Patent Application
20230143673
There are no related applications incorporated herein by reference.
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 37 CFR 1.71(d).
This invention relates generally to traffic warning devices and more specifically traffic cones.
Prior art traffic cones only have reflective members placed upon outer surfaces thereof. Therefore, when the traffic cones becomes knocked over upon a road surface the reflective members are not always visible nor reflect light from a vehicle back to the operator of the vehicle, thereby rendering the traffic cone as useless, and even becoming dangerous since the vehicle may run over the traffic cone causing damage to the vehicle and possibly impeding the operation of the vehicle.
Accordingly, the present invention overcomes the disadvantages associated with the prior art, by providing a reflective traffic cone incorporating a plurality of reflective members attached on its outer surfaces and inner surfaces, such that the traffic cone can reflect light from a vehicle and be visible in low light conditions even when it becomes knocked over upon a road surface.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of traffic cones, the present invention provides a reflective traffic cone incorporating a plurality of reflective members attached on its outer surfaces and inner surfaces, such that the traffic cone can reflect light from a vehicle and be visible in low light conditions even when it becomes knocked over upon a road surface. As such, the general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a traffic cone that includes a plurality of reflective members attached on its outer surfaces and inner surfaces and incorporates all the advantages of the prior art and none of the disadvantages.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated.
Numerous objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description of presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative, embodiments of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of descriptions and should not be regarded as limiting.
The figures which accompany the written portion of this specification illustrate embodiments according to the teachings of the present invention.
The various embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings.
The embodiments of the present disclosure described below are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed in the following detailed description. Rather, the embodiments are chosen and described so that others skilled in the art may appreciate and understand the principles and practices of the present disclosure.
The following embodiments and the accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and form part of this disclosure, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certain illustrative aspects of the invention are described herein in connection with the following description and the annexed drawings. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention can be employed and the subject invention is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. Other advantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the drawings.
Turning now descriptively to drawing, referring to
The at least one side wall 120 may be formed as an annular wall along with the at least one reflector member 180 upon the outer surface of the side wall of said body being formed as an annular reflector, and along with the at least one reflector member 180 upon the inner surface of the side wall of the body being formed as an annular reflector.
The reflective traffic cone 100 may further comprise at least one reflector member 180 upon the top surface 162 of the base 160 and at least one reflector member 180 upon the bottom surface 164 of the base 160.
The base 160 may be formed having a square shape having four corners, wherein a respective reflector member 180 is placed upon the top surface 162 thereof at each of the four corners, and wherein a respective reflector member 180 is placed upon the bottom surface 164 thereof at each of the four corners.
There may be a plurality of spaced reflective members 180 upon the outer surface 122 of the side wall of the body, and there may also be a plurality of spaced reflective members 180 upon the inner surface 124 of the side wall of the body.
The outer surface 122 of the side wall of the body may further include at least one indentation adapted to releasably retain one of the plurality of reflective members 180 therein, and the inner surface 124 of the side wall of the body may further include at least one indentation adapted to releasably retain one of the plurality of reflective members therein.
The top surface of each of the four corners of the base may include at least one indentation adapted to releasably retain one of the plurality of reflective members therein, and wherein the bottom surface of each of the four corners of the base may also include at least one indentation adapted to releasably retain one of the plurality of reflective members therein.
The plurality of reflective members 180 may be formed from flexible reflective tape or formed from rigid reflective panels. And the body 110 and the base 160 may be formed from a material chosen from a group of materials consisting of plastic and rubber.
The side wall 120 of the reflective traffic cone may be formed having a frustoconical shape. Furthermore, the plurality of reflective members 180 may be attached via an epoxy resin.
Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that any arrangement, which is calculated to achieve the same purpose, may be substituted for the specific embodiment shown. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the present invention.
Although the invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
