Paver having dowel bar inserter with automated dowel bar feeder

A paver for laying down a strip of concrete over a ground surface and for intermittently inserting into the strip spaced-apart dowel bars that are oriented substantially parallel to the length of the strip being laid down, the paver comprising:

• a paving kit configured for shaping the strip of concrete;
• a dowel bar inserter connected with and trailing the paving kit orienting the dowel bars substantially parallel to a travel direction and placing the dowel bars into the concrete while the strip is being laid down, the dowel bar inserter including:
• a pair of spaced-apart, endless chains extending over a width of the inserter and defining upper and lower chain strands connected by chain turn-around sections;
• shaft mounting chain-engaging sprockets at each turn-around section;
• a pair of spaced-apart dowel bar holding magazine plates positioned above and proximate to at least one of the turn-around sections for holding a multiplicity of dowel bars, the plates defining parallel dowel bar release channels from which dowel bars can gravitationally drop towards the chains;
• a depression beneath the release channels for receiving a dowel bar and holding the dowel bar beneath the release channel during normal operational use of the paver;
• pairs of associated, aligned dowel transporting lugs extending away from exterior surfaces of the chains facing away from the chains for engaging the dowel bars at a loading station and transporting them from the release channel along the path of the chains over the width of the inserter;
• a turn-around guide extending about the turn-around section of the chains including an outer guide having an inwardly facing radially outer guide surface and an inner guide having a radially outwardly facing guide surface, a spacing between the guide surfaces being greater than a diameter of the dowel bars, and a resilient band generally extending about and spaced apart from the outwardly facing guide surface of the inner guide so that dowel bars travel along the turn-around guide while engaged by the inner guide surface and the resilient band biases the dowel bars against the inner guide surface so that the dowel bars stay in contact with the associated pairs of lugs;
• and
• a shuttle bar extending from a lower end of the turn-around guide over the width of the inserter having spaced-apart slots into which the dowel bars gravitationally drop as the lugs move the dowel bars over the width of the inserter for subsequent insertion of the bars into the strip of concrete being laid down.