Excavating – Combined or convertible
Utility Patent
1999-06-23
2001-01-02
Pezzuto, Robert E. (Department: 3671)
Excavating
Combined or convertible
C037S903000
Utility Patent
active
06167642
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to the fields of excavating and of earth, snow and similar load moving, and specifically, to significantly extending the load-carrying capacity of preexisting tractor buckets in a simple and low cost manner.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Plows, forklifts, loader buckets, backhoe buckets and the like are of course well know in the art and widely used in many different applications. But such load moving equipment is expensive, and involves considerable capital investment. Thus, it is desirable to have available adapters of various sorts that convert one type of load-carrying device into another, and/or which extend the capacity of preexisting load-carrying devices. This reduces cost and equipment inventory for individuals or businesses involved in the excavating and load moving professions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,400, for example, appears to be used to convert a preexisting tractor plow blade into a load-carrying bucket. Pivot supports (numbered 38 and 40 therein) are attached to the plow blade, central holes of pivot supports (numbered 44, 45 and 47 therein) are axially aligned with supports 38 and 40, and a pivot shaft (52) is slid through all of the axially-aligned holes to secure the bucket structure to the plow blade. The capacity of the resulting bucket structure is, however, limited by the size of the preexisting plow blade, and no means is suggested or disclosed for further increasing the load-carrying capacity of the resulting plow blade and bucket structure combination to carry even larger loads. Nor is it disclosed or suggested that it is indeed desirable to extend preexisting loader buckets generally to carry larger loads. Nor is it disclosed or suggested how to extend preexisting loader buckets to carry larger loads. And, the method by which the bucket attachment is attached to the plow blade in U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,400 is cumbersome, requiring all of the holes to first be aligned, and the pivot shaft to be manually slid through the aligned holes.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,680 appears to disclose a loader bucket attachment that extends either the top or bottom of a preexisting loader bucket, but does not disclose or suggest how to increase the overall bucket capacity by extending the top, bottom, and side of the bucket all at once, essentially creating a much larger bucket. Indeed, this patent appears to teach away from a more general increase in loader bucket capacity that extends all of the top, bottom and sides of the loader bucket.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,771 appears to disclose a loader bucket attachment that coverts a preexisting loader bucket into a carrier bucket for carrying dispensing flowable material such as concrete. This patent does not disclose or suggest how to extend loader bucket capacity generally, and its structure limits its usefulness to carrying and dispensing flowable material such as concrete, not to load-carrying generally. Indeed, the front wall (numbered 20 therein) makes it impossible for this device in combination with the preexisting loader bucket to work strictly as an enlarged conventional loader bucket.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,814 appears to disclose a device for extending the width and capacity of a backhoe (not a loader) bucket. However, the percentage increase in volume achieved by this device is equal to the percentage increase in width, and is thus very much limited by the width of the backhoe. It is not disclosed or suggested how to increase loader bucket capacity generally without increasing the width, but rather by increasing the top, bottom and side extensions all at once. In this patent, for an extender that is perhaps 33% as wide as the original backhoe bucket (which is approximately what is illustrated therein), the capacity increase will also be about 33%.
Extension of the front, top, and side extensions of a loader bucket, in contrast, can easily achieve a fourfold capacity increase, and even more.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It would be desirable, therefor, to provide a device and method that can be used to easily extend the load-carrying capacity of a preexisting loader bucket to 300% or 400% or more of its original capacity.
It would further be desirable if this device and the method of attaching this device to the preexisting loader bucket was as simple and quick as possible, permitting a bucket extending device to easily be snapped into place by a human tractor driver without the tractor driver having to disembark the tractor controls to complete the primary attachment of the bucket extender to the preexisting loader bucket.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A loader bucket extender is attached to a preexisting loader bucket so as to extend the load-carrying capacity of that loader bucket by a large amount, on the order of fourfold and even more. A tractor or similar vehicle to which the preexisting loader bucket is attached moves the preexisting loader bucket into a suitable position relative to the loader bucket extender, at which point the loader bucket extender and preexisting loader bucket are attached and secured to one another using several engagement, attachment, and securing members.
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Pezzuto Robert E.
Yablon Jay R.
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