Motor vehicles – Bodies – Movable cab or operator's station
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-20
2002-05-28
Johnson, Brian L. (Department: 3618)
Motor vehicles
Bodies
Movable cab or operator's station
C428S323000, C428S421000, C428S425900, C428S425500, C427S409000, C521S905000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06394212
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a rotary type construction machine such as hydraulic power shovel, hydraulic crane or the like, and also to cab, equipment housing cover and counterweight for such a construction machine.
BACKGROUND ART
Generally, rotary type construction machines such as hydraulic power shovels and hydraulic cranes are constituted by a self-propelled base carrier and a rotary body which is mounted on the base carrier, and a working mechanism which is mounted on a front portion of the rotary body to carry out, for example, ground excavating operations or other ground working operations.
As a typical example of conventional rotary type construction machines, a hydraulic power shovel is roughly described below with reference to
FIGS. 13
through
20
.
In
FIG. 13
, indicated at
101
is a crawler type base carrier, and at
102
is an upper rotary body which is rotatably mounted on the base carrier
101
.
A working mechanism
103
which can be lifted up and down to excavate earth or to carry out other ground working jobs is mounted centrally on a front portion of the upper rotary body
102
.
The upper rotary body
102
is largely constituted by a rotary frame
104
, a cab
105
which is built on the rotary frame
104
to serve as an operator's room, an equipment housing cover
106
serving as a housing for an internal combustion engine (not shown) and other equipments which are mounted on the rotary frame
104
, and a counterweight
107
which is provided at the rear end of the rotary frame
104
.
In the case of a hydraulic power shovel of this sort, outer surfaces of the cab
105
, equipment housing cover
106
and counterweight
107
of the upper rotary body
102
are usually coated with a weather-proof oil paint such as a polyurethane paint or the like.
In many cases, construction machines such as hydraulic power shovels are normally stored in a roofless storage place, exposed to rain or other weather conditions, particularly during a period between final assembling and shipment. While being stored in such a way in an outdoor storage place, the painted surfaces of the cab
105
, equipment housing cover
106
and counterweight
107
of the upper rotary body
102
are beaten by rains and degraded considerably by development of a large number of streaky stains
108
(hereinafter referred to as raindrop stains
108
) on vertical portions of the coated surfaces as shown in FIG.
14
.
Reference is now had to
FIGS. 15 and 16
, which show on an enlarged scale the encircled portion A in
FIG. 14
, for the explanation of the conditions of the coating and raindrop stains
108
on the outer surface of the equipment housing cover
106
.
As shown in these figures, an under coat
110
of an anti-corrosive alkyd or urethane resin paint is formed on the outer surface of a steel plate
109
which constitutes the equipment housing cover
106
, and a top or finishing coat
111
is formed on the surface of the under coat
110
. In this regard, the top coat
111
is normally formed by the use of a water repellent oil paint for protection against rains, for example, by a solid paint such as acrylic resin paint, polyurethane paint or the like. Namely, the top coat
111
is formed by applying a solid paint on the under coat
110
.
The above-mentioned raindrop stains
108
are formed by fine particles of oily contaminant substances
112
, such as carbon compounds in exhaust gases of an internal combustion engine and spattered particles of grease coming from bearings of the working mechanisms
103
, which are trapped by raindrops and flow down with rain drops along the surface of the top coat
111
of a side plate
106
A, leaving thereon streaky stains.
The raindrop stains
108
are formed through a number of stages as explained below in greater detail with reference to
FIGS. 17
to
20
.
Firstly, as shown in
FIG. 17
, fine particles of contaminant substances
112
, such as carbon compounds in exhaust gases and spattered particles of grease, fall and deposit on the surface of the top coat
111
which is formed on the outer surface of a top plate
106
B of the equipment housing cover
106
.
Nextly, as shown in
FIG. 18
, raindrops
113
which have fallen on the top coat
111
of the top plate
106
B temporarily dwell thereon substantially in the form of semispherical mound-like water drops as indicated at
114
. Therefore, the deposited particles of contaminant substance under the water drops
114
tend to float up off the surface of the top coat
111
. At this time, since the top coat
111
is of a water-repellent oil paint, the water drops
114
sit on the surface of the top coat
111
with a large contacting angle &thgr;1, for example, with a contacting angle &thgr;1 larger than 80 degrees.
Then, as shown in
FIGS. 19 and 20
, the raindrops
114
on the top coat
111
are connected with each other to form a water pool
115
, which then starts dripping from the top plate
106
B along the side plate
106
A together with particles of the contaminant substances
112
which are entrained on dripping water drops
116
. At this time, particles of the contaminant substances
112
which float on the surfaces of the dripping water drops
116
, stick to the surface of the top coat
111
along the dripping courses of the water drops
116
.
Consequently, particles of the contaminant substances
112
deposit and accumulate on the outer surface of the side plate
106
A in streaks along the courses of dripping water drops
116
, forming a large number of raindrop stains
108
thereon as a result of repetition of the above-described contaminant deposition mechanism.
As explained above, due to the lipophilic property of the top coat
111
which covers the outer surface of the equipment cover
106
, the raindrop stains
108
are easily formed by aggregated deposition of the oily contaminant substances
112
. The raindrop stains of this sort are difficult to wash off with water, and detrimental particularly to the construction machine rental business because degradations in outer appearance quality will lower the value of the merchandise to a considerable degree.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In view of the problems of the prior art as described above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a rotary type construction machine, and a cab, an equipment housing cover and a counterweight for the rotary type a construction machine, which have outer surfaces less susceptible to deposition of contaminants and which permit to wash off stains of deposited contaminants very easily, if any, to maintain the quality in outer appearance of a rotary body of the construction machine for a prolonged period of time.
In accordance with the present invention, the above-stated objective is achieved by the provision of a rotary type construction machine having a self-propelled base carrier and a rotary body rotatably mounted on said base carrier, which is characterized in that a hydrophilic film coating is provided on outer surfaces of the rotary body.
With the arrangements just described, raindrops or sprinkled wash water falling on the outer surfaces of the rotary body come into intimate contact with the hydrophilic film coating and form a water film on the surface of the hydrophilic film coating. As a consequence, stains of oily contaminants which have deposited on the outer surfaces of the rotary body are urged to float up on the water film and can be easily removed along with the water film as it flows down on and along the outer surfaces of the rotary body.
The above-mentioned hydrophilic film coating according to the present invention is preferred to be provided at least on vertically disposed outer surfaces of the rotary body. By this arrangement, oily contaminants which have deposited on outer surfaces of the rotary body are urged to flow down with the water film which is formed on vertical outer surfaces of the rotary body. It follows that the deposited contaminants can be easily removed along with raindrops or sprinkled wash water which form the water film.
The hydrophilic film coating c
Hayakawa Yasuo
Hokari Hideo
Takano Yutaka
Tateishi Kazutaka
Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. Ltd.
Johnson Brian L.
Sliteris Joselynn Y.
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