Patent Application
20180030677
The present invention relates to concrete applications and, more particularly, to a tool for cutting grooves in hardening concrete.
Standard concrete groovers are designed for wet concrete only. And so when the concrete dries faster than anticipated the worker is forced to use a hammer to knock the groover down into the concrete in order to create the groove you see in sidewalks. Consequently, the standard groover becomes damaged and eventually destroyed since standard groovers are not designed to be hit with a hammer. Yet most are destroyed in this fashion, because of the time-crunched nature of construction, generally, and concrete pouring specifically.
In a typical scenario it's a hot summer day, you've just poured five yards of concrete and the load is stacked. The concrete is getting hard fast! Usually in this situation you′d grab a hammer to knock the groover down into the concrete to form your joints. But with no designated place to strike the tool, the handle is the usual target. After a few minutes the tool is already starting to show signs of damage. Under these harsh conditions the traditional tool cannot withstand the abuse.
As can be seen, there is a need for a tool for cutting grooves in hardening concrete. Specifically, an impact pin coupled to the groover, allowing a user to freely hammer-strike the high impact groover without fear of damage to the tool. Thereby, a concrete worker can use the “Impact Groover” to create grooves in fast drying concrete by using a hammer to strike the tool for added force without damaging the groover apparatus.
In one aspect of the present invention, a device for forming joints in hardening concrete includes a planar base having a bottom portion and an opposing top portion, wherein the base extends between a front and a rear end; a groover blade depends from the bottom portion; and an impact pin perpendicularly extends from the top portion adjacent to the front end, wherein the impact pin is center over a portion of the groover blade.
In another aspect of the present invention, the device for forming joints in hardening concrete includes a planar base having a bottom portion and an opposing top portion, wherein the base extends between a front and a rear end; a groover blade depends from the bottom portion; an impact pin perpendicularly extends from the top portion adjacent to the front end, wherein the impact pin is center over a portion of the groover blade; a pedestal perpendicularly extending from the top portion, wherein the pedestal provides a receiving cavity for seating the impact pin; an upper portion providing the receiving cavity; and a lower portion tapering outwardly as it extends from the upper portion to the planar base; a web flange extending from the groover blade, around the front end, and terminating at the lower portion; and a handle provided along the top portion, wherein the impact pin extends a greater vertical distance above the top portion than the handle.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings, description and claims.
The following detailed description is of the best currently contemplated modes of carrying out exemplary embodiments of the invention. The description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.
Broadly, an embodiment of the present invention provides an impact groover for forming joints or grooves in hardening concrete. The impact groover provides a planar base having a groover blade extending along a bottom portion thereof. On a top portion of the planar base is a pedestal disposed over a front portion of the groover blade. The pedestal defines a receiving cavity for seating an impact pin, so that a user can hammer-strike the impact pin to urge the groover blade into hardening concrete.
Referring to
It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the use of directional terms such as front, rear, upper, lower, upward, downward, top, bottom and the like are used in relation to the illustrative embodiments as they are depicted in the figures, the upward direction (or upper) being toward the top of the corresponding figures and a downward direction being toward the bottom of the corresponding figure.
The groover base 12 may be made of any material sufficiently strong and durable to be repeatedly used as disclosed herein, such as zinc, bronze, steel and the like. The groover base 12 extends from a front end 36 to a rear end 38 providing overall dimensions much like a conventional concrete groover. The groover blade 14 depends from a bottom surface 42 of the groover base 12, also extending at least from the front end 36 to the rear end 38 thereof, dimensioned and adapted much like a conventional concrete groover blade, and typically centrally located.
An impact pedestal 34 may be provided disposed adjacent the front end 36 with the impact pedestal 34 extending transversely from a top portion 44 of the groover base 12. The impact pedestal 34 may have a generally rectangular upper portion 50, while having an outwardly tapering lower portion 52, wherein the tapered lower portion 52 facilitates spreading axial loads transferred through the lower portion 52 to the groover base 12. The upper portion 50 may define a receiving cavity 18 dimensioned to receive the impact pin 24 so that the impact pin 24 is seated therein. In this seated position, the impact pin 24 and the pedestal have a coaxial relationship, and so an axial force through the impact pin will transfer to the pedestal 34, which in turn transfers such a force through to the groover blade 14. Both the pedestal 34 and the impact pin 24 may be made from high impact resistant material, such as High Carbon Heat Treated Steel or Iron.
In certain embodiments, the pedestal 34 may be connected to one of two handle posts 16, wherein the handle posts 16 disposed adjacent to or just inward of the front end 36 and second ends 38 of the top portion 44. The handle 20 is dimensioned to extend between and connect to the two handle posts 16. In certain embodiments, each end of the handle 20 may provide a handle notch 22 adapted to receive an upper portions of a respective handle post 16. The handle 20 and handle posts 16 may provide aligning fastener holes to receive fasteners 26 for securing the handle 20 to the handle posts 16. The fasteners may be button head screws and/or flathead screws. In certain embodiments, the construction of the impact groover 10 may include a button head screw at the rear of the handle post 16. The handle 20 may be made of plastic, rubber, wood, or the like, as long as the material is sufficient to facilitate manually operating the impact groover 10 via the handle 20.
The pedestal 34 may be adjacent the front end 36 to the point of being flush. The groover blade 14 may bend around the front end 36 to ‘T’ into the pedestal 34 defining a web flange 60 as illustrated in the
A method of using the present invention may include the following. The impact groover 10 disclosed above may be provided. Under normal conditions, the impact groover 10 would function as a standard groover. However, during concrete saving mode or when the concrete 30 is getting hard too fast, making creation of an impression or joint 32 via a convention groover too difficult, the impact pin 24 could fit down in the receiver cavity 18 and be struck with a hammer 28 to be in a seated position. The user can then freely hit the impact pin 24 with the hammer 28 facilitating a convenient and expedited job. At that point, the user can use a hammer to strike the impact pin 24, thus creating the grooves. In addition, the present invention will help to reduce and/or eliminate the amount of concrete that has to be removed and replaced.
It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates to exemplary embodiments of the invention and that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.
This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. provisional application No. 62/368,324, filed 29 Jul. 2016, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62368324 | Jul 2016 | US |
