Vehicle positioning methods and apparatus with impact damper
AssigneeCedarapids, Inc.
InventorsJon D. Goodwin, Joseph E. Musil
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A push roll assembly mounted to a material receiving apparatus, such as a paver or other material receiving machine, includes a resilient link which allows energy transferred during contact of a supply truck with the push rolls to be gradually transferred to the material receiving machine, to thereby smoothen the impact between such truck and the machine.
Claims20
In supplying materials with a metal supply truck to roadway construction equipment, a method of positioning a bed of the material supply truck with respect to a leading edge of a material receiving hopper of a roadway construction material receiving apparatus, which comprises:
- moving a rear end of the bed of the material supply truck and the adjacent leading edge of the material receiving hopper relative to each other and toward each other, so as to position the rear end of the truck in a preferred position above the receiving hopper and inboard of the leading edge of the material receiving hopper;
- engaging rear tires of the truck with push rolls for stopping relative motion between the truck and the receiving hopper;
- resiliently moving the push rolls with respect to the material receiving apparatus for storing between the push rolls and the material receiving apparatus energy imparted by such relative motion between the truck and the receiving hopper;
- and
- directing such stored energy through the push rolls toward the tires of the truck to equalize the motion of the truck with respect to the material receiving apparatus.
In road construction material receiving apparatus for receiving material from a supply vehicle, apparatus for positioning a material supply vehicle with respect to the material receiving apparatus, comprising:
- a support frame mounted to the material receiving apparatus;
- means for engaging the rear of tires of the material supply vehicle in rolling contact;
- means, mounted to the material receiving apparatus, for supporting the tire engaging means for displacement with respect to the support frame of the material receiving apparatus;
- and means, interposed between the support means of the tire engaging means and the support frame of the material receiving apparatus, for resiliently receiving and storing energy in response to displacement of the tire engaging means toward the support frame of the material receiving apparatus resulting from engagement of the engaging means with rear tires of the material supply vehicle.
On road construction equipment including a material receiving hopper, a push roll assembly mounted to such construction equipment adjacent an edge of the material receiving hopper for contacting rear tires of a material delivery vehicle in rolling contact to position the material delivery vehicle with respect to the material receiving hopper for delivery of material from the vehicle to the hopper, the improvement comprising:
- means for extending and retracting the push rolls with respect to the material receiving hopper respectively toward and away from the rear tires of the material delivery vehicle to a preferred contact position of the push rolls for positioning the tires during such delivery of the material from the vehicle to the hopper;
- and
- means for resiliently engaging the rear tires with the push rolls in such preferred contact position and for resiliently storing energy caused by relative motion of the material delivery vehicle with respect to the receiving hopper of the construction equipment to urge the push rolls against the tires and arrest relative motion of the material delivery vehicle with respect to the construction equipment material receiving hopper and position the tires in such preferred contact position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.