A SIGNAL DEVICE

Abstract: A signal device which comprises a holding member (5) is provided to be attached to a carrying arrangement (1), and a signal member (7) which is connected to the holding member (5) and provided to indicate load (4) carried by the carrying arrangement (1). By the signal device, the signal member (7) is connected to the holding member (5) through a flexible connection element (8).

Description: A signal device THE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART The present invention relates to a signal device comprising a holding member provided to be attached to a carrying arrangement, and a signal member connected to the holding member and provided to indicate a cargo carried by the carrying arrangement. Such signal devices may be used in several different contexts and applications. Such a context is when one wishes to indicate a projecting cargo on vehicles or vehicle trailers. Hereinafter the inventive signal device will therefor, by way of example but not in order to delimit it, be described with reference to such an application. In order to satisfy such security requirements that imply that a cargo projecting from vehicles or vehicle trailers is indicated, some sort of flag, pennant or light source is normally applicated onto the projecting cargo in order to make it easier for other road-users to see to what extent the cargo is projecting from the vehicle or vehicle trailer in question. Thereby, the extensive length or extensive width caused by the cargo is usually indicated. How frequent the need of such a signal device is may vary widly from case to case, but it is often at its most for lorries of different kinds and for trailers that are to be trailed by a trailing vehicle such as a lorry, a tractor or a car. Particularly when the need of a signal member is frequent, it is desirable that the carrying arrangement, that is the vehicle or the vehicle trailer, is permanently provided with the signal member and that the latter can be arranged to indicate the carried cargo in a simple and suitable way. Through the document DE 8 011 799 it is disclosed how a device is arranged by a vehicle, said device comprising two rods that can be displaced into each other telescopically, one of the rods thereof carrying one or more signal members at its outer end, and the other rod forming a holding member which is fixed to the vehicle. The device is always accessible at the vehicle, and is directed in order to permit a variable indication of the extensive width of the vehicle caused by a cargo carried thereby. Suitably, a vehicle is equipped with two such devices, provided at each side respectively of the vehicle. The device also permits its outer end to be provided with a light source, such as a lamp, and to be comprised by electrical conductors, which, for instance, run inside the rods and may be connected to an electrical power source connected to the vehicle, said electrical power source thereby being taken advantage of in order to operate the light source or sources. However, a disadvantage of such a device is that the possibility of varying the position of the signal member or members is directly delimited by the direction and to what extent the telescopical displacement of the rod carrying the signal member is possible. By the device according to DE 40 1 1 799 the positioning possibilities of the signal member are delimited to the straight line along which the rod carrying the signal member is displaceable. A possibility to free positioning of the signal member in relation to or onto the cargo does, accordingly, not exist. SUMMERY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide a signal device which permits the signal member comprised thereby to be positioned at an optional location at the cargo carried by the carrying arrangement and that it may be moved in an optional direction from the holding member. The device according to the invention is also to offer a simple and cheap alternative to prior art devices. This object is obtained by means of the signal device initially defined, which is characterized in that the signal member is connected to the holding member through a flexible connection element. Thereby, the connection member may be positioned in practically any position on the cargo in relation to the holding member, resulting in extensive widths, extensive lengths and extensive heights of the cargo in relation to the carrying arrangement being possible to indicate in a both simple and suitable way. According to a preferred embodiment of the signal device according to the invention, the holding member comprises means provided to receive the connection element, and means provided to receive the signal member. Thereby, the connection element and the signal member may be positioned by the holding member when not being used, which is practically advantageous as these parts are concentrated into one unit and no further components have to be provided in order to receive the connection element and the signal member. According to another preferred embodiment of the signal device according to the invention, the holding member comprises a box- shaped container provided to receive and, thereby, enclose at least one of the connection element and the signal member. Thereby, the connection element and/or signal member can be kept well protected from outer affection when the signal member is not used. Moreover, a very compact unit can be accomplished, and the risk of the connection element and the signal member getting separated from the holding member and thereby possibly damaging the carrying arrangement, for example the lack of a car as the car is conducted at a high speed and the connection element and/or signal member easily could hit against the lack due to wind affection, is eliminated or at least reduced. According to another