Witches Hat

The humble traffic cones were invented in 1940 by American Charles D. Scanlon. He sourced the idea for the cone while working as a painter for the Street Painting Department of the City of Los Angeles. The patent for his invention was granted in 1943.
The first traffic cones used in the United Kingdom occurred in 1958, when the M6 motorway opened. These traffic cones were a substitute for the once famous red lantern paraffin burners being used during construction on the Preston Bypass.
Although originally made of concrete, today's versions are more commonly brightly colored thermoplastic or rubber cones. Recycled PVCs from bottles can be used to create modern traffic cones.In 1961, David Morgan of Burford, Oxfordshire, UK believes that he constructed the first experimental plastic traffic cones, which replaced pyramid-shaped wooden ones previously used. Not all traffic cones are conical. Pillar-shaped movable bollards fulfill a similar function.