U.S. patent application number 10/785506 was filed with the patent office on 2005-09-08 for bucket and rigging assembly for an excavating bucket.
This patent application is currently assigned to Harnischfeger Technologies, Inc.. Invention is credited to Buhse, Murray G..
Application Number | 20050193598 10/785506 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 34911452 |
Filed Date | 2005-09-08 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050193598 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Buhse, Murray G. |
September 8, 2005 |
Bucket and rigging assembly for an excavating bucket
Abstract
A bucket and bucket rigging assembly including a central hoist
trunnion attached to the bucket, and only one hoist chain coupled
to central hoist trunnion. The bucket and bucket rigging assembly
also includes a trunnion link attached to the central hoist
trunnion, and wherein the one hoist chain is attached to the
trunnion link. The rigging assembly includes spaced apart first and
second hoist sockets, a hoist chain, a link including a two ends
and a central section, a first hoist clevis for pivotally attaching
the first hoist socket to one link end and a second hoist clevis
for pivotally attaching the second hoist socket to the other link
end, and a third hoist clevis for pivotally attaching the hoist
chain to the link central section.
Inventors: |
Buhse, Murray G.; (Brisbane,
AU) |
Correspondence
Address: |
JAMES EARL LOWE, JR.
15417 W NATIONAL AVE # 300
NEW BERLIN
WI
53151
US
|
Assignee: |
Harnischfeger Technologies,
Inc.
|
Family ID: |
34911452 |
Appl. No.: |
10/785506 |
Filed: |
February 24, 2004 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
37/398 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E02F 3/60 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
037/398 |
International
Class: |
E02F 003/48 |
Claims
1. A bucket and bucket rigging assembly including a central hoist
trunnion attached to the bucket, and one hoist chain coupled to
said central hoist trunnion.
2. A bucket and bucket rigging assembly in accordance with claim 1
and further including a trunnion link attached to the central hoist
trunnion, and wherein the one hoist chain is attached to the
trunnion link.
3. A bucket and bucket rigging assembly in accordance with claim 1,
said bucket further including a base, a forward end, a rearward
end, side walls and a rear wall, and a center of gravity located
between said forward end and said rearward end, and whrein said one
central hoist trunnion is attached to the base and located between
the center of gravity and said rear wall.
4. A rigging assembly including spaced apart first and second hoist
sockets, a hoist chain, a link including a two ends and a central
section, means for pivotally attaching the first hoist socket to
one link end and means for pivotally attaching the second hoist
socket to the other link end, and means for pivotally attaching the
hoist chain to the link central section.
5. A bucket and bucket rigging assembly consisting of a central
hoist trunnion attached to the bucket, and one hoist chain coupled
to said central hoist trunnion.
6. A bucket and bucket rigging assembly in accordance with claim 5,
wherein said bucket further includes a base, a forward end, a
rearward end, side walls and a rear wall, and a center of gravity
located between said forward end and said rearward end, and whrein
said one central hoist trunnion is attached to the base and located
between the center of gravity and said rear wall.
7. A bucket including a base, a forward end, a rearward end, side
walls and a rear wall, a center of gravity located between said
forward end and said rearward end, and one central hoist trunnion
attached to the base and located between the center of gravity and
said rear wall.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates to digging and excavating machines
and, more particularly, to digging buckets and bucket rigging used
with such machines.
[0002] Machines for digging and excavating are available in a wide
variety of fundamental types and a variety of configurations within
each type. For example, common types of digging and excavating
machines include front-end loaders, backhoes and scrapers.
[0003] Another type of excavating machine is known as a dragline.
Draglines are often used for mining where the mineral being sought,
e.g., coal or ore, is relatively close to the surface of the earth.
A dragline is equipped with a boom from which is suspended a
bucket.
[0004] To excavate, the dragline bucket is placed on the ground
away from the machine. With its teeth rearward (facing the
machine), such bucket is drawn (or "dragged") toward such machine
by taut cable. When the bucket is filled, other cables hoist it,
and the machine is then rotated to dump the bucket contents onto a
pile.
