Abstract:
A traffic control board is pivotally mounted on a mast that can be raised from a collapsed, stowed position on a vehicle to an extended, upright position so that the traffic control board is pivotal about a substantially vertical orientation axis to be visible from any of a variety of horizontal directions in relation to the vehicle.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/675,271, filed on Apr. 26, 2005, which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention relates generally to traffic control devices, and more specifically to a vehicle-mounted traffic control board.  
         [0004]     2. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0005]     Traffic flow boards are generally rectangular boards with a plurality of lights mounted in a pattern or configuration that is conducive to selective lighting to display traffic control arrows pointing either left, right, or both left and right. They are often mounted on trailers or carts that can be transported to sites that need additional traffic flow directional controls or indicators, such as near road construction sites, accident sites, public events that draw extraordinarily large amounts of traffic, and the like. There is a need to make such traffic flow boards more portable and easier to deploy, including mounting them on motorized vehicles, such as police cars or other emergency or public service vehicles. However, most common traffic control boards are fairly large, for example, about 30×36 inch rectangular shapes, and they are quite bulky. Therefore, they are difficult to mount and use on the roofs of police cars and other motor vehicles, because they extend far above or beyond a normal vehicle profile. Also, it is easy to position and turn a trailer or cart with a traffic board at any desired orientation for best visibility, but police cars are not so easy to park in any orientation, especially where space is limited and when time to do so is even more limited. Therefore, there is a need for a better and more versatile traffic control board mounting for police cars and other vehicles. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0006]     The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part of the specification, illustrate the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and together with the written description and claims, serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:  
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the traffic control board mounting apparatus;  
         [0008]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the traffic control board mounting apparatus shown mounted on the roof of a police vehicle and rotated for example to be visible primarily from the left side of the vehicle;  
         [0009]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the traffic control board mounting apparatus shown mounted on the roof of a police vehicle and rotated for example to be visible primarily from the right rear side of the vehicle;  
         [0010]      FIG. 4  is an enlarged perspective of a portion of the traffic control mounting apparatus that includes the mast, the mounting plate for the traffic control board hinged to the mast, and the pivot actuator connected between the mast and the mounting plate; and  
         [0011]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the traffic control board mounting apparatus shown mounted on the roof of a police vehicle and collapsed in the stowed position. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0012]     A traffic control board mount  10  is shown in  FIG. 1  with the traffic control board  60  raised to use position and rotated from center about an axis  61  that extends through hinges  82 ,  84 . The traffic control board mount  10  is shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3  mounted on the roof of a motor vehicle, such as a police car V. In  FIG. 2 , the traffic control board  60  is rotated or pivoted about the axis  61  to an orientation facing more to the left side of the vehicle V. Whereas in  FIG. 3 , the traffic control board  60  is rotated about axis  61  to an orientation that is visible more to the right side of the vehicle V. As best seen in  FIG. 3 , the plurality of lights  62  on the face  64  of the traffic control board  60  are arranged in a conventional manner that accommodates lighting of selected ones of the lights  62  to form a left arrow, a right arrow, both left and right arrows, or other displays. For example, the shaded lights  62  in  FIG. 3  display a right pointed arrow. The traffic control board  60  can, of course, be rotated to face any orientation between left-facing and right-facing, such as to face rearwardly (not shown) and the like. As also show in  FIG. 5 , the mast  50  that supports the traffic control board  60  can be collapsed or folded downwardly to stow the traffic control board  60  in a lower profile storage position in which it causes less wind resistance and is not so likely to hit an overhead obstruction as the vehicle V is being driven.  
         [0013]     Referring now primarily to  FIGS. 1 and 4 , with secondary reference to  FIGS. 1, 2 , and  5 , the mount  10  comprises a base  20  adapted for mounting on the roof on top of a vehicle V, the mast  50 , and a lift assembly  40  for lifting the mast  50  from the stowed position shown in  FIG. 5  to the raised positions show in  FIGS. 1-4 . These and other components of the mount  10  are similar to those shown and described for the roof-mounted flood light assembly of U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,621, which is incorporated herein by reference. Essentially, the lift assembly can include an electrical or hydraulic actuated, extendable and retractable ram or piston  41  that is connected to a point or shaft  140  on the mast  50  to pivot the mast up and down about a pivot axis  46  defined by one or more pivot pins  146 , as indicated by arrow  96  in  FIG. 1 . The mast  50  can, but does not have to be, given additional support or stabilization by one or more struts  44 ,  45 , which, together with an end platform  30 , the mast  50 , and the base  20 , create a parallelogram structure that raises and lowers in unison as shown by arrow  96  by pivoting on pins  47 ,  49  as the mast  50  and platform  30  pivot on pins  46 ,  48 . The base  20  can be in any suitable form that has sufficient structural strength to support the mast  50  and traffic flow board  60  and the lift assembly  40 . In the example shown in  FIG. 1 , the base  20  is comprised of two longitudinal frame members  22 ,  23  fastened at their ends to two transverse frame members  24 ,  25 . Soft or rubber-like mounting pads  48  under opposite ends of the transverse frame members  24 ,  25  facilitate mounting the base  20  on the vehicle V.  
         [0014]     As best seen in  FIGS. 1 and 4 , the traffic flow board  60  is fastened to a mounting plate  80 , which is pivotally mounted by hinges  82 ,  84  to the mast  50 . An actuator  70  of some kind, for example, an electrical or hydraulically powered, extendable ram or piston  72  attached at one end to a bracket  74  on the mast  50  and at the other end to the mounting plate  80  or to a portion or extension  85  of the hinge  84  that is connected to the mounting plate  80  or to the board  60 , is used to pivot the board  80  about the axis  61 , as indicated by the arrow  88 .  
         [0015]     A plurality of support struts  92 ,  93 ,  94 ,  95  project upwardly from the base  20  to provide stabilizing support to the traffic control board  60 , when it is folded down to the stowed position, as shown in  FIG. 5 .  
         [0016]     The details, components, and structures described above are examples of implementations of the invention, but other structures and components could also be used to implement the invention, which comprises a base adapted for mounting on a vehicle, a mast that is pivotally mounted to the base with a lift assembly for raising and lowering the distal end of the mast from its lowered, stowed position to its raised, upright position, and back, a traffic flow board pivotally mounted to the mast in a manner that supports the board in an upright position with its lights displaying in a direction substantially parallel to the ground, i.e., substantially perpendicular to the mast, when the mast is in the upright position, and an actuator to pivot the board about an axis that is substantially parallel to the mast and substantially perpendicular to the direction the lights on the board display. Other features of the invention can be discerned from the description above and the accompanying drawings in  FIGS. 1-5 , which for a part of this description.  
         [0017]     The foregoing description is considered as illustrative of the principles of the invention. Furthermore, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and process shown and described above. Accordingly, resort may be made to all suitable modifications and equivalents that fall within the scope of the invention. The words “comprise,” “comprises,” “comprising,” “include,” “including,” and “includes” when used in this specification are intended to specify the presence of stated features, integers, components, or steps, but they do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, components, steps, or groups thereof.