The invention herein pertains to pavement markers and particularly pertains to pavement markers formed of thermoplastic materials with reflective properties which are packaged in kits for application on substrates such as roads, parking lots, walkways and the like for direction, visibility and safety purposes.
In recent years state highway and transportation departments, businesses, municipalities and others have sought methods of improving the visibility and safety of drivers during dark, wet and other unfavorable weather conditions to prevent accidents and injuries resulting therefrom. As assistance to drivers of vehicles during dark and wet road conditions, it is common to mark the roads and streets with reflective thermoplastic tear drop like shapes on the edges of a roadway using special ridden or walk behind machinery whereby a light colored semi-liquid (Awet@) thermoplastic material is directly applied to asphalt or concrete surfaces. It is also standard practice to treat and seal the cracks and fissures in concrete prior to applying a plastic topping. Nevertheless, conventional machinery which applies Awet reflective@ thermoplastic materials are expensive to purchase, operate and maintain. Such machinery as sold by Hofmann GMBH of Rellingen, Germany and others. Experienced personnel must operate the machinery which again adds to the cost of the marking. Required, regular maintenance of such machinery whether of the ridden or walk behind type is expensive and small municipalities and departments often do not have the funds available for such expenses. In addition, contractors applying Awet reflective@ markings at shopping centers, parking lots and the like do not want to make a large investment in specialized machinery that is infrequently used.
Other road markings in the past have included relatively thin, reflective tapes made of polymeric material, pigments and glass beads, as sold by 3M Company of Minneapolis, Minn. under the trademark: STAMARKā¢. The reflective tapes have limited durability and as force is applied over time through Awear and tear@ such as vehicles passing over, braking or turning, the Abond@ of the marking can fail and eventually come up entirely from the substrate.
Thus with the disadvantages of conventional road and street marking methods for wet reflective thermoplastic pavement markings, the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide a kit containing a plurality of pavement markers which can be easily opened and the pavement markers applied to a substrate with standard tools and equipment by relatively unskilled workers.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a thermoplastic pavement marker which includes a flat planar base having a series of reflective tear drop projections on the top surface thereof.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a thermoplastic pavement marker having quick (storm water) draining tear drop projections which are light in color and highly reflective.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide an efficient method for applying the thermoplastic pavement markers from the kit in a quick and efficient manner.
It is still a further objective of the present invention to provide a thermoplastic pavement marker having quick draining reflective tear drop or other shaped projections such as in a Asplatter pattern@ which can be manufactured in a variety of sizes.
Various other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed description is set forth below.
The aforesaid and other objectives are realized by providing a kit containing a plurality of preformed thermoplastic pavement markers for easy application on a road, street or other location. The pavement markers preferably include three (3) dimensional tear drop shaped reflective projections along the top surface of a planar base having a lower softening point then the projections. The pavement markers are first removed from the kit, positioned on a substrate, heated along the top surface with a standard propane blow torch such as a Flint 2000EX heat gun, manufactured by Flint Trading, Inc. of Thomasville, N.C. The heated, softened thermoplastic pavement marker is then by gravitational forces as it cools and hardens adhered to, for example the edge of an asphalt roadway which has been previously swept clean to remove any dirt and debris for strong adherency. The tear drop projections preferably have a light colored or white surface and are embedded with reflective shards such as small glass particles or beads to quickly shed water and remain highly visible when struck by vehicle lights in heavy rain storms, darkness and other adverse conditions. The pavement markers are applied individually or end-to-end as needed to mark a section of a road, highway, parking lot, walkway or other substrate as desired. Relatively unskilled personnel can apply the markers and create a pattern without expensive, specialized machinery or special training. On concrete surfaces the preferred application method utilizes a standard concrete sealer that is first applied to the concrete to close any cracks or fissures to ensure proper bonding of the heated thermoplastic pavement marker.
For a better understanding of the invention and its operation, turning now to the drawings,
As shown in
Base 12 has a flat, smooth bottom surface 14 as shown in
Projections 11 are preferably integrally formed during molding with base 12 using conventional procedures. Pavement markers 10 are then cut to a specific size and packed for example, in cardboard boxes such as cardboard box 16 shown in
The preferred method of applying pavement markers 10 is described with reference to
Should road 30 consist of a concrete substrate, then standard concrete sealer 33 as shown in
While
In an alternate embodiment seen in
The illustrations and examples provided herein are for explanatory purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the appended claims.