GB2073139A

GB2073139A - Bucket Tilting Device for a Vehicle Loader

Info

Publication number: GB2073139A
Application number: GB8109549A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Kramer Werke GmbH
Current assignee: Kramer Werke GmbH
Priority date: 1980-04-03
Filing date: 1981-03-26
Publication date: 1981-10-14
Also published as: FR2479874A1; DE3013179A1; GB2073139B; DE3013179C2; FR2479874B1

Abstract

In a front end loader having a tilting bucket (12) mounted on a vehicle by means of a lifting frame (2), a special bucket carrier (11) is provided between the bucket and the on lifting frame in order to enable achievement of a dumping height exceeding the normal length of the lifting frame. The bucket carrier may be swivelled against the bucket as well as against the lifting frame, and the bucket is formed with pockets (32) in an area located on the edge of the bucket with the pockets being at least partially open toward the side in such a way that they cannot become clogged and so that the volume of the bucket is not significantly reduced. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Bucket Tilting Device for a Vehicle Loader The present invention relates generally to material handling apparatus and more particularly to heavy loading equipment and the like. More specifically, the invention relates to a tilting assembly for a front end loader bucket of such equipment.

Tilting buckets of the type to which the present invention relates are customarily firmly or detachably mounted on loading apparatus by means of quick change installations to lifting mechanisms. For example, such buckets may be mounted by means of swivel beams of service vehicles. As a result, a bucket of this type can, on the one hand, be lowered or raised through swiveling of the lifting mechanism and, on the other hand, it can be tilted about a bearing axle on a frame or chassis.

A linear motor is provided for supplying motive power for the tilting movement and such a motor may comprise a hydraulic cylinder.

In many cases, very high dumping heights of the bucket are required. For example, such heights may be required during loading over very high truck sideboards, during loading of hoppers or in connection with silos or similar plants. the swiveling motion around the axle of the lift arms which can be lowered to floor level and which can also be raised to the highest position available around their own swivel axle, naturally leads to a limitation of the highest tilting position since the swivel axis of the lift arms themselves cannot extend beyond a certain height limit because of the height of the vehicle.

Due to this, there are also known front end loaders in which a part pivotably attached to the lifting frame is not the tilting bucket itself but rather a bucket carrier upon which, in turn, the bucket is pivotally mounted. In the lowered position of the lifting frame, the bucket carrier rests against the tilting bucket and thus does not cause a significant increase in the length of the swivel beam. In the raised position of the lifting frame, however, the tilting bucket swivels away from the bucket carrier during dumping and the length of the bucket carrier must be added to the length of the frame in order to achieve an increase in the total height.

However, in order to mount the tilting bucket onto the bucket carrier in such a way as to produce the aforementioned effects, certain difficulties must be encountered. In the current state of the art, the tilting bucket has, at intervals which correspond approximately to a partition into thirds of the width of the bucket, pockets which bulge inwardly from the convex outer wall of the bucket or shovel. Into these pockets, the arms of the bucket carrier must be introduced from the outside and they are mounted or rest therein. In the resting position of the tilting bucket, the arms of the bucket carrier are situated inside the pockets over a part of their length.

However, the known construction of the pockets proves to be disadvantageous in that on the back side, that is, on the outer side of the shovel, they tend to become clogged by accumulated and compressed material. Such material tends to be compressed even tighter with each tilting motion.

And on the inside of the shell there occurs hindrance of filling and emptying of the bucket. At the same time, because of the relatively large distance of the swivel axle of the tilting bucket from the cutting edge, they then bring about a relatively reduced dumping height in comparison to the height of the swivel axle.

Accordingly, the present invention is directed toward the task of improving the structural arrangement of the bucket tilting device in such a manner that impairment of the tilting function of the tilting bucket is avoided by pockets such as those previously described.

Briefly, the present invention may be described as a tilting bucket assembly particularly for mounting a front end loader bucket on a vehicle comprising a tiltable bucket formed with a convex outer wall extending between two side walls thereof defining a load space and having a cutting edge, said tilting bucket being adapted to be pivoted about an axle parallel to said cutting edge, an articulated lifting frame pivotally mounting said bucket assembly on said vehicle, bucket carrier means mounted between said bucket and said lifting frame to enable said bucket to achieve a dumping height exceeding the normal length of said lifting frame, said bucket carrier means including a pair of arms having said bucket axle pivotally mounted thereon, and means on said bucket defining pockets for receiving said pair of arms of said bucket carrier means, said pockets being defined to project from said convex outer wall of said tilting bucket into said load space thereof, said pockets being formed as indentations in said convex outer wall and said side walls.

In accordance with the invention, the indentations forming the pockets are thus located on the outer sides of the bucket along the edges thereof and are thus open on two sides; namely, on the side corresponding to the prolongation of the outer wall, specifically the underside, wherein the arms of the bucket carrier will swivel in and out through this opening. Furthermore, the pockets are open on the side corresponding to the prolongation of the respective side wall so that material which may have found its way into the pocket during the swiveling in of the bucket carrier arms can escape through the open side surfaces whereby the material normally compressed at the narrow end side of the pocket is pushed out because of a sideward slant of this surface.

