Excavating – Railway graders – Side former
Patent
1991-05-06
1992-08-25
Reese, Randolph A.
Excavating
Railway graders
Side former
74 8913, 74 8921, 414687, 414722, E02F 340, E02F 343
Patent
active
051407604
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The following invention relates to an arrangement for rotator units, especially those which are intended for rotation of excavator buckets and which comprise a housing, a shaft system mounted in the housing with the output shaft of the unit, a motor arranged in the housing, preferably a hydraulic motor for operating the output shaft, and a transmission system arranged between the motor and the output shaft and comprising at least one chain transmission.
PRIOR ART
An excavator bucket is arranged on the supporting excavator in such a way that it can be pivoted in one plane and be guided into different positions in the same plane by means of the excavator arm. Alternatively, equipment other than a bucket, for example equipment for breaking up asphalt, can be suspended in the same way and thus have the same movement possibilities. However, in certain work, it is advantageous if the bucket or the alternative equipment can, in addition, be pivoted about an axis extending in the said plane. In order to achieve this, it is known to arrange on the arm of the excavator a so-called rotator unit which is supported by the arm and in turn supports the equipment in question.
The rotator unit is generally designed with a housing, which has arrangements for securing to the excavator arm and, in the opposite position to these securing arrangements, an output shaft coupling which is designed for securing of the excavator bucket. In the housing there are drive arrangements for turning the shaft coupling and, with it, the excavator bucket or the alternative equipment. In a known embodiment of such a drive arrangement, a hydraulic motor is used for driving the output coupling via a transmission.
TECHNICAL PROBLEM
A rotator unit of this type is subject to extremely great forces. These arise, on the one hand, because the drive mechanism operates at extremely high load, but primarily because the turning mechanism attempts to hold the bucket in a certain position while it is subjected to high rotational forces as a result of the movement of the excavator arm or as a result of other external forces, for example from falling boulders or masses of earth. In this connection it has proven difficult to dimension the unit in such a way that its functioning is not put at risk when great forces of this type arise.
SOLUTION
This protection of the drive mechanism against the effect of deformation of the unit is achieved by means of the invention by virtue of the fact that the motor, together with a transmission connected to the latter and belonging to the transmission system, which transmission is coupled to a drive wheel in the chain transmission, is arranged in a bearing element which is suspended in the housing in a pivotable manner, but free from fixed connections to the housing, and by virtue of the fact that the said drive wheel is connected by means of a drive chain to a driven chain wheel in the shaft system mounted in the housing, and also by virtue of the fact that spring elements are arranged to pivot the movable support, by means of force effect, in such a way that the said chain is held tensioned, in which respect the suspension of the movable support in the housing is designed in such a way that deformations of the housing resulting from external force effect are not transmitted to the bearing element in a way that would deform the latter.
ADVANTAGES
The invention provides an arrangement which protects the drive mechanism from the effect of deformations of the unit, which can arise in the event of extremely high, unexpected loads.
The arrangement also provides a protection against those extra stresses and wear which can arise in certain drive parts as a result of incorrect geometrical conditions on account of especially extensive bearing wear.
DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES
An embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the attached drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a general view of a rotator unit according to the invention together with its attachment to an excavator arm, and the excavator bucket supported by th
REFERENCES:
patent: 3118321 (1964-01-01), Rihlec
patent: 4032025 (1977-06-01), Ross
patent: 4503722 (1985-03-01), Suzuki et al.
patent: 4779364 (1988-10-01), Holmdal
Olsen Arlen L.
Reese Randolph A.
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