Abstract: Bricklaying equipment includes a guideway extending along brick masonry being erected. A bricklaying machine displaces along the guideway. It has a robotic arm with an upper arm and a forearm. The upper arm pivots about a shoulder joint, and the forearm pivots relative to the upper arm at an elbow joint. A wrist joint permits a tool assembly, including a mortar-dispensing mechanism and a brick-gripping mechanism, to pivot relative to the forearm. The mortar-dispensing mechanism includes a form that receives and shapes a mortar charge, and a sliding gate mechanism that discharges the shaped charge. The arm is operated with a single motor that pivots the upper arm. Linkage constrains the tool assembly to move along a horizontal axis as the upper arm pivots and to remain in a fixed angular orientation relative to vertical. The arm is operated in response to sensors that detect vertical and horizontal distances to a mason's line.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
November 30, 1992
Date of Patent:
February 8, 1994
Assignee:
Redwall Engineering Corp.
Inventors:
W. Warren Milne, Jacek A Wiercienski, Pawel Kuzan