CA2306607A1

CA2306607A1 - Apparatus for spreading granular material in particular for the treatment of roads

Info

Publication number: CA2306607A1
Application number: CA002306607A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Rene Pradines
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1999-04-27
Filing date: 2000-04-26
Publication date: 2000-10-27
Also published as: EP1048786B1; DE60016827T2; DE60016827D1; ATE285494T1; PL339962A1; FR2792956B1; EP1048786A1; FR2792956A1

Abstract

Apparatus for spreading a granular material comprises a distributor designed to be secured at the rear of a hopper of a truck or the like and a charger for feeding the distributor with the material contained in the hopper. The charger comprises a flexible belt designed to rest on a substantially horizontal floor of the hopper and to support the material, a roller mechanism arranged at the rear of the hopper and connected to a rear end of the belt, a cable mechanism connected to a front end of the belt, operation of the roller mechanism and the cable mechanism being co-ordinated so that the belt is either displaced towards the rear of the hopper under the action of the roller mechanism in order to feed the distributor or displaced towards the front of the hopper under the action of the cable mechanism for the filling of the hopper.

Description

x CA 02306607 2000-04-26 APPARATUS FOR SPREADING GRANULAR MATERIAL
IN PARTICULAR FOR THE TREATMENT OF ROADS
The invention relates to the spreading of granular material, in particular for the treatment of roads.
It envisages in particular apparatus designed to spread granular materials of various natures either for the treatment of roads in winter (sanding, salting, etc...) or for the construction or repair of roads. Thus the granular materials to be considered comprise in particular salt, sand, gravel, etc...
Spreading apparatus is already known comprising a distributor designed to be mounted on the rear end of a hopper-type truck or the like and a funnel for feeding the distributor with the granular material contained in the hopper.
In the known apparatus of this type the distributor generally takes the form of a charging funnel which receives the granular material coming from the hopper, and which is itself provided with distributing means, in particular of the disk type, for dispensing the granular material in metered quantities onto the road under treatment.
The distributor is thus normally secured to the rear end of the chassis of the truck and the filling of the distributor takes place by arranging for the hopper to tip so as to cause the material to slide under gravity into the funnel of the distributor.
This known solution has a number of drawbacks. Initially there is the drawback that it is necessary to secure the distributor to the chassis of the truck. More importantly, it is necessary to use a tipper-type truck in order to provide for charging the distributor. Now the use of such a tipping hopper has the problem that when the hopper tips, the driver of the truck can no longer observe the operations of charging the distributor from his control point. In effect, the hopper obscures the driver's view.
The aim of the invention is in particular to overcome these drawbacks.
It envisages in particular the provision of spreading apparatus of the type defined above which can operate with a non-tipping hopper truck, in particular having a rail platform.
According to the invention, spreading apparatus for granular material comprises a distributor secured on the rear end of a hopper of a truck and a charger for feeding the distributor with granular material from the hopper in- which the charger comprises a flexible belt designed to rest on a substantially horizontal floor of the hopper and to support the material, a roller mechanism arranged at the rear of the hopper and connected to a rear end of the belt, a cable mechanism connected to a front end of the belt, and means for co-ordinating the roller mechanism and the cable mechanism in such a way that the belt is capable of being either displaced towards the rear of the hopper, under the action of the roller mechanism for the purpose of feeding the distributor, or displaced towards the front of the hopper under the action of the cable mechanism in order to charge the hopper.
Thus the charging of the distributor is achieved by a belt which moves along the substantially horizontal floor of the hopper, and which is designed to move the material towards the distributor without it being necessary to tilt the hopper.
The result is that the apparatus can easily be installed on a truck having a fixed hopper, or even a platform.

As a result, the driver of the truck can monitor and verify the operations of charging the distributor from his control point.
Furthermore this apparatus can easily be installed directly on the hopper of the truck and not on the truck chassis, in contrast to the known apparatus.
According to another feature of the invention the roller mechanism comprises a roller with its axis horizontal, around which the belt rolls up or unrolls, and driving means for driving the said roller about its axis in the direction for rolling up or in the direction for unrolling the belt.
Preferably this roller is carried by the distributor.
The cable mechanism preferably comprises two cables, each of which has a rear end attached to a driving pulley synchronised with the roller mechanism, passes around a return pulley at the front of the hopper, and has a front end secured to the front end of the belt.
Preferably the driving pulleys are mounted on the axis of rotation of the roller, whereas the cables roll around driving pulleys in the opposite sense with respect to the sense in which the belt rolls up around the roller, in such a way that the belt rolls up when the cables unroll and vice versa.
In order to obtain compensation, each of the driving pulleys preferably has a narrow groove designed to allow the cable to roll up in a spiral in such a way that the rolling-up of the belt over a given length corresponds to the unrolling of the cable of substantially equal length, and vice versa.
According to another feature of the invention the cable mechanism has in addition two tension pulleys around which the two cables respectively are wound in order to maintain them under tension. These tension pulleys are preferably carried by the distributor.
The two return pulleys are preferably each carried by a support designed to be fixed to the front part of the hopper.
Thus the apparatus according to the invention can easily be mounted on a standard hopper of a truck.
According to another feature of the invention the belt is provided at its front end with a vertical wall serving to retain the material. Thus this vertical wall, performing a separation, is displaced at the same time as the belt.
According to yet another feature of the invention the distributor has a funnel fed by the charger and provided with distributing means designed to spread the granular material.
In the description which follows, and which is provided solely by way of example, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which:
- Figure 1 is a side view of spreading apparatus according to the invention and secured on a hopper of a truck, the belt of the apparatus being in an unrolled position;
- Figure 2 is a partial view from above corresponding to Figure 1;
- Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 1 in which the belt is in its rolled-up position;

