Cats eyes

[curiosity]

Someone once told me that "cats eyes" in the road are pushed down when driven over and are cleaned with a jet of water or brushes during this process. The other night my family said this is a load of rubbish and they are cleaned by rain & rain alone. Anyone know anything about them?

[stanleyman]

The original cats eyes did as you say and are cleaned by brushes and stored rainwater.

http://www.design-technology.info/inventors/page14.htm

[Toureman]

Stanleyman as always is right, now go and tell your family they are talking rubbish!

[snook]

Great invention, saved countless lives. I remember seeing a documentary on the inverntor, Percy Shaw, who was a very likeable bloke and had hardly any furniture in his house, only the bare essentials, but had mates round more or less every night for a drink and a bag of crisps - I can still 'see' them sitting round crates fo brown ale, laughing and joking. Seemed very happy with life. Didn't do anything flash with the millions he made from the invention, but enjoyed it in a very quiet, modest way. The only thing I recall he spent a lot of money on was his kitchen - he loved to cook and had his kitchen fitted out professionally (oh, and he had a Rolls Royce!).

[curiosity]

Thanks everyone! the link didn't work for me Stanleyman maybe cos I use firfox, anyway, you say the original ones, does that mean that the ones now arn't?
Thanks again

[kempie]

That link again without the extraneous </p>.

[stevie21]

curiosity - it's AB's strangeness that added something to the end of the link that stopped it from working.

Try this instead:
http://www.design-technology.info/inventors/page14.htm

[curiosity]

Haven't seen the "red" intelligent cats eyes yet or even heard of them, are they already on some roads?

[gary baldy]

Yes ive seen the 'self lit' catseyes at various test sites throughout the country. Only very short sections , usually at junctions. They are very visible and very effective. There are prototypes where they can change colour depending on various weather conditions but i dont know if there have actually been any fitted on any roads. There are very specific laws about what colour lights can be displayed on vehicles and i'm supposing those laws will have to revised to allow for these new blue/ green/ red / amber etc etc lights to be fitted.

[stanleyman]

I'm always having trouble with links, what did you do Stevie? There are intelligent cats eyes on a new section of the A12 at Witham.

[sddsddean]

Tabathazig - it depends what sort of road you mean and what white lines are in force.

On a dual c'way, lane lines are 2m stripe, 7m gap (7 & 2's). Usually a stud (industry name for a cats eye) is at every other gap (18m c/c), unless the area is prone to fog in which case it is every gap (9m c/c). Edge studs follow the same pattern as lane studs. Green studs at slip road entrance/exit are at 3m c/c.

Single c'ways can have 7 & 2's, 6 & 3's, 4 & 2's or 3 & 6's (according to whether the road is a hazard or not, eg bends, junctions). Studs are normally placed in every other gap. If a solid or double solid white centre line is used, spacing is either 2m c/c or 1m c/c.

Studs should not be used when there is street lighting (except for on motorways).

So, as you can see, it is very hard to answer your question!

[stevie21]

stanleyman - I now see kempie beat me to it but sometimes if you press enter after pasting in a link, AB will add html code to your link.
If you want to be able to insert a word (as kempie has) as a clickable link, have a look over there > > >
http://www.stevie21.com/AB/links.html

[stanleyman]

Thanks Stevie that's brilliant, easy when you know how!

[markja]

i just drove over my cat and he ain't cleaning his eyes. well he ain't cleaning anything now.

the 'old catseyes where two round reflectors each side in a rubbery casing that squashed down when run over. modern ones are more rigid,lower profile and have a single large reflector each side. i don't belive these self clean though. and i'm not gonna stand on the m1 and check.