Reduced volume sonic noise alert pattern grinder & method

Abstract

A pavement grinding apparatus moves along a direction of travel and includes a cutting assembly. The cutting assembly has a grinding carriage; the grinding carriage including a rotating arbor having cutting elements. A control wheel is in contact with the pavement and connected to the grinding carriage to impart a cyclical up and down movement to the grinding carriage. The control wheel includes equally spaced apart lobes on the periphery of the control wheel that move the arbor in a sinusoidal up and down pattern.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A pavement grinding apparatus moving along a direction of travel, comprising:
 a cutting assembly comprising:   a grinding carriage; the grinding carriage including a rotating arbor having a plurality of cutting elements;   a control wheel in contact with the pavement and connected to the grinding carriage for imparting a cyclical up and down movement to the grinding carriage.   
     
     
         2 . A pavement grinding apparatus according to  claim 1 , the control wheel comprising a plurality of equally spaced apart lobes on the periphery of the control wheel. 
     
     
         3 . A pavement grinding apparatus according to  claim 1 , comprising a plurality of the control wheels mounted on an axle transverse to the direction of travel. 
     
     
         4 . A pavement grinding apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the control wheel is ahead of the arbor along the direction of travel. 
     
     
         5 . A pavement grinding apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the control wheel comprises a plurality of sections of reduced radius alternating with the lobes on the periphery of the control wheel. 
     
     
         6 . A pavement grinding apparatus according to  claim 2 , comprising a plurality of the control wheels mounted on an axle transverse to the direction of travel. 
     
     
         7 . A pavement grinding apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein the lobes of each of the plurality of the control wheels is laterally aligned. 
     
     
         8 . A pavement grinding apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the cutting assembly is mounted to a truck chassis. 
     
     
         9 . A pavement grinding apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the cutting assembly is mounted to a truck chassis and extends rearward from the truck chassis. 
     
     
         10 . An apparatus according to  claim 8 , further comprising a first motor driving the truck chassis and a second motor driving the arbor. 
     
     
         11 . An apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein the radius of the control wheel increases and decreases in a sinusoidal pattern. 
     
     
         12 . A pavement grinding apparatus moving along a direction of travel, comprising:
 a cutting assembly comprising:   a grinding carriage; the grinding carriage including a rotating arbor having a plurality of cutting elements;   a control wheel in contact with the pavement and connected to the grinding carriage; the periphery of the control wheel comprising a sinusoidal pattern of increasing and decreasing radius imparting a cyclical up and down movement to the grinding carriage.   
     
     
         13 . A pavement grinding apparatus according to  claim 12 , wherein the cyclical up and down movement imparted to the grinding carriage by the control wheel creates a sinusoidal pattern of spaced apart depressions in the pavement. 
     
     
         14 . A pavement grinding apparatus according to  claim 12 , wherein the cutting assembly is mounted to a truck chassis. 
     
     
         15 . A pavement grinding apparatus according to  claim 12 , the control wheel comprising a plurality of equally spaced apart lobes on the periphery of the control wheel. 
     
     
         16 . A pavement grinding apparatus according to  claim 15 , wherein the control wheel comprises a plurality of sections of reduced radius alternating with the lobes on the periphery of the control wheel. 
     
     
         17 . A pavement grinding apparatus according to  claim 15 , comprising a plurality of the control wheels mounted on an axle transverse to the direction of travel. 
     
     
         18 . A pavement grinding apparatus according to  claim 17 , wherein the lobes of each of the plurality of the control wheels is laterally aligned.