WO1993018235A1

WO1993018235A1 - Improvements relating to road working apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO1993018235A1
Application number: PCT/GB1993/000527
Authority: WO
Inventors: William George Lupton
Original assignee: Rota-Pic Limited
Priority date: 1992-03-12
Filing date: 1993-03-12
Publication date: 1993-09-16
Also published as: GB9205346D0

Abstract

The present invention provides a road working apparatus wherein a road planing assembly (26) is provided. This assembly (26) is adapted to be manipulated by an operator (20A) although it has its own power drive for moving the planing assembly over the road surface (17). The planing assembly (26) is connected to a vehicle (24) by means of an outrigger arm (5, 6) the effective length of which is adjusted so that the planer (26) can be moved over a substantial area under the guidance of the operator (20A). This arrangement by appropriate coupling to the vehicle (24) enables part of the weight of the vehicle (24) to be transferred via the outrigger arm (5, 6) to the planer assembly (26) whereby the downward thrust on the planer (26) assembly will assist in ensuring effective penetration of the planer drum into the road surface (17) to remove a layer of the required thickness (18).

Description

Improvements Relating to Road Working Apparatus

This invention relates to road working apparatus, and in particular concerns an apparatus for cutting the road surface, such apparatus comprising particularly but not exclusively a planer which is adapted to remove a top layer of the road surface, for example for highway patching or the like. The invention also relates to other road cutting modes, such as milling and slitting.

Recent regulations have stipulated that in the United Kingdom roadway repairs must be of a particular quality, and when a section of road is dug up or repaired, the surfacing of asphalt must be applied neatly and evenly so that road quality will be maintained as far as possible.

There is a need for a planing apparatus which can be utilised to remove only a section of the roadway top surface so that following the remedial work, it is a relatively simple matter to resurface only that section of the roadway from which the top layer has been removed.

Various forms of road planers have been proposed, but generally speaking these have been mounted on or connected to vehicles and are manipulated from the vehicle by the driver thereof. Alternatively, hand held road planers have been provided, but these suffer from the disadvantage that they are of insufficient mass to effectively penetrate the road surface rapidly, or are too heavy to make handling easy.

The present invention aims at providing a road planing arrangement which obviates or mitigates these disadvantages.

In accordance with the invention in its most general aspect, there is provided a planing apparatus comprising a planer head adapted to be manipulated to traverse the section of road surface to be planed, said apparatus comprising an outrigger arm adapting the apparatus to be connected to a vehicle, the outrigger arm having the planer head at one end thereof and the other end being for connection to the vehicle, the outrigger arm furthermore being capable of articulation relative to the vehicle and effective length variation such as to enable the user to manipulate the planer head across the area to be planed, said planer head being provided with a power drive means for this purpose, and so that the weight of the vehicle can be transferred to the planer head to provide downward thrust, via the outrigger arm.

The outrigger arm may simply comprise two articulated beams relatively pivotable about an axis which is vertical or substantially so in the in-use position, one of the arms being for connecting at its other end to the vehicle for pivotal movement about a vertical or substantially vertical axis, and the other end of the other arm being connected to the planer head so that the planer assembly can pivot about a vertical or substantially vertical axis.

Alternatively, the outrigger arm may be telescopic in nature to provide for the effective length adjustment. The arm may be in two telescopically interfitting parts of which the inner part has a pair of rollers which run on the inner surface of the outer part.

The planer head may be provided with a planing drum whose position vertically relative to the remainder of the planer head is adjustable, for example by means of an hydraulic ram, so that the planing drum can be lowered onto the ground surface or withdrawn from it as required, for the control of the cutting of the road surface. To enable the weight of the vehicle to be transferred to the planing assembly, a loading ram and framework may be connected between the outrigger arm and the vehicle.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to. the accompanying drawings, wherein:-

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation showing the arrangement of a first embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1 showing the flexibility of the arrangement or Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing an alternative embodiment of the invention; and

Fig. 4 shows a planer arrangement attached to a JCB type vehicle.

Referring to the drawings, and firstly to Figs. 1 and 2, the embodiment illustrated comprises a planer head or unit 26 which is sup;" rted at the end of an outrigger arm construction made up of beams 5 and 6. Beams 5 and 6 are pivotally interconnected about which is vertical when the pivotal axis 7 apparatus is on lev l ground, and the planer head can pivot about vertical axis 8 at the outer end of beam 6. The arm forms a means of carrying hydraulic power pipes from the vehicle to the planing head to enable hydraulic rams and motors carried thereby to be operated by the supply of hydraulic fluid under pressure supplied from a pump driven from the vehicle.

At its inner end, beam 5 is pivotall mounted about an axis defined by a hydraulic ram 1 which is arranged in vertical disposition, and is connected in bearings 2 to enable the said pivoting about the vertical axis. The bearings 2 are supported by a frame 3 which in turn is connected as shown in Fig. 2 to the adjacent vehicle 24 via connection points 4. By this arrangement, the effective length of the beam or arm 5, 6, which is the distance between the first axis defined by ram 1 and the axis 8, can be adjusted. The wheels 9 of the vehicle shown may be the front or rear wheels, and in this connection as to the type of vehicle which may be used, this is not to be considered a limitation on the present invention. The vehicle may be a JCB type vehicle provided with a back hoe, or it may be an excavator of the wheeled or tracked type, or it may be a commercial tractor or commercial truck. The vehicle provides a means on the one hand of transporting the equipment to the site, and on the other hand a weight transfer means as it is desirable that there should be downward vertical loading on the planer assembly 26 during operation.

