Patent ID: 7066682

Claim:
A soil compactor vehicle, comprising: a frame; a loader bucket movably coupled to the frame; a control system operable to control the loader bucket position relative to the frame; a plurality of compaction wheels coupled to the frame, the compaction wheels including radially extending compaction studs that have a substantially flat ground contacting surface, the compaction studs being spaced about the periphery of the compaction wheels and defining circumferential grooves on the compaction wheels; a plurality of wiper bars fixed in relation to the frame and being positioned so as to extend into the circumferential grooves defined on the compaction wheels by the compaction studs; an engine operable to drive one or more of the plurality of compaction wheels; wherein the plurality of compaction wheels comprises two front compaction wheels on opposite sides of the frame and two rear compaction wheels on opposite sides of the frame, the soil compactor vehicle further comprising: a first mounting bar extending from a first side of the frame, a first set of the plurality of wiper bars being mounted to the first mounting bar such that at least a first subset of the wiper bars mounted to the first mounting bar extend into the circumferential grooves of a first front compaction wheel and such that at least a second subset of the wiper bars mounted to the first mounting bar extend into the circumferential grooves of a first rear compaction wheel; and a second mounting bar extending from a second side of the frame opposite the first side of the frame, a second set of the plurality of wiper bars being mounted to the second mounting bar such that at least a first subset of the wiper bars mounted to the second mounting bar extend into the circumferential grooves of a second front compaction wheel and such that at least a second subset of the wiper bars mounted to the second mounting bar extend into the circumferential grooves of a second rear compaction wheel.