Patent Application
20220136273
The various embodiments disclosed herein relate to devices to assist the parking of a vehicle. In particular, the various embodiments disclosed herein relate to parking guides that are mounted on a floor surface. More particularly, the various embodiments disclosed herein relate to parking guides that are configured to be driven over by a tire of a vehicle to provide confirmatory feedback to a driver that the vehicle is positioned at a desired parking location.
Home builders have continued to reduce the size of homes, particularly the garage, in an effort to make homes more affordable and energy efficient. Furthermore, garages have become the denizen of a multitude of extraneous items ranging from undesirable clutter, such as boxes, trash, and debris, to useful devices, such as work benches, tool chests, and the like. Thus, a once open and accommodating area within which to park a vehicle is now shrunk and is fraught with an array of obstacles and hazards by which the vehicle can be hit, scratched, dented, or otherwise damaged during the parking process. At the same time, sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) and trucks have become incredibly popular. These vehicles tend to be expensive and large, while having reduced visibility, making them difficult to precisely navigate in tight areas. Thus, the expanding size of these vehicles, as well as the continued constriction of a freely-available vehicle parking area within the garage has made parking a difficult and hazardous challenge for individuals. Aside from moving the vehicle into a parked position without incident requiring an expensive repair, it is even more difficult to park the vehicle while attempting to accommodate the area needed for occupants to open and close the doors to enter and exit the vehicle.
While many parking assistance devices have been developed, they suffer from various deficiencies. For example, many of these devices are confusing and difficult to install accurately in a manner that allows them to provide effective and accurate parking guidance. In addition, many parking aids are not capable of providing consistent parking guidance because they are susceptible to being moved out of position. Furthermore, many parking aids do not provide effective feedback to the driver of the vehicle to allow him or her to accurately determine when to stop at a desired parking location during the parking process.
In particular, current generation parking aids that are designed to be driven over by a vehicle tire to alert a driver of the arrival at a desired parking position are plagued by several drawbacks. For example, the shape and overall height of theses parking aids are such that they cannot be easily and continuously driven over at slow speeds as the engine idles. As such, the driver must come to a stop in front of the parking aid, and then apply power by pressing the accelerator pedal. This causes a rapid ascent of the tire over the parking aid, which leads to a rapid descent of the tire as it rolls over the top of the parking aid due to the momentum generated by the weight of the vehicle. In order to avoid overshooting the intended stopping point and desired parking position of the vehicle, the driver must then rapidly brake, causing the vehicle to come to an abrupt and violent stop. Given the lack of user-friendliness, and the propensity for inducing overshoot of the vehicle beyond the desired parking position, such current generation parking aids are unreliable and therefore undesirable for use.
Therefore, there is a need for a parking guide that is easy to install and resistant to being moved out of position. In addition, there is a need for a parking guide that allows a driver to consistently position the vehicle within a garage. Furthermore, there is a need for a parking guide that provides clear and unmistakable feedback to the vehicle's driver so that he or she can precisely stop during the parking process at a designated or previously determined location. Moreover, there is a need for a parking guide that is capable of being driven over by a tire at vehicle idle speeds, without the need to stop the vehicle and accelerate over the parking guide.
In light of the foregoing, it is a first aspect of the various embodiments disclosed herein to provide a vehicle parking guide that includes an elongated triangular body, and an adhesive section attached to one face of the body.
It is another aspect of the various embodiments disclosed herein to provide a method of parking a vehicle that includes providing an elongated triangular body having an adhesive section attached to one face of the body; attaching the adhesive section to a floor surface to identify a desired parking position for the vehicle; driving a vehicle tire over the triangular body without stopping the vehicle when it initially contacts the triangular body; and detecting that the tire has traveled over the triangular body to identify that the vehicle is at the desired parking position.
These and other features and advantages of the various embodiments disclosed herein will become better understood with regard to the following description, accompanying drawings, and appended claims, wherein:
A vehicle parking guide in accordance with the various embodiments disclosed herein is referred to by numeral 10 as shown in
The triangular body 20 may be formed from solid rubber or composites thereof. However, in other embodiments, other suitable materials, including polymeric materials, may be used, as well as combinations of such materials. In some embodiments, the rubber material may have a durometer hardness of approximately 80. Providing the body 20 with a sufficient hardness ensures that the body 20 does not overly compress under the weight of the vehicle passing over the parking guide 10. This ensures that the driver of the vehicle can feel the physical feedback of driving up and over the triangular body 20 of the parking guide 10, thereby confirming that the vehicle is parked at the desired predetermined position. If the triangular body 20 compresses too much under the weight of the vehicle, the driver may not feel or perceive the physical feedback imparted from driving up and over the parking guide 10 and will not stop the vehicle immediately at the desired position after driving over the parking guide 10. In addition, the body 20 may have any suitable width and length. In some embodiments, the body 20 of the parking guide may be at least as long as a width of a vehicle's tire 54 but may be shorter or longer as desired.
