis perpendicular to the fore and aft axis. A pair of snow plow ramp sections are formed on the body on opposite sides of the fore and aft axis, each of the ramp sections including a pair of snow plow ramps extending in opposite directions from the transverse axis. Each of the snow plow ramps has an enlarged end adjacent the transverse axis and decreases in cross-section to a tip portion at the distal end thereof spaced from the transverse axis. An opening is formed in the base member for receiving and positioning the pavement marker housing relative to the frame, and a strap member extends from one ramp section to the other along the transverse axis to overlie the pavement marker housing.

Pavement marker with snow plow frame

A snow plowable pavement marker including a body having a base adapted to be secured to the surface of a roadway in such a manner that the fore and aft axis of the body extends parallel to the direction of travel of vehicles. A pair of snow plow ramp sections are secured to the body on opposite sides of the fore and aft axis thereof, the ramp sections including a pair of oppositely projecting snow plow ramps. The snow plow ramps each has an inner wall adjacent the fore and aft axis, an outer wall on the opposite side of the respective inner wall from the fore and aft axis, and a reinforcing rib extending along the length of the ramp between the respective inner and outer walls thereof. Each of the snow plow ramps has an enlarged end adjacent the pavement marker body, and decreases in cross-section to a relatively sharp tip portion at the distal end thereof spaced from the pavement marker body such that snow plows and like equipment will first contact the snow plow ramps at the tip portions and be guided over the pavement marker body by the snow plow ramps. Drain slots are formed in the edges of the inner walls, reinforcing ribs and outer walls of the snow plow ramps adjacent the plane of the base providing a passage for drainage of liquid from the space between the snow plow ramps. The snow plow ramps are made up primarily of plastic material, with the reinforcing rib, in one embodiment, being of metal interlocked with the plastic material.

Snow plowable pavement marker

A roadway marker having a housing with a base for engagement with the surface of a roadway, and a reflective wall for reflecting light from vehicles on the roadway. The reflective wall has a central plane extending at an acute angle from the base and is integrally formed with a plurality of spherical reflector elements arranged in side by side relationship. Each of the spherical reflector elements has its center located on the central plane with the portions of the spherical reflector elements that project from one side of the central plane defining an outer, light receiving surface and the portions of the spherical reflector elements that project from the other side of the central plane defining an inner, light reflecting surface of the reflective wall. The reflective wall may be formed by a separate reflector that is mounted in the housing as an insert. Also disclosed is a method of making such structures which includes the steps of assembling a plurality of pins having semi-spherical ends into a pin bundle, forming an electroform having a mold surface with semi-spherical depressions complementary to the semi-spherical ends of the pin bundle, and disposing a pair of such electroforms in molding apparatus with the mold surfaces in opposed relationship to define a cavity therebetween. The cavity is filled with light transmitting synthetic resin to form the reflector.

Roadway marker and reflector therefor

A pavement marker having a shell-like body with a chamber formed therein, the body being at least partially of transparent material to form a transparent outer wall for the chamber so that the interior of the chamber is visible through the transparent outer wall. Marker elements are located in the chamber so as to be visible through the transparent wall of the chamber. The body has a continuous, or endless, peripheral edge portion that lies in a base plane. The body projects from the base plane and is of dome-like configuration to define the chamber. A closure plate is secured to the body at the peripheral edge portion thereof to close the chamber. The closure plate, either before or upon installation on the surface of a roadway, is sealed to the body to hermetically seal the chamber. Either daytime or nighttime marker elements, or both, may be provided in the chamber so as to be visible through the transparent wall thereof. The chamber may be divided into a plurality of compartments by ribs integrally formed on the body, and various combinations of daytime and nighttime marker elements may be positioned in the chamber so as to be visible through the outer wall of the chamber.

Roadway marker

A pavement marker including a housing having a base for engagement with the surface of a roadway and a reflective wall for reflecting light from vehicles on the roadway when the fore-and-aft axis of the housing is disposed in parallel relationship with the direction of travel of vehicles on the roadway. The central portion of the reflective wall is formed with a plurality of conical reflector elements having relatively high optical efficiency for reflecting incident light rays on the outer surface of the reflective wall that are substantially in a horizontal plane parallel to the plane of the base and that are substantially parallel to the fore-and-aft axis of the housing, but having relatively low optical efficiency for reflecting light rays making a substantial acute angle with respect to the plane of the base or the fore-and-aft axis of the housing. Wide angle reflector elements are formed on side portions of the reflective wall projecting from opposite ends of the central portion. The wide angle reflector elements are of a configuration other than conical and have less optical efficiency than the conical reflector elements for reflecting incident light rays on the outer surface of the reflective wall that are substantially in a horizontal plane parallel to the plane of the base and that are substantially parallel to the fore-and-aft axis, but have greater optical efficiency than the conical reflector elements for reflecting incident light rays that make a substantial acute angle with the plane of the base or the fore-and-aft axis of the housing. The conical reflector elements each have an apex located remotely from the outer face of the reflective wall and an axis passing through the apex and lying in a plane that is perpendicular to the plane of the base and parallel to the fore-and-aft axis of the housing, the axis of each of the conical reflector elements extending at an acute angle with respect to the normal to the outer face such that the conical reflector elements are oriented to receive incident light refracted from the outer face and reflect the light in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of incidence. The wide angle reflector elements are of the cube corner type in the preferred embodiment. In a modified embodiment, the wide angle reflector elements are of spherical configuration, the spherical reflector elements providing good wide angle performance but having lower optical efficiency than the cube corner reflector elements.

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Windsor, Canada

Robin A Arnott