Patent Application
20230220635
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The disclosure relates to abrasive material recapturing device and more particularly pertains to a new abrasive material recapturing device for capturing material that is used in sandblasting type operations. More particularly, particulate, which may include sand or beads of material, are ejected under high pressure at striping that is positioned on a road surface. The striping is utilized for conventional painted lines, alpha-numeric characters, symbols, etc., that are found on roadways for directing and marking the proper positions for vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, and the like. The striping is painted on and can require removal such as for re-painting, changing of the markings, and road construction, for example.
One way to remove the striping is to direct particles, or particulate, under high pressure to essentially “sandblast” the paint from the road surface. The materials chosen may include glass beads, coal slag, aluminum oxide, plastic grit, steel shot, silicone carbide, and different naturally occurring sands, to name a few. The materials are chosen based upon which ones are best at removing the striping while not impacting the road surface. Some of these materials such as aluminum oxide and glass beads, are known as dustless materials and are popular since they do not create dust exposure and can be re-used. However, sandblasting striping can cause environmental concerns such as loss of the sandblasting material into water drainage areas and property damage concerns as the particulate is moving at high velocity and can damage any property adjacent to a sandblasting site. Thus, the current system includes the dual benefits of containing the particulate while also re-capturing the particulate so that it can be re-used.
The prior art relates to abrasive material recapturing devices that typically rely on devices utilizing reflective surfaces wherein abrasive materials are ejected at a velocity sufficient enough to cause the materials to be reflected into a chute for recapture. These devices have varying success in the recapture of materials and the ability to recapture abrasive particulate can be affected by the type of materials being used for abrasives as well as the type of surface at which the material is ejected.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a chassis having a front end and a rear end. A plurality of wheels is rotatably coupled to the chassis and extends downwardly therefrom. The chassis includes an open bottomed housing having an upper wall and a perimeter wall that is attached to and extends downwardly from the upper wall. A particulate conduit extends through the upper wall. A particulate nozzle is fluidly coupled to the particulate conduit. The particulate conduit delivers particulate under pressure to the nozzle such that the particulate is ejected from the nozzle toward road striping as the striping passes under the upper wall. A vacuum conduit is fluidly coupled to an interior space bounded by the housing. The vacuum conduit is fluidly coupled to a vacuum to suction the particulate after the particulate has struck the road surface.
In another embodiment, a chassis has a front end and a rear end. A rear pair of wheels is rotatably coupled to the chassis adjacent to the rear end and a front pair of wheels is rotatably coupled to the chassis adjacent to the rear end. The chassis includes a housing having an upper wall and a perimeter wall that is attached to and extends downwardly from the upper wall. A bottom of the housing is open. The perimeter wall includes a front wall, a rear wall, and a pair of lateral walls, wherein the front wheels are positioned forward of the front wall. A particulate conduit extends through the upper wall. A particulate nozzle is fluidly coupled to the particulate conduit. The particulate conduit delivers particulate under pressure to the nozzle such that the particulate is ejected from the nozzle toward road striping as the striping passes under the upper wall. An exterior skirt is attached to perimeter wall and extends downwardly therefrom. The exterior skirt is comprised of a resiliently flexible material and abuts a surface of a road having the striping thereon. An interior chamber is mounted within the housing and has an open bottom side. The interior chamber includes a peripheral wall extending downwardly from the upper wall. An intermediate space is defined between the interior chamber and the perimeter wall. The particulate nozzle is positioned within the interior chamber. A suction conduit is fluidly coupled to the chamber and is fluidly coupled to a vacuum to suction the particulate after the particulate has struck the road surface.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The chassis 12 includes a housing 24 having an upper wall 26 and a perimeter wall 28 that is attached to and extends downwardly from the upper wall 26. A bottom 30 of the housing 24 is open to expose, to the housing 24, a road surface 32 having striping 34 thereon. The perimeter wall 28 may include a front wall 36, a rear wall 38, and a pair of lateral walls 40 in a generally rectangular configuration though the shape of the housing 24 is not germane to the functioning to the system 10. The wheels 18 adjacent to the front end 14 may be positioned forward of the front wall 36 as shown in
A particulate conduit 42 extends through the upper wall 26. The particulate conduit 42 is used to deliver highly pressurized particulate 44 abrasives to the housing 24 such that the abrasives can be ejected at the striping 34 to remove the striping 34. Typically, abrasives used for removing striping 34 include manufactured “beads” having a diameter of less than 4 mm and which are comprised of plastic, silicone materials, and the like. Different types of conventional sand may also be utilized. As is known within the prior art, the material utilized will be chosen based upon its hardness which will allow it to remove the striping 34, when ejected under high pressure at the striping 34, without damaging the road surface 32 itself. The particulate 44 abrasives are typically stored in a hopper and is driven by air from a compressor into the particulate conduit 42.
