Abstract: A soil decontamination apparatus is based on a heating operation performed on soil to be contaminated to vaporize and burn off hydrocarbons. The soil is fed into a drum drier at a constant rate which is related to the moisture contents in the soil and the energy available from the burner of the drum drier. Soil particles in the form of dust which become entrained in the hot gases which are used in the decontamination process are removed from the gas stream and are recombined with the base material of the soil in a region of the drum drier which is substantially devoid of gas flow. The substantially calm atmosphere in the region of the drum drier in which the recombination takes place permits the fines to be mixed with the base material without the fines again being carried off by gaseous movement. A soil reconditioning is provided for in an isolated third zone of the drum drier.

Abstract: A turbo burner assembly provides for dispersion of liquid fuel into a flame region adjacent a burner head of the assembly by using compressed air to force a fine spray through apertures in an atomizing assembly. The dispersed fuel is supplied at a variable rate that corresponds to the combustion settings of the burner over the entire operating range of the burner. The dispersed fuel becomes entrained into a low quantity flow of high velocity turbo air. The quantity or rate of flow of the high velocity turbo air corresponds to the combustion air required for the correct air to fuel mixture at the lowest fuel flow rate. At increasing fuel flow rates for increased combustion settings a second low velocity stream of turbo air is introduced at a variable volume flow rate to provide together with the first stream of turbo air a correct combustion mixture with the introduced fuel over the entire range of combustion settings of the burner assembly. A gaseous fuel can be substituted for the liquid fuel.

Abstract: An asphalt drum drying and mixing plant capable of using recycled pavement aggregate material includes two interacting drums, each being heated to different temperatures. A first drum is a parallel flow drying and mixing drum. The recycled material is introduced at the intake or feed end of this first drum and dried and heated to a comparatively low temperature in a first region of the first drum. A burner of relatively lower heat generation capacity furnishes heated gases. The recycled material is protected by supplying the gases through a cylindrical combustion chamber within which the fuel is completely burned such that no luminous gases enter the drum and contact the recycled material. A second, adjacent region of the parallel flow drum is the mixing region. The recycled material is transferred to the mixing region with close control over the temperature at which the material enters the mixing region.

Abstract: The rotor of an impact crusher includes a locking mechanism for impeller bars which may vary in thickness. The locking mechanism includes a compound wedging mechanism which generates an initial, axial urging force by tightening a bolt at an accessible location on the rotor. The force is translated to a first wedge through a second wedge to urge the first wedge outward into an outward converging gap between a side wall in a disc of the rotor and the impeller bar to seat the bar. The mean width of the first wedge is adjustable to accommodate impeller bars of various thicknesses. A guide track in the rotor and specifically in discs of an "open" rotor locate the second wedge in relationship to the rotor and independently of the width adjustment of the first wedge to maintain a constant point of force application against the first wedge.

Abstract: A material transfer machine includes a slat conveyor of substantially the width of a feed hopper of a paving machine. The slat conveyor is supported by caster wheels to be disposed at an incline having a material intake end at a lower end thereof and a discharge end at the opposite upper end of the conveyor. The slat conveyor is mounted to a leading edge of the paving machine such that the upper discharge end is disposed above the feed hopper of the paving machine. A hopper is disposed ahead of the lower intake end of the slat conveyor, supported by a frame which is pivotably attached at a rear end thereof along the sides of the slat conveyor to an understructure thereof. The front end of the frame is supported by caster wheels, such that the frame is capable of joint movement with the conveyor and the paving machine while supporting pivotal movement in a vertical plane in response to grande changes of a base grade.

Abstract: An asphalt drum drying and mixing plant capable of using recycled pavement aggregate material includes two interacting drums, each being heated to different temperatures. A first drum is a parallel flow drying and mixing drum. The recycled material is introduced at the intake or feed end of this first drum and dried and heated to a comparatively low temperature in a first region of the first drum. A burner of relatively lower heat generation capacity furnishes heated gases. The recycled material is protected by supplying the gases through a cylindrical combustion chamber within which the fuel is completely burned such that no luminous gases enter the drum and contact the recycled material. A second, adjacent region of the parallel flow drum is the mixing region. The recycled material is transferred to the mixing region with the close control over the temperature at which the material enters the mixing region.

