US 5,203,628 AGranted

Portable batch mixing apparatus for cementitious construction materials

AssigneeHamm Family Partnership

InventorAlton B. Hamm

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Abstract

A portable system for on-site batch mixing of cementitious materials, such as mortar and grout, includes a batch mixing machine for metering and mixing cement, sand and water, a cement storage silo sized to hold at least one commercial delivery truckload of cement, and a pair of sand supporting ground pads. The large cement storage silo significantly reduces the manpower and equipment costs associated with the overall batch mixing process, and the sand support pads operate to prevent dirt contamination of the cementitious mixture. The water storage portion is provided with a simplified, floatless fill level control system and an improved water heating system which significantly reduces water temperature stratification. A specially designed pressurized shaft bearing/seal structure provided on the batch mixer portion of the mixing machine reduces grease and seal maintenance and functions to essentially preclude entry of cementitious material into the shaft bearing. The cement reservoir hopper portion of the batch mixing machine has incorporated therein a cement conditioning system providing improved cement discharge metering accuracy, the conditioning system including a vertical air discharge pipe connected at its lower end to an air gatherer disposed above air discharge members which fluff the cement located above the bottom hopper outlet and below the air gatherer. In an alternate embodiment, the cement reservoir hopper and its associated cement conditioning system are removed from the mixing machine and incorporated in the cement storage silo.

Claims26

Dependent claims

Apparatus, transportable by a road vehicle to a construction site, for economically and accurately mixing predetermined proportional amounts of cement, sand and water constituents of cementitious construction materials into selectively variable batch volumes of mix at a construction site, said transportable apparatus comprising:

a cementitious material mixing machine transportable by the road vehicle to the construction site and including:
batch mixer means for receiving cement, said and water constituents, mixing the received constituents, and discharging the resulting mixture batch for use,
cement hopper means for storing on the machine a dispensable supply of cement, sand hopper means for storing on the machine a dispensable supply of sand, and
control means operative to select a total, selectively variable volume of the cementitious construction material batch to be mixed and then automatically cause the proportional amounts of cement and sand necessary to form the batch to be mixed to be respectively dispensed into said batch mixer means from said cement hopper means and said sand hopper means;
pad means, transportable by the road vehicle to the construction site and being positionable on the ground adjacent said mixing machine, for underlying and supporting a large bulk supply pile of sand, quantities of which may be periodically scoop loaded from atop said pad means into said sand hopper means to replenish their dispensable sand supply, said pad means serving to elevate the sand pile above the ground and thereby substantially lessen the possibility that dirt will be scooped up with the sand pile quantities and contaminate the sand in said sand hopper means;
and
bulk cement storage container means transportable by the road vehicle to the construction site and adapted to be positioned and left in place adjacent said mixing machine, said bulk cement storage container means being operative to hold and store at least one commercial delivery truckload of cement, said bulk cement storage container means having associated therewith conveyor means connectable to said cement hopper means and selectively operable to transfer cement into said cement hopper means from said bulk cement storage container means,
whereby cement may be commercially delivered to and deposited in the in-place bulk cement storage container means, in economical commercial delivery truckload quantities, thereby eliminating the necessity of using either the road vehicle or associated construction site worker time to periodically replenish the stored cement supply at the transportable apparatus.

5 more elements

A method of economically and accurately producing selectively variably sized individual batches of cementitious material at a construction site, said method comprising the steps of:

utilizing a road vehicle to transport a cementitious material mixing machine to the construction site, said mixing machine having:
batch mixer means for receiving cement, sand and water constituents, mixing the received constituents, and discharging the resulting mixture batch for use,
cement hopper means for storing on the machine a dispensable supply of cement,
sand hopper means for storing on the machine a dispensable supply of sand,
control means operative to select a total, selectively variable volume of the cementitious material batch to be mixed and then automatically cause the proportional amounts of cement and sand necessary to form the batch to be mixed to be respectively dispensed into said batch mixer means from said cement hopper means and said sand hopper means;
utilizing the road vehicle to transport a bulk cement storage silo to the construction site, said bulk cement storage silo being sized to hold at least one commercial delivery truckload of cement;
operatively positioning said bulk cement storage silo adjacent said mixing machine;
depositing an initial quantity of cement in said bulk cement storage silo;
interconnecting conveyor means between said bulk cement storage silo and said cement hopper means, said conveyor means being selectively operable to transfer cement from said bulk cement storage silo into said cement hopper means;
respectively depositing initial dispensable quantities of cement and sand into said cement hopper means and said sand hopper means;
operating said control means and said batch mixer means to produce and discharge separate batches of cementitious material;
periodically operating said conveyor means to replenish the dispensable supply of cement within said cement hopper means;
and
periodically deposit full commercial delivery truckloads of cement into said bulk cement storage silo to replenish its stored supply of cement.