[0005] The bucket is suspended from the end of the boom by parallel
cables made of steel strands, referred to as wire ropes. The wire
ropes extend downwardly from the end of the boom and are terminated
at their lower ends by hoist sockets. A bucket rigging assembly
extends downwardly from the sockets and attaches to the digging
bucket. Known rigging assemblies include hoist chains, pickup
links, dump blocks and other components. In particularly, known
rigging assemblies are connected to the digging bucket by trunnions
provided on both sides of the bucket. Sometimes the trunnions are
on the inside of the bucket, and then other times on the outside of
the bucket. Accordingly, two hoist chains are used to connect the
rigging to the bucket, and a spreader bar keeps the hoist chains
from contacting the bucket sides. The chains and spreader bar
constitute a significant part of the rigging weight.
[0006] Buckets and their rigging assemblies can be (and usually
are) very large and heavy. For example, dragline buckets having a
capacity of 80 cubic yards, i.e., large enough to hold several
automobiles, are relatively common. Empty, such buckets may weigh
on the order of 45-50 tons and assuming that a cubic yard of
material being excavated weighs 1800-2000 pounds, such buckets lift
75-80 tons of material on each digging cycle. The rigging assembly
for an 80-yard bucket weighs on the order of 24 tons. Draglines
with 150 to 220 yard buckets are not unheard of. A large dragline
can create a pile of excavated material that is 200 feet high or
so.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] One of the principal objects of the invention is to reduce
the weight of current bucket rigging. The problem is that every
kilogram of bucket and rigging is one kilogram less of materials
that can be moved each swing by the dragline due to the suspended
load limitations of the dragline design. The lighter the rigging,
the larger and more productive the bucket can be.
[0008] Another object of the invention is to provide an improved
rigging assembly that has a reduced number of component parts.
[0009] Another object of the invention is to reduce the bucket and
rigging weight by revising the attachment of the bucket to the
rigging, by reducing the number of rigging components and by
revising the bucket design to reduce weight so the bucket capacity
can be increased accordingly.
[0010] Another object of the invention is to reduce the number of
hoist chains in the dragline rigging from 2 to 1.
[0011] Another object of the invention is to eliminate the spreader
bar and its associated components and complication.
[0012] More particularly, this invention provides a new bucket
design including one central hoist trunnion, and a single hoist
chain attached to the central hoist trunnion. The bucket design is
very different to conventional buckets due to the single hoist
chain set-up. Weight can therefore be removed from the top rail and
the side plates and some put back into the bucket floor, which is
now the major load-bearing element. The new result is a modest
weight saving that can be put back into payload.
[0013] The single hoist chain rigging allows the spreader bar to be
eliminated along with various other components thereby achieving a
significant weight reduction, which can be put back into
payload.
[0014] The combined weight reduction of the bucket and rigging can
also be invested in a stronger bucket structure for the
applications where the more arduous mining conditions dictate a
heavier bucket be utilized.
[0015] This invention also provides a rigging assembly including
spaced apart first and second hoist sockets, a hoist chain, a link
including two ends and a central section, a first hoist clevis for
pivotally attaching the first hoist socket to one link end and a
second hoist clevis for pivotally attaching the second hoist socket
to the other link end, and a third hoist clevis for pivotally
attaching the hoist chain to the link central section. A fourth
hoist clevis also attaches a conventional dump block assembly and
equalizer to the link central section.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0016] FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of a rigging assembly and a
digging bucket of this invention. Some parts are broken away.
[0017] FIG. 2 is a front elevation view of the rigging assembly and
bucket of FIG. 1 taken generally along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1. Some
parts are broken away.
[0018] Before one embodiment of the invention is explained in
detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in
its application to the details of the construction and the
arrangements of components set forth in the following description
or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other
embodiments and of being practiced or being carried out in various
ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and
terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and
should not be regarded as limiting. Use of "including" and
"comprising" and variations thereof as used herein is meant to
encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as
well as additional items. Use of "consisting of" and variations
thereof as used herein is meant to encompass only the items listed
thereafter and equivalents thereof. Further, it is to be understood
that such terms as "forward", "rearward", "left", "right", "upward"
and "downward", etc., are words of convenience in reference to the
drawings and are not to be construed as limiting terms.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0019] Before describing the new rigging assembly 10 and digging
bucket 14, it is helpful to have an understanding of the general
arrangement and operation of a dragline (not shown). A dragline has
crawlers or "walk-legs" used to move the machine from place to
place. The upper works pivots with respect to such crawlers or
walk-legs. A boom extends from the upper works and hoist ropes pass
over rotatable pulley-like sheaves at the boom end. At the rigging
assembly, hoist sockets 18 terminate such ropes. The hoist sockets
18 permit pin connections at what are, effectively, the ends of the
ropes.
