Mobile concreting apparatus and method

A mobile concreting apparatus for preparing a concrete slurry from cement, gravel, sand, and water and applying the slurry to a surface at a job site, the concreting apparatus comprising,

• a vehicle,
• a cement container, a gravel container, a sand container, and a water container, all connected to and carried by said vehicle,
• a cement metering auger, a gravel metering auger, a sand metering auger, each of such augers being connected to associated ones of said containers and driven by an associated one of a plurality of electric motors,
• a water valve connected to said water container and controllable to vary the rate of flow of the water from said water container,
• a cement auger control means, a gravel auger control means, and a sand auger control means, each separately connected to the associated electric motors to allow the speed of the associated auger to be separately controlled, thereby separately varying the flow rate of material through each auger,
• mixing means for receiving and mixing the ingredients fed by said cement, gravel, and sand metering augers and said water valve to form a wet concrete slurry,
• pump means for pumping the slurry from said mixing means at a controllable feed rate which is independent of the flow rates of material through each auger and the flow rate of water through said water valve,
• a nozzle;
• and
• a hose connected to receive the wet concrete slurry pumped by said pump means and to convey the concrete slurry to said nozzle for application to the surface to be coated.

A process for preparing and applying a concrete slurry to structures, utilizing containers for flowable solid ingredients mounted on a vehicle, a plurality of conveying means for separately conveying each of the solid ingredients from its container at an individually controllable rate, mixing means for mixing the solid ingredients with water to form a wet concrete slurry, and application means for applying the slurry to a structure, the process comprising the steps of,

• feeding the flowable solid ingredients to the mixing means,
• individually adjusting the feed rates of the conveying means to vary the relative proportions of the flowable solid ingredients,
• feeding the water to the mixing means, including individually adjusting the feed rate of the liquid ingredient,
• mixing the water and flowable solid ingredients to form a wet concrete slurry,
• pumping the wet concrete slurry through a hose at a feed rate adjustable independently of the feed rates of the liquid and flowable solid ingredients to the mixing means, and
• applying the wet concrete slurry to the structure through a nozzle connected to the hose.

A mobile concreting apparatus for preparing a wet concrete slurry from flowable solid ingredients including cement, sand and gravel mixed with water and applying the slurry to a surface at a job site, the concreting apparatus comprising,

• a vehicle,
• a plurality of containers mounted on the vehicle each adapted to contain one of the flowable solid ingredients,
• a plurality of separate ingredient-feeding means, one for each flowable solid ingredient, each of said ingredient-feeding means being connected to an associated one of said containers for feeding the ingredient contained in said container therefrom,
• a plurality of control means, each said control means being connected to an associated one of said ingredient-feeding means for individually controlling the feed rate thereof,
• mixing means connected to said ingredient-feeding means for receiving and mixing the ingredients fed thereby,
• water supply means connected to said mixing means for adding water to the ingredients, being mixed in said mixing means, at a selectively controllable rate to create a wet concrete slurry incorporating the gravel,
• a hose;
• and
• pump means connected to said mixing means and to one end of said hose for pumping the wet concrete slurry along said hose at a selectively controllable rate, whereby slurry may be delivered by the hose to the job site.