Road construction machine, in particular road paver or feeder, and method for converting such a road construction machine

Abstract

A road construction machine, in particular a road paver or feeder, for placing a paving material in a paving direction, and to a method for converting a road construction machine.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A road construction machine, in particular a road paver or feeder, for placing a paving material in a paving direction, comprising:
 a machine frame;   an operator platform;   a drive motor;   a travel mechanism with at least one left-hand travel unit and one right-hand travel unit,   a material hopper arranged in the paving direction at the front of the road construction machine for storing paving material, the material hopper comprising:
 a left-hand swivel section; and 
 a right-hand swivel section,
 wherein the left-hand and right-hand swivel sections each have a rear wall element, a floor wall element forming a floor surface of the material hopper, a side wall element protruding upright from the floor wall element and, towards the front, a front loading edge extending transversely to a longitudinal direction of the machine, and 
 
 a longitudinal conveyor extending along the longitudinal axis of the machine, which is configured to transport paving material from the material hopper in the paving direction to the rear, wherein the right-hand and left-hand swivel sections each have an inner edge facing the longitudinal conveyor, 
   wherein the swivel sections are each adjustable between a swiveled-down filling position and a swiveled-up emptying position in order to move paving material onto the longitudinal conveyor, wherein the swivel sections each have a base section and a replacement section firmly connected to the base section via a releasable fastening device, wherein the replacement section in each case forms a part of the inner edge and a part of the loading edge of the floor surface of the respective swivel section, and wherein the floor wall element is formed jointly by the base section and the replacement section.   
     
     
         2 . The road construction machine according to  claim 1 , wherein in a horizontal projection plane the replacement section is surrounded exclusively by at least a part of the loading edge, a part of the inner edge and an abutting edge towards the base section. 
     
     
         3 . The road construction machine according to  claim 1 , wherein in a horizontal projection plane the replacement section essentially has the shape of a triangle, in particular a right-angled triangle. 
     
     
         4 . The road construction machine according to  claim 1 , wherein the floor surface formed by the base section and the floor surface formed by the replacement section are configured such that they merge seamlessly into one another. 
     
     
         5 . The road construction machine according to  claim 1 , wherein the floor surface formed by the base section and the replacement section is configured essentially as a flat overall surface. 
     
     
         6 . The road construction machine according to  claim 1 , wherein the replacement section is configured to overlap a front plate of the material hopper in the vertical direction. 
     
     
         7 . The road construction machine according to  claim 1 , wherein the releasable fastening device comprises at least one of the following features:
 it comprises one or more form-fitting elements that are at least partially complementary to one another in the connection region between the replacement section and the base section;   it comprises one or more releasable threaded connections;   it comprises one or more releasable threaded connections whose thread axes run parallel to each other and/or extend essentially parallel to the plane of the floor surface.   
     
     
         8 . The road construction machine according to  claim 1 , wherein an abutting edge between the base section and the replacement section is linear, in particular completely linear. 
     
     
         9 . The road construction machine according to  claim 1 , wherein the fastening device is arranged on a lower side of the swivel section. 
     
     
         10 . The road construction machine according to  claim 1 , wherein an adjusting actuator, which is configured to drive an adjustment movement of a swivel section from the filling position to the emptying position, is arranged between the machine frame and the base section and/or the side wall element of the swivel section. 
     
     
         11 . The road construction machine according to  claim 1 , wherein the fastening device comprises a sealing means. 
     
     
         12 . A method for converting a road construction machine according to  claim 1 , comprising the steps of:
 a. dismantling (I) the replacement section from the base section, at least comprising releasing the fastening device;   b. installing (II) a scraper plate that can be swiveled relative to the base section via a swivel joint.   
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 12 , wherein installing (II) in step b) is carried out at least partially using (III) parts of the fastening device on the base section, via which the replacement section was fastened to the base section. 
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 12 , wherein a step c) comprises replacing (IV) a front panel which is stationary relative to the machine frame with a front flap which can be swiveled relative to the machine frame between a swiveled-down loading position and a swiveled-up unloading position.