By appropriately pressurising the ram 1, the outrigger arm and the planer head can be raised clear of the ground, or lowered to the ground and by continued pressurising of the ram, the weight of the vehicle can be transferred via the frame 3 and the outrigger beams 5 and 6 to the planing head 26.

The planing head 26 comprises a frame 14 which is connected to the arm 6 via a universal joint 21.

At the inner end, the frame 14 is provided with depth control and ground engaging rollers 11. In fact any number of rollers 11 from one to six may be employed.

At its outer end, the frame 14 carries a pivotable steering shaft rotatable about vertical axis 23, and attached to this shaft is a manipulating handle 20 or tiller for use by an operator 20A.

At the lower end the shaft supports a ground engaging drive wheel 10 which is drivable by means of a power source such as a hydraulic motor or other motor 27.

An adjusting ram or rams 19 is or are carried by the frame, and is or are connected to an adjustment frame 12 which in turn carries a cutter drum 16 provided preferably with self sharpening carbon steel tipped cutters. As will be understood, the drive wheel 10 and the ground engaging rollers 11 engage the ground, and the position of the drum 16 can be adjusted relative thereto by adjustment of the ram 19.

Fig. 1 also shows the ground level as being indicated by reference 17 and a typical cut level effected by cutter drum 16 by the reference numeral 18.

Referring to Fig. 2, this figure shows the extent to which the cutting head 26 can be manipulated by the operator. The cutting drum can travel anywhere in the area 22, and this manipulation is achieved by relative pivoting of the beams 5 and 6 and also by the capability of pivoting resulting from the utilisation of universal joint 21.

In the drawings, the beams 5 and 6 are in aligned positions 5A, 6A and extend directly fore and aft of the vehicle. At positions 5B and 6B the arms 5 and 6 are jack knifed close to the vehicle so that the cutting head can be positioned as shown, and to illustrate the extent of possible pivoting, the arm 5 is shown in a third position 5C.

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 3, the power unit 26 is essentially similar to that shown in Fig. 1 and parts equivalent to those parts described in relation to Fig. 1 carry similar reference numerals. Additionally, the handle 20 has an operating trigger 2OB which can be raised and lowered to effect ^"forwards and reverse drive of the traction motor 27 for forwards and reverse driving of the wheel 10. The trigger is controlled by the operator 20A and is a "dead man" trigger 2OB in that if the operator releases the trigger 2OB it will return to the neutral position and driving of the unit 26 will stop.

The main difference between the Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 arrangement is that the arm sections 5 and 6 are box section beams which telescopically interfit to enable the effective length of the outrigger arm to be adjusted or adjust automatically. To this end, the end of beam 6 which fits into beam 5, has two rollers Rl and R2 which run on the inside of beam 5 to ensure smooth low friction telescoping, whilst encouraging the effective transfer of the weight of the vehicle to the unit 26 through the arm 5, 6 in that the two rollers Rl and R2 provide a reactive moment between the beam sections 5, 6. The unit 26, with this telescoping arrangement, is capable of traversing the same area 22 as the embodiment of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 shows how the invention can be applied to a conventional back hoe JCB type vehicle. In this figure arms C and D are pivotally interconnected at B which defines an horizontal axis, and A also indicates the horizontal pivot axis connection between arm C and the vehicle. The entire arm assembly can swing about a vertical axis adjacent the vehicle, but the machine could be modified where the slew arm assembly is adapted to float, which would allow the arm C to work through the same angle of movement basically as arm 5 in the embodiment of Figs. 1 and 2. The application of hydraulic pressure into rams E and F could enable the arms C and D to act as a weight transfer means from the tractor onto the planer head G. Other machines on the market could be adapted to operate in a similar manner. Even without adaptation, it is believed that the machine of Fig. 4 could still operate in the general concept of the present invention in that the planer G again is provided with a separate steerable drive wheel and hand tiller.

With the invention, the planing head 26 can be independently driven in any portion of the area of operation 22 and can be manipulated and steered by the operator 20A using handle 20 on pivot 23.

The vertical pivot joints 3, 7 (and 8 in the case of Fig. 1) are free swinging (and the telescoping in Fig. 3 is free sliding allowing the outrigger assembly to float into any position.