_ CA 02306607 2000-04-26 - Figure 4 is a view of the roller of the apparatus and of the associated driving pulleys;
- Figure 5 shows the detail V in Figure 4 to a larger scale;

- Figure 6 is a partial view of the end of the distributor in one embodiment of the invention; and - Figure 7 is a view analogous to Figure 6 showing a variant.
Reference is first made to Figures 1 and 2 which illustrate apparatus 10 according to the invention for spreading a granular material M, which is carried in a hopper 12 of a truck or the like. The term "hopper" should be understood here in the broad sense as capable of covering a hopper, a rail 1~ platform, etc... forming a support for the load of a truck and having a substantially horizontal floor 14. This hopper 12 has a front end 16 with a vertical rail 18 and a rear end 20 which has no vertical rail. Furthermore the hopper 12 has two longitudinal vertical rails 22, only one of which is visible in Figure 1.
Fixed to the back of the hopper 12 is a distributor 24 of a construction which is generally known in itself. This distributor 24 has a loading funnel 26 which is fixed directly to the rear end 20 of the hopper 12 as well as to a rear end of the rails 22, and not directly to the chassis (not shown) ~ of the truck as in the previous technology.
The funnel 26 is designed to be fed with material M from the hopper 12 in order subsequently to distribute this material on a road R by a spreading means which, in the example, comprise essentially a disk 28 mounted to rotate about a substantially vertical axis 30. The construction of the distributor 24 will be described later.

The feeding of the distributor 24 is achieved by a charger 32 comprising a flexible belt 34 resting on the floor 14 of the hopper. This flexible belt is of a size which corresponds to the size of the hopper, as defined between the longitudinal rails 22. The material M is deposited on the belt 34, which can be moved from front to rear to achieve the charging of the distributor 24 or, on the contrary, from rear to front to allow the re-filling of the hopper.
The belt 34 has a rear end 36 which is fixed to and rolled up around a roller mechanism 38. The latter comprises a roller 40 mounted to rotate about a horizontal axis 42 extending transversely at the rear of the vehicle. This roller is carried by the distributor 24 and it is mounted on the inside of the loading funnel 26 in a plane situated substantially above the floor 14 of the hopper 12.
The roller 40 is designed to be set in rotation by driving means 44 shown diagrammatically. These means allow the roller 42 to be driven either in a direction for rolling up the belt or in a direction for unrolling it.
The belt 34 has a front end 46 which carries a vertical wall 48 serving to retain the material. This wall 48 extends in a transverse direction and is designed to be displaced in translation at the same time as the belt 34.
The charger 32 has in addition two cables 50, preferably of steel, situated one on each side of the belt 34.
Each cable has a rear end 52 attached to a driving pulley 54 synchronised with the roller mechanism. These two driving pulleys 54 are situated one on each side of the roller 40 and are clamped on the axis of rotation 42 of the latter.

