Patent Application
20220009410
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The disclosure relates to stop sign devices and more particularly pertains to a new stop sign device for enhancing safety for children entering or exiting a school bus.
The prior art relates to stop sign devices including a school bus stop sign device that has a rotatable stop sign mounted on a pole. The prior art discloses a sensor mounted on a school bus for detecting when a vehicle attempts to pass the school bus when a stop sign is deployed. The prior art discloses a member that is hingedly coupled to a school bus for substantially blocking a lane of traffic when children are entering or exiting the school bus. The prior art discloses a member, comprising a plurality of telescopic sections, that is hingedly coupled to a school bus. Additionally, the prior art discloses a video surveillance device that is mounted on a school bus for recording footage of vehicles that attempt to pass the school bus when children are entering or exiting the school bus.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a hinging unit that is coupled to an outer wall of a school bus. The hinging unit is actuated into a deployed position and a stored position. A member is coupled to the hinging unit and the member extends outwardly from the school bus when the hinging unit is actuated into the deployed position. Thus, the member extends across a roadway on which the school bus is driving to inhibit a vehicle from passing the school bus thereby enhancing safety for children entering or exiting the school bus. A pair of video cameras is each coupled to the member to capture imagery of the environment around the member.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure 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. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The hinging unit 12 includes a yoke 24 that has a central member 26 extending between a pair of outward members 28. Each of the outward members 28 has a distal end 30 with respect to the central member 26 and the distal end 30 of each of the outward members 28 is coupled to the actuator 18. The yoke 24 is oriented to extend along a line that is oriented perpendicular to the outer wall 14 of the school bus 16 when the actuator 18 rotates in the first direction. Conversely, the yoke 24 is oriented to extend along a line that is oriented parallel to the outer wall 14 of the school bus 16 when the actuator 18 rotates in the second direction.
A member 32 is provided and the member 32 is coupled to the hinging unit 12. The member 32 extends outwardly from the school bus 16 when the hinging unit 12 is actuated into the deployed position. The member 32 extends across a roadway on which the school bus 16 is driving when the hinging unit 12 is actuated into the deployed position. In this way the member 32 inhibits a vehicle from passing the school bus 16 thereby enhancing safety for children entering or exiting the school bus 16. Moreover, the member 32 has a length of at least 10.0 feet thereby facilitating the member 32 to extend substantially across the width of the roadway.
The member 32 has a first end 34, a second end 36, a front surface 38 and a back surface 40. The first end 34 is coupled to the central member 26 of the yoke 24 and the front surface 38 has indicia 42 printed thereon. The indicia 42 comprise an alternating sequence of stripes that are distributed between the first end 34 and the second end 36. In this way the indicia 42 enhance visibility of the member 32. The back surface 40 has indicia 44 printed thereon and the indicia 44 on the back surface 40 comprise an alternating sequence of stripes that are distributed between the first end 34 and the second end 36. In this way the indicia 44 on the back surface 40 enhance visibility of the member 32.
A stop sign 46 is integrated into the member 32 and the stop sign 46 communicates a stop command to traffic on the roadway when the member 32 extends across the roadway. The stop sign 46 is centrally positioned between the first end 34 and the second end 36 of the member 32. The stop sign 46 has a front side 48 and a back side 50, and the front side 48 lies on a plane that is coplanar with the front surface 38 of the member 32. The back side 50 lies on a plane that is coplanar with the back surface 40 of the member 32.
A plurality of light emitters 52 is each coupled to the member 32 to emit light outwardly therefrom. The plurality of light emitters 52 is distributed along a full length of each of the front surface 38 and the back surface 40 of the member 32. Each of the light emitters 52 is electrically coupled to the switch 22 in the school bus 16. Moreover, each of the light emitters 52 is turned on when the switch 22 is turned on such that each of the light emitters 52 visually alerts traffic to come to a stop. Each of the light emitters 52 may comprise an LED or other similar type of light emitter.
A pair of video cameras 54 is each coupled to the member 32 and each of the video cameras 54 captures imagery of the environment around the member 32. Each of the video cameras 54 is turned on when the hinging unit 12 is actuated into the deployed position. In this way each of the video cameras 54 captures imagery of the traffic proximate the school bus 16 when the children are entering or exiting the school bus 16. Each of the video cameras 54 is positioned on a respective one of the front surface 38 and the back surface 40 of the member 32.
Each of the video cameras 54 is electrically coupled to the power source 20 comprising the electrical system of the school bus 16. Additionally, each of the video cameras 54 is in electrical communication with the switch 22 and each of the video cameras 54 is turned on when the switch 22 is turned on. Each of the video cameras 54 comprises a housing 56 is coupled to the member 32 and a lens 58 is coupled to the housing 56. Moreover, each of the video cameras 54 may comprise a digital video camera and each of the video cameras 54 is in communication with a remote storage device 60 for storing video footage captured by the video cameras 54.
In use, the school bus 16 driver turns the switch 22 on to deploy the member 32. The actuator 18 urges the member 32 to extend outwardly from the school bus 16 and across the roadway. In this way traffic is inhibited from passing the school bus 16 when the children are exiting or entering the school bus 16. Additionally, each of the light emitters 52 is turned on and each of the video cameras 54 is turned on. The light emitters 52 enhance visibility of the member 32 and the video cameras 54 capture imagery of vehicles adjacent to the school bus 16 for subsequent examination by law enforcement if a vehicle attempts to drive around the member 32.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
