Roadway conditioning apparatus

Abstract

A surface conditioning attachment for a motor grader or the like for use in maintenance operations on gravel roadways comprises a gang of harrow disks carried on a support shaft, there being a support structure for deploying said disks laterally outwardly of the grader at an angle to the direction of travel and with the concave sides of the disks facing forwardly. In use the gang of disks engages the surface of the road shoulder and cuts up and moves gravel and vegetation thereon laterally towards the roadway.

Description

This application is a retriever disk attachment is of sufficient mass that the disks will cut into the surface of the road shoulder rather than merely slide over it, and readily accommodates to the inclination of the road or shoulder surface over which the attachment is drawn, even if this inclination differs from that of the surface beneath the grader vehicle. This is because of the pivotal mounting of the attachment on the grader vehicle.

Regular use of the retriever disk attachment eliminates the buildup of sod and loose gravel on the shoulder of the roadway and spreads reusable material such as gravel back onto the roadway.

The attachment can of course be used independently of its use on a motor grader as described above, and is readily adaptable for mounting on other road vehicles such as trucks, snow ploughs and the like.

The mount of the wheel 22 can be designed to provide for vertical adjustment of the wheel relative to the shaft 12, although since the lower side of the wheel should preferably be at the same level as the lower sides of the disks, generally adjustment will only be necessary to compensate for wear of the disks.

Claims

1. A surface conditioning attachment for use in surface maintenance operations on a gravel roadway, said attachment comprising:

a gang of dished, harrow disks rotatably supported at uniform spacing on a support shaft;

a support structure carrying said support shaft;

means for mounting said support structure generally at the side of an associated carrying vehicle to deploy the shaft generally parallel to the surface to be conditioned, and oblique to the direction of travel of the vehicle so that said shaft diverges from the vehicle in a rearward direction at an angle between said shaft and the fore-and -aft direction of the vehicle in the range of 15 to 35 degrees;

brace means extending between the associated vehicle and a portion of said support structure spaced from said vehicle, for thereby maintaining such shaft in said generally oblique orientation relative to the direction of travel of the vehicle;

said concave sides of said disks oriented toward the direction of travel of said associated vehicle and said attachment, such that in use the apparatus will engage and condition a swath of roadway to the outboard side of the associated vehicle, with surface material from said swath being conditioned and displaced in the direction of the middle of the roadway.

2. The surface conditioning apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein

said brace means is of an adjustable length to permit the orientation of said support structure, relative to said vehicle, to be selective varied.

3. The surface conditioning attachment in accordance with claim 1, including

ground engaging means carried on the attachment in the region of the forwardly positioned end of said shaft, said ground engaging means being positioned to support said shaft so that said disks cut into the ground that is to be broken up and moved inward.

4. A surface conditioning attachment for use in surface maintenance operations on a gravel roadway, said attachment comprising:

a gang of dished, harrow disks rotatably supported at uniform spacing on a support shaft;

a support structure carrying said support shaft; and

means for attaching said support structure on an associated carrying vehicle to deploy the shaft generally parallel to the surface to be conditioned, and for maintaining said support structure oblique to the direction of travel of the vehicle so that said shaft diverges from the vehicle in a rearward direction at an angle between said shaft and the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle in the range of 15 to 35 degrees ;

said attaching means including mounting means for pivotally mounting said support structure so that said support structure can be raised and lowered relative to said associated carrying vehicle;

said concave sides of said disks oriented toward the direction of travel of said associated vehicle and said attachment, such that in use, the apparatus will engage and condition a swath of roadway, with surface material from said swath being conditioned and displaced in the direction of the middle of the roadway.

5. The surface conditioning apparatus of claim 4, wherein

said attaching means further includes brace means extending between the associated vehicle and a portion of said support structure spaced from said vehicle, for thereby maintaining said shaft in said generally oblique orientation relative to the direction of travel of the vehicle.

6. The surface conditioning attachment of claim 4, including:

ground engaging means carried on the attachment in the region of the forwardly positioned end of said shaft, said ground engaging means being positioned to support said shaft so that the disks cut into the ground that is to be broken up and moved inward.

7. The surface conditioning attachment of claim 5, including:

ground engaging means carried on the attachment in the region of the forwardly positioned end of said shaft, said ground engaging means being positioned to support said shaft so that the disks cut into the ground that is to be broken up and moved inward. 8. A surface conditioning attachment for use in association with a carrying vehicle in surface maintenance operations on a nonpaved road surface, said attachment comprising:

a gang of dished harrow disks rotatably supported on and uniformly spaced along a support shaft, said support shaft having a forward end and a rear end and said harrow disks being oriented with the concave sides thereof facing said forward end;

a support structure carrying said support shaft; and

means for mounting said support structure to said associated carrying vehicle to deploy the shaft generally parallel to the surface to be conditioned and oblique to the direction of travel of the vehicle with the shaft diverging rewardly at an angle of between 15 and 35 degrees to said direction of travel. 9. The surface conditioning apparatus of claim 8, wherein the support structure is deployed to the outboard side of the associated carrying vehicle. 10. The surface conditioning apparatus of claim 9 wherein the support structure is deployed to deploy the shaft at angle of about 25 degrees to said

direction of travel. 11. The surface conditioning apparatus of claim 10, wherein said means for mounting said support structure to said associated carrying vehicle further includes brace means extending between the associated vehicle and a portion of said support structure spaced from said vehicle for thereby maintaining said shaft in said generally oblique orientation relative to the direction of travel of the vehicle. 12. The surface conditioning apparatus of claim 11, wherein said brace means is adjustable in length to thereby adjust the angle of said shaft with respect to the direction of travel or the vehicle.