Patent ID: 6837648

Claim:
A portable roller-type compactor apparatus having a combined means for the vibrating and the reversible propelling thereof including: a) a handle member being attached to a selected portion of the compactor apparatus for manually guiding and manipulation thereof; b) a compactor assembly having an elongated roller, a vibrator assembly, and a compactor frame, said elongated roller being removably retained on a roller shaft; the roller shaft being elongated and having extending portions that extend a selected length beyond each of the opposing end caps of the elongated roller for allowing removable attachment thereof to the compactor frame by and with at least one resilient mounting assembly; the elongated roller being simultaneously rotatable with respect to the compactor frame; the vibrator assembly including a weight being eccentrically mounted on a vibrator shaft between a pair of mounting arms, for imparting vibratory motion during rotation of said vibrator shaft by a driven member also mounted thereon, said vibrator shaft being of a sufficient length for allowing the journaling thereof in and by a first end of each of the mounting arms, a second end of each of the mounting arms being mounted on selected portions of the roller shaft for allowing the weight and vibrator shaft to pivotally travel along a radial path, the radial path providing a predetermined clearance of the vibrator assembly with respect to an outer diameter of the elongated roller during rotation of the vibrator shaft, the radial path having its center at the axis of the roller shaft while being simultaneously concentric with the outer diameter; c) a drive assembly including; a drive motor, a driving member, and a power transmitter array; the drive motor being removably mounted on the compactor frame, the driving member being secured on a drive shaft of the drive motor, the power transmitter array for transmitting power from the driving member to the driven member; d) a directional control assembly having a grasping end for providing selective manual control of the placement of the vibrator shaft and weight along the radial path; wherein, the directional control assembly is selectively positioned for moving the vibrator assembly and the driven member along the radial path so that the vibrator assembly and the driven member are positioned near a first selected angular position for propelling the elongated roller in a first direction of travel while simultaneously providing compacting forces thereto and propelling the elongated roller in a second direction of travel while simultaneously providing compacting forces to the elongated roller by selectively pivoting of the vibrator assembly and the driven member to a second angular position by and with the directional control assembly.