US2286761A - Machine for supplying treatment material to voids beneath pavement structures - Google Patents

Description

ER 2,286,761 MENT MATERIAL T0 UCTURES 5... Jpne 16, 1942.

J. W. POULT MACHINE FOR SUB ,ING TREAT VOIDS BENE Filed Feb i 16 W I 17 1 I VIII/I4 BY 7 J W Patented June 16, 1942 MACHINE FOR SUPPLYING' TREATMENT MATERIAL TO VOIDS BENEATH PAVE- MENT STRUCTURES John W. Poulter, Milwaukee, Wis, assignor to Koehring Company, Milwaukee, Wis, a corporation Application February 24, 1941, Serial No. 380,350

4 Claims. (61. 94-39) This invention relates to the art of treating subgrade conditions of pavements, and comprises a machine designed for effecting the filling of voids that are created beneath the pavement or pavement slabs of concrete and like pavements or roads, due to the action of vehicular trafiic that passes over such roads, or other causes.

Observation of modern road structures, particularly so-called concrete roads, discloses that as heavy vehicles progress over such roads, they create by their weight a certain amount of vertical movement of the slab sections adjacent to the transverse joints, or of portions of the slabs or road structures adjacent to cracks that may be caused in one way or another clue to the traffic on the road or failure of the concrete or like material from which the road is made to maintain its integrity of its original emplace- -ment.

When the movement of the road structure; particularly as aifected by the vehicular traific takes place, it, of course, acts upon the materials of the subgrade for'obvious reasons.

Under ordinary conditions of use of the road, water frequently enters at the joint or at cracks in the road, or from the sides or edges of the road structure, where the shoulders are 'commonly built of gravel or similar material. The constant up and down movement of the portions of the road or slab construction referred to creates a pumping action by the road structure itself which, when water has entered beneath the movable sections of the road, willact to force the water forwardly and rearwardly at the joint or cracked portions, as well as laterally toward the shoulders. This constant pumping action, especially when water is present, actually forces the subgrade material from beneath the road, usually in a lateral direction, creating pockets or recesses at the shoulder edges of the road and constituting exposed voids, and of greater moment, creating beneath the road structure itself at the places where the pumping action takes place, considerable voids, spaces or pockets that are required to be filled if the road structure is to be maintained properly for efficient travel use, and if said structure is to be prevented from ultimately breaking up and thus becoming practically destroyed to the extent of requiring entire replacement.

I have proposed and covered in my Patent No. 2,074,756, issued March 23, 1937, a machine for emplacing fluid beneath concrete roads where voids are found to exist, which machine is likewise capable of effecting raising of the pavement beneath the road structure, a cementitious fluid adapted to set or become hardened in order to occupy the space of certain types of voids that may be created beneath said road structure.

I have found, however, that the process of replacing concrete or cementitious materials in voids created by the pumping action of the slabs or sections of the roads, presents a special problem. This problem lies in the fact that usually water is received and retained in the voids and there are other problems incident to the capillary nature of the subgrade materials beneath the road structure.

The machine of the present invention deals with these problems in that it embodies certain improvements applicable to the type of my machine disclosed by my Patent No. 2,074,756,

adapting said machine for handling a treatment material in fluid or liquid form with provisions for supplying air under pressure to the material in an intermittent or pulsating manner especially desirable for the proper emplacement of said fluid material in the voids of the road structure.

The fluid material handled by the machine of this invention is largely made up by mixing a fine silt loam with approximately ten percent (10%) of Portland cement and approximately ten percent (10%) of light asphalt, asphaltic oil, or

- similar bituminous material so as to provide a very thin slurry with a high percentage of water, namely, an amount ofabout sixty percent to eighty percent The said fluid material when the useful slurry is obtained must not contain any coarse or harsh material, and preferably should contain some clay or other very fine-like substance, so as to produce a colloidal suspension affecting the soil particles and also the bituminous material.

The improvements of this invention, as largely distinguished from the subject matter ofmy patent above referred to, will now be set forth, upon reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine showing certain upper members thereof such as the actuating bail or cross head in section, and also the air valve unit in section.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary View showing the essential parts added by the present invention to the previously used and patented construction of my machine, whereby said machine is adapted for the handling of the air that is employed to assist in the proper filling of the voids in the pavement structure being treated by the use of the machine.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional View taken on the line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 44 of Figure 3.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawing, there is illustrated a machine generally'of the construction depicted by Figures 4 to 6 of my Patent No. 2,074,756.