Abstract: A vertical shaft impact crusher has an vertically adjustable feed tube disposed within a throat between a feed hopper of the crusher and the crusher lid of the housing. The feed tube may be adjusted in predetermined discrete increments to within a predetermined distance above an impeller table of the crusher within the housing of the crusher and without removing the hopper of the crusher during such adjustment. The adjustment is achieved by rotating an adjustment ring disposed at an interface between a hopper portion and a lid portion of the throat between the hopper and the lid. The adjustment ring may be held between to adjacent throat flanges to rotate circumferentially about a vertical crusher axis. The feed tube is a two-piece tube which includes an upper, re-usable portion and a lower expendable portion. The feed tube is held within a carrier tube which includes circumferentially spaced adjustment steps.

Abstract: An improvement to a drum drying and mixing apparatus includes a baffle plate arrangement is supported externally of the drum adjacent one end thereof and is inserted longitudinally from that one end into the drum. Baffle plates of the arrangement are disposed in the veil of materials in a drying section of the apparatus. Pivoting the baffle plates about an axis substantially transverse to the direction of the falling material in the veil modifies the veil to create a channel substantially void of material through at least portions of the veil. Hot drying gases moving longitudinally through the veil encounter a reduced resistance to the flow in the channel and divert from movement through the falling materials in the veil to move through the channel within the region of the veil. As a result the heat transfer from the drying gases to the aggregate materials is reduced and the final temperature of the hot drying gases exiting from the drum increases.

Abstract: Flights in drums of drying and mixing apparatus are attached with bolts held by bolt cages disposed on inner surfaces of the drums. The bolt cages are formed of channels, the channel openings of which face the inner surface of the drums, and which channels have longitudinal slots extending from ends of the channels into the bases thereof for receiving the shanks of bolts. The bases or base plates are consequently spaced by side walls of the channels from the inner surfaces of the drums, the depth of the channels being such to admit the height of a head of a bolt between the inner surface of the drums and adjacent and facing surfaces of the bases of the channel type cages. The side walls of the cages extend parallel to the slots and are spaced to slidingly accept the width of the head of a bolt across opposite parallel faces of such bolt. The spacing between the sidewalls thereby prevents the rotation of a caged bolt about its longitudinal axis as a result of a nut being torqued onto its shank.

Abstract: The impeller bars of an "open" type rotor of an impact cruscher are clamped to each disc of the rotor by means of pairs of cooperating wedges. Each pair of wedges consists of a first wedge acting radially outwards of the rotor between the disc and the impeller bars and a second wedge acting axially of the rotor between the disc and the first wedge to drive the first wedge radially outwards. Means including a hook are also disclosed for lifting the impeller bars onto the rotor for initial installation as well as for later repositioning of the bars to compensate for wear.

Abstract: The rotor of an impact crusher includes an locking mechanism for impeller bars which may vary in thickness. The locking mechanism includes a compound wedging mechanism which generates an initial, axial urging force by tightening a bolt at an accessible location on the rotor. The force is translated to a first wedge through a second wedge to urge the first wedge outward into an outward converging gap between a side wall in a disc of the rotor and the impeller bar to seat the bar. The mean width of the first wedge is adjustable to accommodate impeller bars of various thicknesses. A guide track in the rotor and specifically in discs of an "open" rotor locate the second wedge in relationship to the rotor and independently of the width adjustment of the first wedge to maintain a constant point of force application against the first wedge.

Abstract: A push roll assembly mounted to a material receiving apparatus, such as a paver or other material receiving machine, includes a resilient link which allows energy transferred during contact of a supply truck with the push rolls to be gradually transferred to the material receiving machine, to thereby smoothen the impact between such truck and the machine.

Abstract: A continuous process aggregate drying and mixing plant for producing a hot asphaltic material, such as is used for paving highways or the like, includes a combination of a drum drier and a pugmill. Both the drum drier and the pugmill are supported by a common trailer frame. The pugmill is coextensively mounted at the discharge end of the drum drier towards the rear of the frame. The drum drier discharges dried and heated virgin aggregate material through a feed and transfer chute directly into a first, pre-mix region of the pugmill. The feed and transfer chute also provides for the addition of recycled pavement to the heated and dried aggregate and for the side discharge of such heated and dried aggregate. A second region of the pugmill within which liquid asphalt is added to the mixed aggregate is substantially separated from the first, pre-mix region. The space above the second region of the pugmill is substantially enclosed and coupled directly to a secondary air supply of a burner for the drum drier.

