US1821843A - Shoulder leveling and finishing machine - Google Patents

Description

E. S. LUCAS SHOULDER LEVELING AND FINISHING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June l2, 1930 l ,gn/vanto E .,SLue a s sept. 1, 1931.

Sept. 1, 1.931.

E. s. LUCAS SHOULDER LEVELING AND FINISHING MACHINE Filed June 12,' 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept. l, 1931. s. LUCAS 1 SHOULDER LEVELING AND FINISH'ING- MACHINE' l Filed June 12, 119:50 4 sheets-sheet s Sept. 1, 1931. E. s. LucAs SHOULDER LEVELING AND FINISHING MACHINE Filed June 12. 1930 4 sheen-sheet 4 i J \w w I 1 k I ik l l 1 5) Il |I I 0 0 l o o Hw I x Q Patented Sept. 1,y 1931Y UNITED .STATES PATENT OFFICE EARL. S. LUCAS, AVO, lII'WA, SS'IGNGR UF ONE-HALF TO FRANK J. MORAN, OF5Y N EBRASZKA 'SHOULDER ,AND INISHING MACHINE animaba nea :une i2, semi Na. icogsse.

This invention relates 'to blades and screw conveyers particularly in a machine for l,finishing the shoulders on either-side of a paved highway. y A

In laying down and vnonstrclcting modern highways, it is the practice, at least in certain portions of the country, to provide on each side of the highway a relatively wide dirtA shoulder, as it is termed, on which ears may be parked, etc. These shoulders extend laterally from the -concrete highway an'dfat their side edges usually dip vdountoward to a level with the surface -o'f the ground.

The 'object of my invention v1s to provide a machine designed lto run upon the paved highway itself, which will inish, level and grade these shoulders and which machine is preferably provided with a conveyor ordistributor, acting to distribute the dirt, kwhich '20 is ordinarily piled or dumped more "or `less closely to the highway itself, ever the shoulder, and which is provided with a scraper which will level this dirt and grade or finish the shoulder and which will grade or iinish of forming this shoulder so that this dirt may be more readily acted upon by 'the distributor and by the main scraper.

A further object is to provide 'a rotary brush operating behind the main scraper `and distributor and operating over the 'margin of thel paved portion of the highway, the brush acting to sweep the -dirt from the concrete margin of the highway 'on to theshoulder,

said brush to be set on 45 degree angle.y

Further objects are, of course, to provide means whereby these various instrumentalities may be operated, raised, lowered and ad# the slope of the cutermargin of the shoulder. Y

shift the dirt which has been ldumped along v the margin of the highway forthe purpose justed in accordance with the requirements l ofthe special case. n @ther objectswill appear in the course of the `following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accom-v 'i panying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a top plan view of a shoulder v finishing machine constructed inaccordance with my invention;

VFigure 2 is a fragmentary front elevation 'ff ofthe leveling blade, the distributor and the su ports therefor;

igure 3 is a like view to Figure 2, but `vshowing the auxiliary leveling blade angled;

Figure 4 isa side elevation of the scaritier,

the leveling blade, the distributor and the brusln;`

y Figure "5 is an elevation of the scariier;

Figure 6 is an elevation showing the manner in which the auxiliary blade may be raised, lowered or otherwise adjusted;

Figure 7 is a sectional View of a transmis- .sion mechanism.

Referring to these drawings, 10 designates a motor truck or any other motor propelled'n truck chassis having the usual front steering wheels 11, the motor 12 and the rear driving wheels 13 and the driving shaft 14. In this 4truck, the operators seat 15 is preferably disposed adjacent the rear end of the trucln Y Bolted to the truck frame or chassis and extending laterally therefrom, in either di- Y rection, hut preferably toward the right are the transverse fra-me beams 16 and 17 which may be made of angle iron, channel iron or have any, other ordinary structural shape. 'These beams are braced by the vertical struts 18and the truss beams 19 which extend downward .from these struts to the ends of Vthe transverse beams to which they are bolt.

section and which are ,preferably bolted or v riveted to the beams 16 and 17.y Hingedly connected at their forward ends to any suitable portion of the frame formed by the members 16 and 17 and 21 are the draw bars 22. These draw bars may be pivoted by bolts to the side walls of the longitudinal channel bars 21 or may be swung from the bar 16.

f These draw bars extend rearward and are downwardly curved at their rear endsand The draw bars support a scraper blade 23. adj acont their rear ends are connected to and carry the transversely extending cross bar 24 which braces these draw bars butholds them in proper spaced relation and permits the draw bars to move upward and down#V ward as a unit.

