Road construction apparatus with pivotally connected trimmer
OwnerRichard Silbernagel, David Emersoninventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A road construction apparatus having a spreader, a pivotable trimmer assembly and an auger assembly. The trimmer assembly is movable between a first operational position and a second storage position. The trimmer assembly includes a housing, a rotatable cutter and a drive mechanism for rotating the cutter. A power drive system is coupled to the drive mechanism for rotating the cutter and moving the trimmer assembly between the first and second positions. The apparatus includes drive means for moving the apparatus on a supporting surface. A power source is coupled to the drive means and power drive system.
Claims29
A road construction apparatus comprising:
- a mainframe having a forward end and a rearward end defining a longitudinal axis and a left side and a right side defining a width transverse to the longitudinal axis, said mainframe including drive means for moving said mainframe on a support surface;
- a rotatable cutter connected to said mainframe and having a width extending generally transversely along at least a portion of said width of said mainframe for cutting surfaces when in a first operative position, said first operative position defining a cutting plane along which said cutter is movable for cutting;
- and
- a powered drive system coupled to the rotatable cutter and arranged to selectively move said cutter between said first operative cutting position and a second storage position transverse to the cutting plane.
A road construction apparatus including a mainframe having a forward end and a rearward end defining a length and a left side and a right side defining a width, said mainframe being positioned on a surface and including drive means configured to provide mobility to said mainframe on the surface, the apparatus comprising:
- a trimmer assembly including a housing and an elongate cylindrical cutter, said trimmer assembly having a forward end and a rearward end and a first end and a second end, said first end and said second end being generally aligned with said width of said mainframe and extending along at least a portion of said width of said mainframe, said mainframe being connected to said trimmer assembly for the selective cutting of surfaces;
- and
- a powered drive system operatively connected to the drive means and to said trimmer assembly, said powered drive system being connected to said mainframe for the movement of said trimmer assembly between a first position having a first clearance distance between said trimmer assembly and the surface and a second position having a second clearance distance between said trimmer assembly and the surface, wherein said second clearance distance above the surface is a greater distance than said first clearance distance above the surface.
A road construction apparatus comprising:
- a mainframe having a forward end and a rearward end defining a longitudinal axis and a left side and a right side defining a width transverse to the longitudinal axis, said mainframe including drive means for moving said mainframe on a support surface;
- a trimmer assembly connected to said mainframe and having a width extending generally transversely along at least a portion of said width of said mainframe for cutting surfaces when in a first operative position, said trimmer assembly including a housing, a cutter and a drive mechanism;
- and
- a power drive system powered by the drive means and connected to said main frame, the power drive system being operatively connected to pivot said trimmer assembly about pivoting means connecting the mainframe and the trimmer assembly between a first position for cutting and a second position for storage, the trimmer assembly being approximately vertical in the first position and transverse to the vertical in the second position such that the distance between the supporting surface and the trimmer assembly has increased between the first and second positions.
A method of repositioning a trimmer assembly of a road construction apparatus, the road construction apparatus comprising a frame, a drive means and a power drive system, the frame being connected to the trimmer assembly, the drive means and power drive system, the drive means moving the construction apparatus along a supporting surface, said power drive system being operatively connected to said trimmer assembly, said method comprising the steps of:
- positioning said trimmer assembly using said power drive system between being connected to said frame in a first position for using said trimmer assembly for cutting surfaces and being connected to said frame in a second position for storing said trimmer assembly, the trimmer assembly in the first operational position defining a first axis for cutting and the trimmer assembly in the second storage position defining a second axis for cutting that is transverse to the first axis for cutting.
The method of repositioning a trimmer assembly wherein the step of positioning further comprises the step of repositioning the trimmer assembly between the approximately vertical first operative position and the transverse second storage position such that the distance between the trimmer assembly and the supporting surface in the first position is less than the distance between the trimmer assembly and the supporting surface in the second position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.