Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Structural detail
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-22
2001-09-18
Dayoan, D. Glenn (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Structural detail
C296S208000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06290286
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a construction machine having a cab installed on the top of a floor plate.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 3
shows a side view of a conventional hydraulic excavator, as one example of the construction machine. In
FIG. 3
, the hydraulic excavator comprises a lower travel body
51
provided with a pair of crawlers, an upper rotating structure
52
rotatably mounted above the lower travel body
51
, and an attachment
53
mounted for vertical pivotal movement at the front of the upper rotating structure
52
. The upper rotating structure
52
is constituted such that a cab
54
, an engine, a counterweight and so on are mounted on a machine frame
61
. The interior of the cab
54
is provided with an operator's seat, and with a front window on the surface thereof, so that an operator seated on the seat controls the operation of the attachment
53
while looking forward through the front window. Recently, the conventional cab
54
is equipped with an air conditioning unit in order to improve habitability in summer and winter.
The interior of the cab
54
is shown schematically in FIG.
4
. In
FIG. 4
, an air conditioning unit
56
is mounted at the rear of the upper surface of the floor plate
55
. An operator's seat
57
is mounted in the central portion of the upper surface of the floor plate
55
. In the construction machine such as a hydraulic excavator, since an operator seated on the operator's seat
57
overlooks the work environment through the front window provided at the front part of the cabin
54
, it is desired that the front window be as wide as possible. Because of this, the air conditioning unit
56
is normally installed at the rear of the operator's seat
57
.
Cool air A or warm air B produced by the air conditioning unit is blown out of a blowing opening for the face
58
, a blowing opening for the feet
59
, and a blowing opening for the back
60
. Since generally, cool air moves down and warm air moves up, the cool air A is mainly blown out of the blowing opening for the face
58
and the blowing opening for the back
60
, and the warm air B is mainly blown out of the blowing opening for the feet
59
.
One example of the procedure for installing the cab
54
on the floor plate
55
will be explained. Conventionally, in the state in which the operator's seat
57
and the air conditioning unit
56
are mounted on the floor plate
55
, the cab
54
lifted from top by a crane or the like is placed on the floor plate
55
, and the cab
54
is locked to the floor plate
55
, after which ducting and wiring are connected. In case having the blowing opening for the face
58
shown in
FIG. 4
, the duct for connecting the blowing opening for the face
58
with the air conditioning unit
56
has been mounted by an assembly worker who enters the cab
54
after the cab
54
has been locked to the floor plate
55
.
As prior art showing a duct construction for an air conditioning unit within a cab, an arrangement has been known in which the duct directed at a blowing opening of the air conditioning unit at the front part is in integral form that cannot be divided along its length.
Incidentally, conventionally, work for connecting various wiring and a ducts for installing the cab
54
on the floor plate
55
is carried out by a worker who enters the narrow cab
54
, thus posing a problem that the work becomes cumbersome and difficult. Particularly, the blowing opening for the face
58
must be mounted on the cab
54
side instead of the floor plate
55
side in terms of restriction of the arranging position thereof. Therefore, piping work of the duct for connecting the air conditioning unit
56
mounted on the floor plate
55
with the blowing opening for face
58
mounted on the cab
54
must be carried out when the cab
54
and the floor plate
55
are installed. This work is not easy because it is done in a narrow place, and therefore, the production time becomes long.
Further, it has been recently desired, in order to improve viewing and working properties in rainy weather or in cold weather, that a blowing opening for defrosting is provided around the front window for removing fogging of the front window. In this case, duct piping for the blowing opening for defrosting in addition to the duct piping for the blowing opening for the face
58
is necessary, thus the problem which occurs with the aforementioned duct piping work becomes more notable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a construction machine in which work for installing a cab on a floor from top is facilitated to thereby enable shortening of assembly time.
A construction machine of the present invention has a floor plate, an air conditioning unit mounted at the rear of an upper surface of the floor plate, an operator's seat mounted in a central portion of the upper surface of the floor plate, a cab installed on the floor plate from top and provided with a front window and a front air conditioning blowing opening at the front part, and a front duct for connecting between the air conditioning unit and the front air conditioning blowing opening and being divided into at least two detachably connected parts, one out of said divided front ducts being connected to the air conditioning unit, the other being connected to the front air conditioning blowing opening.
According to the present invention, the front duct for connecting between the air conditioning unit and the front air conditioning blowing opening is divided into at least two detachably connected parts, and the divided front ducts parts are respectively connected to the air conditioning unit and the front air conditioning blowing opening, respectively, in advance. Therefore, when the cab is installed on the floor plate from top, the divided front duct parts are merely connected, whereby the work of duct piping to the front air conditioning blowing opening can be completed. Because of this, the work for installing the cab on the floor plate from top can be simplified greatly, and the time necessary for the installing work can be considerably shortened.
A flexible portion can be provided on at least one of the front ducts.
In the process of installing the cab on the floor plate from top, the front duct having the flexible portion provided thereon is bent in the central portion of the floor plate to thereby prevent interference between the front duct mounted on the cab side and the front duct mounted on the floor plate side. Thereby, it is easy to locate the cab on the floor plate. Therefore, the work for installing the cab on the floor plate from top can be further simplified, and the time necessary for the installing work can be also further shortened. Further, since an error can be absorbed by the flexible portion, accuracy for mounting the duct on the cab or the floor plate can be lowered, by which simplification of work and shortening of assembly time can be achieved.
Alternatively, the front air conditioning blowing opening may comprise a blowing opening for the face and a blowing opening for defrosting, the front duct may comprise a duct for the face and a duct for defrosting, and the duct for the face and the duct for defrosting may be arranged one upon the other.
In this case, as there are provided the blowing opening and duct for defrosting, fogging on the front window can be prevented, and the forward viewing can be improved. Further, since the duct for the face and the duct for defrosting may be arranged one upon the other, a side space for the cab is not so necessary. Accordingly, a wide space inside the cab can be obtained without sacrificing space within the cab. Further, since both the duct for the face and the duct for defrosting can be divided, the work for installing the cab on the floor from the top is simple despite the provision of two ducts, and the time required for the installing work can be shortened.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4805747 (1989-02-01), Moedinger et al.
patent:
Ishihara Tomoo
Murakami Masaaki
Murakami Yoshihiro
Okada Makoto
Dayoan D. Glenn
Kobelco Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.
Morrow Jason
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
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