US3550962A - Cutter bar assembly - Google Patents

Description

Uite States atent [72] Inventors Ross H. Goodrich 1412 Liberty St., Franklin, Pa. 16323; John A. Belkovicz, 20 Woodland SL, Claremont, N.H. 03743 [211 App]. No. 775,857 [22] Filed Nov. 14, 1968 [45] Patented Dec. 29, 1970 [54] CUTTER BAR ASSEMBLY 10 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl 299/82, 143/32 [51] int. Cl E2lc 25/30 [50] Field ofSearch 299/82, 83, 84; 143/32-3210 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 869,659 10/1907 Schubert 143/32 12/1942 Morrow 12/1950 Fulke 8/1960 l-loff et al FOREIGN PATENTS 12/1942 Germany 4/1961 Great Britain Primary Examiner Ernest R. Purser Attorney-E. Wallace Breisch CUTTER BAR ASSEMBLY Some mining machine cutter bars presently in use form the chain guideways from weldments of spaced body plates having wear plates therebetweemThe wear plates are required to protect the cutter bar from the heavy wear caused by the movement of an endless cutting chain contained within the guideways. With such an arrangement the wear plates are not readily replacable and additionally if worn plates are not replaced prior to disintegration thereof the continued movement of the cutter chain causes wear damage to the body plates and/or guide plates, thereby necessitating replacing the entire weldment.

In the present invention the cutter bar comprises a single elongated main body plate having one piece chain guideways removably secured'to the sides thereof. With such structure, guideways which are worn beyond an acceptable thickness are easily removed and discarded and new guideways are removably secured to the cutter bar.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will become more readily apparent from the following description and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a cutter bar assembly embodying the principles of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the cutter bar assembly as shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

A cutter bar assembly of this invention includes an elongated main cutter bar body or body plate having elongated intermediate guideways l2 and end guideways 12' releasably secured to the sides thereof. Guideways 12 and 12' are adapted to slidably receive a gibbed portion of a well-known endless cutter chain 14 therewithin, which cutter chain 14, continuously circulates around the outer periphery of the cutter bar assembly. Guideways 12 and 12"are identical in configuration to each other with the exception that guideways 12 each have an end portion 48 thereof which provideswell known entrance and exit openings for the endless cutter chain 14 as described hereinafter.

The cutter bar assembly has the rearward end thereof adapted to be pivotably attached in any suitable manner to a cutting machine not shown) and as shown, means for such attaching means include a pivot plate 16 and rearwardly extending coupling prongs 17. A forward chain return head 18 of any well known construction is securely fastened to and extends forwardly from the forward ends of the cutter bar assembly. Inasmuch as the unique features of this invention reside in the structure of the plate 10 and guideways 12 and 12 and as the other portions of the cutter bar assembly are well known, further description of means 16 and 17 and return head 18 is not believed to be necessary to the understanding of this invention.

As shown, body plate 10 is of a generally rectangular cross section having opposed notched side surfaces 20 such that open-ended grooves 22 extend axially throughout the length of plate 10 on each side thereof. Grooves 22 are of a suitable cross section to provide locating means for guideways l2 and I2 and restrict the lateral movement thereof with respect to plate 10 and, as shown are rectangular in cross section.

As shown in FIG. 3, the guideways 12 and 12 have a lateral height equal to the lateral height of plate 10 and a centrally located axially elongated locating projection portion 26 extending continuously along the inner side surface 24 thereof. Portion 26 is dimensioned to be closely and freely received within groove 22 of plate 10 such that when guideways l2 and 12' are mated with plate 10, surfaces 20 are respectively in contact with surfaces 24. Projecting inwardly from an outer side surface 30 of guideways 12 and and 12' a continuous centrally located axially elongated cutter chain guide slot 32 of a generally T cross section slidably receives the gibbed portion of cutter chain M therein. Slot 32 has a stern portion 34 thereof open ended at surface 30 and a cross bar portion 36 thereof located outwardly adjacent the inner side surface 24 ofguideways l2 and 12'.

Guideways 12 and 12' are releasably secured to body plate 10 by a plurality of suitably removable fastening means, shown as a plurality of socket head capscrew 38, which are inserted through centrally located inwardly directed through bores 40 in guideways 12 and 12', where screws 38 threadably engage a threaded inner periphery of a coaxial blind bore 46 of body plate 10. Thus as screws 38 are threaded into bore 46 well known compressive forces are created which firmly secure l2 and 12 to body plate 10. An enlarged counter bore portion 42 of bore 40 is provided to seat the head portion 44 of screw 38 therein inwardly adjacent slot 32 thereby preventing interference between screws 38 and the gibbed portion of cutter chain 14 as chain 14 circulates around the cutter bar assembly.

