Patent ID: 6224359
Filing Date: 2001-05-01
Classification: B28B,B30B

Abstract:
Apparatus for making adobe blocks, wherein:the apparatus comprises a trailer;the trailer is self-contained;the trailer is wheeled, and mobile, and is of a size and nature such that it can be towed on roads, and can be manoeuvred about a building site;the trailer includes, as an on-board fixture mounted on the frame of the trailer, a hopper;the trailer includes, as an on-board fixture mounted on the frame of the trailer, a means for conveying prepared granules of soil to the hopper, being soil of a kind suitable for compression into adobe blocks;the trailer includes, as an on-board fixture mounted on the frame of the trailer, a turn-table carousel;the trailer includes, as an on-board fixture mounted on the frame of the trailer, a guiding means for guiding the carousel for rotation about an axis in the frame of the trailer;the carousel is so structured as to be rotatable to and between at least first, second, and third orientations thereof;the apparatus includes at least one mould, which is integral with the carousel;the trailer includes, as an on-board fixture mounted on the frame of the trailer, an operable compression ram;the trailer includes, as an on-board fixture mounted on the frame of the trailer, an operable ejection means;in the first orientation of the carousel, the mould is aligned with the hopper in such manner as to receive granules of soil falling under gravity into the mould from the hopper;in the second orientation of the carousel, the mould is aligned with the compression ram, which is effective, when operated, to compress granules of soil within the mould;in the third orientation of the carousel, the mould is aligned with the operable ejection means, which is effective, when operated, to discharge compressed blocks out of the mould and away from the trailer;the trailer includes, as an on-board fixture mounted on the frame of the trailer, an operable indexing means, which is effective, when operated, to index the carousel rotationally between the said orientations;the trailer includes, as an on-board fixture mounted on the frame of the trailer, a power source means, for powering the said operable means;the trailer includes, as an on-board fixture mounted on the frame of the trailer, a means for timing the several operable means sequentially in correspondence with the orientations of the carousel;the operable indexing means comprises a rack and an operable hydraulic ram for driving the rack, a meshing pinion on the carousel, and an operable stop-means for stopping and holding the carousel at the said orientations.