Longitudinal heap handling system and method

Abstract

The system is displaceable in a longitudinal direction of the longitudinal heap of earthen material, and includes a conveyor with an inlet close to the ground and an outlet positioned higher from the ground than the inlet, and a loading head adjacent the inlet of the conveyor. The loading head is operable to load material from the longitudinal heap onto the conveyor inlet during displacement of the system in the longitudinal direction.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The specification generally relates to handling a longitudinal heap of earthen material such as mixed soil and vegetation, or gravel, for example.BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE[0002]Non-paved road shoulders, of paved or non-paved roads, are often adjacent to vegetation. As time passes, the vegetation has a tendency to spread and grow on the non-paved road shoulder.[0003]To maintain non-paved road shoulders in condition, it is known to use a grader on the non-paved surface to remove such growths by grading off an upper layer of earthen material therefrom. The removed earthen material can contain mixed soil, gravel and vegetation. When grading the shoulder of the road, the removed earthen material can either be moved outwardly, by pushing it into or towards a ditch for example, or it can be moved inwardly and form a longitudinal heap of earthen material.[0004]Moving the earthen material into the ditch can have the downside of encumbering the ditch, and after ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]The conveyor can include a downstream section mounted to a wheeled frame, and an upstream section having the inlet, the upstream section being pivotally mounted to the wheeled frame to allow an up and down displacement of the inlet. This can allow the conveyor inlet to closely follow the surface of the ground, and limit the amount of earthen material which passes underneath it. The upstream section can advantageously be relatively short compared to the downstream section, so it can be less costly to replace if it is damaged by friction against the ground.

[0011]In some cases, the costs related to maintaining non-paved shoulders of roads can be reduced by separating, at least partially, a soil and gravel component of the earthen material from a vegetation component, after picking up by the loading head and conveyor. This separation can be achieved using a cylindrical sieve rotatable along a longitudinal axis inclined from the horizontal. The sieve can have an inlet end vertically higher than its outlet end, and positioned to receive material exiting the conveyor outlet. The soil and gravel can be returned to the road surface by exiting the cylindrical surface of the sieve during rotation, whereas the vegetation component can be dumped into a ditch, or loaded in a dump truck, for example, by conveying it from the outlet of the sieve.

[0012]It was found that returning the soil and gravel component to the road surface allowed an economy in the requirement to bring new material to the road to replace the material removed by grading. It was also found that dumping only the at least partially separated vegetation component of the earthen material in a ditch can result in significantly less ditch encumbrance than dumping the entire earthen material. Alternately, loading only the separated vegetation component into a dump truck results in reducing the amount of dump truck trips.

Problems solved by technology

Moving the earthen material into the ditch can have the downside of encumbering the ditch, and after a few years, it will likely become necessary to dig the ditch for maintenance.

There are costs related to these digging operations, which add to those incurred when grading the non-paved road shoulder.

Although this helps preventing ditch encumbrance, the operation can be relatively costly.

In either case, the soil and gravel which is removed from the non-paved surface eventually needs to be replaced, which also translates in additional costs.

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