Percy Shaw / Designing Modern Britain - Design Museum

Percy Shaw / Designing Modern Britain - Design Museum

The elegantly designed, durable, self-wiping Catseye road reflector: "Shaw's eventual design consisted of four glass beads placed in two pairs facing in opposite directions, embedded within a flexible rubber moulding which was mounted on a cast iron base. The device was buried in the road and fixed in position with asphalt. When vehicles drove over the dome the rubber contracted and the glass beads dropped safely beneath the road surface. Aiming for minimal maintenance, Shaw even devised a way for his Catseyes to clean themselves. The cast iron base collected rain water and whenever the top of the dome was depressed, the rubber would wash rainwater across the glass beads to clear away any dust or grime that had gathered there, just as the human eye can be cleansed by tears."