GB2460821A - Fork lift attachment for a loader bucket - Google Patents

Abstract

A forklift attachment able to be fitted to an implement equipped with a 4-in-1 or jaws bucket (12) has two tines (2) which are maintained in substantially parallel relationship by means of spacer rods. A C-shaped bracket (10) is connected to the heel (4) of each tine and is used to anchor the attachment to the rear edge (17) of the floor (16) of the bucket (12). Closing the bucket rear wall (14) towards the bucket floor (16) thereby clamps the attachment (1) in place against the forces generating by using the tines to lift a conventional pallet and its contents. The attachment (1) enables an implement such as a tractor provided with the bucket (12) to be utilized intermittently as a forklift.

Description

Fork Lift Attachment & Method The present invention relates to forklifts, and in particular, to the provision of a pair of forklift tynes or prongs on implements which are not designed to be a forklift as their primary function.

Forklift trucks are well known and widely used by manufacturers and in warehouses for the storage and transport of goods which are loaded on a pallet. The tynes of the forklift are dimensioned to be received in the pallet and this enables the tynes to be raised and thereby lift the pallet and its associated contents.

Forklift trucks are relatively expensive items and are therefore not purchased by those establishments which do not have a continuing use for forklifts. Instead many establishments which have implements such as tractors sometimes purchase forklift attachments for the tractor. These are of two basic types. One type is an attachment which is connected to the three point hitch of a tractor and includes a hydraulic motor which drives a chain on which the tynes are mounted, thereby enabling the tynes to be raised and lowered. The other type of attachment is a replacement for a bucket on a front end loader type of attachment and so the hydraulics of the front end loader are utilized to move the tynes which replace the bucket. Both of these attachments cost many thousands of dollars. Furthermore, both of these attachments require considerable time and effort to set up prior to use, and detach after use.

There are many instances where the cost of such attachments is not warranted for the few occasions on which a fork lift function is required to be used, even assuming that the proprietor of the establishment has sufficient funds to make the necessary purchase of these expensive prior art attachments. There are many small farms and similar establishments which have occasional use for a forklift implement of some kind, for example, to unload goods delivered by truck and contained on a pallet, and yet the cost of either a forklift truck or one of the abovementioned forklift attachments is not warranted.

The genesis of the present invention is a desire to enable the proprietors of such establishments to avail themselves of an existing implement such as a front end loader equipped tractor, or BOBCAT (Registered Trade Mark) type implement, to enable such infrequent tasks, which normally require a forklift, to be carried out.

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a fork lift tyne for attachment to an implement equipped with a 4-in-i bucket having a floor with a leading and trailing edge, and a rear wall movable with respect to said floor; said tyne being adapted to be gasped by said bucket whilst surmounting said floor, said tyne having a toe at its leading end and a heel at its trailing end with the longitudinal extent of said tyne from toe to heel exceeding the distance between said floor edges, said tyne having an anchor means adjacent said heel and adapted to be clamped between said rear wall and floor with said tyne surmounting said bucket floor, and said tyne iO having at least one attachment means intermediate said toe and heel to receive a corresponding end of an elongated spacer means to set the spacing between a pair of like said tynes.

Preferably the tyne is substantially hollow and fabricated from a fork lift slipper. is

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a fork lift attachment for a 4-in-i bucket equipped implement, said 4-in-i bucket having a floor with a leading and a trailing edge, and a rear wall movable with respect to said floor; said attachment comprising a pair of the abovementioned tynes and said spacer means being interposed between said two attachment means.

Preferably the spacer means are a pair of spaced apart threaded rods and the attachment means is a hole in the side wall of each tyne and through which a corresponding end of a corresponding rod passes.

