US1883404A - Road maintainer - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 18, 1932.. A. RONNING ROAD MAINTAINER Filed Aug.- ll, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR Oct. 18, 1932. I b g 1,883,404

ROAD MAINTAINER Filed Aug. 11, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 O u a &

INVIENTOR l5 Adolph R0 g ATTORN EY A. RONNING ROAD MAINTAINER Oct. 18, 1932.

Filed Aug. 11, 1928 :5 Sheets-Sheet 1 3 INVENTOR v Adolh nnin g 4 6 ATTORNEY Patented 0a. 1a, 1932 UNITED STATES-PATENT: OFFICE ADOLPH BONNIN'G, O]! MINNEAPOLIS, mason.

Application filed August 11, 1928. Serial No. 298,926.

This invention relates to road, maintaining equipment, and the main object is to provide a novel, practical and highly efiicient combination tractor-implement in which a power driven scarifier is employed, preferably in advance of a grader blade, to positively engage and break up the road surface, in effect practically pulverizing the hard road crust, thus permitting the-surface material to be levelled off with a uniform depth and eonsistency, instead of merely breaking up the crust in relatively large pieces, as with ordinary scarifiers, or of filling in the hollows between hard spots in the road, as is usually the case with commonly used types of road graders. A further object is to provide power driven means, including a novel clutch construction, for vertically and angularlyadjusting and regulating the road engaging or treating mechanism, such as the aforesaid scarifier unit. A further object is to pro vide an improved form of scarifier device. A further object is to provide, in combination, with a road working machine, means, operative in advance-of the road tool, for detecting metallic bodies such as man holes and man hole covers which have been covered over with dirt or snow and which, unless detected,

are apt to cause and frequently do cause considerable damage to the machine when the 7 working tools come in contact with such objects. These and other objects of the invention will be more fully and specifically explained in the course of the following specification, reference being had to the accom- Y in section, as on the line 6-6 in Fig. 2, and,

Fig. 7 is a similar view as on theline 7-7 in Fig. 2.

The rear ends of these cab Referring to the drawings more particu larly and by reference characters, A designates the traction wheels of a tractor having a power plant B, a drivers support C, and a steering wheel D. The steering truck E of the tractor has been removed from its norinal position at the front end of the tractor and is applied to the front end of asupplemental frame F, in much the same manner as shown in the Patent No. 1,658,354 granted to Andrean G. Ronning and myself, as assignors to the Ronning Machinery Company, on February 7, 1928, for traction implement. The type of tractor used is of course immaterial, as it is of common and well known construction, although the tractor here illus trated is particularly adaptable for use in connection with the present machine, and is what is known in the trade as the Farmall type, manufactured by the International Harvester Company. In this tractor the steering unit or carriage includes two closely spaced wheels 8 that turn in unison and converge downwardly, whereby they are more easily turned, especially at sharp angles: The carriage is turned bya post 9 that journals in the frame F and, at its upper end, is provided with a bevel gear segment 10 that meshes with a bevel pinion 11. The pinion 11 iscarried on a stub shaft 12 having a spur pinion 13- meshing with a pinion 14.- at the .forward end.of a shaft 15, which, at its rear end, carries the hand wheel D. This completes the hand operated steering mechanism for the truck E. In order that the machine may be turned in as short a radius as possible, I provide means for braking one of the tractor wheels A so that the machine may turn on such wheel, as a ivot, after the carriage E has been first ang ed to the necessary degree. This means consists primarily, of a crank arm 16, carried by the post 9, and to which is secured the front ends of a pair of laterally disposed cables; 17 running over pulleys 18.

es attach to arms, 19 of brake control rods 20, which operate the brakes 21 in any suitable or well known manner. The rods 21 are provided with pedals 22, whereby the operator may use his feet for steering the machine if he so wishes.

. while at an intermediate point the front end of the tractor is supported by a cross bar or bracket device, as at 24.

The man hole detector, which is of particular importance and value in a road machine, for the reasons above noted, consists of what may be substantially a standard form of radio receiving set G having an antenna wire H that extends to the front of the machine, through a tube I from which it is insulated, and from which it extends and continues in a cross wire H2 supported by a tiltable frame J. This frame is tiltably regulated by a hand lever 25, at the rear end of the machine, through the medium of a crank arm 26 and a connecting arm 27, whereby the cross bar H2 of the antenna may be raised and lowered with respect to the road surface. The radio set has a fixed potential with respect to the machine, so as to not be disturbed by the metal thereof, but as soon as the exposed antenna wire H2 comes close to an iron man hole it will be substantially efiected thereby thus disturbing anddisrupting the adjusted potential so as to set up a' distinct screeching or loud noise in the loud speaker. By this means the operator is immediately advised and warned of the presence of the man hole, whereupon he may proceed more cautiously, lifting the working tools, as may be found necessary, to avoid destructive contact thereof with the man hole.

