Patent Publication Number: US-2023143673-A1

Title: Reflective traffic cone

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     There are no related applications incorporated herein by reference. 
     COPYRIGHT NOTICE 
     A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 37 CFR 1.71(d). 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates generally to traffic warning devices and more specifically traffic cones. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Prior art traffic cones only have reflective members placed upon outer surfaces thereof. Therefore, when the traffic cones becomes knocked over upon a road surface the reflective members are not always visible nor reflect light from a vehicle back to the operator of the vehicle, thereby rendering the traffic cone as useless, and even becoming dangerous since the vehicle may run over the traffic cone causing damage to the vehicle and possibly impeding the operation of the vehicle. 
     Accordingly, the present invention overcomes the disadvantages associated with the prior art, by providing a reflective traffic cone incorporating a plurality of reflective members attached on its outer surfaces and inner surfaces, such that the traffic cone can reflect light from a vehicle and be visible in low light conditions even when it becomes knocked over upon a road surface. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of traffic cones, the present invention provides a reflective traffic cone incorporating a plurality of reflective members attached on its outer surfaces and inner surfaces, such that the traffic cone can reflect light from a vehicle and be visible in low light conditions even when it becomes knocked over upon a road surface. As such, the general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a traffic cone that includes a plurality of reflective members attached on its outer surfaces and inner surfaces and incorporates all the advantages of the prior art and none of the disadvantages. 
     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. 
     Numerous objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description of presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative, embodiments of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying 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 descriptions and should not be regarded as limiting. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The figures which accompany the written portion of this specification illustrate embodiments according to the teachings of the present invention. 
         FIG.  1    shows a perspective view of the traffic cone according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG.  2    shows a bottom view of the traffic cone according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention of  FIG.  1   . 
     
    
    
     The various embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The embodiments of the present disclosure described below are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed in the following detailed description. Rather, the embodiments are chosen and described so that others skilled in the art may appreciate and understand the principles and practices of the present disclosure. 
     The following embodiments and the accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and form part of this disclosure, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certain illustrative aspects of the invention are described herein in connection with the following description and the annexed drawings. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention can be employed and the subject invention is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. Other advantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the drawings. 
     Turning now descriptively to drawing, referring to  FIGS.  1 - 2   , the present invention discloses a traffic cone  100  comprising a body  110  including at least one side wall  120  including an outer surface  122  and an inner surface  124 , and wherein the at least one side wall forms a bottom rim  130  and an opening  140  at a bottom portion thereof adjacent the bottom rim; a base  160  including a top surface  162 , a bottom surface  164 , and an opening  166  formed through the base from the top surface through the bottom surface, wherein the opening  140  of the body  110  is equal to or larger than the opening  166  of the base  160 , wherein the body  110  is attached to the base  160  such that the opening of the body aligns with the opening of the base, and wherein the base is adapted to be placed upon a road surface and support the body upwardly therefrom; a plurality of reflective members  180  attached to the outer surface  122  of the side wall of the body, and wherein at least one of the reflective members  180  is attached to the inner surface  124  of the side wall of the body. As shown in  FIG.  1   , when in use, the traffic cone  100  is placed in an upright position upon a road surface and the at least one reflector member  180  upon its outer surface of the side wall of the body is visible, and the at least one reflector member  180  upon the inner surface of said side wall of said body is not visible, and, as shown in  FIG.  2   , when the traffic cone  100  falls down or is knocked over and is in a fallen position upon a road surface the at least one reflector member  180  upon the outer surface of the side wall of the body is visible, and the at least one reflector member  180  upon the inner surface of the side wall of the body is also visible through the opening of the body and the opening of said base, and wherein the traffic cone  100  is adapted to be visible via light from a vehicle reflecting off the at least one reflector member upon the outer surface of the side wall when the traffic cone is in the upright position, and is adapted to be visible via light from a vehicle reflecting off the at least one reflector member upon the inner surface of the side wall when the traffic cone is in the fallen position. 
     The at least one side wall  120  may be formed as an annular wall along with the at least one reflector member  180  upon the outer surface of the side wall of said body being formed as an annular reflector, and along with the at least one reflector member  180  upon the inner surface of the side wall of the body being formed as an annular reflector. 
     The reflective traffic cone  100  may further comprise at least one reflector member  180  upon the top surface  162  of the base  160  and at least one reflector member  180  upon the bottom surface  164  of the base  160 . 
     The base  160  may be formed having a square shape having four corners, wherein a respective reflector member  180  is placed upon the top surface  162  thereof at each of the four corners, and wherein a respective reflector member  180  is placed upon the bottom surface  164  thereof at each of the four corners. 
     There may be a plurality of spaced reflective members  180  upon the outer surface  122  of the side wall of the body, and there may also be a plurality of spaced reflective members  180  upon the inner surface  124  of the side wall of the body. 
     The outer surface  122  of the side wall of the body may further include at least one indentation adapted to releasably retain one of the plurality of reflective members  180  therein, and the inner surface  124  of the side wall of the body may further include at least one indentation adapted to releasably retain one of the plurality of reflective members therein. 
     The top surface of each of the four corners of the base may include at least one indentation adapted to releasably retain one of the plurality of reflective members therein, and wherein the bottom surface of each of the four corners of the base may also include at least one indentation adapted to releasably retain one of the plurality of reflective members therein. 
     The plurality of reflective members  180  may be formed from flexible reflective tape or formed from rigid reflective panels. And the body  110  and the base  160  may be formed from a material chosen from a group of materials consisting of plastic and rubber. 
     The side wall  120  of the reflective traffic cone may be formed having a frustoconical shape. Furthermore, the plurality of reflective members  180  may be attached via an epoxy resin. 
     Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that any arrangement, which is calculated to achieve the same purpose, may be substituted for the specific embodiment shown. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the present invention. 
     Although the invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.