Device for inserting dowels into freshly laid road surfaces

A device for inserting dowels (2) in the vicinity of transverse expansion joints of freshly laid concrete road surfaces (4), comprising

• a machine frame (8) supported by traveling mechanisms (6),
• at least one storage container (10,12) for the-dowels (2),
• a smoothing board (20) resting on the road surface (4) and including slots (24) running in a direction of travel and provided for accommodating the dowels (2), a retaining device (28) for the dowels associated with each of the slots (24),
• a continuous line conveyor device (40) disposed in transverse spanning relationship to the direction of travel and in alignment with a discharge area of said at least one storage container (10, 12), said conveyor device (40) including means (70) for directly receiving dowels (2) from an indiscriminately arranged stack of side-by-side dowels at said storage chamber discharge area along a first run portion of said conveyor device (40) and distributing said dowels (2) to the slots (24) along a second run portion of said conveyor device (40), said conveyor device second run portion extending above said slots (24), and means (34) movable through a plane defined by the conveyor device second run portion for pushing dowels (2) into a freshly laid concrete road surface.