The present invention relates to casted concrete block manufacturing and, more particularly, to a method for roughing blocks to give them a worn or rough appearance.
The concrete block casting industry is well developed and is highly automated in its process operations for manufacturing conventional rectangular concrete blocks and the like. The casted blocks have a geometrically uniform rectangular prism configuration in which the surfaces thereof are substantially planar with adjacent surfaces delimited by sharp edges.
It has been known to treat the concrete blocks in order to get a more natural rough look. As authentic stone blocks are known to have rounded edges and irregular shaped surfaces, systems have been provided in order to produce such effect on casted concrete blocks. However, the equipment used in order to treat these blocks has been incompatible with the fully automated handling equipment used in the other operations of the concrete block producing process. Substantial amount of manual labor and high costs are inherent with the presently used block roughing systems.
For instance, a known method consists in disposing the casted blocks in large tumbling drums. These tumbling drums are rotated about their longitudinal axis in order for the concrete blocks to tumble therein and to collide in order to get damaged. This method, although producing a generally satisfying look, entails substantial costs due to unrepairable damages to concrete blocks. Some blocks are damaged to a point where they may no longer be used and are thus thrown away or recycled. Also, some concrete block patterns may contain blocks of different sizes and these must be sorted and assembled, which is very time consuming. Also, if a particular one of the blocks in pattern is destroyed more than other blocks, then often the other blocks are no longer useful as a ratio of blocks must be kept. By its nature, the tumbling drum requires frequent repairs. Furthermore, the personnel used for these purposes must deal with a noisy environment due to the tumbling action, and injuries are frequent due to the hazardous operations and handling required thereby. It is difficult to maintain a stable labour force for this work.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,915, issued on Jul. 28, 1992 to Metten et al., discloses a surface upon which a plurality of concrete blocks are disposed in a spaced apart relationship. A roller brush translates over the surface of concrete blocks in a reciprocating manner, thereby stripping and roughing the surface of the concrete blocks. Although this method provides substantial advantages over the tumbling drum method described above, it requires that the concrete blocks are spaced apart in order for the sharp edges thereof to be treated. Otherwise, only the top surface would be abraded. Furthermore, the brush type roller provides a relatively uniform abrasion of the concrete blocks, which is not a desired result for use with paving blocks. Finally, as the concrete blocks are spaced apart, the brush can only strike them at a certain velocity in order not to displace them. If they are displaced, they may end up in abutment with one another, whereby only the top surfaces will be abraded, leaving the sharp edges of the block intact. These blocks are usually treated before the concrete is cured. This patent could not provide the desired result of producing an irregular roughened appearance to concrete blocks.
It is a feature of the present invention to provide a concrete block roughing apparatus and method which substantially overcomes the disadvantages of the above mentioned prior art.
According to a broad aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for roughing portions of solid concrete casted blocks. The method comprises conveying a plurality of concrete casted blocks disposed in side-by-side aligned relationship over a block support surface having a straight front edge and a rear end edge disposed parallel to one another. At least a section of the support surface is inclined to create a ledge at the rear end edge and extending across a travel path of the plurality of concrete casted blocks in side-by-side relationship for projecting a leading edge portion of the concrete blocks conveyed over the ledge. A roughing device is provided with at least a plurality of impacting elements thereon and is disposed a predetermined distance above the block support surface forwardly of the rear end edge. The leading edge portions of the, concrete blocks disposed in side-by-side relationship are impacted by the roughing device as they are projected over the ledge by the conveying means. The blocks are tilted when reaching a predetermined position over the ledge.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention as illustrated by examples thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
According to the drawings and, more particularly to
The rectangular panels 17, 18 and 19 are each secured to the table 11 in a slanted or inclined position with respect to the horizontal, such that each of the rectangular panels 17 and 18 has its front side edge lower than its rear side edge. Rectangular panel 19 is flat on the table for reasons which will be described later. Consequently, as seen in
Support posts 25A and 25B project upwardly from the lateral sides 15 and 16, respectively, of the table 11 on opposed sides of the junction of the rectangular panels 17 and 18. Similar support posts 26A and 26B, and 27A and 27B are upwardly extending at opposed sides of the junctions of the rectangular panels 18 and 19, and of the rectangular panels 19 and 20, respectively.