In accordance with a specific embodiment of the invention, the pocket wall parts which delimit the pocket against the load space and which border on the side walls may be arranged to form an angle of between 250 and 650 with the side walls.

In a further embodiment of the invention wherein better efficiency may be provided, the pockets are formed as longitudinal channels on one end of which respective bearings for mounting the buckets may be formed. The cutting edges of the side walls are formed parallel to one another and with, on the one hand, the pocket wall and, on the other hand, with a plane bottom area part of the convex outer wall. The rear ends of the pockets are open so that the bucket carrier arms, in the swiveled-in condition of the bucket, are located completely in the pockets parallel to the bottom of the bucket and may afford a maximum swiveling range of the tilting bucket.

It is possibe to avoid leaving completely open the pockets against the areas sideways from the tilting bucket but only over significant parts of their side surface. Thus, in accordance with a further specific embodiment of the invention, the pockets are open toward the areas limited by the load space through the side walls over substantial parts of their relative side surfaces.

In accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, the pockets have, only in the area of the bearings, respective covers parallel to the side walls or extending in the extensions of the side walls whereby the area of the bearings can be covered so that in the form of the cover plate, a support for the bearing pin is created at the same time.

The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its use, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there is illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Description of the Drawings In the drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation depicting a service vehicle having a bucket tilting device attached to a lifting frame in accordance with the present invention mounted thereon; Figure 2 is a perspective view showing a bucket carrier forming part of the bucket tilting assembly; Figure 3 is a rear view of a tilting bucket of the bucket tilting assembly of the invention; Figure 4 is a side view showing the bucket tilting assembly in the swiveled-in condition of the tilting bucket with the lifting frame lowered; Figure 5 is a side view showing the bucket tilting assembly in the normal swiveRed-out condition with the frame in the raised position; Figure 6 is a side view showing the bucket tilting assembly with the bucket in the high swiveled-out position; and Figure 7 is a sectional view taken along the line VllVll in Figure 5.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment Referring to the drawings, and primarily to Figure 1, a tilting bucket assembly in accordance with the invention is depicted as connected with a conventional service vehicle 1 and as including a lifting frame 2 which is hinged onto the vehicle 1.

The lifting frame 2 may swivel around a transversely extending horizontal rotating axle 4 through actuation of a hydraulic cylinder 3.

The lifting frame consists of two swivel beams and there is arranged on the lifting frame on the outside thereof a quick change plate 5 which may be swiveled in relation to the lifting frame 2 over a lever bar 6 through a hydraulic cylinder 7. Various service devices such as tilting buckets and the like can be suspended from and secured to the quick change plate 5 in a conventional manner.

In accordance with Figure 1, a bucket tilting device 10 comprising bucket carrier means is mounted between the lifting frame 2 and a tilting bucket 12. The bucket tilting device 10 is extendable as a high tilting bucket and is mounted on pins 14 onto the quick change plate 5. The main components of the bucket tilting device 10 are a bucket carrier 11, the tilting bucket 12, and a hydraulic cylinder 13.

The bucket carrier 11 is represented in detail in Figure 2 and consists of a cross member 1 8 having two bucket carrier arms 1 9 extending from the ends thereof. The arms 19 extend substantially parallel to each other and in the area between the arms 19 there is provided a pair of assembly or mounting arms 20 which are essentially parallel to each other and which are arranged to extend perpendicularly to the arms 1 9. The arms 20 are connected with each other by means of a stiffening beam 21.

In the side areas of the cross member 18 between the arms 19 and 20 on respective sides thereof, there are provided two projecting connection lugs 22 on which there acts a piston rod 23 of the respective hydraulic cylinder 13.

The connection lugs 22 are relatively short since they do not constitute swivel levers but rather are intended to constitute only a support for the necessary swiveling or pivotal freedom of the piston rod on the bucket carrier 11.

The tilting bucket 12 is represented in various details in Figure 3. Between two side walls 28 reinforced by ledges 29 at the edge of the opening of the tiling bucket, it is formed with an outer wall 30 which has an overall convex configuration as seen from the exterior thereof with a rounded configuration or one rounded-off area at least in the inner edge. Also appropriate angular or cornered configurations of buckets may also be provided. Part of the outer wall 30 constitutes a bottom wall 31 upon which there may rest the material loaded into the bucket.

Along the intersecting line of the planes of the side walls 28 and the bottom wall 31, the tilting bucket is formed with channel-like pockets 32. In the areas of these pockets, the bottom wall 31 is shortened by the width of the pocket and the respective side wall 28 extends inwardly in order to effect formation of the pocket wall parts 33 and 34.

In the extension of the planes of the side walls 28 and the wall 31, the respective pocket is open and thus an indentation in the area of the edge of the tilting bucket is formed. It is only in the area of the cutting edge 35 of the tilting bucket 12 that each of the pockets is covered by a cover plate 36 which is welded to the side wall 29 and to the plate 31 which, in this portion of the device, is not shortened toward the side.

