US2698184A

US2698184A - Truck sander

Info

Publication number: US2698184A
Application number: US214910A
Authority: US
Inventors: Bowen Norman Earle
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1951-03-10
Filing date: 1951-03-10
Publication date: 1954-12-28
Anticipated expiration: 1971-12-28

Description

N. E. BOWEN 2,698,184

TRUCK SANDER Dec. 28, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 10, 1951 INVENTOR. NormaaE.Bawen BY ATTORNEY Dec. 28, 1954 N, BQWEN 2,698,184

TRUCK SANDER Filed March 10, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 ii 7 /37 INVENTORL-.

[35 Afar/nan 12.60"6 7 ATTORNEI Dec. 28, 1954 N. E. BOWEN 2,698,184

TRUCK SANDER Filed March 10, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. Norma/z E30 wax:

Y MM- Arraxawqr Dec. 28, 1954 N. E. BOWEN 2,698,184

TRUCK SANDER Filed March 10, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 4 INVENTOR. Jig. J marina/2E- B owe/1 A T TORNE'Y United States Patent TRUCK SANDER Norman Earle Bowen, Seattle, Wash.

Application March 10, 1951, Serial No. 214,910

Claims. (Cl. 275-45) The present invention relates to improvement in truck sander, and more particularly to a device which may be attached under the tail gate of a rear dump body truck for taking sand from such body and spreading it upon a highway as the truck drives along the highway. The present invention is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Serial Number 81,147, filed March 12, 1949, expressly abandoned by a letter dated December 15, 1951.

Such sanding of highways and roads is necessary when there is ice thereon, also, such sanding is often necessary for asphalt roads duringhot weather.

The prior art shows many special mobile or truck type units specially designed for use in sanding highways. Also, there is shown in the prior art several devices which may be attached to a truck and its body, and which are designed to spread sand upon roads or highways. However, these prior art devices have been unsatisfactory in that a specially designed truck unit that can be used only for sanding, requires a capital investment that is unwarranted. The attachment units that can be placed on and taken off a standard truck and body have had.

many drawbacks. Some of them require much alteration of the truck drive, chassis, and body to adapt the truck to the sander attachment. Others require an expensive rearrangement to set up a power take-off from the truck motor for operation of the sander. Others do not have an efiieient sand dispenser or one which will maintain a fixed dispensing position with respect to the highway being sanded.

Having in mind these defects of the prior sander, it is an object of the present invention to devise a sander that is compact and light enough to be mounted under the tail gate of a rear dump body truck.

A further object of the present invention is the construction of such a sander that may be fed sand from the L body of a dump truck by raising such body.

Another object of the present invention is the devising of such a sander so that its operation will not be hindered by the presence of occasional rocks in the sand.

Yet another object of the present invention is the construction of such a sander so that regardless of the position of the truck body in a raised position, the sand will be dispensed in a direction fixed by the position of the truck chassis. Specifically, the sand will be dispensed parallel to the surface of the road.

A still further object of the present invention is the provision of a control for the sander so that its opera tion will start as the truck body is moved from rest on the chassis, and so that its operation will cease as the body is returned to the chassis.

Another object is the maintenance of the sander motor in a position perpendicular tothe truck chassis.

The above mentioned defects arerernedied and these objects achieved by placing a hopper in the tail gate opening and under the tail gate of the body of a rear dump body truck. Suspended by and under this hopper on a horizontal pivot are a pair of chutes. Each chute receives sand from the hopper and discharges it onto a spinner plate that rotates on a shaft perpendicular to the plane of the truck and coaxial of each chute. A motor for driving the spinners is carried on the pivot with the chutes and with the spinners.

The pivoted chutes are linked to the chassis, of the truck by a parallelogram four-bar, or four-point, linkage. The line of centers of this linkage is-fixed to the truck chassis and the connecting rod is fixed to the pivoted of this lever rotates the shaft 24.

Patented Dec. 28, 1954- be made up of separate links or the links may be formed by parts of the truck chassis, body, hopper, and chutes.- As the truck body is raised and swings on its trunnion, the tail gate and hopper swing downwardly. This causes the chutes to swing on their pivot and this swing. of the chutes is controlled by the four-bar linkage so that the axes of the spinner shafts remain parallel to their original position. Thus the direction in which sand is dispensed remains constant, parallel to the chassis.

A device constructed in accordance with the above outline is hereinafter described in detail and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a sander employing the present invention and is shown mounted on a dump truck with parts of the truck cut away.

Figure 2 is a side view of the sander and truck parts shown in Figure 1, with the truck body down on the chassis.

Figure 3 is a side view similar to Figure 2 but with the truck body shown in raised position off the chassis.

Figure 4 is a rear view of the sander and truck parts shown in the previous figures.