Extending though the extremities oi' the braces 21 are the adjusting screws '25 which have swivel engagement with the transverse bar 24 and by rotating these screws, thel scraper blade may be adjusted up or down and disposed, if desired, at a slight inclination or angle to the horizontal.

The scraper blade has forwardly projecting ears 26 at its ends and mounted in these ears is a shaft 2T carrying'ujion it a screw conveyor 28, the conveyor acting will be explained, as a distributor. The conveyor shaft is connected by a universal joint connection :28a'with a shaft 29 which in turn is connected by a universal driving connection 30 with a shaft 31 disposed within a power unit housing 32. The driving connection to this shaft 31 will be later stated. to say that by this means, the power can be at all times applied to rotate the shaft'27 and the screw conveyor or distributor while the blade and the conveyor or distributor are raised or lowered to suit the circumstances of operation.

Preferably and in order to forma down wardly and outwardly inclined surface at the outer edge4 of the shoulder, l providea4 j .scraper section 23a which is hingedly connected to the main scraper blade Q3 so that it Y may be raised into alinement with the scraper blade 23 or disposed downward at an an- `gle thereto. For this purpose, l have provided the scraper 23a with an upwardly eXtending arm 33 from which a cable 34 leads yto the body of the machine so that by taking up' upon this cable, the blade 23u may be raised.`

i By slacking on the cable, the blade may be lowered. The shaft 27 connects by flexible driving connection 35 to a shaft section 36 which carries the screw blade 37 which forms This y wing or auxiliary blade 28d is braced `against i an extension of the screw blade 28.

strain in any suitable manner.

Mounted upon the beam 1.6, preferably for l. transverse adjustment and for verticalV ad` just-nient, is a` small scraper blade 3S dis-f posed at a slight inclinationto aycitical plane, thisscraper blade being for the pui'- pose of engaging heaps of dirt dum cd beside the roadway and initia ly breakingup Suffice it this dirt and shifting it laterally so that it may be engaged first by the distributor or conveyor blade 28 and then by the scraper lglade 27. This blade 38 need only be relatively short. Preferably, the blade is supported :by vertical members or guides 39 upon a carriage l() whischcarriagef has wheels 41 engaging with the flanges of the beam 16 so that the blade mayv be shiftedlaterally in or out., For this purpose, the carriage is connected by a link to an adjusting lever 43 operating over an arcuate rack dal.. Disposed viens that'nian i dilierent means mic/ht be used-for adjusting the blade 3S laterally uponthebeanrll and adjusting the blade 38 vertically.

A scariiier eoinpfrisng a scarifying bar 4S) haring downwardly projecting teeth may a Iso be mounted upon the beam 1b in any suitable manner the teeth iio'ectina down- 7 i a vard, andcfmractiug with the earth of the Y so thatv in case this earth packed, the earth: can he scarified or loosened so that it may be more easily treated by the scraper 3S and the main scraper Q3 and the distributor., This scarilier may be mounted for verl tical adjustment if desired and under ordinary 'circumstances will be lattaclnible to or detachable from the ibeam 10, as for instance byineans ofb'olts sothat the scaritier may 'be used oi" not as circumstances may require Preferably there is disposed rear ard of the distributing conveyor Q8 and the blade 23 and closely?adjacent the inner end of the `blade a rotary brush- This is preferably mounted 'at its outer end on a link 52 which" Aispiv'ole'd Vto the blade 223.- ne inner end of tliebrush is connected by a flexible coupling to lafsliaft'lfll whichin turn is connected by a il sible* coupling to a drivii'ig sha'ft': power unit housing 22 and secures power therefrom as will be later stated. A lever 57 mounted-upon a prolongation of the draw bar 22 andinovng over a rack is conneeted` by a link 58:1 52. illy this means, the. brush may be raised or `lrnvciel ll'ilepf idently .of the scraper blade 23.A "',lll .rotary ln'ush acts to clean gutter while the therpaving curo and thel machine is i'yi'ioviiiirg.`

ln order toV guide the machine at a set or fixed 'distance'from the paving ,lab or edge ine of thefpa""'ig proper and secure a stringht and unforni shoulder line, I providethe guide roller Gl meuntedhpon a forwliich extends into the" to thc-,free vend of the linlz'fwardly extending arm which may be mounted upon the front axle of the machine. In

operating this machine, the machine will be` that this guide travels along this edge. The

shaft 14 is connected to the motor 12 by means of a clutch 59 operated by means of a clutch pedal disposed adjacent the drivers seat (not shown) and the supplemental power unit which is disposed within the housing 32 includes a power take-off shaft adapted to be connected by means of a clutch 60 with the shaft 14 which leads to the rear driving wheels. Any suitable connection may be made from the driving shaft 14 to the power take-off shaft 14a which will include a clutch whereby the power take-off shaft may be connected to or disconnected from the driving shaft 14. Inasmuch as power take-off connections of this kind are common and well-known, it is not believed necessary to illustrate such construction in detail. This power take-off' shaft extends into the power unit housing 32 and is there connected by suitable gearing to the shafts 31 and 56. Thus the truck may be stopped in its forward movement without stopping the action of the distributing conveyor or the brush, the purpose being to provide a construction whereby the truck may be operated without operating the brush or conveyor or wherebythe truck may be stopped and the conveyor and brush operated.

