Detachable base for road delineators

A deformable, detachable base for supporting and stabilizing an attached vertical sign or delineator member in upright orientation with respect to a ground or road surface to which the base may be affixed, said base comprising:

• a. a deformable, resilient, domed structure having an integrally formed (i) top, (ii) intermediate body wall and (iii) base attachment channel, said channel being formed of a resilient, elastic composition at the periphery of the body wall and including an inward channel wall forming one side of a channel enclosure and an outward channel wall coupled at its top to the inward channel wall forming another side of the channel enclosure and further including a flange attached at a lower part of the outward channel wall and projecting inward toward a central axis thereof to thereby form a third wall for the channel enclosure, said domed structure being configured about the central axis in the general shape of a dome;
• b. a rigid, flat base plate adapted near its periphery with a substantially vertically oriented lip adapted in size and configuration for removable attachment in a tight, contour fir within the three channel walls of the channel enclosure and being further adapted with means for attachment to the ground or other flat mounting surface;
• c. said domed structure including means at the top thereof for mounting a delineator or sign member, said mounting means providing a primary transfer path for stress occurring as a result of impact between a fast moving vehicle and the attached delineator or sign member wherein impact forces are transferred directly into the top of the dome and indirectly through the intermediate body wall into the base attachment channel, said indirect forces being operable to tighten the attachment of the base attachment channel at the base plate;
• d. said base attachment channel further providing for immediate detachment at the base plate by direct forces applied by lifting the outer wall of the channel to insert the lip of the base plate therein, yet being adapted at the same time to resist detachment from the base plate in response to the indirect forces applied to the channel through the domed structure wherein forces are distributed over the walls of the channel and where increased frictional contact with the base plate prevents release of the lip from the channel enclosure.