Motor graders are used to maintain gravel roads in rural counties throughout the United States. In the spring and early summer however road shoulder maintenance becomes difficult with the rapid weed and grass growth. The weed and grass material if not properly processed provides poor material to spread on the road. Attachments for motor graders have been described (U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,036,598; 2,188,435; 5,108,221; 5,197,820; 5,810,097; 6,293,354 B1; 6,394,696 B1; and RE 34,860). These attachments however do not meet the current need. A need therefore remains for an attachment for a motor grader that chops vegetative material preparing it for the road surface.
All patents, patent applications, provisional patent applications and publications referred to or cited herein, are incorporated by reference in their entirety to the extent they are not inconsistent with the teachings of the specification.
The attachment of the subject invention comprises an offset disk connected to a motor grader via a mounting means. The mounting means attaches the disk to the ripper of the motor grader requiring no modification of the grader. An extra valve with a float control on the grader runs the hydraulics of the attachment. The attachment is deployed to the left side of the motor grader to disk the grass and gravel windrow as it comes off the grader's mold board. The attachment folds in along side of the motor grader when it is not being used.
The attachment of the subject invention comprises a small offset disk unit and a mounting system that connects the attachment to the ripper of a motor grader. The attachment is mounted on the left side of the motor grader and processes material from the mold board that gathers in windrows along the road so that it can be spread on the road surface. The mounting means folds the attachment off the road surface when the attachment is not in use.
A preferred embodiment of the attachment of the subject invention is shown in the appended figures (
The offset disk unit is mounted so it can float freely along the road's surface. The exemplified embodiment shows a simple system to allow the offset disk unit to oscillate (
A mounting means attaches the offset disk unit to the ripper of a motor grader. In the exemplified embodiment, a T-shaped member 24 mounts the disk unit to the ripper bar. The base of braced T-shaped member 24 has shanks 26 which are inserted and secured in holes in the bar of the ripper 27. Preferably, two shanks of the attachment are placed in the outermost and center holes of the bar. Ripper tines can therefore be placed in unused holes on the bar when the attachment is installed on the motor grader.
The offset disk unit is preferably hingedly attached to the ripper bar so that the disk unit can be lifted of the road surface when not in use (
To use the attachment of the subject invention, the ripper is lowered to about 2 feet off the ground. A cylinder 34 is used to keep the disk horizontal with the top of road. If the top of road is hard, then the disk cylinder can be run in a float position. The disk cylinder is powered by an extra hydraulic valve on the motor grader that has a float position. Run the blade along the right side of road. As the material slides off the mold board it passes by the left side of motor grader where the disk unit of the subject attachment processes the bladed road material into a windrow. Then, driving in the opposite direction, run the blade along the other side of road. Combine both processed windrows to the left side of machine where the material will be processed again by the disk. The processed material can be spread over the top of the road or the operator can determine if more material processing is necessary.
It is understood that the foregoing examples are merely illustrative of the present invention. Certain modifications of the articles and/or methods may be made and still achieve the objectives of the invention. Such modifications are contemplated as within the scope of the claimed invention.
This application claims the benefits of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/787,870, filed Mar. 31, 2006, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety including all figures, tables and drawings.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60787870 | Mar 2006 | US |