Paving machine with mixing device and discharge conveyor assembly for

Abstract

A paving machine is described which includes: a gravity feed hopper located near a front end of a chassis; a distributing auger mounted on the chassis near the rear end thereof and extending transversely across the chassis; a remixing device including a variable-pitch screw auger with i) a first flight section and ii) a second flight section, the second flight section being located transversely between a lower discharge opening of the hopper and the first flight section, the pitch of the first flight section being lower than the pitch of the second flight section so that volumes bounded by flights of the second flight section are greater than volumes bounded by flights of the first flight section, so as to enable finer paving materials, located in a transverse central portion of the hopper to enter void spaces in volumes bounded by flights of the second flight section and combine with coarser paving material, thereby remixing segregated paving materials; and a discharge conveyor assembly extending longitudinally and horizontally from the lower discharge opening to the distributing auger, the discharge conveyor assembly including a pair of parallel drag slat conveyors, each of the pair of parallel drag slat conveyors including a discharge end located directly above the distributing auger for discharging paving materials directly on top of the distributing auger, thereby remixing segregated paving materials. The remixing device and the discharge ends provide significant advantages in that they both remix segregated paving materials.