Patent 8.388.261 B1
Mark, Identify, and Secure Road Plates
Our Goal
Plate Locks, an American manufactured product, are a direct replacement to using cold patch asphalt or flush mounting the plate. They are intended to reduce costs, work zone accidents, injuries and contractor liabilities by consistently marking, identifying and securing road construction plates. Plate Locks safety orange colored road plate ramps are placed around the perimeter of the road plate and mechanically fastened to the roadway with concrete anchors.
This innovative product makes cold patch trench plate securing a thing of the past and reduces your liability while increasing public safety whenever there is a need to use steel road plates in pipeline, gas line, water line construction or any type of utility construction cuts in the road. Never have another sleepless night wondering if your trench plates have shifted, or walked again.
Plate Locks road plate ramps can be left in place when steel road plates are removed to allow work to be done in the trench or for inspections. When the work or inspection is done simply replace the steel plate. There is no need to re-install the Plate Locks road plate ramps. Compare that to needing to replace cold patch every time the road plate is moved and you quickly see you have a winning alternative to traditional methods of securing trench plates.
Plate Locks road plate ramps increase safety for utility contractors, motorists and cyclists while reducing liability. They are safety orange and can be clearly seen by motorists and cyclists, easily alerting them to the steel road plate in their driving lane. The orange wedge shaped road plate ramp design creates a safe transition over the road plate for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians thus eliminating accidents. The utility contractor will spend less than half the time in the road installing Plate Locks road plate ramps than using other methods like cold patch, flush mounting or pinning plates. This has been said so many times…
Plate Locks road plate ramps pay for themselves the first time they’re used and will save you a lot of money in labor costs because they can be installed or removed in a fraction of the time it takes a crew to throw down or remove cold patch. And the best news is you can use them over and over again!
Road Plate Securing Methods
Cold Mix
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Relies on adhesion to secure the plate often resulting in shifting walking plates.
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Must be replaced every time the plate is moved for work, inspections, or unintentional movement.
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Was never intended to be a road plate securing device.
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Does not mark or identify the road plate. No early warning for motorists or cyclists as color matches roadway.
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Stockpiles of cold mix must be covered as the run-off must not enter a storm drain.
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Labor intensive to install and remove.
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Overall a significant risk of liability claims from shredded tires, cars in trench, trips, slips and falls.
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Consistently marks, identifies and secures. No disposal of hazardous materials.
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Eliminates shifting, walking and creeping of plate. Low maintenance.
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Does not need to be removed to allow for work or inspections to be done.
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Safety orange, re-usable, recyclable, cost effective. No clean-up and easy to transport.
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Keeps multiple plates aligned and removes gaps that a cyclist’s tire can fall through.
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Have a higher and lower working temperature than cold mix.
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Overall a significant risk elimination of general liability claims from shredded tires, cars in trench, trips, slips, and falls.
Flush Mount
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Must schedule in advance of job to make sure milling is complete before work begins.
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Cost prohibitive. Cold mix must still be used to fill gaps between plate and milled edge.
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Does not mark or identify the road plate. No early warning for motorists or cyclists as color matches roadway.
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Stockpiles of cold mix must be covered as the run-off must not enter a storm drain.
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Labor intensive to install and remove.
Plate Locks
Anchor Driver Socket
The Anchor Drive Socket is a socket on one end and a SDS Plus insert shaft on the opposite end. The tool allows a worker to drill a hole in concrete or asphalt and also drive an anchor using the same SDS Plus drill where before two tools would be needed, one to drill the pilot hole and another separate tool to drive the anchor.
Cost Comparison
Inspections and Continued Work
If a plate needs to be pulled Plate Locks can stay in place while work or inspections are being done. Then the road plate can be placed back into its frame at the end of the day. This not only saves money in cold mix material costs, but labor costs as well.
Environmentally Friendly
Plate Locks can be used over and over again and can be recycled once they’ve reached the end of their life cycle. Every ton of cold patch can contain up to 7 gallons of petroleum. One gallon of petroleum can pollute one million gallons of water, so for each ton of cold patch used there is potentially 7 million gallons of water being polluted.