Breakaway sign post repair system

A new Breakaway Sign Post Repair System for reusing a broken sign post thereby reducing the cost to repair the broken post while providing a breakaway post that will produce less damage to vehicles and people if a vehicle should hit the sign post. The inventive device includes a sign post cut into an upper post and a lower post, and a breakaway tube with a concentric horizontal partition forming an upper lumen and a lower lumen which capture the respective portion of the sign post, where the break away tube is constructed from a material that breaks concentrically.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to Sign Post Devices and more particularly 
pertains to a new Breakaway Sign Post Repair System for reusing a broken 
sign post thereby reducing the cost to repair the broken post while 
providing a breakaway post that will produce less damage to vehicles and 
people if a vehicle should hit the sign post. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
The use of Sign Post Devices is known in the prior art. More specifically, 
Sign Post Devices heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist 
basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, 
notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art 
which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and 
requirements. 
Known prior art Sign Post Devices include U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,575; U.S. 
Pat. No. 4,926,592; U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,446; U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,194; U.S. 
Pat. No. 4,923,319 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,906. 
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and 
requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new Breakaway 
Sign Post Repair System. The inventive device includes a sign post cut 
into an upper post and a lower post, and a breakaway tube with a 
concentric horizontal partition forming an upper lumen and a lower lumen 
which capture the respective portion of the sign post, where the break 
away tube is constructed from a material that breaks concentrically. 
In these respects, the Breakaway Sign Post Repair System according to the 
present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and 
designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily 
developed for the purpose of reusing a broken sign post thereby reducing 
the cost to repair the broken post while providing a breakaway post that 
will produce less damage to vehicles and people if a vehicle should hit 
the sign post. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of Sign 
Post Devices now present in the prior art, the present invention provides 
a new Breakaway Sign Post Repair System construction wherein the same can 
be utilized for reusing a broken sign post thereby reducing the cost to 
repair the broken post while providing a breakaway post that will produce 
less damage to vehicles and people if a vehicle should hit the sign post. 
The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described 
subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new Breakaway Sign Post 
Repair System apparatus and method which has many of the advantages of the 
Sign Post Devices mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result 
in a new Breakaway Sign Post Repair System which is not anticipated, 
rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art Sign 
Post Devices, either alone or in any combination thereof. 
To attain this, the present invention generally comprises a sign post cut 
into an upper post and a lower post, and a breakaway tube with a 
concentric horizontal partition forming an upper lumen and a lower lumen 
which capture the respective portion of the sign post, where the break 
away tube is constructed from a material that breaks concentrically. 
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features 
of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that 
follows may be better understood, and in order that the present 
contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional 
features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which 
will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention 
in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its 
application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the 
components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the 
drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being 
practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood 
that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose 
of description and should not be regarded as limiting. 
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon 
which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the 
designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the 
several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, 
that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions 
insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present 
invention. 
Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent 
and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the 
scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar 
with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a 
cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of 
the application. The abstract is neither intended to define the invention 
of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to 
be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way. 
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new 
Breakaway Sign Post Repair System apparatus and method which has many of 
the advantages of the Sign Post Devices mentioned heretofore and many 
novel features that result in a new Breakaway Sign Post Repair System 
which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by 
any of the prior art Sign Post Devices, either alone or in any combination 
thereof. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new Breakaway 
Sign Post Repair System which may be easily and efficiently manufactured 
and marketed. 
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new Breakaway 
Sign Post Repair System which is of a durable and reliable construction. 
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a new 
Breakaway Sign Post Repair System which is susceptible of a low cost of 
manufacture with regard to both materials and labor, and which accordingly 
is then susceptible of low prices of sale to the consuming public, thereby 
making such Breakaway Sign Post Repair System economically available to 
the buying public. 
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new 
Breakaway Sign Post Repair System which provides in the apparatuses and 
methods of the prior art some of the advantages thereof, while 
simultaneously overcoming some of the disadvantages normally associated 
therewith. 
