Mining or in situ disintegration of hard material – Hard material disintegrating machines – Floor-working
Patent
1994-01-25
1995-09-26
Bagnell, David J.
Mining or in situ disintegration of hard material
Hard material disintegrating machines
Floor-working
125 14, E01C 2309, B28D 104
Patent
active
054529433
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to machines for cutting or sawing concrete paving or like materials such as asphalt, of the type comprising at least one cutting blade, means for driving the cutting blade and a wheeled support structure for supporting the cutting blade and its drive means. Such machines will hereinafter be referred to as "concrete cutting machines".
The invention is particularly concerned with concrete cutting machines of the kind which are adapted to be used by one person who operates and manoeuvres the machine from its rear as it moves forwardly with a rotatable cutting blade at the front end of the machine to cut a pavement or a slab of concrete beneath the front end of the machine. Conventional concrete cutting machines of this kind typically have a pair of front wheels and a pair of rear wheels which may be driven by a motor to move the machine rearwardly or forwardly and a cutting blade located on either side of the machine forwardly of the front wheels, the cutting blade being adapted to be rotatably driven from an internal combustion engine or electric engine mounted on the support structure via a single belt and pulley drive system.
Conventional concrete cutting machines as described above suffer from several disadvantages. Machines which have the front wheels located at a rearward position close to the centre of gravity of the machine are relatively easy to manoeuvre, but track poorly and require more effort from the operator to keep the cutting blade on line if a reasonable cutting speed is to be maintained and many shallow passes can be required during cutting. Machines with the front wheels located at a forward position close to the cutting blade perform better in the cut, but are heavier to handle and manoeuvre, risking back injury to the operator. The result, in conventional machines, is a compromise with the front wheels being located forwardly of the centre of gravity, but behind the ideal position for cutting.
Conventional machines also suffer from poor stability and poor traction of the rear drive wheels; for instance, the location of the front wheels relatively close to the centre of gravity can result in only one of the rear wheels being in contact with the ground and the machine can behave erratically. The machine may, for example, speed up or slow down irregularly or slide forward into the cut to stall the blade depending on circumstances such as ground surface conditions, varying hardness of the concrete or when the concrete includes reinforcements. Generally, the deeper a machine is into the cut, the less traction is available on the rear drive wheels due to weight transference. Further, conventional machines can easily become unstable on slopes, even on gentle slopes such as the crossfall of a road.
It is therefore desirable to provide a concrete cutting or sawing machine which overcomes at least some of above-described disadvantages of conventional machines and, in particular, a machine which is relatively easy to manoeuvre and which is very stable in the cutting mode.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a machine for cutting concrete or like materials comprising a support structure carrying ground-engaging rear wheels and at least one front wheel carried by front wheel support means and being engageable with the ground, and rotatable blade means mounted on the support structure at a front end thereof and adapted to be rotatably driven from a motor or engine, characterized in that the machine includes auxiliary wheel support means carrying one or more auxiliary wheels at a position between the rear wheels and the at least one front wheel, the auxiliary wheel support means being movable relative to the support structure to lower said one or more auxiliary wheels into contact with the ground and to raise the at least one front wheel above the ground so that the forward part of the support structure is supported upon said one or more auxiliary wheels.
Whilst the concrete cutting machine of the invention may have a single, centrally mounted front
REFERENCES:
patent: 2468336 (1949-04-01), Lewis
patent: 2858650 (1958-11-01), Janowitz
patent: 3464737 (1969-09-01), Haase et al.
patent: 4310198 (1982-01-01), Destree
Bagnell David J.
Peter Campbell Pty Ltd
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