In use of either::the Fig. 1 or Fig. 3 embodiment, when the outrigger arm is raised by the hydraulic ram the planing head

26 is lifted clear of the ground and the operator can in fact position the planing head in any location in area 22 as required. When the operator is ready, the hydraulic ram 1 is lowered until rollers 11 and wheel 10 engage the ground 18. The extent of lowering of the ram 1 is dependent upon the amount of weight transfer which is required to be applied to the planer 26. The prime mover is in fact by this means partially raised. When sufficient weight has been transferred, the ram 19 can then be operated to lower the cutter so that it penetrates the highway surface 17 to the desired depth of cut 18. The motor 25 is rotating the cutter at this time. The operator can now by controlling the motor

27 which drives wheel 10 move the planing head within any region of the area 22 as required. The movement of the head, in which the outrigger arm functions as an umbilical or free moving connection providing weight and power transfer is by the driving of the motor 27, which may be a creep speed hydraulic motor and it is preferred that the direction of movement of the planer assembly is such that the motor 27 travels in advance of the planer assembly or direction X in Figs. 1 and 3. Motor 27 will be provided with a speed control valve to increase or decrease the speed of movement of the planer head as desired (see 20B in Fig. 3), and this control is also fitted with a forward or reverse so that should the cutter drum 16 stall or become jammed, then the motor 27 will drive the wheel 10 in reverse.

When a tractor loader as shown in Fig. 4 is provided with a sweeper collector bucket J, then there may be no need for the stabiliser legs H as shown in Fig. 4 as it is desirable to transfer the whole of the weight of the rear of the tractor whereby the rear of the tractor can be lifted onto the planer head 26. In the Fig. 1 and 2 arrangement, it is also possible using ram 1 to transfer nearly the whole of the vehicle weight onto the planer head 26.

It may be that there will be side loadings on the vehicle when the weight is transferred to the planer head, and referring to Fig. 2, depending upon which side W or Y of the centre line as shown in Fig. 2 the planer is located, so that side of the vehicle will be raised more than the other but the maximum weight will still be transferred.

In the case of a commercial vehicle if there is a danger of twisting of the vehicle chassis when the planer is working at full reach at approximately 90° to the centre line, in such circumstances it may be preferable to provide stabiliser legs to prevent such twisting.

Where a commercial vehicle is used, the vehicle body will probably simultaneously be used for either containing hot bitumous materials and/or for collecting the planings produced by the planing cutting, so that there should be present considerable weight on the vehicle chassis which will be transmitted to the planer head via the outrigger arm.

It is preferred that the apparatus be provided with appropriate manually or automatically releasable latches for locking same in position, for example when the apparatus is being transported. Such latches may for example lock the planer head 26 to beam 6, may lock the beams 6 and 5 together, and may lock the beam 5 to the main frame 3. The latches may be operative for example in the jack knife positions 5B, 6B shown in Fig. 2.

Claims

1. A planing apparatus comprising a planer head adapted to be manipulated to traverse the section of road surface to be planed, said apparatus comprising an outrigger arm adapting the apparatus to be connected to a vehicle, the outrigger arm having the planer head at one end thereof and the other end being for connection to the vehicle, the outrigger arm furthermore being capable of articulation relative to the vehicle and effective length variation such as to enable the user to manipulate the planer head across the area to be planed, said planer head being provided with a power drive means for this purpose, and so that the weight of the vehicle can be transferred to the planer head to provide downward thrust, via the outrigger arm.

2. An apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the outrigger arm comprises two articulating beams relatively pivotable about an axis which is vertical or substantially so in the in-use position, one of the beams being for connection at its other end to the vehicle for pivotable movement about a vertical or substantially vertical axis, and the other end of the other beam being connected to the planer head so that the planer head can pivot about a vertical or substantially vertical axis.

3. An apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the outrigger arm is telescopic in nature to provide for the effective length adjustment.

4. The apparatus according to Claim 3, wherein the arm is in two telescopically interfitting parts of which the inner part has a pair of rollers which run on the inner surface of the outer part.

5. An apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the planer head has a planing drum whose position is adjustable vertically relative to the remainder of the planer head.

6. An apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the planer head is connected to the arm by means of a universal joint enabling the planer head to tilt relative to the outrigger arm to follow the undulating contours of the ground surface.

7. An apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the power drive means of the planer head comprises a motor for driving a traction wheel for movement of the head over the ground, and a further motor for the driving of a planer drum of the planer head.

8. An appratus according to Claim 7, wherein the traction wheel is steerable.

9. An apparatus according to Claim 8, wherein the traction wheel is carried by a steering king pin which is connected to a manually operable steering handle.

10. An apparatus according to Claim 9, wherein said handle furthermore includes controls for controlling the power drive means.

11. An apparatus according to Claim 8 wherein said handle includes a control trigger movable to opposite sides of a neutral position for driving the planer assembly in forwards and reverse directions, said trigger operating on a "dead man" principle so that it will return to the neutral position to stop movement of the planing assembly upon release of the trigger by the operator.

12. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the apparatus is provided with at least one releasable latch for locking the planer to the outrigger arm, for locking the arm against effective length adjustment or for locking the arm to the vehicle to which it is to be mounted.

13. A planing apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2 or Figs. 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings.

14. The combination of an apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims and a vehicle, said apparatus being connected to the vehicle at the front or rear end thereof via a means enabling a part of the weight of the vehicle to be transferred to the head assembly via the outrigger arm.

15. The combination according to Claim 14, wherein said transfer means comprises a hydraulic jacking arrangement connected between the end of the vehicle and the outrigger arm.