Cats Eyes Road Inventor

Natures inventiveness often inspires human innovation as in the well-known case of hook-and-loop fasteners.

Cats eyes road inventor. Eventually cats eye reflector was caught. Inventor of Cats Eyes Speaker. Fascinating 1960s documentary on Yorkshire eccentric Percy Shaw - the inventor of Cats Eyes.

He is best known for inventing the cats eye the reflective block that is set into roads to make it easier for motorists to identify the division between lanes and the edges of the roads at night. The Cats Eye was invented in 1934 by Yorkshireman Percy Shaw and has no doubt saved thousands of lives on the roads over the years. He patented the reflective road stud or cats eye in 1934 and set up a company to manufacture his invention in 1935.

In 1934 he patented his invention patent No. Swiss engineer George de Mestrel turned a hiking annoyance burrs. The light reflecting from the eyes of a cat.

On a foggy Yorkshire night 85 years ago the shine of a cats eyes was his Eureka moment Percy Shaw inventor of the cats eye road safety device outside his factory in Boothtown Halifax. When the device is driven over the rubber dome simply sinks down below the surface of the road. Enabling vehicles to travel in the dark the fog and during the blackout of World War II whilst helping to save numerous lives on the UKs roads the invention of the cats eye is credited to Percy Shaw.

Many inventors don t patent their ideas because they don t know how or think it is too expensive so they lose this option. The name cats eye comes from Shaws inspiration for the device. The inventor of cats eyes was Percy Shaw of Boothtown Halifax West Yorkshire.

In 1934 he developed the reflective cats eye to help drivers follow the road in darkness or fog. Cats eyes are now set in rubber domes that are mounted in an iron housing. This simple invention is still in use today and with more and more traffic on the roads is more important than ever in defining where the centre of a road is.