AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF FOUR METHODS OF REFLECTORIZING RAILWAY BOXCARS
A PREVIOUS STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVE USE OF REFLECTORIZED MATERIALS ON RAILWAY BOXCARS CONCLUDED THAT: (1) THE LARGER THE PATCHES OF REFLECTORIZED MATERIAL USED, THE LOWER THE LEVEL OF ILLUMINATION NEEDED, AND (2) LARGER CONCENTRATIONS OF A GIVEN AMOUNT OF REFLECTORIZED MATERIALS ARE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN SMALLER ONES. THIS INVESTIGATION WAS SET UP WITH THE FOLLOWING HYPOTHESIS: FOR A GIVEN AMOUNT OF REFLECTORIZED MATERIAL AN OPTIMAL UTILIZATION OF THIS MATERIAL MUST EXIST. TESTS WERE CONDUCTED BY GIVING EACH SUBJECT TEN TRIALS ON EACH OF FOUR BELTS, ALL HAVING THE SAME AMOUNT OF REFLECTORIZED MATERIAL ON THE SIDE OF THE CARS. FORTY SUBJECTS WERE USED TO DETERMINE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF BELTS REFLECTORIZED IN DIFFERENT WAYS TO REPRESENT MINIATURE SCALE-SIZE TRAINS. BELT NO. 1 SEEMED TO BE INFERIOR, PARTLY BECAUSE THE RETINAL IMAGE LAG TENDS TO PRODUCE THE EFFECT OF A LINE WHICH COULD NOT BE DISTINGUISHED AS MOVING ACROSS A SPACE WITHIN THE CRITICAL ANGLE OF INSTANT LIGHT FALLING ON THE SIDE OF A TRAIN. THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE OTHER BELTS WERE NOT SUBSTANTIAL NARROWING DOWN THE PROBLEM TO THE POSSIBILITIES OF 1, 2 OR 3 PATCHES OF REFLECTORIZATION ON THE SIDE OF EACH CAR. FURTHER STUDIES ARE BEING MADE OF THE RELATIVE EFFECT OF VERTICAL STRIPES AND SQUARE PATCHES OF EQUAL DIMENSIONS.
- Record URL:
-
Supplemental Notes:
- No 146, pp 45-50, 3 FIG, 3 TAB, 7 REF Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
-
Authors:
- Lauer, A R
- SUHR, V W
- Publication Date: 1957
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Pagination: 6p
- Monograph Title: Night visibility, 1956
-
Serial:
- Highway Research Board Bulletin
- Issue Number: 146
- Publisher: Highway Research Board
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Freight cars; Optimization; Railroads; Reflectorized materials
- Uncontrolled Terms: Patterns
- Subject Areas: Highways; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00220432
- Record Type: Publication
- Files: TRIS, TRB
- Created Date: Jul 7 1994 12:00AM