The main frame is to be preferably of eight inch channel iron while the supplemental frame is to be of three inch angle iron bolted to the mainframe or chassis. This permits the parts to be disassembled for moving or shipping. The short conveyor and blade 37 and 23a respectively at the outer end of the main blade is hinged so that this hinged section can be raised or lowered to any desired position. VThis short blade is approximately three feet long and when lowered, it may be used for fills and when raised for closed ditch sections.

The size of the screw conveyor will depend upon the horsepower of the m-otor used. I have found in actual practice that a twelve inch conveyor with a forty or fifty H. P. engine is eminently suitable for the work to be done under ordinary conditions. The screw conveyor travels very slowly and acts to auger the dirt outward while the blade immediately behind it smooths and shapes the shoulder, the conveyor acting to convey theV dirt outward and over the edge of the shoulder.

l do not wish to be limited to the details of construction and arrangements of parts,

as obviously these might be changed in many l ways without departing from the spirit of the invention, defined in the appended Claims.' l c l I claim 1e- 1. A machine af the] character described,

comprising a motor operated truck, an cle-AE` l ment extending laterally therefrcm and mounted for vertical adjustment. relativeto the truck, a leveling blade mounted upon said lelement and extending laterally from the truck, a screw conveyor mount-ed in front; of the leveling blade and having a longitudinally extending shaft, motor driven Connections for operatingthe shaft, an auxiliary bladeV mounted at the end of the first. named blade for movement inte different angleswith' blade and the shaftwith relaticnto the first named blade of the shaft.

2. A machine ofi the character. described, including a motor truck', a blade extending laterallyt-he-refrom, a screw conveyor acting;

asv a dis ributor and mounted immediately in frcnt of said' blade, motor operated means for driving the screw conveyor and a short blade mounted in advance of the first named blade and adapted to. engage heaps of material and'f break up these heaps so that the material may be acted on by the first named blade and dis-- tributor.

3. A machine of the character described,

including a motor truck, a blade extendingiv laterally therefrom, a screw conveyor acting as a distributor and mounted immediately in front of the blade, motor operated means for driving the screw conveyor and a short blade mounted in advance of the first named bladev and adapted to engage heaps of material and break up these heaps so that the material may be acted on by the first named blade and distributor, said second named blade bein transversely adjustable.

4. A machine of the character described, including a motor truck, a blade extending laterally therefrom, a screw conveyor acting as a distributor and mounted immediately in front of said blade, motor operated means for' driving the screw conveyor and a short blade mounted in advance of the first named blade and adapted to engage heaps of material and break up these heaps so that the material may )eacted on by the first named blade and dis-1v tributor, saidV second named blade being vertically and transversely adjustable.

5. A machine of the character described, comprising a motor operated truck, an ele-V ment extending laterally from the truck, af

blade supporting beam mounted below the element, means for vertically adjusting said beam, a leveling blade operatively mounted upon said beam and vertically adjustable therewith, a screw conveyor mounted upon,

and in front of said blade and acting asa distributor, a driving shaft connected to the shaft of the screw conveyor by flexible, driving connection, and means for driving said shaft from the motor including a clutch whereby the shaft may be disconnected from the motor.

6. A machine of the character described, including a motor truck, a frame extending laterally from the truck, a leveling blade mounted upon the frame for vertical adjustment, a distributor mounted in front of the bla-de, and a detachable scarifier mounted upon the frame in advance of the blade, and a f is "relatively short blade mounted for vertical `and lateral adjustment upon said frame immediately in front of the scariier.

7. In a machine of the character described, a motor truck, a leveling blade extending laterally therefrom and vertically adjustable, a screw conveyor acting as a distributor and mounted immediately in front of said leveling blade, motor operated means for driving thescrew conveyor and a rotary pavement brush mounted behind the bladeand screw conveyor at the inner end of the blade, and

a motor operated means for driving said brush.

In testimony whereof hereunto aflix my signature.

EARL S. LUCAS-

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