The present invention relates to a method and device, with the aid of which it is possible to manufacture gabions of stone or similar materials.

Gabions made from metal wire and filled with stones or similar are widely used as retaining walls in various berms, as noise barriers, or to create a specific effect in a desired location. The said gabions are used especially on roadsides, where noise barriers are nowadays used to protect the environment from the noise caused by traffic.

Noise barriers are built from many different materials, using many different methods. A common factor in many of these is the expensiveness of the structures and the extensive foundation and similar preliminary work required by them. In many cases, the end result is also anything but aesthetically acceptable. Nowadays, quite massive concrete structures are used as retaining walls, the drawbacks of which are also their dull appearance and the heavy foundation work they require.

Gabions have been used for similar purposes to replace the aforementioned heavy structures. An aesthetically lively result and above all economical wall and barrier structures have been obtained by placing the desired number of gabions consecutively and on top of each other. The structures are also very ecologically friendly compared to many other structures.

Gabions have been manufactured by making a basket from metal mesh, which is taken to the installation site and then filled with the desired material, such as crushed rock, which can be of the desired particle size, for example, in such a way that the gabion is divided into parts, in which the particle size of the material is different.

The aforementioned manufacturing method is difficult, in that the filling material must be taken precisely to the installation site and filling is relatively difficult when using an excavator or similar device to move the material on top of the gabion and to guide it into the gabion.

An arrangement is also known, in which the gabion is filled in a separate filling device, which comprises a charging hopper, with the aid of which the filling of the gabion is relatively easy, because positioning is no longer so precise compared to the method described above. A separate transfer form also relates to this arrangement, with the aid of which it is possible to move a finished gabion to its final location.

The present invention is intended to create a method and device, with the aid of which the making and placing of gabions will be easier and more flexible than in the previous arrangement. The advantages and benefits of the invention are achieved in the manner described as characteristic in the accompanying claims.

One highly significant advantage of the invention is that, in the best case, it is very ecologically friendly. When speaking of the main area of the invention, i.e. of "baskets" filled with crushed rock, the filling material may even be obtained from the same location, at which it is intended to erect, for example, a noise barrier, by using the invention. Transportation and multiple loadings and unloadings can be totally eliminated. If, for instance, recycled materials are used as the filling material, this too, for its part, will be an ecologically-friendly alternative.

In the following, the invention is described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show, mainly as schematic illustrations, a well- regarded embodiment of the invention, without being restricted to this in any way. Thus;

Figure 1 shows an axonometric view of the device according to the invention;

Figure 2 shows a simplified side view of the device of Figure 1 ; Figure 3 shows the said device seen from directly above; and

Figure 4, for its part, shows the said device seen from directly behind. The method according to the invention will also be described by referring to the device constructions shown in Figures 1 - 4.

Thus, Figure 1 shows an axonometric view of the device 1 according to the invention. The device forms a structure travelling on wheels, in which there is a front part 2 in the direction of travel, which has its own wheels 5, particularly bogie wheels as shown, and a rear part 3, which also has its own wheels 4. One or other or both of the wheels 4 or 5 are so-called drive wheels, to achieve independent movement of the device. Of course, the device 1 can also be a towed model. If necessary, the wheels can also be made with a crawler-track construction.

The front part 2 and the rear part 3 are connected to each other by means of a pivot 6, which allows the device to be steered. Because the device 1 includes particularly components, such as hydraulic cylinders, operated hydraulically, the device also includes the systems necessary to operate these devices, such as an engine providing drive power, and hoses, valves, and other device components. However, these are mostly not marked in the drawings. If the wheels are driving, the drive is arranged especially with the aid of hydraulic motors, similarly the steering taking place through the pivot 6 is preferably implemented using hydraulic cylinders, which are not drawn in the figures.

