GB2111890A

GB2111890A - Material handling and shearing attachment for a backhoe

Info

Publication number: GB2111890A
Application number: GB08131493A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Michael Ramun; John Ramun
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1981-10-19
Filing date: 1981-10-19
Publication date: 1983-07-13
Also published as: GB2111890B

Abstract

A material handling and shear attachment for mounting on a backhoe in place of its normal equipment to enable the backhoe to be used in grasping and cutting structural beams, pipes, cables and the like comprises a body 13 mounted on the end of a backhoe boom 10, a fixed blade 18 secured to the body, a movable blade 22 mounted on a support 21 pivoted to the body, at 35 and ending in a hook 26 and a pair of parallel guides 20 which the hook passes between when the support is pivoted by the piston and cylinder assembly 27 of the boom, the guides keeping the blade 22 in shearing relation with the fixed blade. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Material handling and shearing attachment for a backhoe This invention relates to material handling and shearing attachments for backhoes as commonly used in industry and particularly in dismantling industrial buildings.

Backhoes such as used in industry are powered machines having an extensible boom with hydraulic controlled cylinders mounted thereon. A bucket is normally attached to the end of the boom and is moved by one or more hydraulic piston and cylinder assemblies. The present invention concerns an attachment for a backhoe that is used in place of the bucket for handling and shearing and moving structural beams, pipes, cables and other structural members and the like normally found in structures being dismantled.

Prior attachments of this type are best represented by our Patent 4,188,721 which shows a backhoe attachment for cutting and moving cables orthe like.

Other prior art is represented by Patent 4,198,747 which disclosed a hydraulic shear for a backhoe in which a pair of fixed blades are arranged in spaced relation and a movable blade is arranged for move menttherebetween in a shearing action.

According to the invention there is provided a material handling and shearing attachment for a backhoe, the bucket of which has been removed, and having a boom with a controlled piston and cylinder connected thereto, the attachment comprising an elongate substantially hook-shaped movable cutting blade and a fixed cutting blade and means for keeping the movable cutting blade in shearing relation to a fixed cutting blade, a mounting body and means for attaching the same to the boom of the backhoe, means positioning said fixed cutting blade on said mounting body and means pivotally mounting said hook-shaped cutting blade on said mounting body in pivotal relation to said fixed cutting blade, said means for keeping said elongated hookshaped movable cutting blade in shearing relation to said fixed cutting blade comprising a pair of spaced parallel guides adjacent said fixed cutting blade defining an elongated guide path for a portion of said movable hook-shaped cutting blade, said hookshaped cutting blade being connectable in use to said piston and cylinder assembly so that the hook-shaped cutting blade can be moved relative to said fixed blade thereby.

In one embodiment of the present invention there is only a single fixed blade and a single movable blade and the device is workable in cutting large sections of steel beams, pipes and the like, in a scissors-like action because of the arrangement of a guide positioned in spaced relation to the fixed blade and against which the hook-shaped shearing blade engages and moves prior to an actual shearing operation so that the desired scissors-like shearing action of the device can be maintained and at the same time the work pieces can be held in position while being sheared rather than being expelled as would otherwise occur.

A material handling and shearing attachment embodying the invention comprises a fixed blade having a movable hook-shaped cutting blade pivoted thereto positioned on the end of a backhoe boom in place of a normal bucket. A pair of pivotal arms are secured to the cutting blade and to a hydraulic piston and cylinder on the backhoe. A blade guide is positioned in spaced parallel relation to the fixed blade and forms means for confirming the movable blade to a path alongside the fixed blade where it will operate to cut material in a scissors-like shearing action when it is moved by the hydraulic piston and cylinder.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side elevation of the material handling and shear attachment with the hookshaped blade in open position; Figure 2 is an end elevation thereof; Figure 3 is a side elevation of the material handling and shear attachment with the hookshaped blade in closed position and Figure 4 is a back perspective view of the material handling and shear attachment with the blade in partially closed position.

As will be seen in the drawings, a backhoe boom 10 has a transverse pivot pin 11 positioned therethrough near its outer end and an apertured plate 12 thereon inwardly of the outer end. A mounting body 13 is secured to the boom 10 on the lower surface thereof as illustrated in Figures 1 and 3 of the drawings by fasteners 14 positioned therethrough and through the apertured plate 12 and by spaced apertured lugs 15 on the mounting body 13 engaged on the pivot pin 11. Gussets 16 on the mounting body 13 are also engaged on the pivot pin 11 which can take the form of a suitable bolt and nut assembly.

The opposite or lower side of the mounting body 13 carries a triangular blade supporting body member 17 to which a hardened steel blade 18 is attached by several fasteners 19 and a pair of spaced parallel angular guides 20 are attached to the triangular blade supporting body 17 at substantially right angles to the blade 18 so as to form an elongated slot S into which a portion of a hook-shaped cutting blade 21 may move in a scissors-like shearing action relative to the fixed blade 18. The hook-shaped cutting blade 21 is pivotally mounted on the mounting body 13 by a pivot pin 35 engaged in spaced brackets 23 which are in turn attached to the lower side of the mounting body 13.