Between the cover plate 36 and the pocket wall 34 of each of the pockets 32 there extends a pivot pin 37 upon which is pivotally mounted, respectively, one of the bucket carrier arms 19.

The pockets 32 extend only at a slight slant relative to the bottom plate 31 and they receive the bucket carrier arms 1 9 in the corresponding swiveling position.

On its back side, the tilting bucket 12 further comprises turning pins 38 between mounting plates with one of the hydraulic cylinders 13 being pivotally mounted on each of the turning pins. The tilting bucket 12 is supported by the pivot pin 37 and the turning pin 38 and the rearward end 39 of the pockets 32 is open.

As will be noted from Figure 1, the service vehicle is provided with three hydraulic control circuits, one of which serves for operation of the hydraulic cylinder 3. The second of the hydraulic control circuits of the device serves to operate the hydraulic cylinder 7 and a third hydraulic control circuit operates the hydraulic cylinder 13.

Figures 4, 5 and 6 each show a different operating position of the bucket tilting device 10.

In Figure 4, there is shown the swiveled-in position of the device with the lifting frame shown in the lowered position by dotted lines and with the quick change plate 5 and the lever bars 6 commensurately located. The tilting bucket 12 may, for example, be pushed into a pile of material to be loaded and then, while in the loaded condition, it can be operated to take up the load of material through the upward swivel of the lifting frame 2.

In the position depicted in Figure 5, the loaded material is unloaded by activating the cylinder 7.

If the bucket tilting device is to be used as a high tilting bucket, in accordance with Figures 1 and 6, the hydraulic cylinder 7 is not charged but instead the hydraulic cylinders 13 are charged and the piston rod 23 is pushed outwardly whereby the tilting bucket 12 is raised by the turning pins 38 and swiveled around the pivot pins 37 in such a way that the loaded material is unloaded from an increased height or elevated position.

As will be apparent, accommodation of the bucket carrier arms 1 9 in the area of the bucket is effected with the help of the pockets 32 as is represented in somewhat greater detail in Figure 7. While the pockets 32 operate to receive the bucket carrier arms 19, they do not substantially reduce the volume of the load and, most importantly, they do not constitute an impediment to unloading operation at the bottom surface 31.

It is particularly advantageous that, due to the fact that the pockets are arranged at the sides, in one of their extreme positions the bucket carrier arms 1 9 are received over their entire length in the pockets 32. Thus, the axis of rotation of the pins 37 may be positioned close to the cutting edge 35 of the tilting bucket 12 so that the additional height can be fully utilized.

When the tilting bucket 11 is pushed into a pile of material to be loaded, the cover plate 36 protects the bearing of the pivot pin 37. Material which would make its way sideways into the pocket 32 falls back outwardly thereof through the open side surfaces. In the case of difficult and sticky material which does not fall outwardly by itself, swiveling-in of the bucket carrier arms 19 into the pockets 32 will first cause compression and then a sidewise pushing out of the material due to the slant of the wall part 33. As particularly indicated in Figure 7, the wall part 33 may be inclined at an angle which may be on the order of magnitude of 45 to the normal of sidewall 28, i.e., to a line extending perpendicularly thereto.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the inventive principles, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.

Claims

1. A tilting bucket assembly particularly for mounting a front end loader bucket on a vehicle comprising: a tiltable bucket formed with a convex outer wall extending between two side walls thereof defining a loading space and having a cutting edge, said tilting bucket being adapted to be pivoted about an axle parallel to said cutting edge; an articulated lifting frame pivotally mounting said bucket assembly on said vehicle; bucket carrier means mounted between said bucket and said lifting frame to enable said bucket to achieve a dumping height exceeding the normal length of said lifting frame, said bucket carrier means including a pair of arms having said bucket axle pivotally mounted thereon; means on said bucket defining pockets for receiving said pair of arms of said bucket carrier means; said pockets being defined to project from said convex outer wall of said tilting bucket into said loading space thereof, said pockets being formed as indentations in said convex outer wall and in said side walls.

2. An assembly according to claim 1 wherein said pockets are formed as longitudinal channels having on one end thereof respective bearings for said pair of arms with the other end thereof being open.

3. An assembly according to claim 2 wherein said side walls have cutting edges parallel to one another and with, on the one hand, a pocket wall of said pockets and, on the other hand, a plane bottom of said convex outer wall.

4. An assembly according to claim 1 wherein said pockets are open toward areas limited from said load, space through said side walls over substantial parts of their relative side surfaces.

5. An assembly according to claim 4 wherein said pockets have only in the area of said bearings respective covers parallel to said side walls and extending as extensions of said side walls.

6. An assembly according to claim 1 wherein said pockets are formed with pocket wall parts which deiimit said pockets relative to said load space, said wall parts bordering on said side walls and forming with said side walls an angle between 250 and 650.