GB2549089A

GB2549089A - Improvements to compaction devices

Info

Publication number: GB2549089A
Application number: GB1605438.9A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Neil Doyle Mark
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2016-03-31
Filing date: 2016-03-31
Publication date: 2017-10-11

Abstract

The tamping plate 20 comprises at least two sides of a polygon and a space therebetween for accommodating a highway installation 24 during use. The plate may have a female mating for cooperating with a male mating of a compactor. The matings may be a bayonet fixing. The plate may apply equal force to the material to be compacted surrounding the installation. The plate may be L-shaped, C-shaped, or square. The plate may have a level for indicating the level of compaction of the material. Also claimed is a compactor comprising the plate. The compactor may have a motor which oscillates the plate between a retracted position and an adjustable extended position, and a transmission for transmitting vibration to the plate. The installation may be a water box or manhole cover. The material to be compacted may be asphalt.

Description

IMPROVEMENTS TO COMPACTION DEVICES

The present invention relates to compaction devices.

The Utility Companies and Local Highway Authorities have specific rules and requirements for the quality and specification of asphalt re-instatement in the highways and footways.

Part of that regime is the requirement that asphalt used meets an air void test standard and the Local Highway Authorities take cores of reinstatements to test not only depths but also air void levels. If the specification is not met then the works are defected and they need to be re-done to specification.

The Local Highway Authorities charge for defects and often a small re-instatement will fail and the cost of re-working (including Local Authority inspection costs can be 3 times more than the original job).

Often additional charges for traffic management will be incurred in re-working and this makes air void issues a serious cost issue and quality issue.

Air voids can be caused by many factors such as temperature of asphalt, temperature of ground, poor backfill, failure to properly compact by operatives, material being applied in too deep levels, rain, water infiltration, temperature of materials and material content itself, and also the types of compaction equipment being used not meeting the required performance levels and required specification.

The utility companies have spent large volumes of men changing materials, setting out a method for compaction but even after all this the air void issue continues. Part of this is due to the fact that the air void specification is based upon major resurfacing not small patches and different equipment is available for large areas that cannot be used on small patches around utility apparatus (e.g water meter boxes and manholes).

Currently the method of compaction is to use a specialist streetworks whacker plate but these are still not achieving compaction as they are often too large for the re-instatements being created and often asphalt will be in a small gap between a wall and the water box when the only current way of trying to compact material is by using a hand tool. This is not very successful.

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a compactor tamping plate mountable on a compactor, wherein the tamping plate comprises at least two facets of a polygon and a space therebetween for accommodating an installation during use.

An installation may comprise a man-hole cover, water box or the like, commonly referred to by the statutory undertakers as apparatus in the highway or footway.

The plate may comprise mating means for mating with a compactor device.

The mating means may comprise any suitable means known to the skilled person. The mating means may comprise a bayonet fixing.

The compactor device may comprise a motor and a transmission for transmitting vibration to the plate.

The plate may be moveably mounted so that it may reciprocate between an extended and retracted position to effect compaction of a material. A motor may be provided on an end surface of the plate. A vibrating box may be closely attached to the tamping plate; and the motor may be connected with the vibrating box through a transmission assembly.

The device of the present invention is a new type of compaction tool whereby it is able to provide around the water boxes and apparatus compaction by its design so that the surrounding asphalt can be compacted to prevent air void failures.

The present invention comprises a compaction plate that surrounds at least a portion of the box or manhole to be compacted and applies equal force to the asphalt around the box.

The present invention may further comprise a level to check for level compaction.

The device of the present invention may further comprise means of testing compaction by the addition of a compaction testing tool, for example, a clegg hammer type of attachment.

The present invention may be securable to existing compactor equipment where the conventional flat plate is substituted with a plate according to the present invention.

The compaction plate of the present invention may be any suitable shape and may comprise a square, an L-shape, or a substantially C-shape and the vertices of these shapes can be of different widths to allow best use of the device in the work area.

The compaction plate of the present invention may be operatively connected to the motor by means of an oscillating means capable of oscillating between a retracted position and an extended position to move the plate back and forth. The maximum distance the oscillating means can be extended may be adjustable to reduce the amount of travel the plate can move between extended and retracted positions. Reducing the extent of travel can increase the force applied by the plate to material to be compacted.

The present invention provides any one or more of the following advantages, as follows: 1. The plate is designed so that it surrounds the water box or apparatus and compacts only the asphalt. This avoids damage to the water box etc. which often occurs with current equipment or rollers. 2. The plate is designed in such a way so as to keep the asphalt level as it operates. 3. The plate ensures uniform compaction around an object such as a man-hole cover. 4. The plate reduces the time taken for a particular job as it compacts the whole asphalt surrounding an object rather than just one small section at a time 5. The plate provides improved health and safety benefits to users as one can stand in a more upright position when using the plate avoiding back injuries. 6. The plate will enable air void compliance to legislative requirements which is something that is not occurring using currently available technology; the plate removes one of the core problems in achieving air void compliant compaction which is applying the correct level of compaction with uniform force. 7. The plate helps reduce operative impact on compaction as often there will be inconsistent compaction by an operative using the current tools available but this tool should ensure consistent operative performance. 8. The plate reduces further cost by reducing defects and also offers a solution to the utility companies.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a compactor device and plate as described hereinabove.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for compacting material comprising the use of a plate and/or device as described hereinabove.

