The Hot-Melt Plastic Stripe as a Pavement Marking Material
By Charles J. Keese
(Excerpted from Bulletin No. 130, Texas Highway Department, March 1953)
“PAINT IS THE STRIPING MATERIAL FOR THOUSANDS OF MILES OF STREETS AND HIGHWAYS. However, its resistance to wear and weathering is so poor, that frequent maintenance of stripes is necessary. Such maintenance is costly.
Recent experimentation has produced an easily applied plastic road marking material of good durability.
It is rosin-alkyd resin which can be compounded in either white or yellow color and applied to pavement in hot-melt form. Preliminary tests have indicated a service life of several times that of standard paints on both asphalt and concrete pavements.
Highway technologists have expressed such keen interest in the material that specifications are being made available in this publication. Trade names are mentioned only as necessary to identify ingredients.
It is hoped such information shall be useful in providing greater serviceability from our streets and highways while at the same time reducing striping maintenance costs.”
A forerunner of today's automated striping machinery, the hand-powered machine was used for laying the hot-melt plastic paint stripe. It consisted of a tricycle cart, gasoline heating unit, oil-bath kettle, metal screed box (held firmly to the pavement by springs) and a wooden attachment for applying reflectorizing beads.
The thermoplastic pavement striper was invented at the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) in the early 1950s. Jack Keese and his research team employed an innovative use of sulphur and heat with the paint.