Each of the support posts has at a top end thereof a throughbore having a journal bearing therein (not shown). The support posts 25A and 25B support a roughing tool 30 through their journal bearings. The roughing tool 30 is comprised of a pair of disks 31A and 31B removably linked by support bars 32. A drive shaft 33A is secured to the disk 31A, whereas the other disk 31B is connected to an idle and free to rotate shaft (not shown) journaled at the top end of the support post 25A. A plurality of chain link sections 34 are secured to the support bars 32, and are comprised of at least two interconnected loop chain links. The support bars 32 extend through an end loop of each chain link section 34. By rotating the roughing tool 30 on its longitudinal axis, the chain link sections 34 will impact predetermined areas of concrete blocks C disposed on the table 11, as will be described later. The roughing tool 30 is rotated by a motor M1 connected to the drive shaft 33A by a belt B1 and pulley P1 assembly. The motor M1 may consist a variable speed electric motor.
Generally identical roughing tools 40 and 50 are journaled between the support posts 26A and 26B, and 27A and 27B, respectively. The roughing tools 40 and 50 comprise the same elements as the roughing tool 30. Therefore, the roughing tools 40 and 50 will not be described. However, when referring to
The slanted or inclined positioning of the rectangular panels 17 and 18, whereby they are cascaded, allows for given portions of the concrete blocks C disposed on the top surface 12 of the table 11 to be exposed to the chain link sections 34 and 44 of the roughing tools 30 and 40, respectively, during their travel over the panels and specifically over the ledges. As best seen in
Consequently, the slanted configuration of the rectangular panels 17 and 18 allows for only the exposed edge portions of the concrete blocks C to be roughened. In the embodiment shown, three roughing tools are provided in order to treat the concrete blocks C disposed thereon for various effects. The roughing tool 30 is positioned to strike the exposed edges C′ of the concrete blocks C such as to do a rough treating thereof and remove bigger chunks of material. The roughing tool 40 is positioned such as to treat the edges of the blocks C to a smoother finishing. As can be seen, rectangular panel 19 is flat and the roughing tool 50 is positioned to abrade the top surface C″ of the blocks C.
The roughing tools 30, 40 and 50 are driven by a variable speed motor (not shown) and may thus be rotated to various speeds in order to impact the concrete blocks C at various forces. They can also be independently driven. As seen in
Returning now to
As shown in the schematic representation of
The concrete blocks C will then move onward to the apparatuses 10C and 10D through the transfer tables 100B and 100C, respectively, so as to be treated on all side edges. A third roughing tool 50D is provided on the apparatus 10D to treat the top surface of the concrete blocks C. This operation only requires to be achieved once as all side edges of the concrete blocks C share the same top surface. The concrete blocks can be loaded on to a stack of concrete blocks (not shown) by transfer table 100D at an end of the series of apparatuses. It is observed that a plurality of concrete blocks C are treated at a same time on the series of apparatuses, whereby this configuration advantageously allows for a continuous output of treated concrete blocks.
The panels forming the block support surface of the apparatuses may be solid. It has also been thought to provide a grid surface, as shown at G for one of the panels of apparatus 10B in
Referring to
Referring to
Having the roughing tool 60 below the top surface 12 ensures that the chips or the dust resulting from the abrading action on the concrete blocks C will not accumulate on the top surface 12 of the apparatus 10. The roughing tool below the top surface 12 are used in combination with roughing tools disposed above the top surface 12 of the apparatus 10, as described above, whereby two opposed sides and edges of the concrete blocks C are abraded on the same apparatus.
It is within the ambit of the present invention to cover any obvious modifications of the embodiments described herein, provided such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2345224 | Apr 2001 | CA | national |
2349095 | May 2001 | CA | national |
This application is a divisional of application Ser. No. 09/911,121, filed Jul. 24, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,575,727 B1, issued on Jun. 10, 2003.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 09911121 | Jul 2001 | US |
Child | 10389985 | US |