Pavement marking tape

• US 5,981,033 A
• Filed: 06/24/1997
• Issued: 11/09/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company (3M Company)
• Original Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company (3M Company)
• Inventors: Collins Harper, Roberta M., Hodson, Neil A., Harper, James H. C., Stump, Larry K., Haunschild, Dale H., Miller, Terrence W., Johnson, Warren J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Watkins, III, William P.
• Application Number:
  US08/881,208
• Time in Patent Office: 868 Days
• Field of Search: 428/143, 428/182, 428/181, 428/161, 428/162, 428/163, 428/149, 428/325, 404/14, 404/12
• US Class Current: 428/182
• CPC Class Codes: E01F 9/512 Preformed road surface markings, e.g. of sheet material; Methods of applying preformed markings
• CPC Class Codes: E01F 9/578 consisting of preformed elements, e.g. tapes, block-type elements specially designed or arranged to make up a traffic line E01F9/582, E01F9/588, E01F9/594 take precedence; studs, blocks or like markers per se E01F9/553
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/24372 Particulate matter
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/24421 Silicon containing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/24521 with component conforming to contour of nonplanar surface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/24529 and conforming component on an opposite nonplanar surface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/24537 Parallel ribs and/or grooves
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/24686 Pleats or otherwise parallel adjacent folds
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/24694 Parallel corrugations
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/252 Glass or ceramic [i.e., fired or glazed clay, cement, etc.] [porcelain, quartz, etc.]

Abstract

A pavement marking tape having a scrim, wherein the scrim is extensible to enable the tape to conform to irregularities in a road surface, and thereby bond more securely to that surface.

Claims

1. A pavement marking tape, comprising:

(a) a durable upper portion including a surface presented for observation by a viewer; and

(b) an extensible, corrugated scrim bonded to the underside of the upper portion.

2. The pavement marking tape of claim 1, wherein a layer of adhesive is bonded to the scrim so that the tape may be applied to the surface of a roadway.

3. The pavement marking tape of claim 1, wherein the upper portion includes a binder layer in which a layer of transparent beads is held, the beads adapted to retroreflect incident light.

4. The pavement marking tape of claim 3, wherein the binder layer includes urethane.

5. The pavement marking tape of claim 1, wherein the upper portion includes a conformable aluminum layer.

6. The pavement marking tape of claim 1, wherein the upper portion includes a pliant polymeric conformance layer.

7. The pavement marking tape of claim 6, wherein the polymeric conformance layer includes nitrile rubber.

8. The pavement marking tape of claim 1, wherein the corrugations are irregular.

9. The pavement marking tape of claim 8, wherein the corrugations are microcorrugations.

10. The pavement marking tape of claim 1, wherein the scrim is a nonwoven blown microfiber web.

11. The pavement marking tape of claim 1, wherein the scrim further includes a plurality of reinforcing fibers having a larger diameter than fibers making up the remainder of the scrim.

12. The pavement marking tape of claim 11, wherein the scrim includes a set of substantially longitudinal reinforcing fibers and a set of substantially transverse reinforcing fibers.

13. The pavement marking tape of claim 1, wherein the tape comprises sequential layers of glass beads, a urethane layer, an extensible scrim, and an adhesive for bonding the tape to a surface.

14. A pavement marking tape, comprising:

(a) a durable upper portion including a surface presented for observation by a viewer;

(b) a scrim bonded to the underside of the upper portion; and

(c) corrugations formed in the scrim for providing additional scrim material to inelastically wrap irregularities in a surface to which the tape is applied.

15. A method of making a pavement marking tape, comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a durable upper portion including a surface presented for observation by a viewer;

(b) providing an extensible, corrugated scrim; and

(c) bonding the extensible scrim to the upper portion.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein step (b) further comprises the step of providing microcorrugations in the scrim.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein step (b) further comprises providing corrugations in an extensible nonwoven web.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the nonwoven web is melt blown or spun bonded.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the method includes a step (d) comprising saturating the extensible scrim with adhesive.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the method comprises the steps of saturating the scrim with urethane, applying adhesive to one side of the scrim, and applying glass beads to the other side of the scrim.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein step (b) comprises providing a netting including reinforcing fibers, and bonding fibers to at least one side of the netting to provide a scrim.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of bonding fibers to at least one side of the netting includes laminating a web of nonwoven polymeric fibers to the netting.