The road working mechanism, proper, consists of a grader blade 28, and a revolving scarifier, designated generally by the numeral 29, adjustably connected with a floating frame 30, secured at its front end to the frame F as at 32, and being provided, at its rear end, with the usual tool supporting circle 33. The circle 33 is provided with gear teeth 34 (see Fig. 2), whereby it may be adjusted, from the rear of the machine, through aworm 35, shaft 36, and hand wheel 37, to thereby adjust the angle of the working unit with respect to the longitudinal axis of the machine. The rear end of the shaft 36 is slidably supported in a bracket arm 38, whereby the shaft 36 may move longitudinally when the frame 30 is adjusted transversely or vertically, as will now be described.

The rear end of the frame 30, and the implement which it supports, are adjusted,

transversely, by a hand wheel 39 on a shaft 40 (see Fig. 2). This shaft has a bevel pimon connection 41 with a screw 42, journaled in the main frame F, and upon the screw 42 is a nut or traveller 43 connected by a link 44 to the floating frame 30. Thus by manipulating the hand wheel 39 the operator is able to shift both working tools transversely with respect of the machine.

The implement frame 30 is primarily'supported at its rear, b a pair of laterally disposed depending lin s 45 and 46, universally connected at their lower ends to the frame 30, as at 47, and universally connected at their upper ends, as at 48, to a pair of cranks 49, respectively secured upon the forward ends of a pair of suitably ournaled, laterally disposed diafts 50 and 51. Thus, when these shafts are rotated, in the directions desired, it will be seen that the road working device ormeclianism may be raised, lowered, and angularly adjusted as may be found necessary or desirable.

As the road working mechanism 28 and 29, and the frame 30, are of considerable weight,

and therefore impractical if not impossible.

of quick adjustment by manually operated devices, I have provided means of a novel nature, and shown in detail in Figs. 3 and 4, for transmitting power from the tractor engine B to the shafts 50 and 51, including a single hand lever for controlling the same, whereby the lifting, lowering and tilting of the mechanism may be eifected by motive power, yet easily and immediately responsive to the wishes of the operator who merely presses said lever in various directions to effect various adjustments. This ower driv;

en adjusting mechanism may be escribed as follows:

The rear ends of the shafts 50 and 51 are provided with encased worm gears 52 and 53 that mesh, respectively, with worms 54 and 55 carried at the outer ends of shafts 56 and 57, and by which said worms and gears are driven.

The opposed ends of the shafts 56 and 57extend into and are journaled in a housing 58, within which housing are arranged four rectang arly disposed (Fig.4) bevel gears 59,60, 61 an 62, each of which constantly intermeshes with two of the others, in the manner shown. The gears 59 and 60 are respectively carried by the shafts 56 and 57 and are normally held in driving engagement therewith by spring held friction clutches 63 and 64, contained within the ears which are hollow. It may here be exp ained that the shafts 56 and 57 are so mounted that they have freedom for limited sliding movements, and when either of them is pushed outwardly it will carry with it the friction disk of the clutch, so as to release the same from the gear and thus permit the latter to rotate without rotating the shaft. The gears 61 and 62 are carried upon a stub shaft 65, that normally idles within these gears which are normally free of driving engagement with the shaft. The shaft 65 has a wormgear 66 meshing with a worm 67 on a shaft68 having a worm gear 69 meshing with a worm 70. on the usual drive shaft 71 (or an extension thereof) of the tractor engine. When the engine is running the parts 65 to 71, inclusive, are continuously running.

A clutch collar 72 is slidably keyed upon the shaft 65, between thetwo bevel gears 61 and 62, and is provided with friction faces, at its ends, for selective driving contact wlth the said gears. This clutch collar is operated by a shipper lever 73, universally pivoted in the housing 58 so that it may be moved in any direction, much as with the gear shift lever of a motor vehicle. A spring 7% (Fig. 3) secured to the casing 58 tends to return and hold the lever in an inactive vertical position. The lower end of the lever is bifurcated, having two fingers 7 5provided with roller pins 76 travelling in an annular channel of and for longitudinally shifting the sleeve 72 on the shaft 65. It will be noted that the fingers 75 are only-slightly spaced from the ends of the shafts 56 and 57 which project slightly within the gears 59, 60, and that there is suflicient play between the members 75 and 72 to permit a slight transverse movement of the fingers whereby they may act against the shafts 56, 57 and thereby selectively disengage the clutches 63 and 64.

