[0001] Apparatus for striping roads which does not require a dedicated vehicle is shown
in US Patent No. 5,368,232. While such a device is quite effective, one drawback is
that limited amounts of weight may be cantilevered off the rear end of a vehicle,
particularly when the vehicle is smaller and/or has a relatively low load carrying
capacity.
[0002] US 3,286,928 discloses a line striping apparatus in which a means for applying paint
is attached to a frame and the frame is attached to a bar provided on the front of
a vehicle. Hydranlic means are provided for sliding the frame horizontally along the
beam in order to align the strips on bends in the road.
[0003] WO 84 02150 discloses a line striping apparatus with a detection element which senses
a marking on the road surface traversed by it, to thereby control the positioning
and movement of the means for striping.
[0004] It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an apparatus which may be
attached to a wider range of vehicles and yet which may have a substantial amount
of weight for the mechanism thereon.
[0005] It is a further object of this invention to provide a road striping apparatus which
is easy to set up and operate by one person as compared to many of the prior art devices
which require two operators.
[0006] It is a further object of this invention to provide a device in which a single paint
applying boom may be easily and quickly switched from side to side and which may be
easily placed in a transport position for transit between striping locations.
[0007] It is a yet further object of this invention to provide a device which is easy to
set up and which provides a delay which encourages efficient one operator operation.
[0008] This invention provides a mechanism for line striping attachable to a rear-end of
a vehicle thereof with respect to a direction of travel, said mechanism comprising:
means for striping;
means for the operator of said vehicle to select and sight arbitrarily any point along
a line to be striped ahead of said vehicle;
means for measuring and storing the delay distance between said striping means and
said selected point; and
means controlling said striping means so as to utilise said delay distance to initiate
a striping action with said striping means at said selected point.
[0009] The device is intended to apply stripes to roadways to either match existing lines
exactly or to apply new stripes per specification with one person operation. Such
an operation is allowed by utilising one person operation and providing a monitor
delay system and easy to memorise finger touch controls. When the control system is
powered up, all gun controls are switched to a guns off position and bead control
is on; that is when any paint is turned on beads are applied to that paint. When powered
off, all programmed skips, delays, and bead gun distances are retained in memory to
be recalled if necessary.
[0010] The striping mechanism is designed for attachment to a towing vehicle by means of
a two-point hitch and the rear of the striping mechanism is supported by a swivel
mounted support wheel which in the preferred embodiment has a damping mechanism as
well as spring mountings.
[0011] The support beam may be releasably clamped and moved from side to side so that the
spray gun boom arm may be utilised on either side of the striping mechanism also by
releasably clamping to the beam.
[0012] The bead tank is provided with a concave spherically shaped top having a central
hole and a plug which is actually located in the tank and which may be pulled upwardly
by means of a handle. Thus when the plug is pulled upwardly and the tank pressurised,
the tank is sealed yet the tank may easily be filled by releasing pressure and popping
the plug downwardly. The plug is retained from falling into the tank by means of a
handle which is wider than the hole. During transport, the boom arm is swung upwardly
and latched at the centre of the mechanism. A gasoline engine powers a hydraulic power
supply which in turn runs three hydraulic pumps for supplying of fluid at airless
pressures to the three spray guns. The gasoline engine also powers a small air compressor
which provides air pressure to the bead supply unit.
[0013] The control provides an auto cycle set up switch which allows the operator to stay
in the vehicle and program the controller to place new lines over existing skip, dotted,
dashed or intermittent lines. When the auto cycle set up button is pressed, the skip
set up screen appears on the LCD screen and the skip cycle will be flashing. The operator
then simply pushes the mark button at the start and end of the cycle and the appropriate
distance will appear on the LCD screen under the skip cycle. This can be accomplished
at the same time the guns are painting by simply having the appropriate paint guns
selected. For greater accuracy, the operator would want to stop on the first mark
and then press mark then drive forward to the end of the cycle and stop again and
press mark then back up and start painting. After the mark button has been pressed
the second time, the auto cycle set up button turns off.
[0014] The cycle button can be changed any time thereafter by using up and down arrow keys.
The paint line length is a manual input and can be changed at any time. The three
guns may be switched on and off independently from one another and may either be switched
into a solid striping regime or skip lines.
[0015] The delay button brings up the LCD screen for adjusting the feature monitor delay.
The monitor delay is an important part of one man operation and eliminates the need
for the operator to look back at the guns when starting, stopping and line changes.
The monitor shows a view of a part of the road surface superimposed with cross hairs.
The operator simply makes all line selections at the appropriate time when the cross
hairs on the monitor reach the point on the road. The delay distance is the number
of feet from this point back to the paint guns. The microprocessor simply holds all
keyboard commands for a set amount of travelled feet. The operator needs to watch
the monitor for alignment purposes so it makes sense to run the paint controls from
the same view screen.