Without going into unnecessary detail, those versed in the art will understand that this machine comprises the receptacle I for receiving the fluid or liquid material with which the subgrade of the paving structure is to be treated, said material constituting virtually a filler for voids and like spaces beneath the pavement structure.

The receptacle I is supported by a wheeled body 2, the wheels of which are designated 3, and said body carries an engine 4, by which to drive the cranks 5 connected to the pitman rods 6. The rods 6 in turn are connected to rocking beams I. The parts 5, 6, and I are in duplicate, and set of these parts is disposed on each side of the machine after the manner of the illustration in my previous patent.

The levers or beams I are connected to the side members 8 of a cross head or bail 9. To the intermediate portion of the member 9 is attached a piston rod I carrying at its lower end the piston II operating in the cylinder I2, the upper end of which is open through the bottom of the receptacle I to the interior thereof so that the fluid material in the receptacle I may flow into the cylinder I2, through the piston II. The piston rod I0 is so connected to the piston II, that it slides in a yoke I3 at the upper end of the pie-- ton having openings in communication with the receptacle I, the lower end of the rod II carrying a valve I4 which closes down on its valve seat as the piston rod IE] moves downwardly, and

raises from its valve seat as the piston rod I0" moves upwardly.

The action of the piston II and its rod Ill is :such, therefore, that as the piston raises, fluid material in the receptacle I may pass down into :the cylinder I2 and as the piston rod l0 lowers' :the valve I4 is closed against the piston II and :acts with the piston as a forcing means to carry the fluid material received in the cylinder I2 to the nozzle I at the bottom of the cylinder and projecting downwardly below the machine itself;.

II to prevent the creation of suction in the noz-' zle I5 during such movement.

The spring |2a at the top of the nozzle and a valve member |2b having a stem I20 slidable in a bearing member I2d comprise a check valve. An enlarged head I2e on the stem |2c is adapted to seat against the seat member I2 f at the bottom of the cylinder, to prevent a return of the mud back through the cylinder I2, when the pressure under the pavement slab through which the nozzle I5 has been introduced would ordinarily tend to return the mud, as above indicated. When the valve member I4 on the piston rod I0 is caused to close on the downstroke thereof, it will be apparent that the mud in the interior of the piston II and in the cylinder I2,

which has previously been permitted to flow into the above members, will cause the valve head |2e to be depressed and the mud forced through the nozzle. The spring I2a will under any condition tend to close the valve and permit a quantity of mud to accumulate in the cylinder I2 prior to the action of the valve member I4, said piston rod being slidable in said operating head.

The novel air means for my machine is seen best at the top of Figure 1 and in Figure 2. It comprises a suitable pipe or conduit I6 having a control valve I1 and adapted to be connected by a hose or any suitable conduit I8 to a source of supply of air under pressure. Said source of supply may be a compressor located adjacent to the machine of the invention, or any other suitable source.

The pipe I6 is carried by the bail or cross head 9 by any suitable rigid bracket means Ifia and from said pipe I6 leads the air conduit I9 laterally and downwardly at one side of the machine to the nozzle I5 and communicating with the interior of the nozzle intermediate the ends of the latter.

Carried by the pipe I6 adjacent the valve I1 is an automatic valve comprising a casing 20 and valve 2| therein. The valve 2| is adapted to open and close against a seat 22 and the stem of the valve 2| projects outwardly and downwardly from the pipe I6 and casing 20 so as to be engageable by a trip plate 23 rigidly secured to the piston rod I0 in any suitable manner.

On the up-stroke of the piston II and its rod, the bail 9 and casing 20 are lifted to engage abutment 25 relieving the pressure of plate 23 on lower end of valve stem, permitting valve 2| to close against the seat 22. The opposite action of the valve 2| in opening is caused when the parts 9 and 20 move sufiiciently downwardly rela tively to the rod Iil to cause the plate 23 to push valve 2| upward to open position.

For the above action, it is necessary that there be relative movement of the rod Ill and the plate 23 as respects the bail or cross head 9 and the valve casing 20 and pipe I6, which are stationary in relation to said bail. For the above purpose, the upper end of the piston rod I0 passes through the intermediate portion of the bail or head 9 and shifts relatively to said last mentioned part by reason of the provision of a shoulder 24 on the rod ID and the washer or abutment 25 which two parts are spaced a slightly greater distance apart than the vertical sectional dimension of the member 9.

