Apparatus for applying a sulphur-based structural material to paved

Abstract

A portable apparatus adapted for use in filling chuck holes in paved surfaces with a sulphur-based material that has been heated to a plasticized condition. The apparatus includes an electrically heated furnace in which an auger is mounted for the purpose of moving a sulphur-based material through the furnace at a controlled rate (e.g., about 2 feet per minute), such that the material will be elevated to a temperature of above 305 degrees Farenheit (the melting point of sulphur) to produce a tenacious filler material. The furnace is heated by tubular resistance heaters that are bent in a spiral fashion around a mandrel, so that they may be placed in intimate contact with the exterior of a tube which constitutes the core of the furnace. The furnace is fed by a hopper that is mounted above the entry point for the auger, so that dry material may be fed--by gravity--into the furnace whenever a gate-valve mechanism is opened. The furnace and its hopper are relatively light weight, typically weighing only about 360 pounds, and are readily moved about by one person when supporting wheels are installed on the bottom of a frame that supports the furnace. A tandem-axle trailer provides an optimum way of transporting the furnace and the ancillary materials and equipment that are used with the furnace, e.g., a portable generator, a small air compressor, bags of the hole-filling material, etc.