[0016] These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more fully from
the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention made, by way
of example only, in conjunction with the accompanying diagrammatic drawings wherein
like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the several
views:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the instant invention.
Figure 2 is a frontal view of the control panel of the instant invention.
Figure 3 is a partially exploded view of the instant invention.
Figure 4 is a view of the frame of the instant invention.
Figure 5 is an exploded view of the frame of the instant invention.
Figure 6 is an exploded view of the boom of the instant invention.
Figure 7 is an exploded view of the caster wheel of the instant invention.
Figure 8 is a perspective view of the instant invention in transport position.
Figure 9 is an exploded view of the bead gun.
Figure 10 is a perspective view of the two point hitch.
[0017] The following table shows the components:
A |
Viscount I Hydraulic Motor |
Operates the displacement pump |
B |
Boom Arm Hitch Pin |
Secures spray gun boom arm when the Striper is in transport |
C |
Displacement Pump |
Provides fluid to be sprayed through spray gun |
D |
Fluid Filter |
Filters fluid between source and spray gun |
E |
Breather Cap |
Provides a means for hydraulic reservoir ventilation, oil check and fill |
F |
Pressure Drain Valve |
Relieves fluid pressure when open |
G |
Fluid Outlet Tube |
Hose carries fluid from displacement pump to spray gun |
H |
Hydraulic Reservoir |
Holds 12 gallons of hydraulic oil for hydraulic pump |
I |
Hydraulic Select/Bypass |
Valve Selects displacement pumps for guns 1 & 2, or 3; or bypasses all guns |
J |
Hub |
Allows trailer wheel to swivel |
K |
Hydraulic Pump |
Creates hydraulic pressure for the hydraulic power supply system |
L |
Main Beam |
Supports spray gun boom arm |
M |
Bead Tank |
Holds up to 300 lb of glass beads for continuous spraying |
N |
Air Regulator |
Allows regulation of bead tank air pressure |
O |
Compressor |
Provides pneumatic supply to switch paint spray gun and bead spray guns on and off
as directed by the programmable skipline control |
P |
Engine |
18.0 HP gasoline engine |
R |
Tail Light |
Standard tail light that includes brake and directional lights |
S |
Hydraulic Pressure Knob |
Provides adjustment of hydraulic pressure. Clockwise rotation increases pressure.
Pressure setting is locked with inner lock knob. |
T |
Dolly |
Used to roll Striper into place for connection to tow vehicle and hold Striper upright
when disconnected from tow vehicle and stored |
U |
Spray Gun Boom Arm |
Allows striping on either side of the tow vehicle at adjustable distances |
V |
Bead Spray Gun |
Sprays beads when command by the programmable skipline control |
W |
Paint Spray Gun |
Sprays fluid when command by the programmable skipline control |
X |
Fuel Tank |
Holds gasoline |
[0018] Figure 8 shows gun carriage 10 in its transport position when it is swung up and
locked. The paint pumps C in the preferred embodiment are a hydraulically (A) operated
pump C of the Viscount line also manufactured by Graco Inc. When it is desired to
paint, the boom arm U is unlatched and slid to one end of the main beam L where it
is locked using the latches 12, wherein it may then pivot and is supported by the
road wheel 14.
[0019] The framework 16 of the striping mechanism 10 itself attaches to the vehicle by means
of two receivers 22 holding trailer hitch balls of conventional design. Thus the two-point
hitch 18 (one side is shown with an identical hitch on the other side) allows the
striping mechanism 10 to maintain absolute linearity with the vehicle 20 itself and
does not suffer from articulation problems present in typical trailers. A pivotable
wheel 24 is located on the rear end of the striping frame to provide support and a
damping mechanism 46 is utilised in hub J in order to prevent the swivel wheel 24
from becoming unstable at speed.
[0020] Figure 10 shows the two point hitch 18 having a hitch frame 18A which is part of
a normal frame mounted hitch such as manufactured by DRAW-TITE. Two hitch receivers
18B are clamped to frame rail 18A as shown allowing use of standard hitches for the
two point hitch 18.
[0021] As can be seen on the frame 16, the three pumps C which each are designed to pump
two different colours (typically one being a white and the other being yellow) are
driven off a common gasoline engine P and hydraulic power supply K.
[0022] A bead container M is utilised along with a small compressor O driven off the same
gasoline engine P and the bead container M is pressurised in order to supply beads
to the bead gun V. The bead container M is provided with a knockout plug 60 of the
type commonly used in sandblasting equipment and a depressed upper surface 58 which
allows easy loading of beads and quick locking and sealing of the container M.