Each cable 50 then passes around a tension pulley 56 supported on a moving arm 58 mounted to pivot about an axis 60 carried on the distributor 24. The cable then extends along the floor 14 of the hopper close to the corresponding rail 22, and then passes around a return pulley 62 with a vertical axis placed close to the front rail 18. Finally the cable is fixed by its front end 64 to the front end 46 of the belt 34.
Each of the pulleys 62 is carried by a support 66 designed to be fixed on the front rail 18 of the hopper (Figure 1 ). Each support 66 is in the form of a U and has a branch 68 carrying the pulley 62 and a branch 70 having two securing members 72.
As can be seen in more detail in Figures 4 and 5, each of the driving pulleys 54 has a narrow groove 74 (Figure 5) of which the size corresponds substantially (slightly greater than) the diameter of the cable, in such a way that the cable can only roll up in a spiral. At the same time the diameter of the groove is calculated as a function of the diameter of the cable and of the diameter of the roller for which it provides compensation.
This is such that the rolling-up of the belt over a given length corresponds to unrolling of each cable over a substantially equal length and vice versa.
In effect, as can be seen in Figure 1, the direction in which the belt 34 is rolled up around the roller 40 is the inverse of the direction of rolling up of each of the cables 50 around the driving pulleys 54.
The result is that the belt 34 rolls up around the roller 40 while the cables 50 are unrolled from their respective driving pulleys 54 and conversely.
It will be appreciated that the apparatus according to the invention can easily be mounted on the existing hopper of a truck. For this purpose it is sufficient to secure the distributor 24 on the rear part of the hopper 12 and _ CA 02306607 2000-04-26 to secure the supports 66 on the front rail 18 of the hopper 12, the belt being unrolled.
In this state the separating wall 48, connected to the belt, is present towards the front of the hopper, and near the rail 18. The hopper can then be filled with the material M, which is deposited on the belt as shown in Figure 1.
In order to spread the material M on the road R, it is sufficient to operate the belt in the unrolling direction in order to move the material M towards the rear and to charge it progressively into the loading funnel 26. From there the material is spread on the road by the disk 28.
When the hopper assembly has been emptied (Figure 3), the separating wall 48 is in that rearward position.
All that is then necessary is to move the belt in the opposite direction, that is to say forwardly, in order to return the wall 48 to the position shown in Figure 1. This movement is effected by the cables 50 which act on the front end 46 of the belt, at the same time as the latter is unrolled from the roller 40. When the belt has been moved into the forward position the hopper can be re-filled with the material M in order to allow the execution of a further cycle.
In the embodiment of Figure 6 the spreading disk 28 is placed in a central position in relation to the funnel 26, that is say midway between its lateral sides. The feeding of the disk is effected by an endless double screw 78 with its axis horizontal, having two opposing threads 80, in such a way that the material is moved towards the central part at the level of the disc 28. In the variant shown in Figure 7 the disk 28 is positioned near one side of the funnel and the feeding of this disk is effected by a conveyor belt 82.

Thus the apparatus according to the invention makes it possible to supply the charger 24 from a belt 34 which moves along the substantially horizontal floor of the hopper. It is then no longer necessary to make use of a tilting hopper, as in the prior art.
Moreover the apparatus according to the invention can easily be mounted on the hopper or platform of a truck without it being necessary to provide any special measures on the latter.
The result is that the truck could be used for other purposes when needed.
The apparatus according to the invention is suitable essentially for the treatment of roads, meaning the winter treatment by the spreading of salt, sand, gravel, etc... and equally well for the treatment or repair of roads, the material in this case being sand, gravel, etc...
It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments described above by way of example and extends to other variants.
In particular the conception of the roller mechanism and of the cable mechanism and of their synchronising means are open to numerous variations in practice.

Claims

1. Apparatus for spreading a granular material, in particular for the treatment of roads, comprising a distributor secured at the rear end of a hopper of a truck and a charger for feeding the distributor with said material from said hopper, wherein said charger comprises a flexible belt designed to rest on a substantially horizontal floor of said hopper and to support said material, a roller mechanism mounted at the rear of said hopper and connected to a rear end of said belt, a cable mechanism connected to a front end of said belt and means for co-ordinating the roller mechanism and said cable mechanism in such a way that said belt is either displaced towards the rear of said hopper under the action of the roller mechanism in order to feed said distributor or displaced towards the front of said hopper under the action of said cable mechanism for filling of said hopper.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said roller mechanism comprises a roller with its axis horizontal, said belt rolling or unrolling round said roller, and driving means for rotating said roller about its axis in the direction for rolling up or the direction for unrolling said belt.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said roller is carried by said distributor.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said cable mechanism comprises two cables each of which has a rear end attached to a driving pulley synchronised with said roller mechanism, passes around a return pulley at the front of said hopper and has a front end secured to the front end of the said belt.

5. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said cable mechanism comprises two cables each of which has a rear end attached to a driving pulley synchronised with said roller mechanism, passes around a return pulley at the front of said hopper and has a front end secured to the front end of the said belt, and wherein said driving pulleys are clamped on the axis of rotation of said roller and said cables roll up around said driving pulleys in an opposite sense with respect to the rolling up of said belt around said roller in such a way that said belt rolls up when said cables unroll and vice versa.

6. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein each of said driving pulleys has a narrow groove designed to allow the rolling up of said cable in a spiral in such a way that the rolling-up of said belt over a given length corresponds to the unrolling of said cable over an essentially equal length and vice versa.

7. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said cable mechanism has in addition two tension pulleys around which said two cables roll respectively in order to maintain them under tension.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said two tension pulleys are carried by said distributor.

9. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein each said return pulley is carried by a support designed to be secured to a front part of said hopper.

10. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said belt has a vertical wall serving to retain the material at its front end.

11. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said distributor has a funnel fed from said charger and provided with distributing means designed to spread said granular material.