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A cat’s eye, also known as a road stud, is a retroreflective road marking device that was the first in a series of raised pavement marks.

The cat’s eye design was created in the United Kingdom in 1934 and is now widely used worldwide. Two pairs of retroreflectors were placed within a white rubber dome and fixed in a cast iron casing in the original design. This type indicates the road’s center, with one set of cat’s eyes facing each way. In addition to road margins and lane dividers, a single-ended version has become popular in different colors. Cat’s eyes are particularly useful in fog and are relatively resistant to snow plough damage.

The flexible rubber dome, periodically distorted by traffic, is a crucial component of the cat’s eye. As the reflectors drop below the road’s surface, a stationary rubber wiper cleans their surface (the base tends to hold water after a shower of rain, making this process even more efficient). Metal ‘kerbs’ prevent the rubber dome from collision damage while also providing tactile and auditory feedback to straying drivers.

Percy Shaw of Boothtown, Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, created cat’s eyes. He realized he had been utilizing the shiny steel rails to navigate at night after the tram lines in the adjacent suburb of Ambler Thorn were dismantled. Shaw’s inspiration for the gadget was the eyeshine reflecting from a cat’s eyes, hence the term “cat’s eye.”

He patented his idea in 1934 (patents Nos. 436,290 and 457,536) and formed Reflecting Roadstuds Limited in Halifax to manufacture the products on March 15, 1935. Their trademark is the term Catseye. Richard Hollins Murray, an accountant from Herefordshire, had created the retroreflecting lens six years prior for use in advertising signs, and they had contributed to Shaw’s concept, as Shaw recognized.

The blackouts of World War II (1939–1945) and the shuttered automobile headlights that were in use at the time proved the usefulness of Shaw’s invention and aided in their widespread adoption in the United Kingdom. After the war, they got strong support from a Ministry of Transport group chaired by James Callaghan and Sir Arthur Young. Their usage eventually expanded all across the world.

Catseye was named one of Britain’s top 10 design symbols in the BBC and Design Museum’s Great British Design Quest in 2006, with the Concorde, Mini, Supermarine Spitfire, K2 telephone box, World Wide Web, and AEC Routemaster bus.

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