In accordance with a third aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a method of releasably attaching a fork lift attachment as defined above to a 4-in-I bucket equipped implement, said method comprising the steps of: (i) if necessary, moving the bucket rear wall away from the bucket floor to at least partially open said bucket, (ii) placing said tynes on the floor of said bucket with said toes facing forwardly and extending beyond said bucket floor leading edge, (iii) positioning the heels of said tynes and their associated anchor means adjacent said bucket floor trailing edge, (iv) interposing said elongate spacer means between said two attachment means to thereby set the spacing between said tynes, and (v) moving said bucket rear wall relative to said bucket floor to clamp said anchor means therebetween.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a plan view of the assembled forklift attachment of a first embodiment, Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the attachment of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view through a 4-in-i or jaws bucket which is conventionally fitted to tractors and like implements, Fig. 4 is a similar view to Fig. 3 but showing the attachment of Figs. 1 and 2 fitted to the bucket, Fig. 5 is a plan view of an alternative spacer arrangement for determining the spacing between the forklift tynes, and Figs. 6, 7, and 8 are equivalent to Figs. 1, 2 and 4 but in respect to a second embodiment.

As seen in Figs. 1 and 2, the attachment 1 of the preferred embodiment takes the form of two forklift tynes 2 each of which has a toe 3 and a heel 4. The spacing between the forklift tynes 2 is set by a pair of parallel spacer rods 6, 7. In the embodiment of Fig. 1, the spacer rods 6,7 are threaded and eight nuts 8 are utilized to securely hold the tynes 2 in the desired illustrated configuration.

As best seen in Fig. 2, attached to each of the heels 4 is a corresponding C-shaped bracket 10 which opens towards the toes 3 and is secured, preferably by welding or bolts, to the heel 4.

Turning now to Fig. 3, a "4-in-i" or "jaws" or "clam shell" bucket 12 is illustrated having a hinge 13, a rear wall 14, a sidewall 15 and a bucketfloori6. The bucket floor 16 and the two side walls 15 together form one part of the bucket and the rear wall 14 forms the second part of the bucket, . tThe first and second parts being are moveable relative to each other by an hydraulic system (not illustrated) but conventional. In addition, the floor of the bucket is able to be raised by a "crown" action and lowered by means by "dump" action utilizing the conventional hydraulic controls.

Preferably the bucket is self levelling so that as the front end loader hydraulics raise or lower the bucket, so the bucket floor retains its initial inclination (that is, the floor is not tilted from its initial position).

In order to fit the attachment 1 of Figs. 1 and 2 to the bucket 12 of Fig. 3, the bucket 12 is firstly at least partially opened, if necessary, and the bucket floor 16 is adjusted, if necessary, so as to be roughly horizontal. Then the attachment 1 is placed on the bucket floor 16 with the toes 3 facing forwardly as illustrated in Fig. 4. In this way the tynes 2 surmount the bucket floor 16.

The attachment 1 is then slid forwardly so that the c-shapedC-shaped brackets 10 envelop the rear edge 17 of the bucket floor 16 as illustrated in Fig. 4. Finally, the bucket 12 is closed thereby clamping the rear wall 14 of the bucket against the brackets 10 so as to drive the tynes 2 forwardly and the brackets 10 into engagement with the rear edge 17. This securely anchors the entire attachment 1 and enables the tynes 2 to be moved together with the bucket using the hydraulic system (not illustrated) of the front end loader or other implement.

One method of construction of the tynes 2 is for them to be fabricated from sheet steel so as to form a hollow structure. A pair of holes drilled one through each side wall enables one end of the corresponding spacer rods 6, 7 to be attached to the tynes 2.

Thus each tyne 2 has four such attachment holes. If desired, a length of tube can be welded across the interior of the hollow structure at the attachment hole locations so as to receive the spacer rods 6, 7 (or 26, 27). The C-shaped brackets 10 are in this embodiment fabricated from steel bar bent to shape and welded to the heels 4.

As a consequence of the above described arrangementconstruction, after the initial setup of the attachment 1, (which typically is supplied in knock down form as a multi-part kit), the attachment is then as illustrated in Fig. 1 and needs no further modification or manipulation. On those occasions where forklift tynes are required, the attachment 1 can be fitted to the bucket 12 as described above in a few moments, thereby quickly readying the implement for use as a substitute forklift. Similarly, disconnecting the attachment so that the bucket 12 can be used normally also only takes a few moments.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art from Fig. 4 that with the toes 3 of the tynes 2 inserted into a conventional pallet, raising the bucket 12 brings the tynes 2 into contact with the underside of the pallet upper layer and raises the pallet and its contents. This action tends to turn the tynes clockwise as seen in Fig. 4 but this motion is resisted in two ways, firstly by means of the rear wall 17 of the bucket 12, and secondly by means of the C-shaped bracket 10 which is unable to rotate since if it were to do so it would abut the bucket floor 16. Furthermore, the rear wall 14 ensures that the attachment 1 does not slip to the left as seen in Fig. 4 and thereby disengage the bracket 10 and the bucket floor 16.

