Painting of interrupted lines on road surfaces

Claim 2

Road striping apparatus comprising means to be mounted on a vehicle and responsive to movement of said vehicle to produce a series of pulses; means for applying paint to a road as said vehicle moves therealong and adapted to be actuated intermittently between painting and nonpainting conditions to form a broken line on the road; and control means responsive to said pulses for actuating said paint applying means from one of said conditions to the other in accordance with the number of pulses produced by said first mentioned means, said first mentioned means including light source means, a rotary structure turning in response to movement of said vehicle and having opaque and light passing portions which alternately block and pass light from said source means upon rotation of said structure, and light responsive means positioned beyond said rotary structure and controlling the formation of said series of pulses in accordance with the intermittent passage and nonpassage of light by said rotary structure as it turns.

Claim 3

Road striping apparatus comprising means to be mounted on a vehicle and responsive to movement of said vehicle to produce a series of pulses; means for applying paint to a road as said vehicle moves therealong and adapted to be actuated intermittently between painting and nonpainting conditions to form a broken line on the road; and control means responsive to said pulses for actuating said paint applying means from one of said conditions to the other in accordance with the number of pulses produced by said first mentioned means, said first mentioned means including light source means for emitting light along two different paths, rotary means having opaque and light passing portions movable across said paths as said rotary means turn, two light responsive units positioned in said two paths respectively beyond said rotary means, and circuitry controlled by said light responsive units for producing said series of pulses and acting to commence a pulse under the control of one of said light responsive units and to terminate the pulse under the control of the other of said light responsive units.

Claim 4

Road striping apparatus comprising means to be mounted on a vehicle and responsive to movement of said vehicle to produce a series of pulses; means for applying paint to a road as said vehicle moves therealong and adapted to be actuated intermittently between painting and nonpainting conditions to form a broken line on the road; and control means responsive to said pulses for actuating said paint applying means from one of said conditions to the other in accordance with the number of pulses produced by said first mentioned means, said first mentioned means including light source means for emitting light along two different paths, rotary means having opaque and light passing portions movable across said paths as said rotary means turn, two light responsive units positioned in said two paths respectively beyond said rotary means, and circuitry controlled by said light responsive units for producing said series of pulses and acting to commence a pulse under the control of one of said light responsive units and to terminate the pulse under the control of the other of said light responsive units.

Claim 5

Road striping apparatus comprising means to be mounted on a vehicle and responsive to movement of said vehicle to produce a series of pulses; means for applying paint to a road as said vehicle moves therealong and adapted to be actuated intermittently between painting and nonpainting conditions to form a broken line on the road; and control means responsive to said pulses for actuating said paint applying means from one of said conditions to the other in accordance with the number of pulses produced by said first mentioned means, said first mentioned means including light source means for emitting light along two different paths, rotary means having opaque and light passing portions movable across said paths as said rotary means turn, two light responsive units positioned in said two paths respectively beyond said rotary means, and circuitry including a bistable flip-flop actuable to a first stable condition by one of said light responsive units and to a second stable condition by the second light responsive unit and acting in one of said conditions to commence one of said pulses and in the second condition to terminate said pulse.

Claim 6

Road striping apparatus comprising means to be mounted on a vehicle and responsive to movement of said vehicle to produce a series of pulses; means for applying paint to a road as said vehicle moves therealong and adapted to be actuated intermittently between painting and nonpainting conditions to form a broken line on the road; and control means responsive to said pulses for actuating said paint applying means from one of said conditions to the other in accordance with the number of pulses produced by said first mentioned means, said first mentioned means including light source means for emitting light along two different paths, rotary means having opaque and light passing portions movable across said paths as said rotary means turn, two light responsive units positioned in said two paths respectively beyond said rotary means, and circuitry including a bistable flip-flop actuable to a first stable condition by one of said light responsive units and to a second stable condition by the second light responsive unit and acting in one of said conditions to commence one of said pulses and in the second condition to terminate said pulse.

Claim 7

Road striping apparatus comprising means to be mounted on a vehicle and responsive to movement of said vehicle to produce a series of pulses; means for applying paint to a road as said vehicle moves therealong and adapted to be actuated intermittently between painting and nonpainting conditions to form a broken line on the road; control means responsive to said pulses for actuating said paint applying means from one of said conditions to the other in accordance with the number of pulses produced by said first mentioned means, first manually actuated switch means, circuitry for adding extra pulses to said series of pulses from said first mentioned means in response to actuation of said first switch means, second switch means, and circuitry for subtracting pulses from said series of pulses in rEsponse to actuation of said second switch means, said control means including counter means for counting the number of pulses in said series of pulses as altered by actuation of said first and second switch means, fist manually settable selector switch means determining the count on said counter means at which said paint applying means are actuated to one of said conditions thereof, and second manually settable selector switch means controlling actuation of said paint applying means to its other condition.

