Enhanced retractable safety marker

Abstract

An enhanced retractable safety marker is a device designed to provide motorists with advance warning of disabled vehicles and / or work zone areas. The device has been designed to withstand reasonable winds through the use of two base supports, several retractable horizontal stabilizers that fit through slots on the base supports and a series of retractable vertical risers. The retractable vertical risers allow for the device to easily expand to height consistent with traffic engineering design standards when in operation and then compact when it is in storage. The two base supports in combination with the retractable horizontal stabilizers are designed not only to provide the necessary structural stability but to also open and close about the retractable vertical risers thus providing for additional compactness. The shape of the vertical risers may either be rectangular, elliptical, square of circular depending on application and may have reflective decals affixed to them to correspond with standard traffic control design.

Description

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0001] This application relates to means of alerting motorists to the presence of disabled vehicles or work zone areas. Each year hundreds of motorists are either killed or injured along side the roadway. Many of these accidents may be prevented if the oncoming motorist had advance warning of the presence of these disabled vehicles. The present invention is an improvement or alternative to my prior U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,195. [0002] In recent years, a variety of traffic warning devices have become known and reference may be had to the following U.S. patents for a description of these prior art of traffic warning devices; U.S. Pat. Nos. Des. 6,508,195, 4,531,472, 5,263,272, 5,502,909, 5,544,614, 5,775,833, 5,517,395, 5,755,253, 4,535,331. [0003] While this has long been recognized as a traffic safety problem many needless deaths continue to happen every year. Current methods of enhancing motorist awareness include; flares, solid plastic cones and ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0003] While this has long been recognized as a traffic safety problem many needless deaths continue to happen every year. Current methods of enhancing motorist awareness include; flares, solid plastic cones and retractable triangles. While all devices may accomplish the same goal as the presented invention, the presented invention is designed to help eliminate current difficulties encountered with their use. With roadside flares there is the inherent short fall that they only last a given period of time and are nor reusable. In addition, they are usually only several inches above the roadway service and may present difficulty in operating. Solid plastic cones are easy to place along the roadway however unless they are properly weighted and sized they may be displaced due to strong gusts of winds. In addition, the larger the cones the more storage space that is required. This is a disadvantage (especially in small passenger vehicles) and therefore reduces their attractiveness of the use. Retractable triangles are difficult to open and may require the motorist to follow detailed instruction prior to use. In addition they also take a significant amount of space when stored. The present invention is a significantly different than my prior U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,195 in that the porous casing and retractable arms are replaced by a single retractable support element. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,195 the porous casing allows for the wind to pass through the device thereby lessen the total force of the resistant winds. However, while this maybe advantageous for certain situations there exists a problem of excess wear and possible damage to the casing when exposed to high winds over a period of time. In addition, the single retractable support element replaces the two retractable arms and upper support element disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,195. This significantly reduces the cost of manufacturing and production.

[0004] In addition, the Enhanced Retractable Safety Marker has been designed to resist tipping at higher wind loads due to the introduction of retractable horizontal stabilizers that fit into slots on the base supports. Therefore with the same overall weight and storage space, the Enhanced Retractable Safety Marker would be able to withstand tipping at higher wind loads, without significantly increasing its cost when compared to the Retractable Safety Marker.

[0006] Therefore the presented invention is designed to help eliminate shortfalls with the current devices. It is envisioned that by increasing the attractiveness, more people will carry the devices in their vehicles and a decrease in roadside fatalities and injuries would result.

[0007] The Enhanced Retractable Safety Marker has been designed to be employ easily, store compactly, withstand prevailing winds and be economical.

[0009] The two base supports are intended to provide the necessary weight to ensure that the device is not displaced under reasonable wind loads. Each base support also has several strategically placed tabs. The base support is primarily a rectangular type box with the top end and one of the sides open. The long sides of the base support contain a tab at the “open” end of the box. These tabs are designed to allow the base support to be affixed to holes in the lowest vertical riser. In addition, the base supports may be designed with additional retractable horizontal stabilizers. The retractable horizontal stabilizers have been designed to slide into slots contained within the base support. The purpose of the retractable horizontal stabilizers is to increase the ability of the Enhanced Retractable Safety Marker to withstand higher wind loads with tipping.

[0011] The Enhanced Retractable Safety Marker has been designed for easy placement during emergency situations. The first step in the application process is to rotate the two base supports from the closed to the open position (parallel with the lower portion of the retractable support element). Under high wind conditions, the user may fully extend the two retractable horizontal stabilizers on each base support to increase the unit's overall resistance to tipping. Once the base supports are in a fully extended position, the tabs on the lower vertical riser and slots on the base supports are designed to provide the necessary stability. After the base support is fixed in the open position, the series of vertical risers is then expanded by simply pulling in a vertical manner the handle on the upper vertical riser. This is continued until all the vertical risers are in fully extended position. At this point the invention is ready for application.

Problems solved by technology

Each year hundreds of motorists are either killed or injured along side the roadway.

While this has long been recognized as a traffic safety problem many needless deaths continue to happen every year.

With roadside flares there is the inherent short fall that they only last a given period of time and are nor reusable.

In addition, they are usually only several inches above the roadway service and may present difficulty in operating.

Solid plastic cones are easy to place along the roadway however unless they are properly weighted and sized they may be displaced due to strong gusts of winds.

In addition, the larger the cones the more storage space that is required.

This is a disadvantage (especially in small passenger vehicles) and therefore reduces their attractiveness of the use.

Retractable triangles are difficult to open and may require the motorist to follow detailed instruction prior to use.

In addition they also take a significant amount of space when stored.

However, while this maybe advantageous for certain situations there exists a problem of excess wear and possible damage to the casing when exposed to high winds over a period of time.

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