US2068433A - Road leveler - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 19, 1937. M, E PETERSON `2,068,433

ROAD LEVELER Filed Deo. 51, 1934 Patented Jan. 19, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

Another object of my invention is to provide such a device which can be associated with other well known road leveling machinery and to c'ooperate therewith.

Another object of my invention is. to provide an arrangement of this character which can be conveniently manipulated to a desired angle or which can be elevated at will.

Another object of my invention is to provide the above mentioned objects in a construction of the greatest possible simplicity, and which can be manufactured at a very reasonable cost.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of my device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing', in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a partial view of la road grader taken at the front part thereof and showing my device attached thereto,

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view taken approximately along the lines 2 2 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a front View of the device in elevation taken along the lines 3--3 of Figure 2, and

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail taken along the lines 4-4 of Figure 3.

Many road surfaces, such as hard gumbo or more particularly gravel, in time develop small raised mounds, which by successive travel over of various vehicles become extremely hard and difcult of removal.

The ordinary type of road leveler which includes the usual scarier or grader blade cannot eiiiciently cut down these hardened bumps, since the action is directed forwardly in the direction of travel of the tractor or leveler itself, and the usual tendency is for the entire tractor to raise over these mounds.

The principal objective contemplated in my invention is to apply a slicing action transversely against the mounds, such action being directed (Cl. 37--145l approximately at right angles to the path of travel of the entire road grader.

To attain this end, I provide the member I0 which is a hardened steel screw having the cutting edges II, which edges follow the outer contour of the member I0 in a continuous spiral. The member I0 is driven by means of the gear I2 which is pinned rigidly to the shaft I3, which shaft is a continuation of the member Ill. The gear I2, which is the beveledtype, is driven by the other gears I4 which are secured to the shaft I5. The upper gear I4 is driven by means of the beveled gear I5 which is driven by means of the shaft II, to which is attached the other beveled gear I8, which in turn is driven by the horizontal beveled gear I9. The entire arrangement of gears is supported by means of the bracket 20 which terminates in the round plate 2I.

Attached to the round plate 2l is the other round plate 22 which is. attached to the upright frame 23 which has the vertical slots 24. The frame 23 is secured to the cross-beam 25 by means of the bolts 26 which are received within the slots 24. The cross member 25 is securely attached in any usual manner to the chassis 21 of the road grader, which grader, of course, includes the usual front wheels 28. Other details of the grader itself and the like need not be elaborated on herein, since they do not comprise an important part of my invention.

The cross-beam 25 includes the square member 29 which receives the beveled gear 30. The beveled gear 30 receives the shaft 3| which is attached to the beveled gear I9 at the extremity thereof. The shaft 3I is a spline shaft, a section of which is shown in detail in Figur 4. This shaft includes the projections 32 whi h are received within the cavities of similar shape of the hub of the gear 30. The spline arrangement is used to allow the frame 23 to be raised to the dotted position 33 as shown in Figure 3, and yet retaining the gear 30 in its place between the horizontal members of the member 29. In this way the entire member I0 can be lifted off the road bed when not in use, and the member I0 will take the position as shown in the dotted lines in Figure 3 when so raised. The spline arrangement permits of constant driving, and yet incorporates the feature of vertical lifting of the entire lower frame. 4

The slots 24 in the frame 23 permit the device to be lifted and then securely bolted by means of the bolts 26. Likewise, when the device is in cutting position, the bolts are again used so that the maximum weight will be placed on the member I during the cutting operation.

The framework can be lifted by means. of the gears 34 and 35 if such is desired, which gears are journalled in the members 36.

The cutting screw l0 can be pivoted in case it is desired to place the same as shown in the dotted lines in Figure 2 in order to secure a certain desired cutting effect. To accomplish this pivoting, the lower circular plate 2l is turned after the bolts 31 are removed from the openings 38 (see Figure 2). These openings, of course, pass through both plates, and afterY the device isset in desired position, the bolts are placed into the openings, and the two frames 23 and 20 are rigidly bolted together.

The gear 36 can be driven by the other gears 39, Gil, and 4|. It will now be clearly pointed out that the essence o-f my invention is the principle of the screw shaped member IIJ having the spiral cutting, edges I l, cutting transversely on the road bed, and it will be also understood that the mechanism heretofore described is merely one of those arrangements which may be used, and other arrangements such as chain drives and the like could also be used to drive the mechanism in the manner intended. Any driving mechanism which will drive the screw member with sufficient force will be satisfactory for the purpose.

It will be understood that as the vehicle travels forwardly that the screw l0 will travel at a fairly high rate of speed in order to properly level the road bed at the necessary rate. The power applied to the screw must also be suflicient to slice off the various mounds and the like.

For instance, in Figure l the device is traveling forwardly, and it will be noted that the bumps in the rear of the member I0 have already been cut away, and those in front are just about to undergo this operation. Y

The cutting edges Il of the screw I0 will slice against the raised mounds sideways, and will rapidly carry the earth or gravel to one side, or will tend to distribute the same evenly.

The frame 4I, which carries the tines 42, can be used forwardly of the member l0 in order to clear away large pebbles or rocks which may be in front of the same, and the leveling blade 43 can be positioned rearwardly of the member l0 to level the earth or gravel after it is cut.

The device can be powered from any convenient source, such as a tractor or else can be powered directly from a motor mounted on the grader itself.

It will now be seen that I have provided a road leveling device which positively and eftlciently cuts away eXtra hardened mounds on the road bed.

It will be seen further that I have provided means for accomplishing this result in a mechanism which can be raised out of working position or can be disposed angularly with respect to the transverse line of the road bed.

It will be seen further that I have associated this device in a construction of simplicity, which can be conveniently attached to a standard road grader, and which can be used in conjunction with other road grader devices.

It will also be seen that the device can be Y manufactured at a very reasonable cost.

Some changes may be made in the contruction Vand arrangement of the parts of my invention without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims any modiiied forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents, which 'may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim as my invention:

l. In combination with a road leveler, a rigid cylindrical cutting member having a spirally formed, continuous cutting edge, the weight of said road grader adapted to be supported by said cutting member, said cutting member being of substantially rigid construction tocause positive side cutting action on a road bed, a leveling blade positioned rearwardly of said cutting member, means for pivotally positioning the cutter, comprising an upper frame including an upper circular bearing plate, a lower frame including a bearing plate secured to said upper bearing plate', said cutter being rotatably mounted on said lower fram'e. Y 4

2. In combination with a road leveler, a. rigid cylindrical cutting member having a spirally formed, continuous cutting edge, the Weight of said road grader adapted to be supported by said cutting member, said cutting member being of substantially rigid construction to cause positive side cutting action on a road bed, a leveling blade positioned rearwardly of said cutting member, means for pivotally positioning the cutter, comprising an upper frame including an upper circular bearing plate, a lower frame including a bearing plate secured to said upper bearing plate, said cutter' being rotatably mounted on said lower frame, said upper frame including slotted means forv allowing vertical raising of the frames and the cutter.

MARIA E. PETERSON.

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