In the abovedescribed arrangement the rear wall 14 of the bucket 12 generally hides the tynes 2 from the view of the operator of the implement., hHowever, this deficiency can be easily remedied either with a mirror positioned on the forward edge of the ROPS (roll over protection system) roof, or by use of an assistant who by means of hand signals can direct the tynes to be tilted upwardly, or tilted downwardly, etc, . as required.

In most instances the spacing between the tynes 2 will accept a wide range of pallets and therefore once the attachment 1 is assembled, no further manipulation or modification to the attachment 1 is required. However, in some instances the spacing between the tynes 2 needs to be adjusted to accommodate different pallet arrangements. In this event, the threaded spacer rods 6, 7 7 of Fig. 1 can be replaced by solid rods 26, 27 as illustrated in Fig. 5, each of which is provided with a multiplicity of through apertures 28 intended to receive locking pins or bolts (not illustrated). In Fig. 5 the spacing between the tynes 2 illustrated in Fig. 1 is illustrated by dot dash lines. If this is required to be changed, the locking pins are removed from the apertures 28 and the tynes 2 slid towards each other along the spacer rods 26, 27 until the position illustrated by dashed lines is reached. Then the locking pins are replaced into the alternative apertures 28 thereby securing the tynes 2 in the newly desired position.

In Figs. 6-8 another embodiment is illustrated where the tynes 20 are formed from relatively short (eg 1600mm) slippers (which are hollow tubular prongs intended to slide over, and extend the reach of, conventional solid steel forklift tynes). The spacer rods 6 and 7 are as before. However, each passes through a short length of pipe 36, 37 each of which is of a predetermined length to set the spacing between the tynes 20.

Washers 46 assist the pipes 36, 37 to bear against the sides of the tynes 20. For example, the tynes 20 can be set to enable a 44 gallon (200 litre) drum to be picked up by means of the upper of the two chines conventionally provided on such drums.

It is desirable in handling such drums for the toes 3 of the tynes 20 to be splayed slightly outwardly and for the heels 4 to be closer together than the toes 3. This enables to toes 3 to pass one to either side of the drum before the sides of the drum come into contact with the interior side edges of the tynes 20. This positions the drum preferably about midway between the toes 3 and the front edge 19 of the bucket floor.

Then the tynes 20 can be raised to engage the upper chine. This slightly V-shaped (or slightly non-parallel) configuration of the tynes 20 enables the drum to be easily loaded onto, and unloaded from, the tynes 20.

Preferably this desired spacing of the tynes is achieved by making the pipe 36 slightly longer than the pipe 37. In this way not only is the inter-tyne spacing set accurately, but the accuracy is quickly repeatable if the attachment needs to be dismantled or re-configured for some reason.

The anchor arrangement for the tynes 20 is provided by a short length of U-shaped steel channel 100 which is preferably welded to the tynes 20, but can be bolted thereto.

As seen in Fig. 8, since the rear wall 14 of the bucket clamps the base 101 of the channel 100 against the rear edge 17 of the bucket floor 16, the lower side edge 102 of the channel 100 (indicated in dashed lines in Fig. 8) can be removed. However, its presence is a desirable additional safety feature.

The foregoing describes only some embodiments of the present invention and modifications, obvious to those skilled in the forklift art can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, the size of the bight of the C-shaped brackets 10 can be adjustable, or can be varied, to suit different models of bucket 12. Also, if desired, a spring can have one end connected to the spacer rod 6 and the other end connected to a hook, which when hooked over the front edge 19 of the bucket stretches the spring, thereby drawing the C-shaped brackets 10, 100 into engagement with the rear edge 17.

The term "comprising" (and its grammatical variations) as used herein is used in the inclusive sense of "including" or "having" and not in the exclusive sense of "consisting only of".