Patent Publication Number: US-8118018-B1

Title: Horizontal concrete saw attachment

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention is an attachment for an existing commercial concrete saw to convert the vertically cutting saw to a horizontally cutting saw. To install this attachment, the existing vertically oriented saw blade and horizontal shaft are removed and the attachment is installed on the saw. The attachment has a gear box with a gear box pulley for receiving power from a power pulley provided on the saw via a drive belt that extends around both pulleys. The gear box has a drive shaft extending vertically downward out of the gear box. A horizontal saw blade can be removably attached to the drive shaft so that the saw can be used for making horizontal cuts in concrete. Alternately a cup brush can be attached to the drive shaft so that the saw can be used to remove striping off the surface of a road. Both the gear box and the saw blade or cup brush are water cooled and lubricated. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Large commercial concrete saws are available for making vertical cuts in concrete when doing large jobs such as road repair. However, when it is necessary to make horizontal cuts in concrete, such as when a curb must be cut, the large commercial concrete saw cannot be used since it is only able to cut vertically. Instead, a hand held concrete saw is normally used to make the horizontal cuts. Cutting with a hand held concrete saw is dangerous, hard, and time consuming. Thus it would be desirable to be able to convert a large commercial concrete saw from vertically cutting to horizontally cutting. 
     The present invention addresses the need to be able to convert a commercial concrete saw to a horizontal cutting tool by providing an attachment for the commercial saw that converts the saw from vertically cutting to horizontally cutting. Also, by replacing the cutting blade with a cup brush, the attachment can alternately be converted to a tool for cutting striping off of a road surface. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is an attachment for an existing commercial concrete saw to convert the vertically cutting saw to a horizontally cutting saw that can be used to cut vertically oriented curbs or other vertically oriented concrete structures. To install this attachment, the existing vertically oriented saw blade and horizontal shaft are first removed from the saw, and then the frame of the attachment is bolted onto the frame of the saw. The frame of the attachment has adjustment bolts for making slight adjustments in the vertical and lateral positioning of the attachment relative to the saw. 
     The frame of the attachment supports a gear box. A gear box pulley for supplying power to the gear box from the saw extends from the side of the gear box. A drive belt extends around both the gear box pulley that powers the gear box and around a power pulley provided on the saw that was the original power source for rotating the now removed horizontal shaft and vertical saw blade. For safety purposes, a removable shroud covers portions of the attachment to prevent injury to the operator from contact with moving parts when the saw is being operated. 
     The gear box has a drive shaft extending vertically downward out of the gear box. A horizontal saw blade can be removably attached to the drive shaft via blade bolts that extend through the blade and engage threaded openings provided on the drive shaft so that the saw can be used for making horizontal cuts in concrete. Water is supplied via water hoses from the saw to both the gear box and to the horizontal saw blade as a means of cooling and lubricating these items. A water nozzle is provided on the gear box to supply water to the gear box, and a water spray bar extends above and across the entire diameter of the saw blade to evenly distribute water to the top surface of the blade. The saw blade is provided with blade openings that extend through the blade so that water can flow through these blade openings and cool and lubricate the bottom surface of the blade, thereby preventing the blade from warping. For safety purposes, a blade guard is secured to the frame of the attachment to protect the operator from being injured by the blade. The spray bar attaches to the blade guard and remains on the attachment even when the horizontal blade is removed. 
     Alternately a cup brush with wire bristles on its bottom surface can be attached to the drive shaft instead of a horizontal blade so that the saw can be used to remove striping off the surface of a road. The cup brush attaches to the drive shaft with brush bolts that engage the threaded openings in the drive shaft. As with the horizontal saw blade, the cup brush is provided with brush openings that extend through the cup brush so that water from the spray bar can flow through these brush openings and cool and lubricate the bottom surface and bristles of the cup brush and thereby prevent the cup brush from warping. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is left side perspective view of a horizontal concrete saw attachment of the present invention taken from the front of the attachment shown secured to a commercial concrete saw which is drawn in outline illustrating usage of the attachment to cut a curb which is also drawn in outline. 
         FIG. 2  is a front view of the attachment and curb of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is left side perspective view of the attachment of  FIG. 1  taken from the rear of the attachment. 
         FIG. 4  is an enlarge view of the area contained within circle  4  of  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 5  is right side perspective view of the attachment of  FIG. 1  taken from the front of the attachment. 
         FIG. 6  is bottom perspective view of a horizontal saw blade shown attached to the drive shaft of the gear box with all the rest of the attachment removed for clarity. 
