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United States Patent (19) 11 Patent Number: 5,259,692
Beller et al. - (45) Date of Patent: Nov. 9, 1993
(54) GROUND BREAKING APPARATUS 4,785,560 1 1/1988 Hanson ............................. 299/76 X
4,848,677 7/1989 Rayner. ... 241/79.1 X
76) Inventors: Larry D. Beller, P.O. Box 444,
Homer, Ak.99603; Douglas S. Hart, Primary Examiner-David J. Bagnell
P.O. Box 996ll, Kenai, Ak. 99611; Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Flehr, Hohbach, Test,
Robert White, P.O. Box 58573, Albritton & Herbert
Fairbanks, Ak. 9971 (57) ABSTRACT
(21) Appl. No.: 940,982 An earth working apparatus comprising a wheeled ve
(22 Filed: Sep. 4, 1992 i. capable R traversing the ground and a ground
breaking assembly mounted on the front end of such
; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a saw a 8 v a ow aggie vehicle, such ground breaking assembly comprising a
(52) he AW so a sea e s so oo e o e o see to be a - - - - - - - 9 299739 cylinder mounted for movement with the vehicle and
58 Field of Search ... 299/39, 40; 404/90 for rotation about its cylinder axis, such cylinder having
404/9: 24.1/101.7 teeth projecting from its cylinder surface; the ground
s breaking assembly also having a shield partially sur
(56) References Cited rounding the cylinder and provided on its inner surface
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS close to the cylinder with fracture boards against which
3,602.444 8/1971 Meyer ................................. go large pieces of pavement, frozen earth or stone impact,
4,355,670 10/1982 Ohrberg et al. ... ?ix thereby causing such large pieces to fragment.
4,637,753 1/1987 Swisher, Jr. .......................... 404/90
4,704,045 ll/1987 Taylor et al. ......................... 404/90 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Sheets
U.S. Patent Nov. 9, 1993 Sheet 1 of 4 5,259,692

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U.S. Patent Nov. 9, 1993 Sheet 2 of 4 5,259,692
U.S. Patent Nov. 9, 1993 Sheet 3 of 4 5,259,692