11 more elements

Apparatus, transportable by a road vehicle to a construction site, for economically and accurately mixing predetermined proportional amounts of cement, said and water constituents of cementitious construction materials into selectively variable batch volumes of mix at the construction site, said transportable apparatus comprising:

a cementitious material mixing machine transportable by the road vehicle to the construction site and including:
batch mixer means for receiving cement, said and water constituents, mixing the received constituents, and discharging the resulting mixture batch for use, and
sand hopper means for storing on the machine a dispensable supply of sand,
bulk cement storage container means transportable by a road vehicle to the construction site and adapted to be positioned and left in place adjacent said mixing machine, said bulk cement storage container means being operative to hold and store at least one commercial delivery truckload of cement, said bulk cement storage container means having associated therewith conveyor means connectable to said batch mixer means and selectively operable to transfer cement into said batch mixer means from said bulk cement storage container means;
and
control means operative to select a total, selectively variable volume of the constituents construction material batch to be mixed and then automatically caused the proportional amounts of cement and sand necessary to form the batch to be mixed to be respectively dispensed into said batch mixer means form said bulk cement storage container means and said sand hopper means;
said bulk cement storage container means including a cement storage silo having a bottom outlet through which cement stored in said silo may be dropped into said conveyor means for delivery thereby to said batch mixer means, and wherein said transportable apparatus further comprises;
means for selectively creating and maintaining an essentially constant rate of gravity outflow f stored cement to said outlet opening despite variations in the total quantity of i said silo, said means for selectively creating and being operative to:
generally upwardly aerate the cement in a conditioning zone, through which the aerated cement may fall outwardly said outlet opening, and
permit the non-aerated cement to fall into the conditioning zone, during aerated cement outflow from said silo, replace the exiting aerated cement and in turn be aerated conditioned for gravity outflow from said silo.

7 more elements

a cementitious material mixing machine transportable by the road vehicle to the construction site and including:
batch mixer means for receiving cement, said and water constituents, mixing the received constituents, and discharging the resulting mixture batch for use,
cement hopper means for storing on the machine a dispensable supply of cement,
sand hopper means for storing on the machine a dispensable supply of sand, and
control means operative to select a total, selectively variable volume of the cementitious construction material batch to be mixed and then automatically cause the proportional amounts of cement and sand necessary to form the batch to be mixed to be respectively dispensed into said batch mixer means from said cement hopper means and said sand hopper means;
bulk cement storage container means transportable by the road vehicle to the construction site and adapted to be positioned and left in place adjacent said mixing machine, said bulk cement storage container means being operative to hold and store at least one commercial delivery truckload of cement, and said bulk cement storage container means having associated therewith conveyor means connectable to said cement hopper means and selectively operable to transfer cement into said cement hopper means form said bulk cement storage container means;
said bulk cement storage container means including a cement storage silo having a bottom outlet through which cement stored in said silo may be dropped into said conveyor means for delivery thereby to said batch mixer means and means for selectively creating and maintaining an essentially constant rate of gravity outflow of stored cement to said outlet opening despite variations in the total quantity of in said silo, said means for selectively creating and being operative to:
generally upwardly aerate the cement in a conditioning zone, through which the aerated cement may fall outwardly said outlet opening, and
permit the non-aerated cement to fall into the conditioning zone, during aerated cement outflow from said silo, replace the exiting aerated cement and in turn be aerated conditioned for gravity outflow from said silo;
whereby cement may be commercially delivered to and deposited in the in-place bulk cement storage container means, in economical commercial delivery truckload quantities, thereby eliminating the necessity of suing either the road vehicle or associated construction site worker time to periodically replenish the stored cement supply at the transportable apparatus.

7 more elements

An apparatus, transportable by a road vehicle to a construction site, for mixing predetermined constituents of construction materials, including particulate matter and cement, in a batch mixer having desired volume of mix selected from a range of volumes, the apparatus comprising:

