Mounting Assembly For Installation Of Hydraulic Jacks On Outrigger

Abstract

A mounting assembly for installing a hydraulic jack on the end of a box-beam type outrigger wherein a flanged collar, welded to the lower end portion of the jack cylinder, is bolted to flanges on the bottom wall of the outrigger, and a C-plate encircling the medial portion of the jack cylinder and bolted to flanges on the top wall of the outrigger thereby clamping the hydraulic jack in a substantially vertical position with respect to the outrigger.

Description

Heretofore attempts have been made to secure a vertically disposed hydraulic jack on the end of a horizontally disposed outrigger by merely welding the jack cylinder to the end of the outrigger. This method has proven unsatisfactory due to the distortion or weakening of the jack cylinder wall by the heat generated during the welding operation, thus weakening the resistance of the jack to the stresses and strains incurred during the lifting of heavy loads.

To overcome the problems experienced by welding the jack directly to the cylinder, it has been proposed to enclose the jack in a housing consisting of telescopic sections, the inner section being secured to and enclosing the outwardly projecting portion of the piston rod, and the outer section enclosing the cylinder. The outer section is welded to the end of the outrigger and the closed end of the cylinder is bolted to the closed end of the outer section. While this arrangement overcame the problems incurred by welding the jack directly to the outrigger, it was subject to certain objections in that the housing for the jack added substantially to the weight carried on the end of the outrigger, and the size of the housing restricted the length of the outrigger which might be employed. Furthermore, this arrangement made it difficult, if not impossible, to replace a defective jack on the job side.

To overcome the disadvantages experienced in hitherto employed outrigger jack mounting assemblies, the mounting assembly of the present invention has been devised which comprises, essentially, forming the bottom and top walls of the outrigger with flanged, bifurcated portions for receiving the cylinder of the jack. A flanged collar is welded to the jack cylinder wall in proximity to the sealed end through which the piston rod projects and a C-plate is positioned around the medial portion of the jack cylinder wall. The flanged collar and C-plate are bolted to the flanged, bifurcated portions of the bottom and top walls, respectively, of the outrigger to thereby mount the hydraulic jack in a substantially vertical position with respect to the outrigger. By this construction and arrangement, the lift load is transferred to the jack through the flanged collar which is the only element welded to the jack cylinder wall, the C-plate merely clamping the jack to the outrigger to maintain the jack in a substantially vertical position, and to relieve the flanged collar mounting bolts from bending loads due to side sway of the machine being supported.

IN THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the mounting assembly of the present invention connecting a hydraulic jack to the end of an outrigger;

FIG. 2 is an end elevational view of the assembly illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the assembly illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a view taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a view taken along line 5--5 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is a view taken along line 6--6 of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, the mounting assembly of the present invention, designated generally by reference numeral 1, is shown connecting a hydraulic jack 2 to the end of a box-beam type outrigger 3. The outrigger is of a conventional design and includes a bottom wall 4 and a top wall 5 rigidly interconnected by side walls 6 and 7. The outrigger is transversely mounted on the machine 8 to be supported, which might include a mobile crane, back hoe, scaffolding, and the like, and is adapted to be slidably actuated outwardly therefrom by a fluid motor 9. While FIG. 1 shows only one outrigger and associated jack, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that at least two pairs of outriggers are customarily employed, the outriggers in each pair extending in opposite directions from the machine to be supported. Thus, outriggers 10, in FIG. 2, extends in the opposite direction from outrigger 3. Since the mounting assembly of the present invention is identical for connecting each jack to its respective outrigger, only one of the mounting assemblies will be described.

