Pultruded fiber reinforced plastic marking devices

Claim 1

A pultruded fiber reinforced marking device of fiber reinforcement material embedded in a cured plastic resin matrix of a formulation including unsaturated polyester resin, characterized in that (a) unidirectional reinforcement material comprises about 30% to 60% of the total weight of the marking device, (b) bidirectional reinforcement material, multidirectional reinforcement material, or a combination thereof, comprises about 0.5% to 15% of the total weight of the marking device, and (c) the resin matrix comprises the balance by weight of the marking device and includes (1) polyester resin, and (2) finely-divided cellulose solid particulates in an amount providing a formulation for the resin matrix having a viscosity in the range of about 1,000 to 5,000 centipoises at an ambient temperature of 70° F. prior to being cured.

Claim 18

A method for pultruding a fiber reinforced plastic marking device including fiber reinforcement material embedded in a cured plastic resin matrix with pultrusion apparatus of the type including a resin bath, a die having an internal cavity in the shape of the device, and pulling means for pulling the cured device through the apparatus, characterized as including the steps of (1) supplying a formulation for the resin matrix to the resin bath including unsaturated polyester resin and about 2% to 25% by weight of the formulation of cellulose solid particulates having an average particle size of about 20 microns to 100 microns; (2) pulling unidirectional reinforcement material through the resin bath to become impregnated with the resin formulation in a quantity sufficient to provide about 30% to 60% by weight thereof in the cured marking device; (3) pulling bidirectional or multidirectional reinforcement material through the resin bath to become impregnated with the resin formulation in a quantity sufficient to provide about 0.5% to 15% thereof in the cured marking device; (4) pulling the reinforcement materials through the die and heating the die to cure the resin formulation therein to form the cured resin matrix; and (5) pulling a continuous length of the cured marking device from the die and defining individual marking devices therefrom.

Claim 19

A method for pultruding a fiber reinforced plastic marking device including fiber reinforcement material embedded in a cured plastic resin matrix with pultrusion apparatus of the type including a resin bath, a die having an internal cavity in the shape of the device, and pulling means for pulling the cured device through the apparatus, characterized as including the steps of (1) supplying a formulation for the resin matrix to the resin bath including unsaturated polyester resin and about 2% to 25% by weight of the formulation of cellulose solid particulates having an average particle size of about 20 microns to 100 microns; (2) pulling unidirectional reinforcement material through the resin bath to become impregnated with the resin formulation in a quantity sufficient to provide about 30% to 60% by weight thereof in the cured marking device; (3) pulling bidirectional or multidirectional reinforcement material through the resin bath to become impregnated with the resin formulation in a quantity sufficient to provide about 0.5% to 15% thereof in the cured marking device; (4) pulling the reinforcement materials through the die and heating the die to cure the resin formulation therein to form the cured resin matrix; and (5) pulling a continuous length of the cured marking device from the die and defining individual marking devices therefrom.