A method in dry shake coating of a concrete floor, whereby an applied floor concrete mass is subjected to early after-care, in which connection, if necessary, after floating, on top of the floor concrete mass is applied a dry shake material for two or more superimposed dry shake layers, in which connection the surface of a currently underlying dry shake layer is troweled prior to the application of a next dry shake layer to be processed thereupon, whereafter the lastly processed dry shake layer of a concrete floor is troweled and the concrete floor is subjected to actual aftercare. The application of an underlying dry shake layer is followed by spreading over its surface a water soluble silica-based medium prior to and/or during the course of troweling this particular dry shake layer and prior to the application of an overlying dry shake layer to be spread thereupon.

A self-propelled power trowel for finishing a concrete surface is equipped with reversible rotors to allow an operator to reverse the direction of rotation of rotor blades. The trowel includes a rigid frame adapted for operation over a concrete surface, a pair of rotor assemblies having rotor blades tiltably connected to the rigid frame for frictionally contacting the concrete surface and supporting the rigid frame thereabove, a prime mover mounted to the rigid frame and operatively coupled to drive the rotor blades of the rotor assemblies in opposite rotational directions. Synchronous or hydraulic motors are configured for causing, responsive to manual controls, reversal of the direction of rotation of the rotor blades.

A mounting adapter for rotatably mounting a tool holding body having first and second surfaces on at least one spider arm of a motor driven rotatable spider assembly of a surface processing apparatus, said mounting adapter comprising: bearing means supported by said second surface; a first aperture extending centrally through said first and second surfaces; a rubber flex pad having a second aperture in vertical registry with and beneath said first aperture; means supporting said rubber flex pad along its periphery and having a third aperture in vertical registry with and beneath said second aperture; an end plug within said third aperture for closing the second aperture, said end plug supporting said flex pad from beneath said third aperture; said rotatable hub of said bearing means including attachment means in the upper portion thereof for facilitating non rotatable attachment to a mounting means adapted for attachment to said spider arm.

A decorative concrete with a very uniform finish surface and a method of fabricating the same is disclosed. A concrete mixture is poured over a subgrade which defines an exposed surface. The exposed surface is finished with any of several techniques, and the surface is then worked with an abrasive material, and additional techniques are used to color and seal the concrete.

A method for thermal management of a power trowel executable by an on-board logic controller allows operation of the trowel in normal mode in which rotor speed is determined by manual control and in which a sensed temperature of the trowel lies below a high temperature setpoint. In response to the sensed temperature exceeding the high temperature setpoint, the controller switches operation of the power trowel from normal mode to thermal management mode in which a maximum rotor speed achievable by manual control is reduced by the controller in incremental steps to allow the trowel to cool. In response to the sensed temperature reaching a low temperature setpoint, the controller increases rotor speed in incremental steps, and returns operation to normal mode when a desired rotor speed is maintained for sufficient time during which the sensed temperature remains below the low temperature setpoint.

A decorative concrete with a very uniform finish surface and a method of fabricating the same is disclosed. A concrete mixture is poured over a subgrade which defines an exposed surface. The exposed surface is finished with any of several techniques, and the surface is then worked with an abrasive material, and additional techniques are used to color and seal the concrete.

An autonomous power trowel includes a frame supported by at least one rotor having a plurality of troweling blades, at least one power source for selectively rotating the rotor to finish an upper surface of the concrete, at least one actuator onboard the frame for selectively tilting the rotor, and a communication system onboard the frame for communicating with at least one remote communication device. Also included are a plurality of sensors onboard the frame for sensing exterior boundaries of the concrete, and at least one inspection camera for viewing the upper surface of the concrete. A controller onboard the frame is configured to selectively operate the power source, to selectively operate the actuator, to receive communications from the remote communication device, to receive signals from the sensors, and to receive signals from the inspection camera to detect any surface blemish in the concrete.

Powered concrete finishing apparatus including a working head for working the concrete. The working head has a rotatable working surface having a ring shape in contact with the concrete during a finishing operation. The concrete finishing apparatus further includes a motor for driving the working head to perform a rotational working movement on the concrete during the finishing operation. The working surface comprises a clearance for allowing concrete to aggregate within said clearance. The clearance is free of additional working surfaces contacting the concrete during the finishing operation, such as blades, pans, floats or arms, thereby providing an improved finishing of the concrete.

An adaptor assembly for concrete finishing trowels that enables efficient polishing of concrete surfaces, and trowels equipped with said adaptors. A large, rigid, circular adaptor disk supports a plurality of spaced-apart polishing rotors that project into contact with the concrete surface being treated. Each polishing head is rotatably secured to the adaptor disk with a spindle assembly including suitable alignment bearings. The spindle assembly secures a rigid header beneath the adaptor disk that sandwiches a resilient, annular coupler between itself and a rigid driver plate beneath the coupler. Bosses on the coupler insure spacing and enable proper flexure. The driver plate removably mounts a resilient finishing ring, that supports a plurality of radially spaced apart, downwardly projecting, diamond-equipped pucks that frictionally bear against the concrete surface for abrading and polishing.

A mounting adapter for rotatably mounting a tool holding body having first and second surfaces on at least one spider arm of a motor driven rotatable spider assembly of a surface processing apparatus. The mounting adapter includes a disc with a flex pad dimensioned to rest on a portion of the disc upper surface between a disc aperture and a disc rib. A drive ring has an inner periphery which mechanically engages an outer periphery of the disc.