Claim 8

Road striping apparatus comprising means to be mounted on a vehicle and responsive to movement of said vehicle to produce a series of pulses; means for applying paint to a road as said vehicle moves therealong and adapted to be actuated intermittently between painting and nonpainting conditions to form a broken line on the road; control means responsive to said pulses for actuating said paint applying means from one of said conditions to the other in accordance with the number of pulses produced by said first mentioned means, first manually actuated switch means, circuitry for adding extra pulses to said series of pulses from said first mentioned means in response to actuation of said first switch means, second switch means, and circuitry for subtracting pulses from said series of pulses in rEsponse to actuation of said second switch means, said control means including counter means for counting the number of pulses in said series of pulses as altered by actuation of said first and second switch means, fist manually settable selector switch means determining the count on said counter means at which said paint applying means are actuated to one of said conditions thereof, and second manually settable selector switch means controlling actuation of said paint applying means to its other condition.

Claim 9

Road striping apparatus as recited in claim 4, in which said first selector switch means turn said paint applying means off upon attainment of a predetermined count, and said second selector switch means clear the count from said counter means upon attainment of a second predetermined count, there being circuitry for commencing the application of paint by said paint applying means upon attainment of a predetermined low count on said counter means greater than zero.

Claim 10

Road striping apparatus as recited in claim 5, in which said pulse adding means include a flip-flop actuable by said first switch means to add a pulse to said series of pulses upon each operation of the first switch means, said pulse subtracting means including two additional counters, a comparator circuit responsive to a difference in count in said two additional counters to divert pulse produced by said first mentioned means from said counter means to one of said additional counters until said additional counters are in identical settings, and circuitry for adding a count to the other of said additional counters upon actuation of said second switch means.

Claim 11

Road striping apparatus comprising means to be mounted on a vehicle and responsive to movement of said vehicle to produce a series of pulses proportional in number to the distance traveled by the vehicle; means for applying paint to a road as said vehicle moves therealong and adapted to be actuated intermittently between painting and nonpainting conditions to form a broken line on the road; counter means for counting said series of pulses and actuable sequentially by said pulses to a series of predetermined different conditions representing different pulse counts; and circuitry for actuating said paint applying means from one of said conditions to the other in accordance with the attainment of a predetermined count on said counter means.

Claim 12

Road striping apparatus comprising means to be mounted on a vehicle and responsive to movement of said vehicle to produce a series of pulses proportional in number to the distance traveled by the vehicle; means for applying paint to a road as said vehicle moves therealong and adapted to be actuated intermittently between painting and nonpainting conditions to form a broken line on the road; counter means for counting said series of pulses and actuable sequentially by said pulses to a series of predetermined different conditions representing different pulse counts; and circuitry for actuating said paint applying means from one of said conditions to the other in accordance with the attainment of a predetermined count on said counter means.

Claim 13

Road striping apparatus as recited in claim 7, in which said first mentioned means include a rotary structure which is driven rotatively in correspondence with movement of said vehicle, and means responsive to said rotation of said structure to produce said series of pulses.

Claim 14

Road striping apparatus as recited in claim 7, in which said counter means have a series of output lines energizable selectively to represent the pulse count, said circuitry being responsive to a particular pattern of energization of said output lines to actuate said paint applying means from one of said conditions thereof to the other.

Claim 15

Road striping apparatus as recited in claim 7, in which said counter means have a series of output lines energizable differently to represent the count; said circuitry including selector switch means actuable to different settings in which said selector switch means are connected to said output lines in different patterns to set the apparatus for response to the attainment of different counts in said counter means, and means connected to said output lines of the counter means through said selector switch means and operable to actuate said paint applying means from one of said conditions thereof to the other upon attainment of a predetermined count represented by the setting of said selector switch means.

Claim 16

Road striping apparatus as recited in claim 7, in which said counter means have a series of output lines energizable differently to represent the count; said circuitry including first selector switch means actuable to different settings in which said selector switch means are connected to said output lines in different patterns to set the apparatus for response to the attainment of different counts in said counter means, means connected to said output lines of the counter means through said selector switch means and operable to actuate said paint applying means from one of said conditions thereof to the other upon attainment of a predetermined count represented by the setting of said selector switch means, second selector switch means actuable to different settings in which said second selector switch means are connected to said output lines from said counter means in different patterns, and means connected to said output lines through said second selector switch means and operable to control reverse actuation of said paint applying means from said other condition back to said one condition at a time dependent upon the setting of said second selector switch means.