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U.S. Patent Nov. 9, 1993 Sheet 4 of 4 5,259,692
 5,259,692
1. 2
tachment and mounting the bucket or scraper, as origi
GROUND BREAKING APPARATUS nally provided.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
There are presently available as heavy-duty ground 5 The accompanying drawings, which are incorpo
working machines, rotary mills or profilers which are rated in and form a part of this specification, illustrate
used to cut and pulverize hard ground surfaces and embodiments of the invention and, together with the
materials, such as asphalt surfaces, frozen ground, rock description, serve to explain the principles of the inven
tlO:
outcropping, and the like. These machines generally
comprise a massive cylindrical roll with teeth protrud O FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a ground-working equip
ing from the cylindrical surface thereof, and they are ment converted to use a rotary mill.
very effective for the purpose for which they are in FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the rotary mill attach
ment of this invention.
tended. However, such machines are extremely expen FIG. 3 is a front elevation, partially broken away, of
sive and, unless they are needed and used on a regular 5 the rotary mill attachment.
basis, it is difficult for some road contractors and the
like to justify the cost of acquiring one. FIG. 4 is an end view partly broken away showing
Most road contractors do have available, other types how the breaker plates fragment the soil.
of ground-working equipment, such as loaders, graders DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE
and scrapers that have the load-carrying capacity to 20 PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
handle the cutting roll of such rotary mills. However Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in
such equipment generally does not have the power FIG. 1 a ground-working equipment 10 such as a front
capacity to both drive the rotary mill for cutting and loader which is mounted on wheels 12 to be propelled
pulverizing the surface and propel the vehicle. over the ground G for purposes of working or altering
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 25 the surface. The loader 10 has a pair of arms 14 (one of
It is the object of this invention to provide an attach which is shown in FIG. 1) pivoted on the frame 15 of
ment that may be mounted on an existing carrier vehi the machine at 16 and lifted and lowered by hydraulic
cle, such as a loader, grader, or the like to perform the rans 17, one of which is shown, pivoted on the frame
function of a rotary mill. and on the arms as shown. The loader 10 is driven by
It is a further object of this invention to provide a
30 suitable means such as a diesel engine 18, which also
powers hydraulic rams 17 and 19 through suitable
rotary mill attachment for a carrier vehicle, which can pumps and hydraulic lines (not shown).
be quickly and easily mounted to operate effectively in In order to convert the loader (or other road-working
either forward or reverse direction of travel. equipment) to a rotary mill in accordance with this
It is a further object of this invention to provide a 35 invention, an auxiliary engine 25 is mounted in a suitable
rotary mill attachment for a road-working carrier vehi location on the vehicle frame, as at the rear, and the
cle, which is self-powered to cut hard ground surfaces. rotary mill attachment 26 of this invention is mounted
It is a further object of this invention to provide a on the pivoted arms 14 at the front. The engine 25
rotary mill attachment for a load carrier vehicle which drives hydraulic pumps 30 to deliver pressurized fluid
is capable of easily converting the carrier vehicle from through lines 31 to the rotary mill attachment 26 under
normal ground-working equipment to a rotary mill and control of a pilot panel 32 in the cab 10a of the carrier
then reconverting back to normal use. vehicle 10,
Other objects and advantages of this invention will Referring now more particularly to FIG. 2, the con
become apparent from the description to follow, partic ventional loader, or other earth-moving equipment, is
ularly when read in conjunction with the accompany 45 converted to a rotary trimmer and pulverizer by remov
ing drawings. ing the conventional bucket or scraper (not shown) and
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION replacing it with the massive cylindrical cutter roll and
pulverizer 26 of this invention.
In carrying out this invention, a conventional piece of The cutter roll and pulverizer 26 comprises an in
earth working equipment, such as a front loader, grader 50 verted shell 30 to which end plates 31 are attached and
or the like may be converted to a rotary mill by remov a cylindrical roll 32 to which teeth 33 are attached and
ing the bucket, forks or cutting attachment from the which can be removed and replaced when broken or
lifting arms and replacing it with an inverted shell cowl worn. The shell 30 has generally the shape of an in
ing that is then supported on the lifting arms by heavy verted U and is made of steel and it is braced by double
brackets. On the cowling are heavy mounting flanges, 55 braces 34 which are welded to the shell. Hydraulic rams
to which are secured side mounting plates for the mill 19 and arms 14 are pivotally connected at 35 and 36 to
roll. Within the cowling are breaker plates so positioned the braces. Holes are provided at 38 in the plates 31 and
that they prevent large pieces of rock, pavement or at 39 in flanges 40 of the ends of the shell, by which the
frozen soil from passing through unchanged and which end plates and the shell are bolted together.
serve to fragment such large pieces. A massive, cylin Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 4, the interior of the
drical mill roll with teeth around the surface thereof is shell is fitted with a series of plates which function,
rotatably mounted between the side mounting plates, together with the teeth 33 on roll 32 to break up stone,
and contained within the cylindrical roll at each end is pieces of pavement, pieces of frozen earth, etc., shown
a hydrostatic drive, which may be driven by fluid under in FIG. 4 at 41. Each set of plates comprises a fracture
pressure supplied from pumps driven by an auxiliary 65 board 50 reinforced by a wear plate 51 and braced by a
engine mounted on the carrier vehicle. The carrier plate 52. These plates are secured to each other and to
vehicle may be converted back to its original earth the shell 30 by welding, bolts, or other suitable means.
working function simply by removing the milling at The clearance between the teeth 33 and the plates 50, 51
 5,259,692
3 4.
is such that a stone (by way of example) that is too large (a) a vehicle equipped to traverse the ground and
to pass between the teeth and the plate is, of necessity, having means to power and operate ground-break
broken into smaller pieces. The staggered arrangement ing equipment, said vehicle having a front end and
of the teeth 33 and the multiplicity of sets of plates 50, a rear end;
51, 52 are such that all or substantially all larger pieces (b) a ground breaking assembly;
are broken up to the proper size. (c) means mounting said assembly at the front end of
There are also provided wear plates 53 bent to con said vehicle for movement with the vehicle and for
form to the shape of the shell 30. These plates are re pivoting between a lowered ground engaging posi
placeable, being replaceably secured to the shell 30, tion and a raised transport position;
e.g., by welding or by bolts and they do not extend the O (d) said assembly comprising the following compo
full length of the shell but are located in the central nents:
portion of the shell 30 (i.e., inwardly with respect to the (1) a cylinder supported with its cylindrical axis
ends of the shell) where wear is the greatest. This posi horizontal and for rotation about its cylinder
tioning of the wear plates is shown in FIG. 3. The wear aX1S,
plates 53 may be of suitable wear resistant steel con 15 (2) teeth mounted on the cylinder surface of said
struction, e.g., of Tl or AR steel. cylinder capable of digging into the earth, dis
Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, hydraulic lines 31 (see lodging stones or other hard material and carry
FIG. 1) circulate hydraulic fluid through a manifold 61 ing the resulting dislodged fragments in an arcu
and lines 62 to hydrostatic motors 63, (there being one ate path about the cylinder axis;
at each end of the shell 30 mounted on an end plate 31) 20 (3) a shield partly surrounding said cylinder and so
which in turn drive torque drives 64 which are mounted positioned and spaced form the cylinder that
on the roll 32. The torque drives function as gear reduc fragments dislodged by said teeth are trapped
ing means to rotate the cutter roll 26 at the desired between the cylinder and the shield and
speed. (4) fracture boards mounted on the inner surface of
As shown in FIG. 4, as the machine 10 moves from 25 said shield, the positions, dimensions and struc
left to right as viewed in this figure, and as the roll 32 ture of such fracture boards being such that they
rotates counterclockwise, pieces of pavement, frozen will contact and fragment solid pieces of earth,
earth, or rocks 41 are uprooted from the ground G (and stone or pavement as such pieces are picked up
are formed by fracturing by teeth 33) and are carried up and moved by the cylinder and its teeth and
past the breaker plates. 30 (5) wear plates secured to the fracture boards, such
It will be apparent that by disengaging the assembly wear plates being replaceable when worn.
30 and reconnecting it from the other side, the machine 2. The machine of claim 1 in which the mounting of
may be operated in the reverse direction. The roll 32 said assembly (b) on said vehicle (a) is such that it can be
will continue to rotate in counterclockwise direction as readily attached to the front end of a loader, grader or
viewed in FIG. 1 but will be pushed instead of pulled 35 Scraper by detaching the loader, grader or scraper as
and the equipment 10 will travel over processed mate Sembly and attaching said assembly (b), said assembly
rial. (b) being also readily detachable from the vehicle for
It will therefore be apparent that a new and useful reattachment of a loader, scraper or grader assembly.
earth working apparatus has been provided. 3. The machine of claim 1 or claim 2 in which there
We claim: 40 are wear plates secured to the inner surface of the
1. A machine capable of breaking up pieces of Stone, shield.
pavement and frozen earth comprising: k sk

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