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new Breakaway 
Sign Post Repair System for reusing a broken sign post thereby reducing 
the cost to repair the broken post while providing a breakaway post that 
will produce less damage to vehicles and people if a vehicle should hit 
the sign post. 
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new Breakaway 
Sign Post Repair System which includes a sign post cut into an upper post 
and a lower post, and a breakaway tube with a concentric horizontal 
partition forming an upper lumen and a lower lumen which capture the 
respective portion of the sign post, where the break away tube is 
constructed from a material that breaks concentrically. 
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new 
Breakaway Sign Post Repair System that eliminates the need to purchase new 
posts when the broken posts may be reused thereby saving time and money. 
Even still another object of the present invention is to provide a new 
Breakaway Sign Post Repair System that is constructed to breakaway when 
struck by a vehicle.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 through 6 
thereof, a new Breakaway Sign Post Repair System embodying the principles 
and concepts of the present invention and generally designated by the 
reference numeral 10 will be described. 
More specifically, it will be noted that the Breakaway Sign Post Repair 
System 10 comprises a breakaway tube 20 formed to a shape that captures a 
sign post 12 broken into an upper post 14 and a lower post 16 secured to a 
post mount 18, thereby aligning said upper and lower posts 14, 16 into a 
parallel vertical position, the breakaway tube 20 comprises a material 
that breaks upon impact of a vehicle traveling at a substantial velocity, 
the upper post 14 including a upper aperture 15 near the lower end that 
engages the breakaway tube 20, the lower post 16 including a lower 
aperture 17 near the upper end that engages the breakaway tube 20, the 
breakaway tube 20 including an upper fastener aperture 52 and a lower 
fastener aperture 54 that correspond to the upper aperture 15 and the 
lower aperture 17, and two fasteners 28 projecting through the upper and 
lower aperture 17s to secure the upper post 14 and the lower post 16 to 
the breakaway tube 20. 
As best illustrated in FIG. 5, it can be shown that the breakaway tube 20 
has a horizontal partition 22 concentrically positioned within the lumen. 
The horizontal partition 22 separates the lumen into an upper lumen and a 
lower lumen that capture the respective upper and lower posts 16. As shown 
in FIGS. 5 and 6 of the drawings, a cylindrical member 24 is secured to 
the horizontal partition's 22 cornice. The cylindrical member 24 extends 
vertically upward a finite distance to engage the bottom end of the upper 
post 14 to separate the upper post 14 from the horizontal partition 22. As 
best shown in FIG. 5 of the drawings, the breakaway tube 20 has at least 
one drainage aperture 26 above the horizontally partition 22 and below the 
end of the cylindrical member 24 opposite of the horizontal partition 22 
to drain accumulated water to prevent deterioration of the upper post 14. 
The breakaway tube 20 preferably is constructed from a rigid plastic. 
In use, the breakaway tube 20 is secured to the lower post 16 by the 
fastener 28. The upper post 14 is then secured within the breakaway tube 
20 where the end is juxtaposed to the cornice of the cylindrical member 
24. Accumulated water within the upper post 14 and the breakaway tube 20 
is drained through the drainage aperture 26 thereby preventing rotting and 
deterioration of the upper post 14. When a vehicle strikes the upper post 
14, the breakaway tube 20 preferably breaks concentrically above the 
horizontal partition 22 thereby preventing severe damage to the vehicle 
and people nearby. The invention is specifically designed to repair broken 
sign posts 12 thereby eliminating the need to purchase and install a new 
sign post 12. 
As to a further discussion of the manner of usage and operation of the 
present invention, the same should be apparent from the above description. 
Accordingly, no further discussion relating to the manner of usage and 
operation will be provided. 
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the 
optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, to 
include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of 
operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to 
one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those 
illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are 
intended to be encompassed by the present invention. 
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the 
principles of the invention. Further, 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 operation shown and 
described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may 
be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.