A support frame 24 forms the actual point of pivotal engagement with the pin 35 the support frame 24 being positioned on the side of the hook-shaped cutting blade 21 opposite the fixed cutting blade 18 where it adds rigidity to the hook-shaped cutting blade 21. The configuration of the hook shaped cutting blade 21 is important to the operation of the device as the portion of the blade 21 beyond the hardened cutting edge portion 22 curves outwardly and upwardly with respect to the cutting blade portion 22 to form a relatively large hook shape which will engage and substantially register with the slot S between the spaced parallel angularly disposed guides 20 considerably before the straight cutting edge portion 22 of the blade comes into shearing action with respect to an article therein to be sheared.

In Figure 1 of the drawings the hook-shaped cutting blade is shown in open position and it will be observed that due to the hook-shaped end 26 thereof the attachment may be used to grasp and hold and pull andlor lift beams, pipes, cables, or the like, to be moved and sheared and that upon the closing of the hook-shaped cutting blade 21 as seen in Figure 3 of the drawings, the material will be held against movement from the blade area during the shearing action as the blades 18 and 21 close in a shearing action.

In orderthatthe hook-shaped cutting blade 21 can be moved in a material grasping, holding or pulling or shearing action, one or more piston and cylinder assemblies are used and these may comprise the piston and cylinder assemblies normally found on a back hoe boom and normally used to operate the bucket thereon. In the present disclosure the arrangement illustrated includes two hydraulic cylinders 27 with piston rods 28 thereof engaged on links 29 by pivot pins 30 with the links 29 being pivotally attached to brackets 31 on the opposite sides of the hook-shaped cutting blade 21 by a blade pivot pin 32. Secondary links 33 are also engaged on the pivot pins 30 and on boom pivot pins 34 so that the movable end of the cylinders 27 will remain in spaced relation to the boom 10 of the backhoe when the material handling and shearing attachment is used.

The attachment of the present disclosure is similar to that of our patent 4,188,721 and comprises an improvement with respect thereto particularly with respect to the mounting arrangement and configuration of the hook-shaped cutting blade 21 and the provision of the spaced parallel angular guides 20, which being attached to one another at their opposite ends, define an elongated slot S as hereinbefore described in which the hook end 26 of the hookshaped cutting blade 21 initially registers and is substantially engaged when the actual shearing action of a work piece by the device takes place.

The construction is such that the device can and does handle beams, pipes, cables and other structural members that were incapable of being handled by the attachment of our Patent 4,188,721, primarily because in the present disclosure the material is completely caged by or encircled by the hook portion of the hook-shaped cutting blade 21 and the spaced parallel angular guides 20 before shearing engagement of the blades is reached and at the same time the desirable and efficient scissors-like shearing action of a pair of pivoted blades is maintained, which has proven to be highly satisfactory in actual operation in the field.

Although but one embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention.

For example, the body 17 may be constructed as a cutting blade and such a blade together with blade 21 may be provided with hardened cutting bars such as blade 18 or edge portion 22.

Claims

1. A material handling and shearing attachment for a backhoe, the bucket of which has been removed, and having a boom with a controlled piston and cylinder connected thereto, the attachment comprising an elongate substantially hookshaped movable cutting blade and a fixed cutting blade and means for keeping the movable cutting blade in shearing relation to a fixed cutting blade, a mounting body and means for attaching the same to the boom of the backhoe, means positioning said fixed cutting blade on said mounting body and means pivotally mounting said hook-shaped cutting blade on said mounting body in pivotal relation to said fixed cutting blade, said means for keeping said elongated hook-shaped movable cutting blade in shearing relation to said fixed cutting blade comprising a pair of spaced parallel guides adjacent said fixed cutting blade defining an elongated guide path for a portion of said movable hook-shaped cutting blade, said hook-shaped cutting blade being connectable in use to said piston and cylinder assembly so that the hook-shaped cutting blade can be moved relative to said fixed blade thereby.

2. An attachment as claimed in Claim 1 wherein said portion of said hook-shaped cutting blade movable with respect to said parallel guides consists of the free end thereof.

3. An attachment as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein said hook-shaped cutting blade has its free end curved toward said fixed cutting blade.

4. An attachment as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3, wherein portions of said parallel guides are coplanar with said fixed cutting blade and have angular extensions extending downwardly and outwardly thereof.

5. An attachment as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein said parallel guides are of a length which is substantially the same as the known length of said movable hook-shaped cutting blade.

6. An attachment as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein a hollow reinforcing body is mounted on said movable hook-shaped cutting blade on the side thereof opposite to its side for shearing engagement with said fixed blade.

7. An attachment as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein hardened cutting bars are attached to the respective engaging edges of said fixed and movable cutting blades for shearing engagement with one another.

8. A material handling and shear attachment for a backhoe, arranged, constructed and adapted to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.