Method and apparatus for cutting rumble strips in a roadway

DETAILED DESCRIPTION A self-propelled machine for cutting rumble strips in the surface of a roadway and which comprises an improvement over known and currently available machines is provided.
The invention will allow the operator to cut rumble strips into the surface of a roadway while moving along the roadway at a pace comparable to that of a standard milling or planing machine.
The present invention has a generally cylindrical cutting drum mounted on a frame for rotation about an axis that is disposed generally parallel to the surface of a roadway.
The apparatus also includes means for rotating the drum and means for maintaining the cutting drum at a predetermined position with respect to the roadway.
A drive means is also mounted on the frame for advancing the machine across the surface of the roadway.
The cutting drum has cutting teeth arranged in a predetermined pattern around the drum so that when the machine is advanced across the surface of the roadway while the drum is rotated about its axis, the cutting teeth will cut a series of spaced parallel rumble strips into the surface of the roadway.
In the preferred embodiment, the cutting teeth are arranged in an interrupted helical pattern on the cylindrical drum.
The invention also contemplates a change in the pattern of arrangement of the cutting teeth and/or in the orientation of the axis of the rotation of the drum with respect to the direction of the travel of the machine along the roadway so that the orientation of the rumble strips with respect to the direction of travel along the roadway may be changed.
In order to facilitate an understanding of the invention, the preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the drawings, and a detailed description thereof follows.
It is not intended, however, that the invention be limited to the particular embodiments described or to use in connection with the apparatus illustrated herein.
Various modifications and alternative embodiments such as would ordinarily occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates are also contemplated and included within the scope of the invention described and claimed herein