a batch mixer for mixing a batch of cementitious material having predetermined volumetric size;
an operator control means including a volume selector input means for an operator to select a desired total volume of cementitious material to be mixed by the batch mixer from a range of available batch sizes, the operator control means being responsive to the volume selector means for automatically controlling delivery of necessary quantities of constituents for the batch of cementitious material to a batch mixer and mixing of a batch of cementitious material in the selected desired total volume with predetermined proportions of constituents;
particulate matter storage means for holding a dispensable supply of particulate matter;
a first conveyor having an entrance coupled with a lower end of the particulate matter storage means for creating a relatively consistent volumetric flow of particulate matter, the first conveyor being responsive to the control means for operating at a predetermined speed to produce a predetermined volumetric flow of particulate matter for a predetermined time interval, the operator control means determining the predetermined time interval for operation of the conveyor to deliver at the predetermined volumetric flow rate a volume of particulate matter in predetermined proportion to the selected desired total volume of the batch of cementitious material;
cement storage means for holding a dispensable supply of cement;
the cement storage means including a bulk cement storage container means transportable by the road vehicle to the construction site and adapted to be positioned and left in place adjacent the batch mixer, the bulk cements storage container being operative to hold and store at least one commercial delivery truckload of cement;
the bulk cement storage container means further including means for selectively creating and maintaining an essentially constant rate of gravity outflow of stored cement through the lower end of the cement storage means to the second conveyor despite variations in the total quantity of cement in the bulk cement storage means, the means for selectively creating and maintaining being operative to:
generally upwardly aerate the cement in a conditioning zone, through which the aerated cement may fall outwardly through the lower end of the bulk cement storage means, and
permit the non-aerated cement to fall into the conditioning zone during aerated cement outflow from the bulk cement storage means to replace the exiting aerated cement and in turn be aerated and conditioned for gravity outflow from the bulk cement storage means;
and
a second conveyor having an entrance coupled with a lower end of the cement storage means for creating a relatively consistent volumetric flow of cement, the second conveyor being responsive to the operator control means for operating at a predetermined speed to produce a predetermined volumetric flow of cement for a predetermined time interval, the control means determining the time interval for operation of the second conveyor to deliver at the predetermined volumetric flow rate a volume of cement in predetermined proportion to the selected desired total volume of the batch of cementitious material.

8 more elements

A method of accurately and thoroughly mixing a batch of cementitious material having a selected volume and predetermined ratio of particulate matter, cement and water, suitable for use at a construction site, the method comprising the steps of:

providing at the construction site a batch mixer for mixing as a batch cementitious material and having a predetermined range of mixing volumes, a downwardly converging cement storage means and a cement conveyor means cooperating the cement storage means to create a predetermined rate of volumetric flow of cement from the cement supply means to the batch mixer, a downwardly converging particulate matter storage means and particulate matter conveyor cooperating with the particulate matter storage means to create a predetermined rate of volumetric flow of particulate matter between the particulate matter storage means and the batch mixer, and a water supply for delivering selectable volumes of water to the batch mixer;
providing for storage of bulk amounts of cement in the cement storage means and particulate matter in the particulate matter storage means in order to mix a batch of cementitious material when needed over a given period of time without the need to replenish the cement and particulate matter after each mixing and to safely store the material at the construction site;
providing operator preselection of a desired total batch volume of cementitious material from a range of batch sizes of cementitious material to be mixed as a batch by the batch mixer under control of a control means, the control means determining a time interval of operation of the cement conveyor and the particulate matter conveyor corresponding to the selected desired total volume to deliver to the batch mixer at the respective predetermined volumetric rates volumes of the particulate matter and the cement to create a batch of cementitious material in the batch mixer having a predetermined ratio and the desired total volume;
providing automatic operation with the control means of the cement conveyor and the particulate matter conveyor for the determined time interval;
and
providing operation with the control means of the batch mixer to mix the delivered constituents.

3 more elements

A method of economically and accurately producing selectively variably sized individual batches of cementitious material at a construction site, said method comprising the steps of:

utilizing a road vehicle to transport a cementitious material mixing machine to the construction site, said mixing machine having:
batch mixer means for receiving cement, particulate matter and water constituents, mixing the received constituents, and discharging the resulting mixture batch for use, and
particulate matter hopper means for storing on the machine a dispensable supply of particulate matter, and control means;
utilizing the road vehicle to transport a bulk cement storage silo to the construction site, said bulk cement storage silo being sized to hold at least one commercial delivery truckload of cement;
operatively positioning said bulk cement storage silo adjacent said mixing machine;
depositing an initial quantity of cement in said bulk cement storage silo;
interconnecting conveyor means between said bulk cement storage silo and said batch mixer means, said conveyor means being selectively operable to transfer cement from said bulk cement storage silo into said cement hopper means;
depositing initial dispensable quantities of particulate matter into said particulate matter hopper means;
operating said control means and said batch mixer means to produce and discharge separate batches of cementitious material;
the control means operative to select a total, selectively variable volume of the cementitious material batch to be mixed and then automatically cause the proportional amounts of cement and particulate matter necessary to form the batch to be mixed to be respectively dispensed into said batch mixer means from said bulk cement storage silo and said particulate matter hopper means;
and
periodically depositing full commercial delivery truckloads of cement into said bulk cement storage silo to replenish its stored supply of cement.

