Eventually, their use spread all over the world. After the war, they received firm backing from a Ministry of Transport committee led by James Callaghan and Sir Arthur Young. The blackouts of World War II (1939вЂ“1945) and the shuttered car headlights then in use demonstrated the value of Shaw's invention and helped popularise their mass use in the UK. The retroreflecting lens had been invented six years earlier for use in advertising signs by Richard Hollins Murray, an accountant from Herefordshire and, as Shaw acknowledged, they had contributed to his idea. 436,290 and 457,536), and on 15 March 1935, founded Reflecting Roadstuds Limited in Halifax to manufacture the items. In 1934, he patented his invention (patents Nos. The name 'cat's eye' comes from Shaw's inspiration for the device: the eyeshine reflecting from the eyes of a cat. When the tram-lines were removed in the nearby suburb of Ambler Thorn, he realised that he had been using the polished steel rails to navigate at night. The inventor of cat's eyes was Percy Shaw of Boothtown, Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. The rubber dome is protected from impact damage by metal 'kerbs' вЂ“ which also give tactile and audible feedback for wandering drivers.Дouble-ended cat's eye is Shaw's original design and marks road centre-line A fixed rubber wiper cleans the surface of the reflectors as they sink below the surface of the road (the base tends to hold water after a shower of rain, making this process even more efficient). Cat's eyes are particularly valuable in fog and are largely resistant to damage from snow ploughs.ДЄ key feature of the cat's eye is the flexible rubber dome which is occasionally deformed by the passage of traffic. A single-ended form has become widely used in other colours at road margins and as lane dividers. This is the kind that marks the centre of the road, with one pair of cat's eyes showing in each direction.

The original form consisted of two pairs of retroreflectors set into a white rubber dome, mounted in a cast iron housing. The cat's eye design originated in the UK in 1934 and is today used all over the world. Cat's eye glass body and principle of operation back (left) face is mirror-coated

White cateye