Motor grader having material distribution attachment

Abstract

A motor grader can be adapted for laying down a layer of granular material such as base rock or cold mix asphalt by mounting a dispensing hopper attachment onto the front of the motor grader and a spreading and leveling screed onto the moldboard. As the motor grader advances, it pushes a dump truck that continuously loads materials into the hopper. Those materials are in turn continuously discharged at a metered rate of flow through the bottom of the hopper and onto the roadbed. The resulting swath of materials passes between the front wheels of the grader as the grader continues to advance, whereupon the screed engages the swath and spreads the materials in opposite lateral directions while leveling them to the desired depth. The screed has swept-back wings that may be extended as necessary to adjust the overall width of the screed, and outboard shields on the outermost ends of the wings confine the spread materials to the roadbed and prevent their accidental discharge into ditches and the like alongside the roadbed. The crown of the deposited layer can be varied by tipping the nose of the screed upwardly or downwardly to the extent necessary or desired.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.