ROADWAY PAINT STRIPE GROOVING MACHINE

摘要

A machine for cutting grooves and intervening ridges in a roadway to receive a reflective paint and function as lane dividers. A self-propelled vehicle has a power transmission for rotating a cutter to cut the grooves to a predetermined depth as the vehicle moves along the roadway at a relatively slow speed, the cuttings being flushed from the roadway surface by water which cools and cleans the cutter, vacuum apparatus sucking the water and cuttings from the roadway surface to a separator tank for separation of the air and slurry, a slurry pump transferring the slurry to a tank for separation of the cuttings from the water. A prime mover and power transmission separate from the normal vehicle power train can drive the vehicle at a relatively slow but variable speed during the cutting operation, and at a faster speed when the vehicle motion is reversed with the cutter disengaged from the roadway surface or the cutter is otherwise disengaged. The separate prime mover and transmission are ineffective with the cutter elevated from the roadway surface when the normal vehicle power train is operative to permit highway travel of the vehicle at normal traffic speeds.