Excavating – Cable-operated – Scoop or bucket
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-30
2001-08-14
Batson, Victor (Department: 3671)
Excavating
Cable-operated
Scoop or bucket
C414S726000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06272775
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a rear dumping dragline bucket and rigging system (rear dumping dragline bucket) that has a tailgate that will be released/opened when the bucket is tilted rearwardly enough so that the rigging is oriented in a selected manner, and which will be automatically reset when the bucket returns to its operative position.
Various rear dumping dragline buckets have been advanced in the prior art. An early excavating bucket which had a latched door at the rear end is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 955,285. This patent, however, had a single latch in the center of the door, and utilized a separate arrangement whereby the bail on the bucket, which was pivotally mounted and attached to the hoist line, would pivot forwardly and have a latch dog member that engaged a bellcrank, which in turn operated on a link that hooked another bellcrank which was used to lift the latch to undo the rear door. It is apparent that the total pivoting of the bail required a substantial amount of movement of the bucket, into a vertical position, before unlatching, and the use of mechanically engageable members would be likely to be unreliable.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,118,724 also shows a shovel bucket that has a rear dump door controlled by a rather complex latch that is operated through a lever and chain arrangement. The chain is driven by a separate sheave that would be rotated to pull the chain and release the latch.
Various other buckets that have rear dumping capabilities with doors that are latched during loading and swing, and unlatched by various apparatus have been advanced in the art, but a fully reliable arrangement that provides for essentially automatic operation on a fool-proof basis has been lacking. A bucket which permits rear dumping, but without a separate door is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,530.
A rear dumping dragline bucket will increase the efficiency of operation of a dragline by permitting discharging overburden at a greater dump radius distance from the dragline power unit and depending on individual hoist rigging requirements, at a higher height than with a forward dumping bucket and rigging system. A need thus exists for a reliable rear dumping bucket.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a reliable Rear Dumping Dragline Bucket that is provided with a double-hinged rear door or gate to ensure that the bucket can be adequately loaded, and with an automatically operated latch for releasing the gate during the dumping cycle. A unique lever arrangement is tied in with the hoist line rigging in the present invention so that the rear gate releases reliably, and the latch is made to ensure that when the bucket is returned to its operating position, the gate will be permitted to swing closed against the rear bucket's sidewall and floor/bottom edges and latch reliably.
Specifically, the present invention relates to a Rear Dumping Dragline Bucket that has a rear gate that is mounted onto the rear sidewalls of the bucket adjacent to the top edges, through a pair of double pivot lever (bellcrank) arrangements, so the end gate can be lifted essentially parallel along the plane of the bucket sidewalls for unlatching during initial movement of the levers, and permitted to swing outwardly about the second pivot of the lever when the dragline bucket moves to a dumping position.
The operating linkage is a cable or chain attached to the bucket hoist chain spreader bar, that will provide tension load on the double pivot levers as the rear dump bucket is permitted to tilt rearwardly for dumping.
A tagline is utilized for controlling the angular position of the plane of the bottom of the bucket relative to the ground, or in other words, a horizontal level control is exerted by the tag line. The rigging includes a spreader bar on the hoist chains, as shown. The exact mounting of the hoisting chains is not critical to the performance of the end gate used for rear dumping.
The rigging shown is by way of illustration, and again various types of tag lines can be utilized, as well as different operating linkages for moving the double pivoting levers for releasing the end gate from the latches and permitting it to swing open.
The rear dumping bucket of the present invention provides the advantages that are present in previous rear dumping buckets; that being of discharging overburden at a farther distance from the dragline power unit and possibly at a great dump height than conventional forward dumping buckets. Additional, the present invention will increase productivity through a reduction in both the loading and dump cycles. This is accomplished due to: (1) The ability to hoist a loaded bucket closer to the dragline's boom point, thus reducing the loading cycle and (2) a quicker dumping bucket as a result of the rear dumping dragline bucket and rigging system. The rear dumping bucket and rigging system will permit excavating a deeper and/or wider pit while increasing the effective load from each bucket hoisted, as compared to a conventional front dumping bucket.
REFERENCES:
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patent: 2200315 (1940-05-01), Weimer
patent: 2719641 (1955-10-01), Pilch
patent: 5400530 (1995-03-01), Schmidt
patent: 5469647 (1995-11-01), Profio
patent: 5499463 (1996-03-01), Profio et al.
Bray Dean
Lemmerman Karl
Lengenfelder William
Marthaller DuWayne A.
Metzger R. Steven
Batson Victor
Schmidt Don F.
Westman Champlin & Kelly P.A.
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