[0020] To excavate, the dragline bucket 14 is placed on the ground
away from the dragline as shown in FIG. 1. With its teeth 22
rearward (facing the machine), such bucket 14 is drawn (or
"dragged") toward such machine by the taut drag chain 26. During
digging, the dump ropes 30 and the hoist chains 34 are somewhat
slack. When the bucket 14 is filled, the hoist ropes raise it and
the upper works is then pivoted to dump the bucket contents onto a
pile.
[0021] More particularly, this invention provides a new bucket
design including a base, a forward end, a rearward end, side walls
and a rear wall, and one central hoist trunnion 38 and a trunnion
link 42. Still more particularly, the one central hoist trunnion 38
is attached to the base and located between the center of gravity
15 and the rear wall. The bucket design is very different to
conventional buckets due to the single hoist chain set-up. Weight
can therefore be removed from top rail and side walls and some put
back into the base or floor, which is now the major load-bearing
element. The new result will be a modest weight saving which can be
put back into payload.
[0022] The above allows a greater vertical taper to be used in the
bucket sides 46 since the hoist trunnion does not need to be
outside the bucket 14. This permits the use of a wider bucket,
without increasing lip width and its associated weight increases.
It also allows more payload (material) to be carried above the top
rail. In other words, the material is allowed to "hump up" over the
top of the bucket 14. This happens with conventional buckets, but
the wider bucket at the top rail allows more material to "hump
up".
[0023] During bucket hoisting, the dump ropes 30, drag chains 26
and hoist chains 34 are all taut and to dump the bucket 14, tension
is released on the drag chains 26. Since the bucket trunnion 38 is
behind the bucket center of gravity 15, the bucket 14 rotates
counterclockwise of its own weight (and that of its load) with the
dump ropes 30 moving in the direction of the arrows as it does so.
From the foregoing, it is apparent that the primary function of the
dump ropes 30 is to control the position, horizontal or vertical,
of the bucket 14. In other embodiments (not shown), the dump ropes
30 can be eliminated, with one hoist rope attached to the front of
the bucket 14, and the other hoist rope attached to the bucket
trunnion 38.
[0024] More particularly, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the rigging
assembly 10 includes spaced apart first and second hoist sockets
18, a hoist chain 34, a link 50 including two ends and a central
section 54, a first hoist clevis 58 for pivotally attaching the
first hoist socket to one link end and a second hoist clevis 62 for
pivotally attaching the second hoist socket to the other link end,
and a third hoist clevis 66 for pivotally attaching the hoist chain
to the link central section 54. As can be seen in FIG. 2, the link
has openings 65 therein to further reduce the weight of the link
50.
[0025] Broken away from FIG. 2, but shown in FIG. 1, is a single
extension 49 on the front of the link 50. A conventional dump block
assembly 51, shown schematically in FIG. 1, is pivotally attached
to the extension 49. As is conventional, a single dump block
assembly can be used on smaller buckets, and two dump block
assemblies (not shown), along with or without a dump rope equalizer
(not shown), can be used. In still other embodiments (not shown),
as is conventional, a hoist rope equalizer can also be used, along
with the one central bucket trunnion 38.
[0026] The single hoist chain rigging 10 allows the spreader bar
(not shown) to be eliminated along with various other components
thereby achieving a significant weight reduction, which can be put
back into payload. The combined weight reduction of the bucket 14
and rigging 10 can be invested in a stronger bucket structure for
the applications where the more arduous mining conditions dictate a
heavier bucket be utilized.
[0027] Various other features and advantages of the invention will
be apparent from the following claims.
* * * * *