Not applicable
The present invention relates generally to power machines for finishing concrete floors, and more particularly to an apparatus for mounting a plurality of rotatable drive plates to the rotary arms of either ride-on or walk-behind floor finishing machines.
In creating concrete slabs such as flooring, wet concrete is troweled or floated to apply a smooth, level finish to concrete slabs. When the project is of any size, so-called power trowels are commonly employed. They may be of a walk-behind variety or a ride-on type, such as is depicted in
Once the concrete has been troweled and has set, it is often desired to provide the concrete floor with a polished finish and this is often done with a separate machine used to abrade the concrete surface with motor driven rotary drive plates supporting diamond abrasive members of various grit sizes.
To avoid the substantial cost of providing separate machines for doing the troweling and later polishing steps, it is known in the art to convert a power trowel to a floor polishing machine by attaching abrader drive plates to the existing rotary structure or structures of power trowels. The afore-referenced Reed '762 patent describes an arrangement for converting a power trowel to a concrete finishing machine used to polish the surface of cured concrete to produce a satin, shiny finish.
The present invention is concerned with the design of an adapter to facilitate conversion of a power trowel to a power floor finishing machine.
The present invention comprises an adapter assembly including a plurality of stamped plates, each shaped so that when secured to the spider arms of a power trowel or to those of a powered floor finishing machine, they form a closed, multi-sided, irregular polygonal-shaped ring. Each of the plates has opposed end portions with one or more projecting fingers that interlace with the fingers on the end portion of an adjacently positioned plate. A pair of radially aligned apertures are located proximate the opposed end portions of the plates for receiving U-bolts that join adjacent plates to one another and that also clamp the joined plates to an arm of the power trowel's spider. Further, each of the plates includes a central aperture and fastened over the aperture is a hub assembly containing a spherical bearing for journaling the drive shaft of a tool plate on which is affixed a plurality of abrasive elements.
As the spider is driven, the abrasive elements on the drive plate engage the concrete surface to smooth out surface irregularities. The use of a spherical bearing with the shaft of the rotatable drive plate allows the drive plate to ride over and smooth out any bumps or depressions encountered on the concrete's surface.
The foregoing features, objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment, especially when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals in the several views refer to corresponding parts:
This description of the preferred embodiments is intended to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings, which are to be considered part of the entire written description of this invention. In the description, relative terms such as “lower”, “upper”, “horizontal”, “vertical”, “above”, “below”, “up”, “down”, “top” and “bottom” as well as derivatives thereof (e.g., “horizontally”, “downwardly”, “upwardly”, etc.) should be construed to refer to the orientation as then described or as shown in the drawings under discussion. These relative terms are for convenience of description and do not require that the apparatus be constructed or operated in a particular orientation. Terms such as “connected”, “connecting”, “attached”, “attaching”, “join” and “joining” are used interchangeably and refer to one structure or surface being secured to another structure or surface or integrally fabricated in one piece, unless expressively described otherwise.
Formed through the thickness dimension of the center section 12 is a circular aperture 28 and spaced about it at equal circumferential positions are three threaded holes 30.
To provide greater rigidity against bending, the outer and inner edges of the plate 10 are bent at 90° and the resulting sidewalls are identified by numerals 32 and 34 in
Turning next to
When it is recognized that in power trowels, such as shown in FIG. 1 of the Reed et al '762 patent, the spiders on separate drives may rotate in opposite directions, it has been found preferable to use plate components like those shown in
The plate 44 of
Without limitation, the flat mounting plate component 44 is preferably of steel, but could be of a suitable plastic. It preferably may have a thickness in the range from 3 mm to 10 mm. If the plate is provided with the upturned walls 32 and 34, it need only be steel of 4 mm in thickness, whereas, if it is a flat assembly, like that shown in
The mounting plate component 10 and 44, shown in
Turning next to
Journaled for rotation and tilting by way of the swivel bearing 58 is a shaft 66 having an integrally formed flange 68. Captured between the flange 68 and the flange 62 of the bearing hub 60 is an elastomeric dust bellows 70. Integrally joined to the shaft 66 below the flange 68 is a box-like housing 72 which is adapted to contain one or more permanent magnets as at 74 in
Referring back to
This invention has been described herein in considerable detail in order to comply with the patent statutes and to provide those skilled in the art with the information needed to apply the novel principles and to construct and use embodiments of the example as required. However, it is to be understood that the invention can be carried out by specifically different devices and that various modifications can be accomplished without departing from the scope of the invention itself.
This application is a non-provisional application of Application No. 62/821,106, filed Mar. 20, 2019, and claims priority from that application which is also deemed incorporated by reference in its entirety in this application.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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4155596 | Brejcha | May 1979 | A |
4320986 | Morrison | Mar 1982 | A |
7530762 | Reed et al. | May 2009 | B2 |
20060025059 | Gueorguiev | Feb 2006 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20200298366 A1 | Sep 2020 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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62821106 | Mar 2019 | US |