Figure 5 is a detail in section of a portion of the sander the body and which may be swung outwardly and upwardly about the pivot '6 to allow removal of material from 'the body when it is raised on its trunnion 4. The tail gate may be held in closed position by a latch, not shown in the present drawings. The truck and its chassis is considered to be in a plane parallel to the ground on which the wheels of the truck rest.

A hopper unit is attached to the truck body by raising the tail gate 5 and sliding a hopper unit under the gate and into the tail gate opening. When the sander is in position on the truck, there is a pair of hoppers 11, 12 that almost wholly close the back end opening of the truck body 3. The two hoppers 11, 12 are secured together to form a single hopper unit. The openings from these hoppers to the truck body are made small enough so that the hoppers may be used with bodies of many different sizes. From the outside edge of each hopper, there is pivoted a wing 13, 14 that may be swung outwardly to close off the tail gate opening at each side of the hopper unit, and to fit the unit to various width bodies. The lower edge of the hopper unit is formed with an angle iron 15 that fits against the back edge of the body bottom and is bolted thereto, An

adjustable hook

16, 17 at each side of the hopper unit hooks over and above the top edge of the tail gate to aid in holding the hopper unit in the tail gate opening.

Each hopper tapers from its opening into the truck body to its discharge opening. This discharge opening is in the plane of the truck body floor and rearward of the back edge of the body. Each hopper discharge opening is closed by a

feed roll

18, 19 of cylindrical form, and a sand gate 20. These rolls are provided on their faces with longitudinal ribs 22. The two rolls are carried on a shaft 23 which is supported in a manner hereinafter described. The sand gate of each hopper is journaled on a common shaft 24. This shaft is loosely carried in extensions of the side walls of the hoppers, and lies below the lower hopper wall. To one end of this gate shaft 24 is secured agate shaft adjusting lever 25. Movement Under each sand gate there is a gate spring 26,which has one or more turns around the gate shaft 24. One end of each spring bears under its adjacent sand gate. The other end of each spring is secured to the gate shaft. Each spring is tensioned between its gate and the shaft 24 so that the spring tension holds the gate'upward to' the feeder roll. Tension on the springs and the position of each' gate is varied by movement of the gate shaft lever 25, and

'side by

side chutes

31, 32. These chutes have a common back wall 33 and a common front wall 34. The side of each chute has secured thereto an upstanding ear 35. Each ear carries one of the sleeve bearings 28. Each of these ears fits between a wall of the hopper and a bearing hanger plate 30. The sleeve bearings 28 are retained in the slots 29 of the hanger plates 30 by the "lock bars 36.

Sand from each

feed roll

18, 19 falls down a chute 31,

32 and impinges upon a

rotating spinner disc

37, 38

where it is picked up by theradial bars 39, or vanes, and is discharged from the periphery of the disc tangentially of the disc and in the plane of the disc. Each spinner disc is carried on a

spinner spindle

41, 42 WhlCh is bearinged in a

sleeve

43, 44 that is secured at its upper end in the lower wall of a

drive tunnel

45, 46. The upper end of the spinner spindle terminates 1n the drive tunnel and has secured to it a V-belt pulley 47. It will thus be seen that the sand is not dispensed in a random manner but the sander is directional. The direction may be controlled by changing the angle of the plane of the discs with respect to any desired referent. In the present instance the plane of the discs is maintained parallel to the chassis and plane of the truck.

Connected to the lower part of the sander unit by a pin 50 is one end of a crank link 51. The other end of this crank link 51 is connected to the truck chassis as by means of a pin 51A and a bracket 52 rigidly fastened to the chassis. The length and positioning of this prank link is important and is determined by considering it as a crank in a four-bar linkage, the center lines of which form a parallelogram. The other crank of the linkage has its center line 53 thru and extending between the axis of the trunnion 4 between the truck body and chassis, and the axis of the feed roll shaft 23. The crank link 51 is placed so that its center line is parallel to the center line 53. The center line 54 of the connecting rod of the four-bar linkage intersects the axis of the feed roll shaft 23 and the axis of the pin connection 50 between the crank link 51 and the directional sander unit. The line of centers 55, or fixed link, of the four-bar linkage intersects the axis of the trunnion 4 and the axis of the pin 51A between the crank link 51 and the chassis bracket 52.

It will thus be seen that, other than the crank link 51, the links of the four-bar linkage are made up of parts of the equipment that serve other purposes beside that of their function as part of the four-bar linkage.

Figure 3 shows how this four-bar linkage operates as the truck bed is raised to dispense sand into the hoppers and down the chutes to the sander discs. The means, for

raising the body is not shown as such means is well known in the art.

