Traffic cone pickup tool - GIF

[Jon]

Traffic cone pickup tool. Not even sure if this is a cone depositing tool, and the GIF is backwards.



Previously:

Traffic camera monitor on back of truck - GIF
Thermoplastic road marking
Road shoulder grader - video

[PJs]

It might be possible to make it work for laying as well as pickup...it is a bit odd of a Gif.

[Jon]

Reversed:



Still not sure, about the GIF or the tool. Can anyone see a physical impossibility in the frontwards or backwards GIFs, to indicate which direction is the correct one? A telltale effect of wind or gravity or something? Or maybe, regardless of which was the original direction, the tool can do both? That's actually a perfectly reasonable dual function for such a tool.

[mklotz]

I find it a bit difficult to believe they pick up the cones by driving backwards.

Both the rotating cone mechanism and the lay down/stand up thing could be moved to the other side of the truck and their operation reversed so that the truck could pick up cones by driving forwards.

[Jon]

I think maybe it's reversed? The cones seem to fly up into his hands too cleanly. Besides the GIF, I don't know how to reconcile the backwards cone pickup trucks. It does seem impractical per mklotz's point. Unsafe too. I did find this YT comment:

"Reversing is for safety reasons. If the lane dissapears from the front motorists can enter it and then collide with the machine. If it does it in reverse motorists can enter the now free lane in front of the truck at any time."

[PJs]

The logic of reversing to pick up seems plausible to me for the reasons stated.

It's funny to me that these two videos show them doing cone placement in rural areas, perhaps they are test runs? As for safety/injury reduction perhaps? But these rigs have to be in the $300k range + maintenance, storage, and dispatch, I would guess. That long 4 cone machine is interesting but it must be like driving a train or an XKE Jag...doesn't go around corners very well and has to have an even higher price tag but may be able to uncouple from the driving rig? However watching the cones being knocked over by it, I noticed them scraping and rocked to the side, eventually to reach a flat to be able to be picked up. On shorter distances between cones this might be an issue that would require stopping and someone getting it righted so the picker could grab the flats, before proceeding.

In high traffic areas like the Golden Gate bridge or the 101 or 405 here in Cal, I could see these doing good work safely. With the help of Peabody I remember way back when traffic was diverted on the bridge during peak hours by 2 guys in the back of a stake bed for cone placement and then later with the pin/post type barriers in a more modern truck. Now I think they have some pick and place machine which IS a lot safer with people texting and talking on C-phones.

Yet just the other day some Person plowed into the back of a Cal Trans dump type truck and killed himself in the process (Cal Trans Guy was OK), somewhere down in the East Bay on a freeway. Mainly Big News, short cycle time because it stopped traffic for hours and hours.

[Jon]

Traffic cone righting, a la millennial:

[PJs]

Who says millennial's aren't learning physics and vectors forces...they just aren't necessarily applying them to something useful. Unless viral videos make them a guest appearance on Ellen is considered useful. Nice setup and execution though.

[Paul Alciatore]

Amazing how it looks when you run a video backwards.

Traffic cone righting, a la millennial:

<video controls autoplay loop>
<source src="https://diqn32j8nouaz.cloudfront.net/bmx_trick_traffic_cone_uprighting.mp4" type="video/mp4">
Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>

[Jon]

Sweeping cones (that's what you call those big ones too, right?) instead of picking them up.