This invention relates to concrete ingredient delivery trucks; and, more particularly, it is of an improved concrete ingredient delivery truck of that type which includes a mixing means and, also, includes a fiber strand chopping device for mixing of the ingredients and short chopped fiber strand lengths at a job site and selectively depositing the mixture to set up as fiber reinforced concrete.
This invention Is of an apparatus and process for chopping and depositing short reinforcing fiber strand lengths into flows of separate concrete ingredients and water from a concrete ingredient delivery and mixing truck for job site mixing of short strand lengths, the concrete ingredients and the water and depositing the mix at the job site to set up there as fiber reinforced concrete.
The invention relates both to a process and to an apparatus on a concrete ingredients delivery and mixing trick for:
It is well known that there are concrete trucks for depositing concrete at a job site, for example, into a foundation ditch. Generally, there are two types of such trucks:
With the second type of truck there has been a problem of adding short fiber reinforcing lengths to the combined output from the truck flow of separate concrete ingredient flows, so that, in the combined out flow from the truck, the short fibers lengths are not clumped or grouped, but, rather, are randomly dispersed generally in a quite uniform reinforced concrete mix. Past efforts to introduce chopped short fiber lengths into a flow of concrete ingredients have resulted in clumping or grouping of the fibers; and, as a consequence, the tensile strength enhancement sought of the concrete mix, when set, is not achieved. Past efforts have included hand dispensing of packaged pre-chopped short fiber lengths by dropping short lengths of chopped fiber directly onto an out flow of the concrete ingredients from the truck.
Although not described as being for a chopper for use on a truck, U. S. Pat. No. 5,316,197 describes an apparatus for depositing short fiber lengths onto a conveyor system; and this patent sets forth in some detail the past prior art problem, namely that of clumping and grouping which this invention specifically addresses. In short, this invention is of an apparatus and of a process for developing a uniform concrete mix of concrete ingredients, water and short cut lengths of fiber strand at a job site and selectively depositing the mix on a delivery truck of the second type described above.
A general object of this invention is, therefore, to provide an apparatus and process which overcomes the past fiber strand grouping and clumping problem involved in delivering separate fiber strand reinforced concrete ingredients to a job site, mixing the ingredients at the site and depositing them to set up as fiber reinforced concrete in a structure being erected.
This invention is of an apparatus which includes a housing mounted on a truck constructed to transport and store a continuous fiber filament strand on a spool in the housing, and a strand withdrawing, chopping and ejecting means powered by a pneumatic motor in a cutting chamber in the housing with a discharge port for passage of the cut short fiber strand lengths under the influence of the exhaust from the motor. The process includes insinuating the cut strand lengths, preferably, at the confluence of separate conveyor conducted flows of sand, rocks, water and portland cement, as that mix is introduced from above into the mouth of a bowl with a lower discharge opening into one end of mixing trough, which usually includes an auger type mixer. The apparatus also includes conventional air flow metering means to control the revolutions per minute of the motor and, hence, the amount per cubic yard of cut fiber lengths introduced into the reinforced concrete mix.
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although many methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described can be used in the practice of the present invention, the preferred methods and materials are described.
A strand, as that term is used herein, is a long or continuous length of a generally parallel, somewhat twisted, plurality of fiber reinforcing filaments which have been wound onto a supply spool. A short chopped fiber strand length is a length within the length range conventionally chopped from a continuous strand length in the conventional spray up method of making fiber reinforced materials; and its precise length of the short fiber strands is dictated by the circumference of the chopper elements and the circumferential spacing of the cutter blades from one another.
Referring to the schematic drawing,
A more detailed description of the conventional structure of the type of concrete ingredient delivery and mixing truck on which the chopping apparatus is installed will not be provided so that this specification does not become prolix.
In general, the apparatus of the invention includes the housing 34 with an access door 35, or access means. Within the housing, there is a chopping chamber 38 with a fiber strand chopper means 40 in a fixed position on the housing floor 42 below a horizontal wall 41 separating the housing interior into the chopper chamber 38 and an adjacent supply chamber 44. The chopper means 40 serves the functions of drawing fiber strand from a spool 45, chopping short lengths from it and ejecting the short fiber strand lengths. The chopping chamber 38 includes an outlet port which may include a mouth defining portion 26 to direct the output of chopped strands from the chopping chamber onto the concrete ingredients to be mixed together. In the chamber separating wall 41 there is a smoothly rimmed opening 43 for passage of the strand as it is drawn by the chopper means from a spool 45 on a shaft 47 in the supply chamber 44 on which it may rotate. Means mounting and positioning the housing 50 on the rear truck panel, preferably on the rear panel, are provided, such as a set of screws the head of one of which is designated by the numeral 51. The access door 35 includes the mutually cooperating locking means 5353,′ as shown; or any other suitable means to hold the door closed or to open it may be employed.
As seen in
In use, the end of the strand is fed through the rimmed hole 43 in the wall 41 and into the cutter chamber 44, through a smooth hole 91 in lug 81 and by a pinch or idle roller 78 of the cutter means 40. The cover 76, which together with the frame surface 79 closes a space 98 where the actual chopping takes place, is replaced and secured by the bolt 70. The lug 81, on the frame and the cutout 83 in the cover are helpful in positioning, orienting and maintaining the parts in the correct relation to one another in assembly. The motor, when energized by a supply of compressed air, drives the cutter means; and its exhaust, is released into the space 98 between the frame and cover, which causes a force that tends to separate the cut fiber strand lengths and move them out of the housing through the mouth structure 26, which may include a hose length 26′ and onto the concrete ingredients to be mixed in the mixing means 30 of the truck at a job site.
While the principles of the invention have been made clear in the illustrative embodiment, there will be immediately obvious to those skilled in the art that many modifications of structure, insofar as arrangement, proportions, and the elements, materials, and components and as well in the process used in the practice of the invention, can be made, which are particularly adapted to specific environments and operative requirements described hereon, without departing from those invention principles. The appended claims are therefore intended to cover and embrace any and all such modifications, within the limits of the true purview, spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims and within the doctrine of equivalents.
This is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/368,107 filed Feb. 15, 2003.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 10368107 | Feb 2003 | US |
Child | 11620182 | Jan 2007 | US |