From the foregoing description, the operation of my machine may be briefly described as follows:

The treatment of the voids beneath the pavement structure involves the boring of holes at different places through the pavement section and leading to the void which is to be supplied with the filler material from the receptacle I. When a hole is bored and the filling or treatment operation is to be commenced, my machine is wheeled over the place where the hole in the pavement is located through shifting of the machine by the handles 26 after the manner of movement of a wheelbarrow.

The nozzle I5 is introduced into the hole in the pavement and by operation of the valve II, the latter is opened to such an extent as to supply a sufficient amount of air under pressure to the air line or conduit I9 as experience proves to be desirable, according to the particular conditions appertaining to the particular treatment action to take place.

I Thereupon the operation of the piston II, rod I0, and valve I4 will cause the fluid filler material to be supplied from the receptacle I to the nozzle I5 and inject it through the opening in the pavement to the void or space below that is to be treated. As the bail 9 and piston rod I move downwardly, the trip plate 23 will cause valve 2| to open and supply the pressure air to the nozzle l5 at the same time that the piston I I is ejecting the fluid filler material from the cylinder I2 through the nozzle I5 into the voids beneath the pavement.

As the piston II moves up with the rod Ill to enable a fresh charge of treatment material to enter the cylinder I2, the initial action of the piston rod I0, moving as it does relatively to the cross head 9 will cause the shoulder 24 on the rod I0 to abut with the cross head 9 and when the head 9 reaches its upper limit of movement the plate releases or disengages from the stem of valve 2| so that the latter closes to cut off the air through the conduit I9. This prevents the air from passing through the nozzle I5 until the next down movement of the head 9, and piston II.

The valve I1 is used both for cutting off entirely the supply of air to the conduit I9 and the pipe I6 as well as for regulating the amount of flow of such air.

When the void beneath the pavement through which the nozzle I5 has supplied the fluid filler material is filled or the subgrade materials under the pavement sufficiently treated, the handles 26 are raised to remove the nozzle I5 from the bored opening, the machine is moved onto the next hole that is to be used for filling another void, and the previously used hole is plugged.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. A machine for emplacing filler material beneath pavement structures, comprising, in combination, supply means for the filler material, a cylinder to receive the filler material from the supply means, a nozzle communicating with the cylinder and through which the filler material is introduced to a void below the pavement structure, piston mechanism operating in the cylinder comprising a piston and piston rod, an operating head for the piston rod, provisions by which the operating head and piston rod are movable relatively to each other, air supply means carried by the head and comprising an air conduit leading to the nozzle, at a point adjacent the opening through which the filler material enters the nozzle, a valve controlling the passage of air through said conduit, and an instrumentality operable by the piston rod for controlling the air supply action of said valve.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controlling valve for the air conduit is mounted upon the head and wherein the instrumentality operated by the piston rod comprises a trip plate on the piston rod coacting with the said valve.

3. A machine for emplacing filler material beneath pavement structures, comprising, in combination supply means for the filler material, a cylinder to receive the filler material from the supply means, a nozzle communicating with the cylinder and through which the filler material is introduced to a void below the pavement structure, piston mechanism comprising a piston and piston rod, an operating head for the piston rod, operating means for said head provisions by which the operating head and piston rod are movable relatively to each other, air supply means carried by the head and comprising an air conduit leading to the nozzle, an air pipe on the head connected with said conduit, an automatic controlling valve carried by said air pipe for cutting off and permitting passage of air through said conduit to the nozzle, and a trip plate carried by the piston rod and movable with it to close the air conduit when the piston operated by said rod is moving to permit a charge of material to enter the cylinder, said trip plate cooperating with said valve to open the same at the commencement of the movement of the rod to effect discharge of the filler material received by the cylinder to cause same to pass through the nozzle.

4. A machine as claimed in claim 3, wherein the piston rod passes through the head and is movable relatively thereto, the said rod being provided with a shoulder below the head and an abutment above the head spaced apart a greater distance than the vertical sectional dimension of the head to thereby permit the relative movement of the piston rod and head necessary to cause actuation of the controlling valve by the trip plate.

JOHN W. PO-ULTELR.

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