[0023] As can be seen particularly in figure 7, wheel 24 rides on axle 28 and pivot member
30 which pivots about pivot point 32 on swivel fork 34. A spring pivot 36 mounts a
pair of rod ends 38 which extend through springs 40 into mounting plate 42. Thus,
rod ends 38 are always under tension and serve to compress springs 40, and under suspension,
loads will compress even more.
[0024] Swivel axle 44 extends upwardly from swivel fork 34 through damping mechanism 46
in Hub J. One or more belleville washers 48 serve to preload a damping surface member
50 which may be manufactured from an acetal homopolymer (100AF); which is impregnated
with Teflon or a similar material.
[0025] As can be seen in the figures, the carriage rod/main beam L may be unlocked and moved
to either side of the vehicle and thence the boom arm moved to the outside of the
carriage rod L so that the stripe may be positioned as desired. When it is desired
to detach the striping mechanism from the vehicle, two supports T are cranked down
by hand which lift the two hitch mechanisms 18 off the balls and allow the whole mechanism
to be wheeled away from the vehicle.
[0026] Frame 16 has a channel 52 thereon, with a pair of clamps 54 of the over-centre type
which serve to clamp and retain main beam L in the channel 52. Main beam L is desirably
manufactured from a piece of square tubing with a piece of plate welded to one corner
thereof, with clamps 54 gripping the steel plate. Bolts 56 may be inserted on either
end to limit the travel of main beam L. Upon reaching the job site, the operator may
merely unlatch transport pin B and unclamp clamps 12 and 54. The operator can then
extend main beam L to the side on which a stripe is desired and spray gun boom arm
U can be moved outwardly to the striping position and clamp 12 locked again with boom
U lowered so that road wheel 14 contacts the ground. The spray guns W, may then be
positioned as desired along with bead guns V.
[0027] Bead guns V are shown in more detail in Figure 9 and have a teardrop shaped needle
64 which reduces chattering by encouraging laminar flow therethrough.
[0028] The attached operation instructions show the menu flow chart for the controller and
help explain set up and operation. The following table expands on the controls shown
in Figure 2:
|
Switch/Indicator |
Explanation |
A |
POWER ON/OFF switch |
ON enables battery DC power to the Control and to the engine. OFF removes power from
the Control and the engine. Engine cannot be started when this switch is in the OFF
position. |
B |
Paint gun switches 1, 2 and 3 |
Enables/disables paint guns 1, 2 and 3.
Up - dashed line.
Centre - off.
Down - continuous line. |
C |
RESET/HOLD switch |
HOLD disables paint guns 1, 2 and 3 and resets the internal cycle counter.
RESET resets the internal cycle counter but does not affect continuous line activity.
If switch is held in RESET, a new cycle will not begin until the switch is released. |
D |
ADV/RESET switch |
Used in conjunction with the arrow switches to adjust the paint line position to match
a previously painted line. ADV allows the dash line to be moved forward. RET allows
the dash line to be moved closer. |
E |
BEADS ON/BEADS TEST |
Enables/disables bead gun BEAD ON (up) - beads start to flow when paint guns start
to paint.
Centre - off.
BEADS TEST (down) - continuous bead flow |
F |
I/O cable port |
The I/O cable connects here and at the RL. Also brings in 12 Vdc from the RL |
G |
AUTO CYCLE SETUP |
Used to calculate the paint and cycle time of a previously painted skip line. Calculated
values automatically are placed in the paint and cycle length menu. |
H |
SYSTEM DELAY ON/OFF |
OFF (unlit) - the paint guns and RESET/HOLD respond immediately.
ON (lit) - the paint gun switches 1, 2 and 3; and RESET/HOLD switch are delayed by
the preset system delay distance. |
I |
MENU arrow switches |
Used to switch between menus, adjusting values and resetting values. |
J |
Arrow switches 1,2,3 and blank |
Used in conjunction with the ADV/RET switch to adjust the paint line position to match
a previously painted line. When the ADV/RET switch is in the ADV position, pressing
the arrow switch moves the dash line forward incrementally.
When the ADV/RET switch is in the RET position, pressing the arrow switch moves the
dash line closer. |
K |
Provides mph output to |
REMOTE MPH DISPLAY |
L |
Remote control switch plug-in |
Provides two remote functions for the paint gun switches 1, 2 and 3:
1. Skip line - acts as a cycle reset when tapped and a cycle hold when held down.
Has no effect on solid line painting.
2. Solid line - turns paint guns on when held down and off when released. |
[0029] It is contemplated that various changes and modifications may be made to the line
striper without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the following
claims.
[0030] The aforegoing description has been given by way of example only and it will be appreciated
by a person skilled in the art that modifications can be made without departing from
the scope of the present invention.