A particulate nozzle 46 is fluidly coupled to the particulate conduit 42. The nozzle 46 is generally conventional and may having a dispensing aperture that is elongated along a line that is orientated perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the striping 34 such that that the particulate 44 is ejected in an inverted V-shaped pattern perpendicular to the striping 34. The particulate conduit 42 delivers particulate 44, which is under pressure from the compressor, to the nozzle 46 such that the particulate 44 is ejected from the nozzle 46 toward the striping 34 as the striping 34 passes under the upper wall 26. As the particulate 44 strikes the striping 34, the particulate 44 acts as abrasive on the striping 34. Since the striping 34 is a paint material and has less resilience to the particulate 44 than the road surface 32 on which it is painted, the striping 34 is removed from the road surface 32.
A vacuum conduit 48 is fluidly coupled to an interior space 50 bounded by the housing 24. The vacuum conduit 48 is configured to be fluidly coupled to a vacuum 52 to suction the particulate 44 after the particulate 44 has struck the road surface 32. The particulate 44, once captured from the housing 24, can be re-used for striping 34 removal. An exterior skirt 54 is attached to perimeter wall 28 and extends downwardly therefrom. The exterior skirt 54 is comprised of a resiliently flexible material and is configured to abut the road surface 32. The exterior skirt 54 facilitates the prevention of particulate 44 moving under the perimeter wall 28 and escaping the housing 24 before it can be captured by the vacuum conduit 48. Moreover, the skirt 54 assists in creating negative pressure within the housing 24 as it allows for less air to flow under the housing 24 when the vacuum 52 has been turned on.
An interior chamber 56 is mounted within the housing 24 and has an open bottom side 58. The interior chamber 56 includes a peripheral wall 60 extending downwardly from the upper wall 26 such that an intermediate space 66 is defined between interior chamber 56 and the perimeter wall 24. As can be seen in the Figures, the peripheral wall 60 may include a pair of side walls 62, a forward wall 64, and a shared rear wall 38, though the peripheral wall 60 may include a separate back wall that is spaced from the rear wall 38. The particulate nozzle 46 is positioned within the interior chamber 56 while the vacuum conduit 48 is fluidly coupled to the intermediate space 66. The intermediate space 66, in one embodiment depicted in
A suction conduit 68 is fluidly coupled to the interior chamber 56 and is configured to be fluidly coupled to the vacuum 52 to suction the particulate 44 after the particulate 44 has struck the road surface 32. The suction conduit 68 and the vacuum conduit 48 may be fluidly coupled together and thereafter connected to the vacuum 52. Because the nozzle 46 is positioned within the interior chamber 56, the interior chamber 56 and suction conduit 68 will typically capture the majority of the particulate 44 before the particular 44 can move into the intermediate space 66. To further facilitate this result, an interior skirt 70 may be attached to the peripheral wall 60 such that the interior skirt 70 extends downwardly from the peripheral wall 60. The interior skirt 70 is comprised of a resiliently flexible material and is configured to abut the road surface 32. The interior 70 and exterior 54 skirts may be comprised of a rubber material, for example, though plastics and other elastomeric materials may be utilized.
It should be understood, that the system 10 may include the suction conduit 68 without also including the vacuum conduit 48. Moreover, the negative pressures exerted by the suction conduit 68 may be greater than those of the vacuum conduit 48 as the vacuum conduit 48 is only being used to capture that particulate 44 which escapes the interior chamber. Thus, having the vacuum conduit 48 exert a negative pressure within the intermediate space 66 that is greater than the negative pressure exerted within the interior chamber 56 by the suction conduit 68 would likely result in the particulate 44 being pulled from the interior chamber 56 and into the intermediate space 66 and likely resulting in more particulate 44 being lost by its traveling under the perimeter wall 28.
In use, the chassis 12 is moved over a portion of roadway having striping 34 thereon needing to be removed. A hopper and compressor 72, coupled to the particulate conduit 68, provides particulate 44 under pressure to be ejected out of the particulate nozzle 46 such that it strikes and removes the striping 34. After the particulate 44 strikes the road surface 32, it is retained, at least momentarily, within a perimeter of the chassis 12 such that it can be suctioned up and captured by the vacuum 52. Though not shown in such an embodiment, the compressor 72 and vacuum 52 may each be mounted on the chassis 12. The vacuum 52 will include a compartment for holding the particulate 40 such that it can be disposed of or re-used. Additionally, controls for actuating the compressor 72 and vacuum 52 may likewise be mounted on the chassis 12.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
