Communications: electrical – External condition vehicle-mounted indicator or alarm
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-05
2001-04-24
Pope, Daryl (Department: 2736)
Communications: electrical
External condition vehicle-mounted indicator or alarm
C340S903000, C340S904000, C340S905000, C340S933000, C340S436000, C340S539230
Reexamination Certificate
active
06222461
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is generally related to the emergency warning system arts and, in particular, to a system and method to warn a motorist of an approaching train or locomotive. The system described is also useful to warn motorists of an approaching or nearby ambulance, fire truck or police vehicle.
As is known in the art, the number of railway crossing collisions, fatalities and injuries annually in the United States is quite startling.
Based upon an NBC News study for 1999, there are 160,000 public highway and rail intersections in the U.S. Of this number, 60 percent or over 96,000 lack warning gates and lights. There were over 3400 train-vehicle collisions in 1999 which resulted in 399 deaths and 1,360 persons injured.
As is also known in the art, the number of collisions between vehicles and ambulances, fire trucks and police cars is also very high and results in many deaths and injuries annually.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to set forth an efficient on-board warning system to alert a vehicle driver of a potentially dangerous condition such as the approach of a train, locomotive or emergency vehicle.
It is also an object of the invention to demonstrate a warning system for the above purposes which may be economically mass-produced and installed for widespread commercial appeal.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those of skill in the art from the description which follows.
PRIOR ART PATENTS AND DESIGNS
U.S. Pat. No. 5,729,213 teaches the use of a train warning system which uses a receiver/transmitter mounted to the crossbucks at a railroad crossing. While effective for the purposes described, this patent would require costly installations at each railroad crossing to achieve the desired results.
The present invention teaches a more efficient train warning system and also provides an on-board unit to warn of other potential hazards such as emergency or police vehicles.
The present invention is thus believed to be clearly patentable over all known prior art systems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A locomotive is equipped with a transmitter device which sends a focused signal at a particular radio or radar frequency which is dedicated only to trains.
An on-board, in-vehicle receiver unit responds to this train frequency, Frequency A, by activating visible, audible and/or vibratory warning signals.
The in-vehicle unit is also designed to respond with warning signals when other frequencies(B, C, or D) are detected. These other frequencies could be dedicated to ambulance, fire or police units respectively.
The receiver may be portable for easy placement in any vehicle. While especially useful for buses and trucks, the overall design has utility in combination with any automotive vehicle and may be factory installed in new vehicles or used in an after-market fashion.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5926112 (1999-07-01), Hartzell
patent: 6025789 (2000-02-01), Lane et al.
O'Connor Daniel J.
Pope Daryl
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