EMERGENCY WARNING DEVICE

DISPOSITIF AVERTISSEUR

English Abstract

EMERGENCY WARNING DEVICE
Abstract of the Disclosure
An emergency warning device comprising a base,
three arms extending upwardly from the base to define an
equilateral triangle, one of said arms extending horizontally
on the base and said other two arms extending upwardly. Each
arm has reflective and fluorescent portions on opposed surfaces
thereof. Slots extend through at least one arm of said equi-
lateral triangle and are shaped such that air flow against a
face of the triangle produces a downward force tending to pre-
vent movement of the device relative to a road surface.
i.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN
EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED
AS FOLLOWS:
1.
An emergency warning device comprising
a base,
three arms extending upwardly from the base to
define a triangle,
one of said arms extending horizontally on said
base and said other two arms extending upwardly,
each arm having passive signal means on at least
one surface thereof,
and a plurality of slots through at least one arm
of said equilateral triangle and shaped such that air flow
against a face of said triangle produces a downward force
tending to prevent movement of the device relative to a road
surface.
2.
The emergency warning device set forth in claim
2 wherein said upper and lower surfaces of said slots extend
horizontally.
3.
An emergency warning device comprising
a base,
three arms extending upwardly from the base to
define a triangle,
one of said arms extending horizontally on said
base and said other two arms extending upwardly,
each arm having passive signal means on at least
one surface thereof,

and a plurality of slots through each of said arms
of said equilateral triangle and shaped such that air flow
against a face of said triangle produces a downward force
tending to prevent movement of the device relative to a
road surface.
4.
The emergency warning device set forth in claim
3 wherein each said slot comprises straight parallel upper
and lower surfaces inclined upwardly and rearwardly from
the face against which the air flows.
5.
The emergency warning device set forth in claim
3 wherein said arms include fluorescent portions, said
slots being formed in said fluorescent portions.
6.
An emergency warning device comprising
a base,
three arms extending upwardly from the base to
define a triangle,
one of said arms extending horizontally on said
base and said other two arms extending upwardly,
each arm having passive signal means on at least
one surface thereof,
and a plurality of slots through said upwardly
extending arms of said equilateral triangle and shaped such
that air flow against a face of said triangle produces a
downward force tending to prevent movement of the device
relative to a road surface.

7.
The emergency warning device set forth in claim
6 wherein each said slot comprises straight parallel upper
and lower surfaces inclined upwardly and rearwardly from
the face against which the air flows.
8.
An emergency warning device comprising
a base,
three arms extending upwardly from the base to
define a triangle,
one of said arms extending horizontally on said
base and said other two arms extending upwardly,
each arm having passive signal means on at least
one surface thereof,
and a plurality of slots through said horizontally
extending arm of said equilateral triangle and shaped such
that air flow against a face of said triangle produces a
downward force tending to prevent movement of the device
relative to a road surface.
9.
The emergency warning device set forth in claim
8 wherein each said slot comprises straight parallel upper
and lower surfaces inclined upwardly and rearwardly from
the face against which the air flows.

Description

~9~
This invention relates to emergency warning devices
or flares.
Background of the Invention
In recent times, emergency warning devices or flares
have been designed to be carried in motor vehicles and used on
the roadway to warn approaching traffic of the presence of a
stopped vehicle. Such devices are intended to reduce deaths
and injuries due to rear end collisions between moving traffic
and disabled vehicles. Governmental regulations have been es-
tablished to standardize the requirements for such devices interms of size, configuration, color, reflectivity, luminance,
stability and durability. Typical standards are the Motor
Vehicle Safety Standard No. 125 in the United States and
Canadian Standards Association standard D171 in Canada.
These standards provide that the emergency warning device be
triangular in shape and have red reflective material and
orange fluorescent material on the opposed faces of the tri-
angle~ The standards further call for the warning device as
having stability such that when the warning device is erected
on a horizontal brush concrete surface, both with and against
the brush marks, and subjected to a horizontal wind of 40
m.p.h. in any direction for three minutes, (a) no part of
it shall slide more than three inches from its initial
position, (b) its triangular portion shall not tilt to a
position that is more than ten degrees from the vertical;
and (c) its triangular position shall not turn through a

9~
horizontàl angle of more than ten degrees in either direction
from the initial positionO
It has been shown in studies made by the present
inventors and confixmed by The National Aeronautical Estab-
lishment, Ottawa, Canada, that the present standards onstability are inadequate to withstand the normal winds or
the effect of a passing vehicle on the warning devices.
Accordingly The National Aeronautical Establishment has
recently recommended that the weight of the device thus be
substantially increased.
The problem with such a solution is that it would
require an increase in the weight of present emergency road
warning flares to about 250% or more of the present weight.
Such a requirement would thus irlcrease the weight ~hat must
be carried by the vehicle since each vehicle is presently
required to carry three warning devices making it difficult
and awkward to handle them, to attach them to the vehicle
for storage and increasing fuel consumption of the vehicle.
The present invention is to provide an improved
emergency warning device which does not materially increase
the weight to be carried by the vehicle; which effectively
will withstand crosswinds and winds due to passing vehicles
substantially above the present standards;~and which prefer-
ably can be folded and stored in a volumetxic area as emer-
gency warning devices presently are stored.

9~99~
In accordance with the invention, portions of thearms of the emergency warning device of the equilateral kind
or ~e are prcvided wi~ slots that extend through at least one arm
and are constructed and arranged so that the air passing
through the slots will not only dissipate some of the energy
of the a.ir against the emergency warning device but, in ad-
dition, will produce a downward :Eorce tending to prevent
movement of the emergency warning device along the road sur-
face.
Description of the Drawings
FIG. 1 is an elevational view of an emergency
warning device embodying the invention.
FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view on an
- enlarged scale taken along the line 2-2 in FIG. 1.

9~
Description
Referring to FIG. 1, the emerge~cy warning device
is of the generally well known type comprising a base 10
having foldable legs 11 with ground engaging elastomeric
pads llaO The base 10 supports three arms 12, 13 and 14
that are pivoted to one another and ~oldable to define an
equilateral triangleO Arm 12 is mounted on the base 10 and
arms 13, 14 are pivoted to the ends of the axm 12 by rivets
15, 16 so that they can be extended from a folded condition
to an unfolded condition as shown in FIGo 1 wherein the
upper ends of the arms are connected to one another by a
disconnectable connector 17~
Conventionally, arms 12, 13 and 14 include passive
- signal means in the form of reflective portions 18, 19, 20
formed hy retroreflective elements such as cube corner re-
flectors and fluorescent portions 21, 22, 23 that are formed
by fluorescent materialO The retroreflective and fluorescent
portions are required by regulations that have been established
for such emergency warning devices.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, each of the fluorescent
portions 21, 22, 23 is formed with horizontal slots 24 extend-
ing through the portions 21, 22, 23 and having a configuration
such that the air passage causes a downward force on the arms.
Specifically, the horizontal slots 24 extend at an
angle, that is~ they are inclined upwardly and rearwardly

with respect to the direction of the air and produce a down-
ward force. The slots are of uniform cross section and in~
clude straight upper and lower surfaces 25, 26, respectively.