         FIG. 7  is a bottom perspective view of a cup brush shown attached to the drive shaft of the gear box with all the rest of the attachment removed for clarity. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to the drawings and initially to  FIGS. 1-5 , there is illustrated an attachment  10  for an existing commercial concrete saw  12  to convert the saw  12  from vertically cutting to horizontally cutting. With this attachment  10 , the saw  12  can be used to cut vertically oriented curbs  14  or other vertically oriented concrete structures. To use the attachment  10 , the existing vertically oriented saw blade (not illustrated) and horizontal shaft (not illustrated) are first removed from the saw  12 , and then a frame  16  of the attachment  10  is bolted onto the frame  18  of the saw  12 . The frame  16  of the attachment  10  has adjustment bolts  20  for making slight adjustments in the vertical and lateral position of the attachment  10  relative to the saw  12 . 
     As illustrated in  FIGS. 3-5 , the frame  16  of the attachment  10  supports a gear box  22 . A gear box pulley  24  for supplying power to the gear box  22  from the saw  12  extends from the side  26  of the gear box  22 . A drive belt  28  extends around both the gear box pulley  24  that powers the gear box  22  and around a power pulley  30  provided on the saw  12  that was the original power source for rotating the now removed horizontal shaft and vertical saw blade. As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , for safety purposes a removable shroud  32  covers portions of the attachment  10  to prevent injury to the operator by contact with moving parts when the saw  12  is being operated. This shroud  32  has been removed in  FIGS. 3-5  to reveal the underlying structures. 
     As illustrated in  FIGS. 2 ,  3  and  4 , the gear box  22  has a drive shaft  34  extending vertically downward out of the gear box  22  that can provided rotary power to anything that is attached to it. 
     Also referring to  FIG. 6 , a horizontal saw blade  36  can be removably attached to the drive shaft  34  via countersunk blade bolts  38  that extend through the blade  36  and engage threaded openings  40  provided on the drive shaft  34  so that the saw  12  can be used for making horizontal cuts in concrete. 
     Again referring to  FIGS. 3-5 , water is supplied via water hoses  42  from the saw  12  to both the gear box  22  and to the horizontal saw blade  36  as a means of cooling and lubricating these items. A water nozzle  44  is provided on the gear box  22  to supply water to the gear box  22 , and a water spray bar  46 . The water spray bar  46  is attached to a blade guard  48  and extends above and across the entire diameter  50  of the blade guard  48  so that it delivers water evenly on a top surface  52  of the horizontal saw blade  36 . The blade guard  48  is attached to the attachment frame  16  and located immediately above the blade  36  to prevent the operator from being injured by accidental contact with the blade  36 . The horizontal saw blade  36  is provided with blade openings  54  that extend through the blade  36  so that water that is applied to the top surface  52  can flow through these blade openings  54  and thus cool and lubricate the bottom surface  56  of the blade  36  also, thereby preventing the blade  36  from warping. For safety purposes, the blade guard  48  is secured to the frame  16  of the attachment  10  and serves to protect the operator from being injured by the blade  36  when the saw  12  is in operation. The water spray bar  46  and the blade guard  48  remain on the attachment  10  even when the horizontal blade  36  is removed. 
     Referring to  FIG. 7 , alternately a cup brush  56  that has wire bristles  60  on its bottom surface  62  can be attached to the drive shaft  34  instead of a horizontal blade  36  so that the saw  12  can be used to remove striping off a surface  64  of a road  66 . As illustrated in  FIG. 7 , the cup brush  56  removably attaches to the drive shaft  34  via a coarse threaded, right hand bolt  67  that inserts via the bottom surface  62  of the cup brush  56  through a central opening  69  provided in the cup brush  56  and engages a female threaded opening (not illustrated) centrally provided in the drive shaft  34 . Also, as illustrated in  FIG. 7 , the cup brush  56  is provided with a pin opening  68  into which a shear pin (not illustrated) inserts so that the shear pin engages both the cup brush  56  and the drive shaft  34  for the purpose of providing slippage in the event that the cup brush  56  is suddenly stopped from turning while the draft shaft  34  is turning. As with the horizontal saw blade  36 , the cup brush  56  is provided with brush openings  70  that extend through the cup brush  56  so that water from the water spray bar  46  can flow through these brush openings  70  and cool and lubricate the bottom surface  62  and bristles  60  of the cup brush  56  and thereby prevent the cup brush  56  from warping. 
     While the invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is manifest that many changes may be made in the details of construction and the arrangement of components without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure. It is understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments set forth herein for the purposes of exemplification, but is to be limited only by the scope of the attached claim or claims, including the full range of equivalency to which each element thereof is entitled.