Environmentally protected outdoor devices
AssigneesScott Jay Lewin, Stanley Kotler, Alan H. Kepke
InventorScott J. Lewin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An improved protective coating, for parking meters or other equipment that is subject to environmental deterioration and/or vandalism, having thereon at least a three layer coating of a composite thickness sufficiently thick to avoid pinholes and sufficiently thin to avoid crazing and cracking due to variations in the ambient environment. The coating has a conventional lower layer of zinc on or proximate to the equipment surface (in the alternative the substrate may be a zinc part); a second layer of a thermosetting polymer that has been applied by a powder coating electrostatic method, and a third, top, coating of an epoxysiloxane polymer. The total coating thickness should preferably not exceed about 6 mils.
Claims13
A structure, intended for disposition in ambient atmosphere, comprising:
- at least one part having a substrate comprising an oxidizable ferrous metal surface that is subject to deterioration upon exposure to ambient atmosphere,
- A. a first coating comprising zinc disposed on and adhered to at least a portion of said oxidizable ferrous metal surface,
- B. a second coating directly covering at least a portion of said first coating and adhered thereto, wherein said second coating comprises a thermosetting polymer that has been applied by,
- coating at least a portion of said first coating with a powder comprising a composition that is convertible, by the application of heat, into said thermosetting second coating;
- subjecting said powder and said substrate to electrostatic charging with opposite d.c. voltage polarities;
- and
- heating the powder while under the influence of said electrostatic charging to an extent sufficient to melt said powder and cause it to spread over a desired area of said first coating and to cure said melted powder material to convert it to a thermosetting polymer that is adherent to said first coating;
- and
- C. a third coating directly covering at least a portion of said second coating and adhered thereto, wherein said third coating comprises an epoxysiloxane polymer.
A housing of a parking meter or other token, credit card, or wireless electronic signal accepting structure, subject to abuse and adverse environmental effects, the housing comprising:
- at least one part having an exposed zinc surface;
- a coating of electrically insulating organic non-epoxy thermosetting polymer directly covering and adhered to at least a portion of the zinc surface;
- and
- a top coating comprising an epoxysiloxane polymer, wherein said epoxysiloxane polymer substantially covers, and is adhered to, said thermosetting polymer coating.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.