preferred embodiment of the signal device according to the invention, the holding member comprises a rotatable winder which is provided to enable a winding of the connection element. Thereby, particularly a very simple taking of the connection element onto the holding member is made possible. Also the positioning of the signal member is facilitated, as only a pulling of the latter is required to wind the connection element off from the holding member and permit a free positioning of the signal member onto the cargo. According to yet another preferred embodiment of the signal device according to the invention, it comprises means provided to induce the winder to rotate in a winding-up direction with reference to the connection element. Thereby, particularly the advantage of accomplishing an automatic winding of the connection element onto the winder as soon as the signal member is released from the cargo is obtained. An automatic winding thereby presupposes that the means are arranged such that they constantly affect the winder in said rotational direction. This is particularly advantageous in the case when, during a ride with a vehicle, the signal member accidentally would slip from the cargo onto which it is attached, in which case the inducing means will cause a winding of the connection element onto the winder, such that, hopefully, accidents due to freely hanging connection elements and signal members are avoided. According to another preferred embodiment of the signal device according to the invention, the signal member comprises an electrically powered light source, and the connection element comprises an electrical conductor which, at one end thereof, is connected to a source of current and, at the other end thereof, is connected to the signal member. Thereby, the connection element partly act as a connecting link between the holding member and the signal member and partly as an electrical conductor. According to another preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention, it comprises means for cleaning the connection element. Thereby, there is a reduced risk of having the holding member, and more precisely the winder onto which the connection element is to be winded, contaminated with an unnecessarily large amount of the dirt and the impurities by which the connection element can be coated as it is in its out-pulled position, for example during a vehicle ride. According to another preferred embodiment of the signal device according to the invention, the holding member comprises at least one draining passage. Thereby, a total or partial filling of the holding member with liquid which in different ways can reach the holding member, for example through an inlet opening for the connection element or a joint between two halves of the holding member when the latter comprises a two part box-shaped container, is avoided. Further advantages and features of the invention will be seen in the following, detailed description and in the rest of the appended claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The signal device according to the present invention will hereinafter, by way of example but not to delimit it, be described with reference to the annexed drawings, in which: Fig 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the signal device according to the invention, as applicated onto a vehicle trailer, and Fig 2 is a partly cut view from the side of the inventive signal device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT In Fig 1 an embodiment of the inventive signal device arranged on a carrier arrangement 1 is shown, said device comprising at least one of a vehicle 2 and a vehicle trailer 3. In the shown embodiment, the device is, more precisely, arranged on the vehicle trailer 3 and provided to indicate a cargo 4 carried thereby. Alternatively, the device may be arranged on a vehicle 2 and provided to indicate a cargo carried by anyone of the vehicle 2 and the vehicle trailer 3. As can be seen in Fig 1 and 2, the device according to the invention comprises a holding member 5, provided to be attached to the carrying arrangement 1. The holding member 5 comprises a box- shaped container 6 for receiving and enclosing a signal member 7 connected to the holding member and a connection element 8 which is provided to connect the holding member 5 to the signal member 7, the latter being extensibly arranged in relation to the holding member 5. For the enclosure of the connection element 8 and the signal member 7, the container 6 comprises separate compartments 9, 10. The holding member 5 also comprises a winder 1 1 onto which the connection element 8, here constituted by a flexible cable, may be winded. The winder 1 1 is rotatably arranged, such that the winding of the connection element 8 onto the winder 1 1 may take place through a simple rotation of said winder. The winder 11 is arranged in the compartment 9 which is supposed to receive the connection element 8. The device also comprises means 12, here in the shape of a return spring, arranged to induce the winder 1 1 to rotate in a winding-up direction with reference to the connection element 8. The device also comprises means 13 provided to block any further rotation of the winder 1 1. The means 13 are arranged in such a way that they can be controlled manually from outside the container 6, and they comprise a spring-affected, displaceably arranged engagement member which, for this purpose, projects from the outer surface of the container 6 and may be brought to bear against the connection element 8 in a clamping relation. The means 13 are provided in order to continuously permit an introduction of the connection element 8 into the container 6, and are provided in order to be activated in order to permit an extension, that is a pulling of the connection element 8 out of the