As will be seen in FIGS. 1, 2 and 6, a flanged collar 11 is welded to the outer surface of the jack cylinder wall in the vicinity of the sealed end through which the piston rod extends. This area of a hydraulic jack is customarily provided with a conventional seal assembly 2a which includes packing, seals and a sleeve for guiding the piston rod in the cylinder. By welding the flanged collar at this location on the jack its cylinder wall does not incur any distortion from the heat generated during the welding operation. The bottom wall 4 of the outrigger is formed with an arcuate edge 4a (FIG. 5) to conform to the cylinder wall of the jack and the side walls 7 extend outwardly beyond the bottom wall to thereby form a bifurcated portion for receiving the hydraulic jack. A pair of flanges 12 and 13 are integrally connected to the outrigger side walls 6 and 7, respectively. The collar 11 is provided with thru holes 14, adapted to register with thru holes 15 formed in flange 12, thru holes 16, adapted to register with tapped holes 17 formed in the bottom wall 4, and hole 18, adapted to register with tapped hole 19 formed in flange 13.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4 the top wall 5 of the outrigger is provided with an arcuate edge 5a to accommodate the jack cylinder; thus, the top wall 5 and associated side walls 6 and 7 form a bifurcated portion, similar to the bottom wall and side walls, for receiving the jack, a recess 5b is also formed in the arcuate edge to accommodate the fluid connections to the jack. The end portion of the top wall 5 is provided with a pair of outwardly extending flanges 20, 21 formed with apertures 20a and 21a respectively as will be seen in FIG. 3, a C-plate 22 is adapted to encircle the jack cylinder in a direction opposite to that of the arcuate edge 5a, the plate engaging the cylinder wall substantially intermediate the ends thereof, as shown in FIG. 2.

To assemble the jack on the end of the outrigger, the jack is positioned substantially vertically and inserted into the bifurcated portion of the outrigger afforded by the arcuate edge 4a of the bottom wall, arcuate edge 5a of the top wall and the associated side walls 6 and 7. The flanged collar 11 is positioned on the bottom surfaces of the flanges 12 and 13 and bottom wall 4 and secured thereto by suitable bolts 23 extending through the aligned holes 14, 15; 16, 17; 18, 19 as described hereinabove. The jack is now rigidly mounted in a substantially vertical position, and in order to maintain the attitude assumed by the jack secured to the bottom wall of the outrigger, the C-plate is positioned around the cylinder and clamped to the flanges 20, 21 by bolts 24. The holes formed in the C-plate, through which the bolts 24 extend, are initially formed as undersized holes so that prior to clamping the plate to the flanges 20, 21, the holes in the C-plate are first aligned with the holes in the flanges and then drilled to a sufficient diameter to accommodate the bolts 24. By this construction and arrangement any variations in the vertical alignment of the jack may be accommodated.

It is contemplated that a pair of C-plates will be provided for each mounting assembly so that if a jack, replacing a defective one on the job site, is vertically aligned in a slightly different attitude than the original jack, as determined by its connection to the bottom wall of the outrigger, the vertical alignment will be accommodated by a second C-plate having undersized holes which are then drilled to register with the holes in flanges 20 and 21.

From the above description it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that the mounting assembly of the present invention provides a novel arrangement for connecting a jack to a box-beam type outrigger wherein the lift load is transferred to the jack through the flanged collar 11, which is the only element welded to the jack cylinder. The C-plate 22 clamps and maintains the jack at a substantially vertical attitude, determined by the position assumed by the jack when secured to the flanges 12 and 13, the C-plate 22 also relieving the flanged collar mounting bolts 23 from bending loads due to side sway of the machine being supported.

It will also be appreciated that the mounting assembly of the present invention materially reduces the weight disposed at the end of the outrigger, and the relatively few parts required in the assembly reduces the cost of fabrication, conserves lateral space for the outriggers and facilitates the replacement of a defective jack at the job site.

The terms and expressions which have been employed herein are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention, in the use of such terms and expressions, of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof but it is recognized that various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention claimed.

Claims

We claim:

1. A mounting assembly for connecting a vertically disposed hydraulic jack on the end of a horizontally disposed box-beam type outrigger for stabilizing a lift load comprising, a flanged collar integrally connected to the jack cylinder, first U-shaped flange means open on its outer end connected to the outrigger side walls, bolt means connecting the flanged collar to the bottom surface of the first flange means and bottom wall of the outrigger, whereby when the jack is extended to the operative position the lift load is transferred to the jack through the flanged collar; second U-shaped flange means open at its outer end integrally connected to the top wall of the outrigger, clamping means substantially encircling said jack cylinder, and bolt means securing said clamping means to the top surface of the second flange means, to thereby clamp and maintain the jack at a substantially vertical attitude and to relieve the flanged collar bolt means from bending loads due to side sway of the outrigger.

2. A mounting assembly according to claim 1 wherein the flanged collar is welded to the jack cylinder in proximity to the end thereof through which the piston rod extends.

3. A mounting assembly according to claim 1 wherein said clamping means comprises a C-plate disposed around the jack cylinder substantially intermediate the ends thereof.