Abstract: A paver of the floating screed type which is capable of operating with screed extensions for laying down pavement at various widths includes a self-contained, stowable and extensible grade reference system with a wide, planar adjustment range. The grade reference system provides an adjustment range for positioning a grade sensing device on either or both sides of the paver both forward and transversely outward from a selected support point on the paver. The grade reference system has a pivotally outer support member which permits the sensing device to become positioned at any selected setting of an arcuate path forward of a rearward position in substantial alignment with the leading edge of the screed to a forward position determined by the length of the member.

Abstract: A continuous process aggregate drying and mixing plant for producing a hot asphaltic material, such as is used for paving highways or the like, includes a combination of a drum drier and a pugmill. Both the drum drier and the pugmill are supported by a common trailer frame. The pugmill is coextensively mounted at the discharge end of the drum drier towards the rear of the frame. The drum drier discharges dried and heated virgin aggregate material through a feed and transfer chute directly into a first, pre-mix region of the pugmill. The feed and transfer chute also provides for the addition of recycled pavement to the heated and dried aggregate and for the side discharge of such heated and dried aggregate. A second region of the pugmill within which liquid asphalt is added to the mixed aggregate is substantially separated from the first, pre-mix region. The space above the second region of the pugmill is substantially enclosed and coupled directly to a secondary air supply of a burner for the drum drier.

Abstract: A reverse flow post-mixer attachment for direct-fixed asphaltic concrete mixers includes a modified discharge box for the downstream end of the drum and an enclosure for the downstream portion of the drum forming a passage along the exterior of the drum. If the smoke point of the liquid asphalt to be added to the material in the drum meets an established standard it is injected into the material upstream of the downstream end of the drum and discharged from the latter end in the normal manner. If the smoke point of the asphalt does not meet the standard, the material exiting the drum is diverted into the passage along the exterior of the drum and the asphalt added there out of the burner stream in the durm. The material and asphalt are then mixed and moved through the passage and finally discharged.

Abstract: The impeller bars on an "open" type rotor of an impact crusher are clamped to each disc of the rotor by means of pairs of cooperating wedges. Each pair of wedges consists of a first wedge acting radially outwards of the rotor between the disc and the impeller bars and a second wedge acting axially of the rotor between the disc and the first wedge to drive the first wedge radially outwards. Means including a hook are also disclosed for lifting the impeller bars onto the rotor for initial installation as well as for later repositioning of the bars to compensate for wear.

Abstract: A rotor for a vertical shaft impact crusher features a unique protector for the trailing edge of each material exit portal of the crusher. The portal protector includes upper and lower "wings" between which is a channel. The wings and channel trail outwardly from the portal and along the periphery of the rotor to create a pair of trailing vortices which confine the exiting material to the periphery of the rotor in order to prevent the material from also spilling over the upper and lower edges of the portal and onto the top of the rotor, thus reducing wear. The peripheral wall of the rotor is protected by symmetrical shell segments having upper and lower lips. Each of the latter is engaged in turn by a symmetrical, segmented rim liner fashioned so that a shell segment can be replaced or moved to even-out wear simply by removing one of its associated segmented rim liners.

Abstract: An improved "3-point" suspension for a bituminous paver disposes two of the suspension "points" at the front of the tractor unit and the third "point" at the rear. Preferably the third suspension "point" is achieved by suspending the rear of the tractor unit via laterally spaced hydraulic cylinders interconnected such that upward or downward movement of one rear wheel or track results in corresponding downward or upward movement of the other rear wheel or track. The hydraulic suspension also allows the height of the rear of the tractor unit, and thus the height of the spreader screws relative to the ground, to be adjusted on the run by conjoint upward or downward movement of both rear wheels or tracks.

Abstract: An adapter to permit an oil burner head to burn pulverized coal alone or in combination with other fuels features a manifold in the form of a mirrored pair of scrolls forming a part of the burner head. The interiors of the scrolls are divided into separate coal and air passages which open into the primary air passage of the burner head through outlets uniformly circularly disposed thereabout.