Wheel substitutes for land vehicles – Tracks or treads – With resiliently biased ground engaging portion
Patent
1996-12-02
1998-09-01
Stormer, Russell D.
Wheel substitutes for land vehicles
Tracks or treads
With resiliently biased ground engaging portion
305189, 305191, B62D 55275
Patent
active
058000267
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an elastic-bodied crawler plate and an endless crawler band, and particularly to an elastic-bodied crawler plate and an endless crawler band for crawler vehicles of construction equipment, agricultural machinery, etc.
BACKGROUND ART
Conventionally, in a crawler vehicle, such as a bulldozer or the like, a track frame is provided between an idler wheel and a drive sprocket, with a plurality of upper rolling wheels and lower rolling wheels being provided on upper and lower parts of this track frame and with a steel crawler band winding around each of these rolling wheels; and the vehicle is moved by driving the drive sprocket. In this ordinary steel crawler band, a steel crawler plate 42 is clamped to a pair of right and left links 41a and 41b by bolts 43, with links 41a and 44a, which are longitudinally adjacent to each other, being connected together by the pin 45, and with links 41b and 44b, which are longitudinally adjacent to each other, being connected together by a pin 45; and this ordinary steel crawler band is integrally and endlessly formed, as illustrated in FIGS. 12A and 12B. In the drawings, 46 is a nut.
However, a steel crawler band with the above-described construction has a disadvantage of directly contacting and damaging the surface of a road when a vehicle equipped with the steel crawler band travels on the pavement, etc., to a site for operation; therefore, the surface of the road requires protection by laying down a mat or the like thereon for protecting the road surface. Accordingly, a long time is required for traveling which causes a reduction in operational efficiency. In addition, great vibration and noise are generated while traveling, and especially for construction in urban areas, it is necessary to reduce these vibrations and noise.
As a crawler band eliminating these above-described disadvantages, an integrally formed rubber crawler band is adopted in which metal core members are embedded at specified intervals in an endless rubber band, and the band is driven by engaging these metal core members with a drive sprocket so that a long practical service life is obtained. However, there are disadvantages whereby even a crack or the like generating at only one point can easily result in cutting the rubber crawler band, so that the use of the rubber crawler band itself cannot be continued, since the rubber crawler band is integrally formed.
Next, as another crawler band eliminating disadvantages of a steel crawler band such as damage on a road surface, etc., there are the following crawler bands and crawler plates.
a) A crawler band is known in which a crawler plate is made by covering a metal core member with rubber in the form of a block, and this rubber crawler plate is directly clamped to a link by a bolt (refer to, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-open No. 4-56593).
However, in this rubber crawler plate, in which rubber is bonded to a metal core member having a convex-concave surface, elastic distortion of the rubber is blocked by this convex-concave surface and distortion is concentrated, so that fatigue cracks are easily generated in the vicinity of the convex-concave surface; thus, this rubber crawler plate has an inadequate service life. Other crawler plates, in which metal core members are covered, are disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-open No. 3-47290 and in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.5-286463.
However, since these are crawler plates in which metal core members and links are integrally formed, at the time of the replacement of a rubber crawler plate as a result of damage, etc., it is necessary to replace and assemble a rubber plate integrally formed by attaching and detaching the link pins to replace only one plate; and it becomes a burdensome operation requiring a number of man hours, so that they have the disadvantage of being inconvenient to replace. Further, the replacement of the links is also included, so that they also have a disadvantage economically.
b) It is kn
REFERENCES:
patent: 4588233 (1986-05-01), DenBesten
patent: 5261733 (1993-11-01), Hara
patent: 5482365 (1996-01-01), Peterson et al.
patent: 5630657 (1997-05-01), Kumano et al.
Komatsu Ltd.
Stormer Russell D.
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