The present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompany drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plate and device in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 shows a plate in accordance with the present invention and a statutory undertakers metal cover;

Fig. 3 shows a device and a plate in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 4 shows a device and a plate in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 5 shows a handle for use with a device in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 6 shows a mating means for a plate in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 7 shows a plan view from above of a plate in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 8 shows a plan view from above of an alternative plate in accordance with the present invention; and

Fig. 9 shows a plan view from above of an alternative plate in accordance with the present invention

The Figures show a compactor device 10 having a motor 12 operatively connected to a telescoping leg 16 to which is mounted a frame 18 having a tamping plate 20. The tamping plate 20 compacts materials 22 within the various voids that are created during the excavation and reinstatement of the areas surrounding newly installed or reset statutory undertakers metal covers 24 which would be located within the carriageway or footway.

Motor frame 14 has adjustable handles 26. The motor mechanically powers an oscillating mechanical telescopic unit 16 which is protected by a rubber cover. The force created by the oscillating unit 16 creates a downward force which is required to compact the material(s) 22 via plate 20.

Depending on the type of material being compacted will depend on the downward force required. This is easily achieved as the downward force can be controlled by adjusting the vibration created by the motor transferred through the oscillating unit. Lower motor revs will create less downward force and maximum revs will create a much greater force.

The force will be directed to a frame 18 and plate 20 which would be connected to the oscillating unit 16. As there is a vast assortment of statutory undertakers metal covers 24, there will be a range of frame and plates in a variety of widths, shapes, and depths as shown in Figs. 7 to 9, showing a square 50, generally C- shaped 52 and L-shaped 54 plate respectively.

As shown in the Figures to attach the frame 18 and plate 20 to the oscillating unit 16, a male 30 to female 32 connector has been developed. The male section 30 is a cone which has four strips at every 90 degree angle from the point of the cone to the base of the oscillating unit 16. The female connection 32 is complementarily shaped to the male connection 30 to receive the male connection and releasably secure the frame and plate 18, 20 to the oscillating unit 16.

The four strips 40 (see Fig. 6) are received in complementarily shaped recesses 42 located in the female connection 32 of the frame 18 and prevent the frame and plate 18, 20 from rotating during use and also allow the frame and plate attached to be rotated at 90 degree intervals to reposition the plate will require the device to be stopped, the plate and frame removed and repositioned on the oscillating unit which is important for the frame and plates shown in Figs.7 to 9 due to their shape. Once connected, the connections would be surrounded with a circular hinged clamp that would ensure that they remained attached.

As the frame and plates vary small sizes, the frame and handle that houses the motor has adjustable handles 50 that can be closed to allow a single person to operate the device when only a small frame and plate is required. As shown in Fig. 5, the handles are adjustable and can be opened out at 45 degrees to allow two people to operate the device when a much larger frame and plate is required. This adjustable handle also have three horizontal bars to allow the device to be handled easier depending at what depth or height the device is at in the excavation.

Claims

1. A compactor tamping plate mountable on a compactor, wherein the tamping plate comprises at least two facets of a polygon and a space therebetween for accommodating an installation during use.

2. A plate as claimed in claim 1 comprising mating means for mating with a compactor device.

3. A plate as claimed in claim 2 having a female mating member disposed thereon for co-operating with a male mating member disposed on a compactor device.

4. A plate as claimed in claim 2 or 3 wherein the mating means comprises one member of a bayonet fixing.

5. A plate as claimed in any one of the preceding claims that surrounds at least a portion of the installation around which material is to be compacted and applies equal force to said material.

6. A plate as claimed in any one of the previous claims wherein the tamping plate is square, an L-shape, or a substantially C-shape

7. A plate as claimed in any one of the preceding claims being releasably securable to a compactor device.

8. A plate as claimed in any one of the previous claims having a level to provide means for indicating level compaction of material.

9. A compactor device comprising a tamping plate as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. A device as claimed in claim 9 having a motor having oscillating means capable of moving between an extended and retracted position to which is operatively connected a tamping plate as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8 such that the plate is capable of moving with the oscillating means between an extended and retracted position.

11. A device as claimed in claim 10 wherein the tamping plate is releasably connected.

12. A device as claimed in any one of claims 10 or 11 comprising a transmission for transmitting vibration to the plate.

13. A device as claimed in any one of the previous claims wherein the plate is moveably mounted so that it may reciprocate between an extended and retracted position to effect compaction of a material.

14. A device as claimed in any one of claims 10 to 13 wherein the maximum displacement of the plate in its extended configuration is adjustable.

15. A method for compacting material comprising the use of a plate and/or device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims.