Vehicle detection apparatus
First Claim
1. Apparatus for closing an electrical circuit during application of force by a vehicle tire or the like, comprising a relatively thin, narrow and elongated contact member having a flexibility which tends to preserve a substantially flat condition thereof following its bending transverse to its direction of elongation, substantially rigid holder means having an elongated open-topped shallow channel therein, said contact member being fitted within said channel with long edges of said member confined against lateral movement thereby, said contact member having electrically-conductive lower surfaces disposed opposite substantially flat electrically-conductive upper surfaces within said channel, thin and narrow elongated spacer means under the long margins of said contact member and confined to the marginal areas thereof, said spacer means normally maintaining a relatively minute spacing between said electrically-conductive surfaces while permitting said lower surfaces to be deflected into non-wiping broad-area engagement with said upper surfaces upon application of force to the top of said contact member, substantially yieldable means padding the areas above said top of said contact member and transmitting forces applied thereto to said contact member, said yieldable means being in continguous unbonded relationship with said top of said contact member, and means making separate electrical connections with said electrically-conductive surfaces.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Vehicle-detection apparatus, for installation at highway toll-booth, parking-area, and like sites, includes elongated thin-strip electrical switching sensors disposed near a road surface and oriented transversely to traffic directions, for responses to tire-transmitted loadings, the switching sensors each being in the form of a pair of narrow highly-elongated flat conductive strips, at least the upper one of which is springy and both of which are cartridged in a minutely-spaced substantially parallel relationship within a shallow open-topped flat-bottomed rigid channel member, the minute spacing being maintained by plastic insulating tape sandwiched between the strips only near their edges; the plural sensors are cast into a tough but somewhat flexible plastic mass in side-by-side relationship atop a stiff backing plate, with the upper strip being parted from the mass by a thin plastic sheathing, and the top surface of the cast assembly is rendered non-skidding by way of abrasive particle embedments.
29 Citations
9 Claims
- 1. Apparatus for closing an electrical circuit during application of force by a vehicle tire or the like, comprising a relatively thin, narrow and elongated contact member having a flexibility which tends to preserve a substantially flat condition thereof following its bending transverse to its direction of elongation, substantially rigid holder means having an elongated open-topped shallow channel therein, said contact member being fitted within said channel with long edges of said member confined against lateral movement thereby, said contact member having electrically-conductive lower surfaces disposed opposite substantially flat electrically-conductive upper surfaces within said channel, thin and narrow elongated spacer means under the long margins of said contact member and confined to the marginal areas thereof, said spacer means normally maintaining a relatively minute spacing between said electrically-conductive surfaces while permitting said lower surfaces to be deflected into non-wiping broad-area engagement with said upper surfaces upon application of force to the top of said contact member, substantially yieldable means padding the areas above said top of said contact member and transmitting forces applied thereto to said contact member, said yieldable means being in continguous unbonded relationship with said top of said contact member, and means making separate electrical connections with said electrically-conductive surfaces.
- 7. Vehicle detection apparatus, comprising a plurality of like electrical switching sensor sub-assemblies each of shallow, narrow and highly-elongated form, a substantially rigid baseplate, asaid sensor sub-assemblies being mounted alongside one another in parallel relationship on said baseplate, each of said sensor sub-assemblies including a narrow, shallow and highly-elongated open-topped channel member, a relatively thin and narrow highly-elongated contact member of electrically-conductive material having a flexibility which tends to preserve a normally substantially flat condition thereof following its bending transverse to its direction of elongation, said contact member being fitted within said channel member with long edges of said member confined against lateral movement thereby, said contact member having its lower surfaces disposed opposite substantially flat electrically-conductive upper surfaces within said channel, and relatively thin and narrow elongated spacer means under the long margins of said contact member and confined to the marginal areas thereof, said spacer means normally maintaining a relatively minute spacing between said lower and upper surfaces while permitting said contact member to be deflected downwardly for non-wiping broad-area engagement of its lower surfaces with said upper surfaces upon application of force to the top of said contact member, and a substantially yieldable mass of material molded over said baseplace and all of said sensor sub-assemblies said yieldable mass being in contiguous unbonded relationship with the tops of all of the said contact members, means making separate electrical connection with the contact member and electrically-conductive surfaces of each of said sub-assemblies, and means for mounting the molded assembly of said baseplate and sensor sub-assemblies along a traffice lane for crossings of said yieldable mass by tires of vehicles travelling in direction transverse to said direction of elongation, whereby forces applied to said yieldable mass by vehicle tires are transmitted to the tops of said contact members and deflect said contact members transversely to said direction of elongation and into said non-wiping broad-area engagement.
Specification