MARKING APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR CREATING AN ELECTRONIC RECORD OF MARKING APPARATUS OPERATIONS
First Claim
1. A marking apparatus to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area, comprising:
- a housing configured to enable dispensing of a marker onto the ground for marking the presence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area;
a marking dispenser holder affixed to the housing to hold a replaceable marking dispenser;
an actuator to enable a user to cause dispensing of the marker from the marking dispenser onto the ground to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility in the dig area; and
a processing device to log one or more data elements associated with operation of the marking apparatus in an electronic record of marking apparatus operation.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A marking system may hold a container from which markers are dispensed to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area. The container may identify a marker characteristic regarding the markers in the container. The marking system may receive activation of a trigger, dispense a marker from the container when the trigger is activated, and store the marker characteristic and time data when the trigger is activated. In other embodiments, the marking system may dispense a marker, determine location data and/or time data, and substantially simultaneously trigger the dispensing of the marker and logging of the location data and/or the time data. The location data identifies a geographic location where the marker is dispensed and the time data identifies the time when the marker is dispensed.
247 Citations
46 Claims
-
1. A marking apparatus to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area, comprising:
-
a housing configured to enable dispensing of a marker onto the ground for marking the presence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area; a marking dispenser holder affixed to the housing to hold a replaceable marking dispenser; an actuator to enable a user to cause dispensing of the marker from the marking dispenser onto the ground to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility in the dig area; and a processing device to log one or more data elements associated with operation of the marking apparatus in an electronic record of marking apparatus operation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
-
24. A method for operating a marking apparatus that holds a marking dispenser for marking the presence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area, comprising:
-
operating the marking apparatus in association with dispensing a marker from the marking dispenser onto the ground in the dig area to mark the presence or absence of the underground facility; and logging one or more data elements associated with the operation of the marking apparatus, using a processing device, in an electronic record of marking apparatus operation. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
-
Specification