The device according to the invention makes a continuous gabion structure of the desired length. Thus, stated briefly, the manufacture of the gabions takes place as follows. A metal mesh, which forms the sides of the gabion, is fed from two rolls 7 and 8, which are at the front end of the device and run towards the rear end of the device. The rolls can be essentially vertical, or, as shown in Figure 1 , to some extent in a slanting position. The said side meshes are joined to each other by prefabricated partition structures 9. In this case, the partition structure includes not only an essentially transverse mesh portion, but also longitudinal portions 10, 10, which divide the portion between two partitions 9 into three compartments. The walls 10 are tied to the previous transverse wall.

In addition, in the arrangement shown there is also a bottom mesh, which is naturally horizontal and which runs from its own roll in step with the mesh parts reeling off the rolls 7 and 8, or which is otherwise fed to form the base part of the gabion structure. According to one well-regarded embodiment, the bottom mesh and the transverse mesh 9 form a totality, which is fed together, to form gabions. All the mesh parts are tied to each other to form a three-compartment gabion, which continues in the form of consecutive parts tied to each other.

It is self-evident that, although the creation of long wall and other similar structures is economical and is the primary objective, according to the invention it is, of course, possible to make structures according to desired dimensions, whenever this is required.

The structure as described above, which in this situation is open from above, moves to part 3 of the device, in which the gabions are filled with stone material, or some other desired material.

The structure travels to a vibrating table 11 , where the filling of the compartments takes place, while the table 11 is vibrated at least from time to time. The material is loaded into a charging hopper 2, from which it flows into a compartment or compartments that are open at their upper ends. After filling, the device is driven forward mainly for a distance equivalent to the space between the partitions 9, in order to fill the next space. The completed gabion part slides from the vibrating table backwards to settle in its installation location. More precisely, the finished gabion remains in place as the device moves forwards. The construction according to the invention includes an arrangement, with the aid of which filling can be take place in two parts. This is because, by using, for example, a plate-like part moving laterally to cover one or two compartments, or boxes, which form gaps between the partitions, so that the material fed into the hopper 12 can flow only into the open boxes. After this, the cover plate moves laterally, when the rest of the boxes open and they are filled next. It is obvious that filling can take place simply, for instance, by having only a single box open at a time, the procedure being selected as required. The mesh baskets are supported by various arrangement at the filling location. Thus, fixed support structures can be used, one of which is marked schematically by the reference number 13, or, if necessary, by using support structures 14 with an adjustable position, with the aid of which the structure can be supported at the desired points.

Figure 2 shows how the wheel bogies 4 and 5 are pivoted to the device's frame structures by means of arms 17 and 18. This arm and also the wheels are raised and lowered relative to the frame with the aid of hydraulic cylinders 15 and 16 or similar. Thus, the wheels can be lowered and the device's ground clearance can be increased during transport while in the operating situation the vibrating table 11 brought very close to the ground, thus ensuring that the gabion being made can moved without a bump at the location of the vibrating table. This also ensures that the gabion being made/completed will remain in shape. Another important aspect of the raising/lowering of the wheels is that, with their aid, the gabion being created can always be adjusted to the desired attitude, which is usually a vertical attitude. The possibility of adjusting the wheel bogies and the steering of the device ensure that, according to the invention, a straight or curved wall can always be created, as required.

The engine 19, which is used to move the device, and which produces the hydraulic pressure used by the hydraulic system, is marked schematically in Figure 3. Alternatively, if the hydraulic pressure is produced outside the device, the reference number 19 could mark only a hydraulic motor driving the wheel.

An application, with the aid of which the gabion is supported in the filling stage, can be seen in Figure 4. Thus, the moveable supports 14 described as an example above can form, for example, with the aid of articulated arms 20, support bars/walls 14 that approach each other to support the metal meshes. The invention is described above only in terms of its main principles, without dealing technically with the full construction equipped with detailed structures found from many fields. Many parts of the invention can be varied in many ways, while nevertheless remaining with the scope of protection defined by the inventive idea and the accompanying Claims.