Traffic bearing expansion joint cover and method of preparing same

A method of producing an expansion joint between the spaced, confronting ends of a pair of adjacent concrete slabs in a roadway of the type in which the slabs are formed with spaced, confronting, transversely extending recesses in the upper edges thereof, comprising

• prefabricating a plurality of elongate, rigid edger strips having cross sectional configurations generally similar to but smaller than the cross sectional configurations of said recesses in said slabs, whereby each such edger strip has in one longitudinal side edge thereof an elongate recess extending longitudinally of the strip,
• prefabricating a plurality of elongate, semi-rigid cover members each of which is generally T-shaped in cross section, and each of which comprises a generally planar traffic-bearing section having a thickness approximately equal to the depth of said recess in said edger strips, and an integral web section projecting transversely from the underside of said traffic-bearing section centrally thereof,
• securing a pair of said prefabricated edger strips in the confronting recesses in a pair of said adjacent slabs with said recesses in said pair of edger strips opening on said space between the slabs and in spaced, confronting relation to each other,
• placing a molten sealing compound into the space between the confronting ends of said slabs with the level of said compound spaced beneath the recesses in said confronting edger strips, and
• while said sealing compound is still molten, inserting one of said cover members over the upper end of the space between said slabs so that opposite sides of said traffic-bearing section of said member project into the confronting recesses in said pair of edger strips, and so that the integral web section of said cover member projects downwardly into said molten sealing compound to become fixedly embedded therein when said compound solidifies.

A method of producing an expansion joint between the spaced, confronting ends of a pair of adjacent concrete slabs in a roadway of the type in which the slabs are formed with spaced, confronting, transversely extending recesses in the upper edges thereof, comprising

• inserting into the space between said slabs an elongate, flexible sealing element opposite sides of which sealingly engage the confronting end surfaces of said slabs beneath the recessed edges thereof,
• securing in each of said recesses in said confronting ends of said slabs an elongate, rigid, prefabricated edger strip having in one longitudinal side edge an elongate recess positioned to open on said space between said slabs,
• placing a molten sealing compound on top of said sealing element in the space between said slabs and the confronting ends of said edger strips, and
• while said compound is still molten, inserting over the upper end of said space between the slabs and said edger strips an elongate, semi-rigid, prefabricated cover member having opposed side edges which project part way into the confronting recesses in said edger strips, and having an integral web section projecting downwardly into the molten sealing compound to be fixedly embedded therein when the compound solidifies, and
• filling the remaining portions of said recesses in said edger strips, which are not occupied by said opposite sides of said cover member, with a resilient, low modulus, traffic-bearing compound.