Apparatus for and method of installing elongate seal strips
AssigneeThe D.S. Brown Company
InventorJesse S. Mathey
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A machine or apparatus for installing resilient or elastomeric strip seals of indefinite length in expansion joints in, for example, highways and bridges. The machine includes an open, upper frame connected to a lower frame supported at its four corners by four freely rotating wheels. A pair of clamping pistons on the lower frame includes rollers which are adjusted to engage one face of the expansion joint. A toothed wheel or blade rotates about an inclined axis and is powered by a motor through a speed reducing gearbox. The toothed wheel engages the seal and forces it into a channel on the side of the expansion joint opposite to the side engaged by the rollers.
Claims24
An apparatus for installing a strip seal in an expansion joint, comprising, in combination,
- a frame supported for movement on a plurality of wheels,
- a pair of spaced-apart linear actuators secured to said frame for bi-directionally translating a respective pair of rollers,
- a drive motor and speed reducing assembly having an output and a circular blade driven by said output,
- means for adjusting an angle and position of said circular blade relative to said frame, and
- means for controlling operation of said linear actuators and said drive motor.
An apparatus for installing an elongate seal in an expansion joint, comprising, in combination,
- a frame supported on a plurality of wheels,
- a pair of spaced-apart linear actuators secured to said frame for bi-directionally translating a respective pair of rollers,
- a drive motor coupled to and driving a speed reducing assembly having an output and an installation wheel driven by said output,
- means for adjusting an angle and position of said wheel relative to said frame,
- a first control for controlling operation of said drive motor, and
- a second control for controlling operation of said linear actuators.
An apparatus for installing an elongate seal in an expansion joint of a bridge or pavement, comprising, in combination,
- a frame supported for translation on a plurality of wheels along a first axis,
- a pair of spaced-apart linear actuators secured to said frame for bi-directionally translating a respective pair of clamping rollers along parallel second axes perpendicular to said first axis,
- an air motor having an output, a speed reducing assembly having an input coupled to said air motor output and an output and a toothed wheel coupled to said output,
- means for adjusting an angle and position of said wheel relative to said frame,
- a first control valve for controlling operation of said air motor, and
- a second control valve for controlling operation of said linear actuators.
The method of installing an elongate strip seal on a deck, comprising the steps of:
- providing a pair of opposed rails on adjacent edges of a deck, each of said rails having an upper groove and a lower groove,
- providing an elongate resilient strip seal have edges with upper and lower lugs,
- applying a lubricant/adhesive to the lower grooves of said rails,
- installing said lower lugs of said strip seal in said lower grooves of said rails,
- applying a lubricant/adhesive to the upper lugs of said strip seal,
- providing an installing machine having a rotatable, inclined installation wheel,
- locating said installation wheel adjacent one of said upper lugs of said strip seal,
- rotating said wheel to continuously install said one of said upper lugs into said one of said upper grooves of said rail.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.