When the shipper lever is pulled straight back it closes the clutch connection between tht members 72 and 61. This action applies power from the engine driven shaft 65 to the gear 61, causing all the gears 5962 to rotate, and transmitting motion through the elements 59, 60, 63, 64, 56, 57, 52, 53, 51, 52, and raises the crank arms 49, and consequently lifting both sides of the frame 30.

en the shipper lever 73 is pushed forward itcloses a driving contact of the sleeve 72 with the gear 62, thus reversing the direction of transmitted motion and causing the frame 30 to be lowered.

When the operator desires to for instance raise only one side of theframe 30, and the implement carried thereby, he pulls the lever 73 back but at the same time pushes it to one side, and by so doing he presses one of the opposite shafts (56 or 57) outwardly thus disengaging it from driven action. When so disenga ed the shafts 50 and 56, or 51 and '57, will be locked against rotation, under the influence of the weight of the frame 30 which it supports, by reason of the worm gear drive connections 52, 54 or 53, 55. It will thus be seen that by slightly moving and pressing the lever 7 3 back and forth and from one side to the other, the operator is able; with'a minimum amount of efiort, to raise, lower, and incline the road working mechanism with a precise degree of accuracy and with a suflicient amount of geared down power, regardless of how heavy the mechanism may be.

Rigidly secured to and under the circle 33 is a transversely disposed hollow beam or tube 77 within which is rotatably mounted a smaller tube 78 that is manually oscillated or adjusted by a hand wheel 7 9 through the medium of a shaft 80, universal joint 81, a worm 82, and gear segment 83 (Fig. 1), the latter being secured on the tube 78, while the worm 82 is journaled in a bracket 84 on the sleeve 77.

Rigidly secured to the outer ends of the tube 78 are a pair of depending bracket arms 85 and 86, between which is arranged a semicylindrical hood 87. This hood is pivotally secured to the lower ends of the arms 85 and 86, as at 88, and is held in variously adjusted positions by pins 89 selectively inserted in holes 90 in the ends of the hood.

J ournaled in the ends of the hood 87, and in the arms 85, 86 is a shaft 91, the majorportion of which is squared, in cross section, to receive a plurality of scarifier teeth 92. These teeth are all identical in construction, being provided with diagonally opposed cutting corners (Fig. 5) and centrally arranged squared holes 98 to receive the shaft. The teeth are preferably arranged each one transverse with respect to the adjacent one, as indicated in Figs. 1, 6 and 7. Near its ends the shaft is threaded to receive nuts 94 for securing the teeth in place. At its left end (Fig. 6) the shaft is merely inserted endwise in the bearing member 88, while its right end (Fig. 7 is preferably squared to be received in an end socket of a shaft extension or short stub shaft 910 that projects into a housing 95. Within this housing the stub shaft has a bevel pinion 96 that meshes with a bevel pmion 97 at the front and lower end of a shaft 98, having a universal joint 99. This shaft is telescopically sectioned, as at- 100, to permit of the previously noted adjustments of the road tools, and is connected by a universal joint 101 and bevel pinions102 to the usual power pulley shaft of the tractor, with a result that power will be transmitted from the engine of the tractor to the scarifier shaft 91. i

A pair of beams or arms 103 pivotally encircle the tube 78, near its ends, and extend rearwardly to support the grader blade 28. The blade is pivotally connected to the arms, as at 104, and is adjustably secured with respect thereto by segments 105 held by pins to the arms. The arms and blade are adjusted withrespect to the sleeve 78 by hand wheels 106 that turn worms 107 meshing with toothed segments 108, the worms 107 being carried by the arms 103 and the segments 108 being secured to the sleeve 78.

The operation of the machine is no doubt obvious from the foregoing description, but will be briefly stated as follows: As the machine moves forward under the power of the tractor the operator has the usual tractor adjustments under control and steer the machine with the hand wheel D. The frame J is in a lowered position and when a manhole is detected by it, giving the operator warning of its presence, he either stops the machine or raises the tools'so that they will travel over the obstruction. By manipulating the hand wheels 37 7 9 and 39, and the hand lever 73 he can angle the scarifier in any direction, raise and lower it, and move it forward and backward, as various road conditions may require. By adjusting the bracket arms 105 he may regulate the angle of the scraper or grader blade 28, and by turning the wheels 106 he may change the spaced relation between the blade and scarifier at either or both ends, the pivots 104 having sufficient play to permitthe blade, if necessary, to assume a slight angle with respect to the shaft 91. As

the scarifier rotates at a relatively high speed in one operation, by the commonly used types of graders now employed. It-is of course realized that scarifiers have heretofore been used in advance of grader blades, in one machine, but I am not aware of any machine, having this combination, in which a power driven scarifier is employed to break the surface up into sufliciently small particles to enable the following grader blade to function properly.

