Road structure – process – or apparatus – Traffic director
Reexamination Certificate
2001-11-07
2003-10-28
Hartmann, Gary S. (Department: 3671)
Road structure, process, or apparatus
Traffic director
C116S06300T, C340S932000, C340S942000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06637973
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Filed of the Invention
The present invention relates to a road indicating device, and more particularly to an automobile road indicating device in which light emitted from an automobile is condensed by convex lens of light condensing means, transferred along an optical cable, transformed into straight advancing parallel light by luminous means installed apart at a predetermined distance and illuminated to a long distance, where light emitted from headlights of a driver's automobile does not reach, thereby effectively securing a visible distance in driving to improve the driver's safety.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, along with rapid industrial development there has been a great progress in automobile culture to transport a large quantity of goods produced in a factory to a predetermined place. In addition, there has been an expansion of roads to accommodate an increasing number of automobiles.
Accordingly, there are white lines at a predetermined width for ensuring traffic safety of all sorts of automobiles moving in the same direction on lanes of a road and yellow lines in the middle of the road for distinctively indicating the center of a road and at borderlines of the road.
In addition, if the road is bumpy or narrow, a median strip or guard rail is installed in the middle of the road. Furthermore, a light reflecting apparatus is installed on the median strip or guard rail to reflect the light emitted from the headlights of the automobile, so that a driver safely distinguishes his travelling lane from a center line of the road.
FIG. 1
is a plane view for illustrating a state in which a conventional road indicating light reflecting apparatus is used, and
FIG. 2
is a perspective view for illustrating a principle involved with the conventional light reflecting apparatus.
The conventional light reflecting apparatus
4
is mounted with a supporting rod
5
on the median strip
3
on the surface
2
of a road
1
for reflecting the light emitted from the headlights of the automobile.
Furthermore, the light reflecting apparatus
4
has a plurality of parts protruded on the back of a transparent plastic material colored in red or yellow for refracting the light, thereby letting the light reflect back at the same incident angle to enable the driver to safely drive in his travelling lane.
However, there is a problem in the conventional light reflecting apparatus in that, if it is used for a long period of time, sunlight discolors it through a chemical change, significantly lowering its light reflecting rate.
In addition, if the luminous piece is far from an automobile, the light reflecting rate tends to significantly decrease because the luminous intensity is inversely proportional to a square of a distance between the luminous piece and the automobile. In other words, if the distance between the automobile and luminous piece is greater than 50 meters, the quality of the light reflecting apparatus significantly decreases to weaken the road indicating function and lower a driver's ability of safely driving according to his own prediction. Therefore, there is another problem in the conventional light reflecting apparatus in that an automobile may get out of its travelling lane and cause a traffic accident.
Particularly, if the road is very bumpy, the light emitted from the headlights may not illuminate even a few meters or tens of meters ahead. At this time, there is a further problem in the conventional light reflecting apparatus in that light emitted from the headlights of an automobile is not properly reflected by the apparatus installed within the bumpy area to thereby cause a big traffic accident as well as difficulties in driving, because the automobile may gets across the road center line into the next lane on which other cars are travelling to an opposite direction or gets out of a road border line.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an automobile road indicating device in which light emitted from an automobile is condensed by convex lens of light condensing means, transferred along an optical cable, transformed into straight-advancing parallel light by luminous means installed apart at a predetermined distance and illuminated to a long distance, where the light emitted from headlights of a driver's automobile does not reach, thereby effectively securing his visible distance in driving to improve the driver's safety.
In order to accomplish the aforementioned object of the present invention, there is provided a first embodiment of an automobile road center line indicating device by using optical transfer comprising: light condensing means installed at road center line or border line for condensing light emitted from headlights of an automobile; an optical cable for transferring the light condensed by the light condensing means to a predetermined position ahead from the automobile; and luminous means for transforming the light transferred along the optical cable into straight-advancing parallel light to notify a driver.
In addition, there is also provided a second embodiment of the present invention comprising: an integral type case having a fixed piece fastened at the median strip, first and second spaces separated by a diaphragm, first and second hitching jaws formed at its both internal lateral edges and an optical cable installation part penetrated through the center of the diaphragm to a predetermined length; condensing lenses mounted at lens accommodating surface separated by a hitching jaw formed inside the lateral surface of the integral case for condensing light; an optical cable inserted in an installation opening of an optical transfer part of the integral type case and surrounded by a elastically supporting member for transferring the light condensed by the condensing lenses and luminous lenses deposed at a lens accommodating surface separated by a hitching jaw formed in a lateral surface of the integral type case for transforming into straight-advancing parallel light; light transmitting plates deposed in front of the condensing lenses and luminous lenses for protection; and pressingly fixing plates having an optical transfer opening mounted for pressing and fixing the light transmitting plates with fastening screws.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3720913 (1973-03-01), Bradford
patent: 4117457 (1978-09-01), Latta
patent: 4290047 (1981-09-01), Latta, Jr.
patent: 4668120 (1987-05-01), Roberts
patent: 5021715 (1991-06-01), Smith et al.
patent: 5412381 (1995-05-01), Dicks
patent: 5680033 (1997-10-01), Cha
patent: 5697690 (1997-12-01), Okuchi et al.
patent: 5828298 (1998-10-01), Eagan
patent: 5-311620 (1993-11-01), None
patent: 5-321215 (1993-12-01), None
patent: 6-280220 (1994-10-01), None
patent: 7-331620 (1995-12-01), None
patent: 8-50210 (1996-02-01), None
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Hartmann Gary S.
LandOfFree
Automobile road indicating device by using optical transfer does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Automobile road indicating device by using optical transfer, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Automobile road indicating device by using optical transfer will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3120107