Supported on the

chutes

31, 32 and moving therewith about the feed roll shaft 23 is a platform 61 that carries thereon a power plant which furnishes power for the.

operation of the sander. In the present showing the power unit is a small air cooled gasoline engine 62 that is connected thru the clutch 63 to the drive shaft 64. This drive shaft 64 is belted to a countershaft 65 extending across the back side of the

chutes

31, 32 and which shaft has at each end a

belt connection

66, 67 to the V-belt pulley 47 at the upper end of each

spindle

41, 42 which carries each

spinner disc

37, 38. Medially of the countershaft 65 is a belt connection 68 to a jack shaft 69 that is bearinged in and supported in the bearing hanger plates 30 between the two

chutes

31, 32. This jack shaft 69, in turn, has a belt connection 70 to the feed roll shaft 23. Thru this clutch, shafting and belts the engine 62'drives the spinner discs and the feed rolls.

The clutch 63 is engaged and disengaged by a series of

levers

71, 72, 73. An adjustable threaded rod 75 allows for adjustment of this series. A spring 74 places tension, or a bias, on the series so that the free end of the outer lever 73 of the series will bear against the under side of the angle forming the lower edge of the hoppers 11'; 12where they contact the truck body.- Whenthe off the chassis.

truck body is raised off the chassis to start the feeding of sand to the hoppers and spinners, the free end of the outer lever 73 will rise, as shown in Figure 3, and this will actuate the lever series to engage the engine clutch 63. With the engine running, engagement of the clutch will cause the feed rolls and sander to operate and dispense such sand as may be in the truck body and the hoppers.

The rate at which sand is dispensed is controlled by the position of the sand gate lever 25 which in turn governs the tension on the sand gates 20 thru the gate shaft 24 and the gate springs 26. Any rocks that may be in the sand will wedge between a feed roll and a gate and force the floor gate open to discharge such rock. This is a very desirable feature as most sand is stockpiled for winter use and under such conditions is apt to contain at least an occasional rock. This construction, also, allows materials to be used that is not closely sized.

By means of any suitable cables or links the tension on the floor gate and the speed of the sander engine may be remotely controlled from the drivers seat in the cab of the truck. These controls may be provided so that as the speed of the truck on a highway is varied, the rate of sand delivery may be varied.

In the modification of Figure 6, the

spinner discs

137 and 138 are shown as parallel but with the plane of one disc above the plane of the other. The spinner spindles 141, 142 are parallel.

The modification of Figure 7 shows the

spinner discs

237 and 238 as non-parallel but having a common diameter. The

spindles

241 and 242 are non-parallel to each other and normal to this common diameter. Other modifications of the relative positioning of the discs may be made. The object of the positioning of-the discs as shown in Figures 6 and 7 is that there will be a minimum of interference between the sand thrown by one disc and that thrown by the other.

In the operation of the present device, the tail gate of an ordinary rear dump body truck is raised and the hopper unit inserted thereunder. The hopper hooks 16, 17 are adjusted over the top of the tail gate to hold the hopper unit in place and the lower edge is bolted to the back edge of the body floor. The hopper wings are swung out to engage the sides of the truck and prevent sand from escaping along the sides of the hopper unit. The dispenser unit is then secured to the hopper unit by placing the feed roll shaft 23 in the slots 29 in the hanger plates which are attached to the hopper unit. This feed -roll shaft carries the whole dispenser unit. The shaft is secured in the slots by means of the lock bars 36. The crank arm 51 is then secured between the truck chassis and the dispenser unit in the manner described.

Then with the body of the truck filled with sand and the engine running, the truck may be driven down a highway and sanding commenced by raising the body This raising of the body operates the clutch lever series to engage the engine clutch and activate the feed rolls and the spinner discs. Under these conditions sand is fed past the feed rolls and down the chutes onto the spinner discs which directionally dispense it over the highway. This direction of dispensing is maintained parallel to the truck chassis by the crank link 51 and the other members of the four-bar linkage. as the body is raised and lowered. The rate of sand dispensing is governed by regulating the speed of the engine and the spring tension on the floor gate.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A sander'adapted for use witha truck having a chassis, dump body, and tail gate, comprising: a chute for receiving sand from said body thru said gate as said body is raised, a pivot, means for securing said-pivot between said body and chute for ,pivotally supporting said chute, mechanism below said chute for receiving sand therefrom and for directionally dispensing such sand, and link means between said chute, mechanism, and such chassis for maintaining a desired dispensing direction of said chute and mechanism with respect to said chassis regardless of the position of said dump body.

2. A truck sander, comprising: a hopper having formed therein an outlet opening, a feed roll, means for rotatably supporting said feed roll in said outlet opening, a chute below said hopper and roll, means pivotally suspending said chute about the axisof said roll, and sand dispensing means below said chute for receiving sand; from said hopper, roll, andchute.