It may here be' noted that when any of the scarifier teeth become dull or broken it is a simple matter to remove and replace them, by loosening and removin the arm 86 endwise from the tube 78 (Fig. 7 This permits the shaft 91 to slip out of the socket 91a and bearing 88. By removing one set of nuts 94 the teeth 92 will all slide off of the shaft, and may be similarly replaced after repairs or changes have been made.

It will also be seen that as the tractor unit is detachable from the frame F it may be detached and used for other purposes whenever such occasions may arise.

come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Having now therefore fully shown and described my invention, what I claim to be new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. In a motor driven road working machine the combination comprising a rotary scarifier having teeth for tearing up the road surface, a power connection for driving the scarifier from the motor, a grader blade disposed rearwardly of the scarifier, means for mounting the blade and scarifier for adjustment about a. vertical axis, and means for raising and lowering the blade and scarifier with respect to each other.

2. The combination with a vehicle frame having a motor mounted thereon, a secondary frame adjustably mounted under the vehicle frame, a rotary toothed scarifier and a grader blade carried by the secondary frame and mounted for angular adjustment with respect thereto, and a power connection for driving the scarifier from the motor. a

3. In a motor propelled road machine, an adjustable under frame, a rotary scarifier and a grader blade carried transversely under and by the frame, a power connection for driving the scarifier from the motor, means for adjusting the under frame to vertically and angularly adjust the scarifier and blade, and means for adjusting the working depth of the blade with respect to the scarifier.

4. In a motor propelled road machine having an operators station thereon, a power driven rotatable scarifier and a grader blade therebehind both within view of an operator at said station, means within reach of the operator at said station for vertically and' angularly adjusting the Qscarifierand blade simultaneously and means within reach of the operator at said station for raising and lowering the working depth of the blade with respect to that of the scarifier.

5. In a motor propelled road machine having an operators station thereon, a power driven rotatable scarifier and a grader blade therebehind both within view of an operator at said station, means within reach of the operator at said station for vertically and angularly adjusting the scarifier and blade simultaneously and means within reach of the operator at said station for vertically adjusting the blade independently of the scarifier.

6. In a power road machine, a tubular beam extending transversely under the main frame of the machine and adjustably secured thereto, and a power driven rotary scarifier and a grader blade secured to and carried by r the beam.

7. In a road machine having a tool supporting circle adjustable about a vertical axis, a tubular beam secured to the circle, and a scarifier and a grader blade adjustably carried by said tubular beam.

8. In a road machine the combination inist tor at said station for scarifier from the motor.

10. In a motor propelled road machine having an operators station thereon, a power driven rotatable scarifier and a grader blade therebehind both within view of an operator at said station, means within reach of the operator at said station for vertically and angularly adjusting the scarifier and blade and means within reach of the operaraising and lowering the working depth of the blade with respect to that of the scarifier.

11. In a motor propelled roadmachinehaving an operators station thereon, a power driven rotatable scarifier and a grader blade therebehind both within view of an operator at said station, means within reach of the operator at said station for vertically and blade and means within reach of the o to'r at said station for vertically adjusting the blade independently of the scarifier.

12. In a motor a rotatable power a grader blade by the machine, means at opposite sides of the machine for simultaneously adjusting the unit and blade, and means independent of said last mentioned means for vertically adjusting the blade with respect to the scarifier unit.

13. In a road machine having a main frame, a transversely disposed power operated rotatable scarifier unit carried by the frame, a grader blade supported by the frame rearwardly of the scarifier unit, means for simultaneously adjusting the unit and blade angularly and vertically, and means for adjusting the blade or unit eachinde propelled road machine,

. pendently of the other.

14. In a motor driven road working machine the combination comprising a rotaryscarifier having teeth for tearing up the road surface, a power connection for driving the scarifier from the motor, a grader blade dis- '7 posed rearwardly of the scarifier, and means for mounting the blade and scarifier for adjustment about a vertical axis.

15. In a road machine the combination comprising a support, a pair of laterally disposed brackets depending from the sup a rotary scarifier ets-and having a port, disposed between the brackshaft journaledat one end over the scariangularly adjusting the scarifier andv peraactuated scarifier unit and carried transversely of and

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