Thus with such an arrangement as hereinbefore described, guideways 12 and 12' serve the dual function of positioning and retaining cutter chain 14 therewith and additionally providing wear surfaces to protect other portions of assembly 10 from well-known forces transferred thereto by the continually moving cutter chain 14. Such forces and the respective wear surfaces thereof include: chain 14 forward and back thrusts which are initially absorbed by the outward and inward surfaces of cross bar portion 36, respectively; and chain 14 side thrusts which are initially absorbed by the sides of slot 32. When the operation of chain 14 causes a reduction in the cross-sectional area of guideways 12 or 12' below a predetermined minimum area thereof, for example 50 percent, chain 14 is removed therefrom; screws 38 are removed from body plate 10; the worn guideway 12 or 12' is removed and discarded; a new guideway 12 or 12' is positioned; screws 38 are threaded into bore 46; and chain 141 is replaced.

Portion 48 of guideways l2 differ from the guideway description set forth hereinabove in that the cutter chain guide-slot 32 is flared outwardly in any suitable manner to provide well known entrance and exit openings for the endless cutter chain 14.

Although a preferred embodiment of this invention has been described and illustrated, modifications are contemplated such as: groove 22 and cooperating projection portion 26 can be of any suitable cross section; guideways l2 and 12' can be releasably secured to body plate 10 by other means than that illustrated, for example a through bolt extending transversely through body plate 10 or rivet means; and the guide slot 32, groove 22 and projection portion 26 need not necessarily be located centrally of the lateral height of the cutter bar assembly.

The description herein does not limit the structure of the invention and the invention is defined by the scope of the claims set forth hereinafter.

We claim: 7

1. A cutter bar assembly having an endless cutting chain cir culating thereabout and which is adapted for use with a cutting machine comprising: an elongated cutter bar body adapted to be pivotably connected to a cutting machine; elongated one piece cutting chain guideways of identical cross section removably secured to at least a major extent of the longitudinally extending sides of said body; said guideways having a configuration to captively slidably receive a guidable portion of an endless cutting chain therein with the innermost surface of said guidable portion being spaced outwardly from said longitudinally extending sides; said guideways having locating portions thereof engageable with interliitting' portions of said longitudinally extending sides, with said locating and interfitting portions providing locating means for said guideways with respect to said body; and said guideways being removably secured to said body by a plurality of removable fastening means which extend transversely through said guideways with respect to said sides and with the outermost extent of said fastening means being at least inwardly adjacent said innermost surface.

2. A cutter bar assembly as specified in claim 1 wherein the lateral surfaces of said body are coplanar with respective surfaces of said guideways.

3. A cutter bar assembly as specified in claim 1 wherein said outermost extent of said fastening means is spaced inwardly from said innermost surface.

4. A cutter bar assembly as specified in claim ll wherein said fastening means are located centrally on the lateral height of 5 said body and said guideways, respectively.

5. A cutter bar assembly as specified in claim 1 wherein said configuration which carries said guidable portion of said chain is a continuous slot in said guideways.

6. A cutter bar assembly as specified in claim 5 wherein said fastening means are accessible through said slot.

7. A cutter bar assembly as specified in claim 1 additionally comprising: other one piece chain guideways having identical variable cross section and being removably secured to an ex tent of the longitudinally extending sides of said body other than said major extent thereof; said other guideways having a configuration to captively slidably receive a guidable portion of an endless cutting chain therein with the innermost surface of said guidable portion being spaced outwardly from said longitudinally extending sides; said other guideways having locating portions thereof engageable with interfitting portions of said longitudinally extending sides, with said locating and interfitting portions providing locating means for said other guideways with respect to said body; and said other guideways being removably secured to said body by a plurality of said fastening means which extend transversely through said other guideways with respect to said sides and with the outermost extent of said fastening means being at least inwardly adjacent said innermost surface of said other guideways.

8. A cutter bar assembly as specified in claim l wherein said interfitting and locating portions are notch and projection portions, on said body and said guideways respectively.

9. A cutter bar assembly as specified in claim 8 wherein said interfitting and locating portions extend continuously throughout the longitudinal lengths of said body and said guideways, respectively.

10. A cutter bar assembly as specified in claim 9 wherein said interfitting and locating portion are located centrally of the lateral height of said body and said guideways respectively.

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