Claim 17

Road striping apparatus as recited in claim 7, in which said circuitry is operable to actuate said paint applying means to said painting and nonpainting conditions alternately and in accordance with the number of pulses produced by said first mentioned means to form said broken line on the road.

Claim 18

Road striping apparatus as recited in claim 7, in which said counter means have a series of output lines energizable in different patterns to represent a count, said circuitry including means responsive to signals on said output lines to alternately commence and halt operation of said paint applying means in response to different numbers of said pulses respectively.

Claim 19

Road striping apparatus as recited in claim 7, including means for injecting added pulses into said series of pulses beyond the number produced by said first mentioned means as a result of movement of the vehicle, to thereby advance the point at which said paint applying means are actuated between said conditions thereof.

Claim 20

Road striping apparatus as recited in claim 7, including means for reducing the number of pulses in said series of pulses to a number less than that normally produced by said first mentioned means for a predetermined distance of travel of the vehicle, to thereby delay the point at which said paint applying means are actuated between said two conditions thereof.

Claim 21

Road striping apparatus as recited in claim 7, including manually controlled means for producing additional pulses beyond those produced by said first mentioned means, and circuitry for adding said additional pulses to said series of pulses produced by said first mentioned means in a relation advancing the point at which said paint applying means are actuated between said two conditions thereof.

Claim 22

Road striping apparatus as recited in claim 7, including a manually actuated switch, circuitry for producing an extra pulse upon each manual actuation of said switch, and circuitry for adding said extra pulse into said series of pulses from said first mentioned means in a relation shifting the point at which said paint applying means are actuated between said two conditions thereof.

Claim 23

Road striping apparatus as recited in claim 7, including first manually actuated switch means, circuitry for adding extra pulses to said series of pulses from the first mentioned means in response to actuation of said first switch means, second switch means, and circuitry for subtractung pulses from said series of pulses from the first mentioned means in response to actuation of said second switch means.

Claim 24

Road striping apparatus as recited in claim 7, including two additional pulse counters, a comparator circuit for comparing the output of said additional counters and operable to divert pulses produced by said first mentioned means from said counter means to a first of said additional counters when said additional counters are not in identical settings, and manually controlled means for delivering additional pulses to the second of said additional counters to actuate it to a different setting than said first additional counter and thereby require diveRsion of pulses from said counter means until said two additional counters are again at identical settings.

Claim 25

Road striping apparatus comprising means to be mounted on a vehicle and responsive to movement of said vehicle to produce a series of pulses proportional in number to the distance travelled by the vehicle; means for applying paint to a road as said vehicle moves therealong and adapted to be actuated intermittently between painting and nonpainting conditions to form a broken line on the road; counter means for counting said series of pulses and actuable sequentially by said pulses to a series of predetermined different conditions representing different pulse counts; control means settable to any of a plurality of different conditions corresponding to different pulse counts; and circuitry operable to compare the conditions of said counter means and said control means, and respond to the attainment of a predetermined count in said counter means corresponding to the setting of said control means, in a relation causing actuation of said paint applying means from one of said conditions thereof to the other at times varying in accordance with the setting of said control means.

Claim 26

Road striping apparatus comprising means to be mounted on a vehicle and responsive to movement of said vehicle to produce a series of pulses proportional in number to the distance travelled by the vehicle; means for applying paint to a road as said vehicle moves therealong and adapted to be actuated intermittently between painting and nonpainting conditions to form a broken line on the road; counter means for counting said series of pulses and actuable sequentially by said pulses to a series of predetermined different conditions representing different pulse counts; control means settable to any of a plurality of different conditions corresponding to different pulse counts; and circuitry operable to compare the conditions of said counter means and said control means, and respond to the attainment of a predetermined count in said counter means corresponding to the setting of said control means, in a relation causing actuation of said paint applying means from one of said conditions thereof to the other at times varying in accordance with the setting of said control means.

Claim 27

Road striping apparatus as recited in claim 20, including second control means settable independently of said first mentioned control means to any of a plurality of different conditions corresponding to different pulse counts; and circuitry operable to compare the conditions of said counter means and said second control means, and respond to the attainment of a predetermined count in said counter means corresponding to the setting of said second control means, in a relation causing actuation of said paint applying means from said other condition thereof back to said one condition at times varying in accordance with the setting of said second control means.

Claim 28

Road striping apparatus as recited in claim 21, in which said first mentioned control means and said second control means are two separate selector switch structures separately settable manually to conditions representing different pulse counts.