Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Lining
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-29
2001-10-23
Pape, Joseph D. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Lining
C296S184100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06305731
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to liners for protecting material carrying bodies from wear, such as occurs in truck beds. More particularly, the invention relates to liners that cause material to tumble instead of to slide when dumping from a truck body and a method for manufacturing the same.
BACKGROUND ART
Work machines that carry material are subject to wear through the movement of material in the body of the machine. For example, an off-highway truck typically has a material-carrying body that can be moved to an upright position to eject the material through an opening in the body. This wear is particularly aggravated, for example, by the sliding of material across the portion of the bed or floor adjacent the rear opening from which the material is ejected. Other trucks for hauling and dumping may have similar problems with wear.
In an attempt reduce wear, many solutions have been tried. For example, sheets of material as liners are sometimes added to a truck body to provide additional protection. However, such liners are still subject to the same high wear of sliding materials as the truck bodies they protect since they have a substantially smooth upper surface, which permits the materials to slide from the body. Another solution has been to attach bars to the bed or floor of a truck body in rows across the width of the bed. Similarly, a cross hatch of plates approximately two inches high have been added to provide “boxes” on the bed of the truck. The bars or boxes cause material to tumble instead of slide as it moves across the truck bed be ejected from the rear opening. This tumbling motion reduces wear by tending to reduce the high abrasion of sliding material. However, these so-called tumbler bars or boxes require a considerable amount of welding to attach, involve the handling of a large number of different parts, are limited in the way they can be attached (typically only by conventional welding) and are susceptible to breaking loose. If they do break loose, the metal parts can be ejected from the truck body into another material handling device, such as a rock crusher, and cause damage to that device.
One known solution to the problems presented by tumbler bars or boxes is to use a liner plate having a pattern of openings cut therethrough. The openings through the liner plate cause material exiting the body to tumble as they pass thereover and also trap fines, both of which reduce wear on the liner plate. An example of such a liner plate is shown in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,043 granted Dec. 22, 1998. However, the openings in such liner plates are typically formed by cutting openings through the plates, which creates costly scrap wear material. The formation of the openings also requires several cutting operations that adds to the cost of the liner. In addition, such liner plates are formed from a unitary plate of material that has fixed external dimensions. Thus, different liner plates must be constructed depending on the area of the material-carrying body to be lined.
This invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with one aspect of this invention, a liner for a high wear portion of a load carrying work machine body comprises a first plate section having a first set of lateral projections that define a first set of laterally-opening recesses and a second plate section having a second set of projections that define a second set of laterally-opening recesses. The second set of projections and the second set of recesses confront the first set of projections and the first set of recesses. The first and second plate section are located adjacent one another such that the first set of projections interfit in respective ones of the second set of recesses and the second set of projections interfit in respective ones of the first set of recesses to thereby define a segmented plate structure having top and bottom surfaces. The first and second plates sections are also located such that the first and second sets of projections cooperate to define a plurality of openings extending from the top surface to the bottom surface of the plate structure.
In another aspect of this invention, a method for manufacturing a liner for a high wear area of a load-carrying body comprises providing a unitary plate of wear-resistant material and separating the plate into at least first and second distinct plate sections. The method further comprises assembling the plate sections onto the high wear area of the load-carrying body adjacent one another in a configuration such that portions of the first section interfit with portions of the second section and the sections together define a segmented liner plate structure having top and bottom surfaces, with the first and second plate sections interfitting such that voids between the plate sections create openings extending through the liner plate structure from the top surface thereof to the bottom surface thereof.
Other features and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4091149 (1978-05-01), Oxendine
patent: 5851043 (1998-12-01), Moutrey et al.
patent: 6000741 (1999-12-01), Reynolds et al.
patent: 6007132 (1999-12-01), Burg et al.
patent: 6129409 (2000-10-01), D'Amico
patent: 6174014 (2001-01-01), Hook et al.
Burg William L.
Hook Layne E.
Moutrey Theodore A.
Thais James W.
Caterpillar Inc.
Derry Thomas L.
Engle Patricia
Pape Joseph D.
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