Road graders are commonly used to grade existing dirt and gravel roads by moving an angled blade along the road in contact with the surface of the road. The blade smooths out the high and low spots in the road. Road graders are also used to cut in new roads.
An improved type of blade, known as a scarifying blade, includes a plurality of rotatable carbide bits along the working edge of the blade. These bits are able to penetrate and fracture hard-packed road surfaces.
One problem that has been observed with the use of existing scarifying blades is that dirt and gravel tend to build up in front of the blade and then spill outwardly around and behind the leading end of the blade. This is a serious disadvantage when using the blade for creating ditches or when trying to pull gravel from areas close to the shoulder of a road. Also, the pockets holding the bits near the end of the blade tend to wear out.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,223 describes a corner tooth assembly for an earth moving implement. U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,129 describes a bit assembly having a carbide insert. U.S. Pat. No. 2,840,934 describes a removable tooth for mounting on a blade. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,047,312 and 3,638,736 describe a corner tooth assembly for earth moving equipment or dozer blade. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,965,989, 3,289,331, 3,456,370 and 3,465,833 describe end bits for dozer blades. U.S. Pat. No. 2,831,275 describes a reversible bit for a scraper bowl edge. U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,766 describes an angled blade attachment for a loader bucket. U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,116 describes a wing assembly for a snowplow. U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,299 describes a grader blade having a plurality of spaced picks located in sockets along the lower edge of the support frame.
There has not heretofore been provided a scarifying blade having the features and advantages provided by the present invention.