Wheel substitutes for land vehicles – Tracks or treads – With detachable grouser for endless chain track
Reexamination Certificate
2002-11-14
2004-11-23
Stormer, Russell D. (Department: 3617)
Wheel substitutes for land vehicles
Tracks or treads
With detachable grouser for endless chain track
C305S051000, C305S189000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06820948
ABSTRACT:
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a crawler shoe used for application to a crawler vehicle such as a snow mobile, construction vehicle or a farm vehicle. More specifically, the present invention relates to a crawler shoe comprising shoe members, each having a rubber pad attached on a ground contacting surface thereof, the shoe members being connected with each other by coupling links provided on a shoe plate.
2. Background Art
Crawler vehicles having crawlers or endless tracks have been frequently used as construction vehicles or farm vehicles which are often used at muddy places, or as snow mobiles which often travel on slippery slanted snow surfaces. In order to minimize noise and prevent road surfaces from being damaged, metal members used on the ground contacting surface of a crawler are increasingly replaced by rubber members.
Shoe members such as rubber pads are installed to shoe plates (track blocks) to form various structures.
FIG. 6
shows an example of the installation structures which are disclosed in Japanese Kokai Publication Hei 8 (1996)-58647. It is disclosed in the publication that a core
103
, which has hooks
105
and
106
on both ends and a rubber member
104
adhered on the back surface, is installed to shoe plates
102
. The shoe plates
102
are linked with each other by track links
101
, so that an endless belt is formed. First, the slightly longer hook
106
of the core
103
at the right side engages with the right end of the shoe plate
102
; the core
103
is moved to the left; the hook
105
of the core
103
at the left side is engaged with the left end of the shoe plate
102
; and then the core
103
is slid to the right. Accordingly, a vacant space
107
is formed between the inner face of the hook
106
and the right edge of the shoe plate
102
. Afterwards, a lock pin
108
is driven into the vacant space
107
in a driving direction (direction crossing the sheet) to fix the core
103
with the shoe plate
102
.
In the installation where hooks
105
and
106
in a pair are prepared at both ends of the core
103
for the installation of a shoe plate, it is necessary to slide the core
103
to the left and tight with respect to the shoe plate
102
, and to drive the lock pin
108
into the vacant space
107
. In this case, the vacant space
107
and the lock pin
108
have to be accurately prepared with respect to each other. Moreover, there is a possibility that the lock pin
108
falls off because of excessive wear of the rubber member
104
after a long time of use.
Therefore, the applicant of the invention proposed a crawler shoe shown in FIG.
7
and disclosed in Japanese Kokai Publication Hei 9 (1997)-95267. The publication describes a band plate
29
having a hook fitting at one end and a nut
32
embedded near the other end. The hook fitting
31
provided at one end of the band plate
29
is engaged with one end of a shoe plate
22
. The band plate
29
is overlaid with the shoe plate
22
by simply swinging the band plate
29
using the engaging point as a fulcrum. Finally, a bolt is inserted from the upper surface of the shoe plate
22
and screwed into the nut
32
. In this way, the attachment of the band plate with the rubber pad has been further simplified, and the demounting or disassembling can be easily performed. Furthermore, this crawler shoe does not have to be particularly accurately manufactured since the band plate
29
is firmly fixed with the shoe plate
22
by screwing the bolt into the nut
32
.
Problems to be Solved by the Invention
The attachment of the shoe member to the shoe plate was simplified in the above-mentioned crawler shoe proposed by the applicant of the present invention, which does not particularly need to be accurate. Therefore, the operational efficiency was improved. However, when the bolt is screwed against the nut
32
in the shoe plate
22
at the other end of the band plate
29
, it is necessary to provide at least some alignment for the members attached to the shoe plate. Furthermore, the structure of the band plate
29
has to be changed for embedding the nut
32
therein. Moreover, a crawler made of iron should have two holes for screwing bolts therein. If there are no holes on the crawler, it is necessary to perform a perforation operation.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a crawler prepared by solving the conventional problems, which improves the above-mentioned crawler shoe prepared by the applicant of the invention, and can be simply attached to a main body of the band plate
29
, and which will not be easily loosened even when not being constructed very accurately.
Means to Solve the Problems
To achieve the above-mentioned object, a crawler shoe according to the invention having shoe plates, to which shoe members having rubber pads are attached on ground contacting surfaces of the shoe plates, the shoe plates being connected with each other by connecting links each on the shoe plates with coupling pins in an endless form, comprises hook parts formed at first ends of the shoe members and configured to be engaged with first side parts of the shoe plates; side plates provided on the second ends of the shoe members for retaining the second side parts of the shoe plates; and retaining members provided on the side plates for holding and fixing the second side parts of the shoe plates, said retaining members being formed as spring pins, which can be made smaller and restored in a diameter direction, said spring pins being inserted into retaining holes formed in said side plates, and holding and fixing the second side parts of said shoe plates by pressing the upper surfaces of said shoe plates.
By having such structure, first, the hook parts provided at the first ends of the shoe members are engaged with the first ends of the shoe plates at engaging points; then, the shoe members are overlaid with the shoe plates by simply swinging the shoe members using the engaging points as fulcrums, and finally, retaining members are attached to the side plates. Only by such simple attachment, the second side parts of the shoe plates are securely damped and fixed, and will not be easily loosened. By the simple attachment performed by inserting and holding the spring pins into the side plates, the shoe members are attached to the shoe plates without loosening, and the demounting operation is also carried out extremely easily.
The crawler shoe is characterized in that the spring pins in the side plates are inserted and held in the side plate so as to downwardly slope from a retaining side portion to a non-retaining side portion, the non-retaining side portion being closer to the shoe plates to be held. Accordingly, the shoe plates can be more efficiently held by the elasticity of the spring pins.
The crawler shoe can be further characterized in that the hook members are covered with an elastic material. By having such structure, it is possible to more roughly prepare the hook parts because of the soft elastic material interposed between the hook members and the shoe plates.
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patent: 1621371 (1927-03-01), Kegresse
patent: 2129557 (1938-09-01), Beach
patent: 2869932 (1959-01-01), Eichweber
patent: 4027925 (1977-06-01), Black et al.
patent: 4068905 (1978-01-01), Black et al.
patent: 4597612 (1986-07-01), Kaizaki
patent: 6213573 (2001-04-01), Nakayama
patent: 9-104374 (1997-04-01), None
patent: 11-49049 (1999-02-01), None
patent: 11-49050 (1999-02-01), None
patent: 11-245862 (1999-09-01), None
patent: 11-301537 (1999-11-01), None
patent: 2000-025662 (2000-01-01), None
Bridgestone Corporation
Stormer Russell D.
Sughrue & Mion, PLLC
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