Cats Eye
The cat's eye is a retroreflective safety device used in road construction and was the first of a range of raised pavement markers. It originated from the UK in 1933 and is used all over the world. more...
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It consists (in its original form) of two pairs of reflective glass spheres set into a white rubber dome, mounted in a cast iron housing. This is the kind that marks the centre of the road, with one pair of cat's eye showing in each direction. A single-ended form has become widely used in other colours at road margins and as lane dividers. Cat's eyes are particularly valuable in fog and have proven to be remarkably resistant to snow plough damage.
A key feature of the cat's eye is the flexible rubber dome which is occasionally deformed by the passage of traffic. A fixed rubber wiper cleans the surface of the reflectors as they sink below the surface of the road (the base tends to hold water after a shower of rain, making this process even more efficient). The rubber dome is protected from impact damage by metal 'kerbs' - which also give tactile and audible feedback for wandering drivers.
The inventor of cat's eyes was Percy Shaw of Halifax, Yorkshire in England. When the tram-lines were removed in the nearby town of Bradford he realized that he'd been using the polished strips of steel to navigate. The name "cat's eye" comes from Shaw's inspiration for the device: the eyeshine reflecting from the eyes of a cat. In 1934, he patented his invention (patent No. 436,290 and 457,536), and on March 15, 1935, founded Reflecting Roadstuds Limited in Halifax to manufacture the items. The name Catseye was their trademark.
Development and value
The blackouts of World War II (1939-1945) and the shuttered car head-lights then in use demonstrated the value of Shaw's invention and helped popularise their mass use in the UK. After the war, they received firm backing from a Ministry of Transport committee led by James Callaghan and Sir Arthur Young. Eventually, their use spread all over the world.
James May, co-presenter of the UK automobile TV show Top Gear said this of this device: "The Catseye is what great design is all about. Simple, functional, and beautiful. And on top of that, this little block of iron and rubber has probably done more to save lives on the road than anything since."
Local practice
United Kingdom
White cat's eyes are used for the centre of a road on many roads which lack street lighting but are subject to high speeds or high volumes of traffic. They are also used for lane markings, soft traffic islands and on "double-white lines" where no overtaking is permitted. Red cat's eyes are placed along the hard shoulder of a motorway or sometimes dual carriageways, and orange cat's eyes are placed along the edge of the central reservation (median). Green cat's eyes denote joining or leaving slip roads at junctions, alternate red and green indicate intersections of motorways and blue cat's eyes are used for police slip roads.
Read more at Wikipedia.org
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