It is further contemplated that the height of the parking guide from the base 30C to an opposed apex 50 may be approximately 0.875 inches; however, other dimensions may be used.
It should be appreciated that in some embodiments, each of the dimensions of 0.875 inches and 1.25 inches used for the height from the base 30C to the apex 50 and the width of section 30C, respectively, may be set to different dimensions (larger or smaller) as long as the relative ratio based on 0.875 inches and 1.25 inches is maintained.
It should also be appreciated that the apex 50 may have a radius of curvature of approximately 0.156 inches, although any dimension may be used.
It should be further appreciated that the width of the section 30C may be approximately 1.25 inches; however, other dimensions may be used.
It should also be appreciated that in some embodiments, the body 20 may be hollow or partially hollow. In other embodiments, the triangular body 20 may be configured such that the faces or surfaces 30A and 30B meet at a curved apex 50, as shown clearly in
It is also contemplated that the faces 30A-B of the body 20 may have one or more ribs or protrusions that facilitate the gripping of the vehicle's tire 54 as it travels over the parking guide 10. In other embodiments, the faces 30A-B may be textured, dimpled, or porous. In further embodiments, the faces 30A-B may include pores (i.e. interconnected apertures) to facilitate the drainage of water, such as from rain or melted snow that may collect on the faces 30A-B so that it is carried away to improve traction of the vehicle's tire 54 as it travels over the parking guide 10. This serves to improve the consistency at which a vehicle can be parked using the parking guide 10.
In other embodiments, the faces 30A-B may have spaced longitudinal or traversely-extending drainage channels 34A/34B (and associated protrusions) disposed therein to facilitate the drainage of water and melted snow that may accumulate on the surface of the faces 30A-B during use. For example, the drainage channels on one or more of the faces 30A-B may extend downwardly from the apex 50 toward the floor surface 41 to which the guide 10 is attached. As such, traction of the vehicle's tire 54 with the parking guide 10 is improved, thereby enhancing the consistency in which a vehicle can be parked using the guide 10.
It should be appreciated that in some embodiments, one or more of the faces 30A and 3B may be concave or convex in shape.
The following discussion presents the manner in which the parking guide 10 is placed into operation. And while this discussion relates to the use of the parking guide 10 in a home garage, it should be appreciated that the parking guide 10 may be used in any parking application, such as in a parking lot, parking garage, driveway, or any other circumstance where precision parking of a vehicle is desired.
Initially, to place the parking guide 10 into use, the driver parks the vehicle at a predetermined or “desired parking position” within the garage. The desired parking position is the position at which the vehicle is intended to be parked each time the garage is entered and that is identified by the parking guide 10. To mark the “desired parking position”, the parking guide 10 is placed directly behind one of the vehicle's tires 54, such that the parking guide 10 is at a substantially right angle to the path that the vehicle tire 54 travels as the vehicle is moved into and out of the garage. To secure or anchor the parking guide 10, the adhesive section 40 is applied between the face 30C of the body 20 and the floor surface 41. In the case of an adhesive section 40 comprising adhesive tape, the release liner 42 is removed to expose the adhesive 40 for attachment to the floor surface 41. Once installed, the apex 50 of the parking guide 10 is positioned distal (i.e. away) to the floor surface 41. It should be appreciated that the parking guide 10 may be positioned behind any tire desired. In fact, multiple parking guides 10 may be used, whereby multiple parking guides 10 are installed behind respective tires.
Once installed, a driver navigates his or her vehicle into the garage, as shown in
Thus, the parking guide 10 is highly advantageous in that it allows a driver to effectively identify a correct path to a desired parking position within a confined area, such as a garage, through visual alignment with the parking guide. In addition, the parking guide 10 affords more precise and consistent parking guidance over other parking aids by providing physical feedback to the driver that he or she has navigated the vehicle to the desired parking position. Furthermore, the parking guide 10 is easy and user-friendly to install and is convenient and easy to use, without being easily moved out of position by the weight of the vehicle. It should also be appreciated that the parking guide 10 is capable of being driven over at idle speeds, without needing to stop the vehicle initially when the tire 54 contacts the front of the parking guide 10 and then accelerating, as is required with current-generation parking aids. As a result, the consistency and ease in which the vehicle is brought into the “desired parking position” by the parking guide 10 is dramatically increased.
Therefore, it can be seen that the objects of the various embodiments disclosed herein have been satisfied by the structure and its method for use presented above. While in accordance with the Patent Statutes, only the best mode and preferred embodiments have been presented and described in detail, with it being understood that the embodiments disclosed herein are not limited thereto or thereby. Accordingly, for an appreciation of the true scope and breadth of the embodiments, reference should be made to the following claims.