3. A sander adapted for use with a truck having a chassis, a rear dump body, a trunnion placed transversely of and secured between said chassis and body, and a tail gate, comprising: a hopper for receiving sand from said body and said hopper having formed therein an outlet opening, a feed roll, means for rotatably supporting said feed roll in said hopper parallel to said trunnion and in said outlet opening for moving sand therethru, a chute below said hopper and roll for receiving sand from said hopper and roll, means pivotally supporting said chute for movement about the axis of said roll, mechanism associated with said chute for receiving sand therefrom and for directionally dispensing such sand, and means forming a four-bar linkage having its fixed link formed by such chassis, two parallel cranks equal in length, and a movable connecting rod formed by said chute for maintaining a desired dispensing direction of said mechanism with respect to such chassis regardless of the position of such dump body; in operation, one of the cranks of such linkage having a center on the axlils of such trunnion and a center on the axis of said ro 4. A sander adapted for use with a truck having a chassis, a rear-dump body, a trunnion about which said body swings on said chassis, and said body formed with Y a tail gate opening, comprising: a hopper adapted to be inserted in and to close such tail gate opening; extending transversely of said chassis and body an elongated discharge opening formed in said hopper, and a feed roll and a resilient gate closing said discharge opening, said roll adapted to feed sand transversely of its axis; a conical chute for receiving sand from said hopper and roll; a spinner plate below said chute; means to rotate said feed roll and spinner plate; and link means adapted to maintain fixed the angle of the axes of said chute and spinner plate with respect to the plane of said chassis as said body is swung on said trunnion.

5. A sander adapted for use with a truck having a chassis, a rear-dump body, a trunnion about which said body swings on said chassis, and said body formed with a tail gate opening, comprising: a hopper adapted to be inserted in and to close such tail gate opening; extending transversely of said chassis and body an elongated discharge opening formed in said hopper and a feed roll and a resilient gate closing said discharge opening, said roll adapted to feed sand transversely of its axis; a conical chute for receiving sand from said hopper and roll; a spinner plate below said chute; said chute and spinner plate being pivoted to swing about the axis of said roll; means to rotate said feed roll and said spinner plate; and link means adapted to swing said chute and spinner plate about the axis of said roll to maintain fixed the angle of the axes of said chute and spinner plate with respect to the plane of said chassis as said body is swung on said trunnion.

6. A truck sander, comprising: a hopper having formed therein an outlet opening, a feed roll, means for rotatably supporting said feed roll in said outlet opening, a chute below said hopper and roll, sand dispensing means below said chute for receiving sand from said hopper, roll, and chute, and means pivotally suspending said chute and dispensing means about the axis of said roll; said dispensing means including a pair of sand dispensing discs, means for rotating said discs, and the planes of said discs being non-coplanar.

7. A truck sander adapted for use with a truck having a chassis, a dump body formed with a tail gate opening, and a tail gate having its position adjustable to close or not close said opening, comprising: a hopper, means for attaching said hopper Within the tail gate opening of a dump body so that it closes said opening instead of said opening being closed by the tail gate of said body, a chute for receiving sand from said hopper as said dump body is raised, mechanism below said chute for receiving sand therefrom and for directionally dispensing such sand, a pivot, means for securing said pivot between said hopper, mechanism, and chute for pivotally supporting said chute and mechanism on and below said hopper, and link means between said chute, mechanism, and such chassis for maintaining a desired dispensing direction of said chute and mechanism regardless of the position of said hopper and such dump body.

8. A truck sander, comprising: a hopper having formed therein an outlet opening, means for attaching said hopper within the tail gate opening of a truck dump body, a feed roll, means for rotatably supporting said feed roll in said outlet opening, a chute below said hopper and roll, means pivotally suspending said chute about the axis of said roll, and sand dispensing means below said chute for receiving sand from said hopper, roll, and chute.

9. A truck sander, comprising: a hopper having formed therein an outlet opening, means for attaching said hopper within the tail gate opening of a truck dump body, a feed roll, means for rotatably supporting said feed roll in said outlet opening, a pair of chutes below said hopper and roll, said chutes being along said roll, sand dispensing means below said chutes for receiving sand from said hopper, roll, and chutes, and means pivotally suspending said chutes and dispensing means about the axis of said roll; said dispensing means including a pair of sand dispensing discs, one disc below each chute, means for rotating said discs, and the planes of said discs being noncoplanar.

10. A truck sander, comprising: a hopper having formed therein an outlet opening, means for attaching said hopper within the tail gate opening of a truck dump body, a feed roll, means for rotatably supporting said feed roll in said outlet opening, a pair of chutes below said hopper and roll, said chutes being along said roll, sand dispensing means below said chutes for receiving sand from said hopper, roll, and chutes, and means pivotally suspending said chutes and dispensing means about the axis of said roll; said dispensing means including a pair of sand dispensing discs, one disc below each chute and centrally aligned therewith, means for rotating said discs, and the planes of said discs being non-coplanar.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS