Patent ID: 8123430

Claim:
A method of forming highway markings on a paved highway, the highway markings including a base line and reflective pavement markers applied at intervals to the base line with the pavement markers having an effectively flat base surface and an opposed surface, comprising the steps of: advancing a carrier along the highway at a predetermined speed in a forward direction, as the carrier is advanced: applying liquid from a liquid applicator mounted on said carrier to the highway to form the base line on the highway, moving a pavement marker horizontally from under the bottom of an upwardly extending stack of the pavement markers mounted on said carrier in the forward direction out from beneath the upwardly extending stack of the pavement markers toward said liquid applicator with the base surface of the pavement marker facing downwardly, after the pavement marker has been moved in the forward direction out from beneath the stack of the pavement markers, tilting the pavement marker so that the base surface of the pavement marker is in a tilted attitude and the base surface faces in the forward direction, sliding the tilted pavement marker downwardly in response to the force of gravity along a sloped surface directed rearwardly of the forward direction while the base surface of the pavement marker is in its tilted attitude and facing the forward direction, applying the pavement marker to the base line, and tilting the pavement marker as the pavement marker is applied to the base line so that its base surface is horizontal.