9 more elements

An apparatus, transportable by a road vehicle to a construction site, for mixing predetermined constituents of construction materials, including sand and cement, in a batch mixer having desired volume of mix selected from a range of volumes, the apparatus comprising:

a batch mixer for mixing a batch of cementitious material having predetermined volumetric size;
an operator control means including a volume selector input means for an operator to select a desired total volume of cementitious material to be mixed by the batch mixer from a range of available batch sizes, the operator control means being responsive to the volume selector means for automatically controlling delivery of necessary quantities of constituents for the batch of cementitious material to a batch mixer and mixing of a batch of cementitious material in the selected desired total volume with predetermined proportions of constituents;
sand storage means for holding a dispensable supply of sand;
a first conveyor having an entrance coupled with a lower end of the sand storage means for creating a relatively consistent volumetric flow of sand, the first conveyor being responsive to the control means for operating at a predetermined speed to produce a predetermined volumetric flow of sand for a predetermined time interval, the operator control means determining the predetermined time interval for operation of the conveyor to deliver at the predetermined volumetric flow rate a volume of sand in predetermined proportion to the selected desired total volume of the batch of cementitious material;
cement storage means for holding a dispensable supply of cement;
a second conveyor having an entrance coupled with a lower end of the cement storage means for creating a relatively consistent volumetric flow of cement, the second conveyor being responsive to the operator control means for operating at a predetermined speed to produce a predetermined volumetric flow of cement for a predetermined time interval, the control means determining the time interval for operation of the second conveyor to deliver at the predetermined volumetric flow rate a volume of cement in predetermined proportion to the selected desired total volume of the batch of cementitious material;
and
a bulk cement storage container transportable by the road vehicle to the construction site and adapted to be positioned and left in place adjacent the batch mixer, the bulk cement storage container being operative to hold and store at least one commercial delivery truckload of cement, the bulk cement storage container having associated therewith a third conveyor connectable to the cement storage container;
the bulk cement storage container further including means for selectively creating and maintaining an essentially constant rate of gravity outflow of stored cement through the lower end of the cement storage means to the second conveyor despite variations in the total quantity of cement in the bulk cement storage means, the means for selectively creating and maintaining being operative to:
generally upwardly aerate the cement in a conditioning zone, through which the aerated cement may fall outwardly through the lower end of the bulk cement storage means, and
permit the non-aerated cement to fall into the conditioning zone during aerated cement outflow form the bulk cement storage means to replace the exiting aerated cement and in turn be aerated and conditioned for gravity outflow from the bulk cement storage means.

8 more elements

a batch mixer for mixing a batch of cementitious material having predetermined volumetric size;
an operator control means including a volume selector input means for an operator to select a desired total volume of cementitious material to be mixed by the batch mixer from a range of available batch sizes, the operator control means being responsive to the volume selector means for automatically controlling delivery of necessary quantities of constituents for the batch of cementitious material to a batch mixer and mixing of a batch of cementitious material in the selected desired total volume with predetermined proportions of constituents;
sand storage means for holding a dispensable supply of sand;
a first conveyor having an entrance coupled with a lower end of the sand storage means for creating a relatively consistent volumetric flow of sand, the first conveyor being responsive to the control means for operating at a predetermined speed to produce a predetermined volumetric flow of sand for a predetermined time interval, the operator control means determining the predetermined time interval for operation of the conveyor to deliver at the predetermined volumetric flow rate a volume of sand in predetermined proportion to the selected desired total volume of the batch of cementitious material;
cement storage means for holding a dispensable supply of cement;
a second conveyor having an entrance coupled with a lower end of the cement storage means for creating a relatively consistent volumetric flow of cement, the second conveyor being responsive to the operator control means for operating at a predetermined speed to produce a predetermined volumetric flow of cement for a predetermined time interval, the control means determining the time interval for operation of the second conveyor to deliver at the predetermined volumetric flow rate a volume of cement in predetermined proportion to the selected desired total volume of the batch of cementitious material;
and
pad means, transportable by the road vehicle to the construction site and being positionable on the ground adjacent said mixing machine, for underlying and supporting a large bulk supply pile of and, quantities of which may be periodically scoop loaded from atop said pad means into said sand storage means to replenish a dispensable and supply, said pad means serving to elevate the sand pile above the ground and thereby substantially lessen the possibility that dirt will be scooped up with the sand pile quantities and contaminate the sand in said sand hopper means.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 07/537,475Filed 13 Jun 1990 · continuation in part
Priority: 30 Sep 1988
Granted: 20 Apr 1993
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification4 codes

B28C 9/0454
The plant being mobile, e.g. mounted on a carriage or a set of carriages: self-contained units, i.e. mobile plants having storage containers for…
Y10S 277/927
Seal for a joint or juncture: seal including fluid pressure differential feature
B28C
Preparing clay
Y10S
Technical subjects covered by former uspc cross-reference art collections [xracs] and digests