container 6. In the embodiment shown the signal member 7 comprises an electrically powered light source in the shape of a lamp, and the connection element 8 comprises an electrical conductor. At one of its ends the connection element 8 is thereby connected to a source of current, the source of current possibly being constituted by the main source of current of the vehicle or the vehicle trailer or being constituted by separate batteries arranged in the container 6. A contact device in the shape of a collector shoe 19 is schematically shown in Fig 2 and provided to generate a contact between the conductor 8 and the source of current. For for instance the accommodation of batteries and/or a contact member, the container 6 comprises a separate space or compartment 14. Alternatively, the signal member 7 may be constituted by a lamp provided with a battery, the connection element 8 thereby possibly being constituted by a simple cord without any ability of conducting electricity. In the embodiment shown, there is also a pennant 18 provided on the connection element 8, said pennant forming a signal member 7. On the pennant a pocket 20 of transparent material is provided in order to accommodate a source of light, preferably a battery powered lamp. Furthermore, at an inlet opening for the connection element 8 in the container 6, the device comprises a cleaning means 15 which here comprises at least one brush member and which is provided to draw off the connection element 8 for cleaning purposes as the connection element is returned into the container 6 from an out- pulled position. Thereby, any important amount of impurities such as clay or the like is prevented from being brought into the very container 6. The container 6 also comprises a plurality of draining passages 16 for the draining of a liquid which in one way or another has found its way into the container 6. Preferably, the container 6 comprises a cap 17 which is pivotably or fully dismountably arranged in relation to the rest of the container 6, thereby permitting the space or compartment 10 in which the signal member 7 is to be placed when not being used to be easily reached. The cap 17 is arranged in such a way that it, when being in its open position, also enables access to the other spaces 9, 14 in the container and to the components, in the shape of a winder, a spring member 12 and possible batteries, that may be arranged therein. Furthermore, the holding member 5 may also comprise fixing elements (not shown) which are provided in order to enable a simple and reliable fixation of the holding member 5 onto the carrying arrangement 1. Thereby, the device according to the invention may also possibly comprise corresponding fixing elements, provided to be permanently arranged on the carrying arrangement 1 in order to further facilitate the attachment of the holding member 5 to the latter. Of course, a plurality of variants and modifications of the inventive embodiment will be obvious for a man skilled in the art without thereby departing from the principle suggested by the invention. The invention shall therefor be protected by what is indicated in the annexed patent claims, the rest of the description and the drawings.

Claims: Claims 1. A signal device comprising a holding member (5) provided to be attached to a carrying arrangement (1 ), and a signal member (7) connected to the holding member (5) and provided to indicate a cargo (4) carried by the carrying arrangement (1 ), characterized in that the signal member (7) is connected to the holding member (5) through a flexible connection element (8). 2. A signal device according to claim 1 , characterized in that the carrying arrangement (1 ) comprises at least one of a vehicle (2) and a vehicle trailer (3). 3. A signal device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the holding member (5) comprises means (9, 1 1 ) provided to receive the connection element (8). 4. A signal device according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that the holding member (5) comprises means (10) provided to receive the signal member (7). 5. A signal device according to any one of the claims 1-4, characterized in that the holding member (5) comprises a box- shaped container (6) provided to receive and, thereby, enclose at least one of the connection element (8) and the signal member (7). 6. A signal device according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that the holding member (5) comprises a rotatable winder (11 ) which is provided to permit a winding of the connection element (8). 7. A signal device according to claim 6, characterized in that it comprises means (12) for inducing the winder (11 ) to rotate in a winding-up direction with reference to the connection element (8). 8. A signal device according to claim 7, characterized in that the inducing means (12) comprise a spring member 9. A signal device according to any one of claims 1-8, characterized in that the signal member (7) comprises an electrically powered light source, and that the connection element (8) comprises an electric conductor which, at one end thereof, is connected to a source of current and, at the second end thereof, to the signal member (7). 10. A signal device according to any one of claims 1-9, characterized in that it comprises means (15) for cleaning the connection element (8). 11. A signal device according to claim 10, characterized in that the cleaning means (15) comprise at least one brush member. 12. A signal device according to any one of claims 1-1 1 , characterized in that the holding member (5) comprises at least one draining passage (16).

Inventors: AHLQVIST OLLI, LUNDIN BJOERN, AHLQVIST, OLLI, LUNDIN, BJOERN
Applicants: AHLQVIST OLLI, LUNDIN BJOERN, AHLQVIST, OLLI, LUNDIN, BJOERN
Application year: 1998
Main classification: B60Q7
IPC codes: B60Q1, B60Q7