Patent Publication Number: US-2007113774-A1

Title: Traffic cone structure

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      This invention relates to a traffic cone structure, and more particularly to a traffic cone structure that provides a reminding or warning effect for road constructions or other constructions, and the traffic cone structure of the invention can improve both production efficiency and economic effect.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      The prior art traffic cone is a structure made of a hollow conical body and a base disposed at the bottom of the conical body, and the traffic cone usually comes with a through hole at the top of the traffic cone for allowing air to pass through so as to facilitate the stacking of the traffic cones and makes the transportation of the traffic cones more easily. However, the prior art traffic cone adopts a mold for an integral injection molding, and thus different molds are needed to meet the requirements of different specifications and weights, resulting an increase of cost for developing new molds. In order to make the traffic cone more stable, we usually increase the weight of the traffic cone. To achieve a predetermined weight, the thickness of the cone or the base is increased, but such arrangement also increases the material cost and extends the plastic molding time. Further, a large change of contracting rate may make corrugations on the surface easily, which makes it difficult for controlling the quality and reduces the production rate or loses the economic benefits.  
      In view of the foregoing shortcomings of the prior art, the inventor of the present invention based on years of experience to conduct extensive researches and experiments, and finally invented a traffic cone structure in accordance with the present invention.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The primary objective of this invention is to provide a counterweight member formed by an injection molding method and installed in a base under a conical body, so as to overcome the shortcomings of requiring many molds of different specifications to cope with the molding of a prior art traffic cone that comes with a single specification and increasing the manufacturing costs. With this structural design, the stability of the traffic cone can be improved and thus the traffic cone will not be toppled easily by external forces, and the product quality as well as the economic benefit can be enhanced.  
      The secondary objective of the present invention is to wrap a counterweight member in the base at the bottom of the traffic cone completely by the four sides of the base. In addition to increasing the weight of the traffic cone by the counterweight member, the entire conical body and the base of the traffic cone can be painted with the same color (mostly an orange-red color), so that when the traffic cone is toppled by a larger force at night, the base still possesses the warning effect due to its color. Unlike the prior art traffic cone that will become dim or completely dark if the traffic cone is toppled, the present invention can overcome the unclear vision problem. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  shows a perspective view as well as a cross-sectional view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 2  shows a perspective view as well as a cross-sectional view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 3  shows a schematic view of a counterweight member according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 4  shows a cross-sectional view of a counterweight member according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 5  shows a schematic view of a counterweight member (a lighter and thinner counterweight member) according a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 6  shows a schematic view of a counterweight member (a lighter and thinner counterweight member) according a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 7  shows a schematic view of a counterweight member according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 8  shows a schematic view of manufacturing a counterweight member by a mold according to the present invention;  
       FIG. 9  shows a schematic view of manufacturing a counterweight member by a mold according to the present invention;  
       FIG. 10  shows a schematic view of manufacturing a counterweight member and a conical body by a mold according to the present invention; and  
       FIG. 11  shows a schematic view of manufacturing a counterweight member and a conical body by a mold according to the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      The structural assembly, technical measures, and functions of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
      Referring to FIGS.  3  to  11 , the counterweight member  10  of the invention includes a through hole  11  disposed at the middle of the counterweight member  10 . The technical measure for making the counterweight member  10  as shown in  FIGS. 8 and 9  uses a plurality of mold insert plates  13  to be installed in a mold  12 , and the required weight of the counterweight member  10  can be changed by increasing or decreasing the number of the mold insert plates  13 . In other words, the number of mold insert plates  13  is increased if a lighter counterweight member  10  is needed. On the other hand, the number of mold insert plates  13  in the mold  12  is decreased if a heavier counterweight member  10  is needed. Therefore, the height or thickness of the counterweight member  10  can be increased or decreased, and the counterweight members  10  with different specifications and weights can be made from one mold, so as to save the cost of the mold. Referring to FIGS.  5  to  7 , the counterweight member  10  includes a plurality of mold insert holes  14  disposed at predetermined positions on a side of the counterweight member  10  and securely installed into the mold  30  for making the conical body  20  later, such that the counterweight member  10  can be fully contained by the base of the conical body  20 . To improve the structural strength of the counterweight member  10 , the counterweight member  10  of the invention includes a groove  15  with a geometric shape or an irregular shape disposed on a lateral side of the counterweight member  10 .  
      Referring to  FIGS. 10 and 11 , the counterweight member  10  is placed into the mold  30  for making the conical body  20  after the counterweight member  10  is completed, and a plurality of mold insert holes  14  disposed on a lateral side of the counterweight member  10  are securely placed into the mold  30 . By an injection molding method, the counterweight member  10  is included into the base  21  of the conical body  20 . To save the cost of the mold, a mold is used to produce the traffic cone products of different weights. Therefore, the design of the mold adopts a plurality of mold insert plates  13  installed in the mold  30  for changing the volume or thickness of the counterweight member  10  by adding or removing the mold insert plates  13 . In other words, the number of the mold insert plates  13  is increased if a thinner counterweight member  10  is needed. On the other hand, the number of mold insert plates  13  in the mold  30  is decreased, if a thicker counterweight member  10  is needed. Therefore, a mold can be used to produce a number of traffic cone products with different weights according to different specifications of the counterweight member  10 .