Patent Application
20090000158
The present disclosure relates to a boom lock for locking a boom of a work machine.
There are work machines, such as, for example, skid steers, which have a boom coupled at one end to a machine body and at an opposite free end to an attachment for manipulating the attachment relative to the machine body. Typically, the boom can be moved up and down between a lowered boom position and a raised boom position by use of one or more boom actuators (e.g., hydraulic cylinders). At times, an operator of the work machine may wish to enter or exit an operator's station of the work machine while the boom is in the raised boom position.
According to the present disclosure, there is provided a boom lock for locking a boom of a work machine in a raised boom position. In an aspect of the present disclosure, the boom lock comprises a brace and a brace activator. The brace is provided for acting mechanically between a mount of a machine body of the work machine and the boom to lock the boom in the raised boom position. The brace activator is operable from an operator's station of the machine body to initiate operation of the brace to lock the boom in the raised boom position.
In another aspect of the present disclosure, the boom lock comprises a brace, a brace retainer, and a retainer actuator. The brace is movable to a boom-locking position in response to movement of the boom. When positioned in the boom-locking position, the brace is arranged to lock the boom in the raised boom position. The brace retainer is engageable with the brace for retaining the brace in the boom-locking position during a partial lowering of the boom to the raised boom position. The retainer actuator is operable from the operator's station to actuate the brace retainer to retain the brace in the boom-locking position. In this way, the machine operator can actuate the boom lock to lock the boom in the raised position while remaining in the operator's station.
In yet another aspect of the present disclosure, an associated method is disclosed. Exemplarily, the method comprises actuating a brace retainer from the operator's station, retaining a brace in a boom-locking position using the brace retainer during a partial lowering of the boom onto the brace, and locking the boom in the raised boom position using the brace in its boom-locking position.
The above and other features will become apparent from the following description and the attached drawings.
The detailed description of the drawings refer to the accompanying figures in which:
Referring primarily to
Referring primarily to
The boom lock 20 has a brace 28 and a brace activator 30. Generally, the brace 28 is provided for acting mechanically between a mount 26 and the boom 12 to lock the boom 12 in a second raised boom position (
The brace 28 is pivotally coupled to a mount 26. Illustratively, the brace 28 is coupled to the same pivot 32 as an end of a boom actuator 18, for pivotal movement about a common pivot axis 34 upon lowering and raising of the boom 12. Except when activated, the brace 28 receives a barrel 36 of the boom actuator 18 in a channel 38 of the brace 28. When activated, the barrel 36 exits the channel 38 through a bottom opening 40 formed therein, as discussed in more detail below.
The brace activator 30 has a brace retainer 42 and a retainer actuator 44. Generally, the brace retainer 42 is engageable with the brace 28 for retaining the brace 28 in a boom-locking position (
The brace retainer 42 is configured, for example, as a bar slidable trough an opening 46 formed in a side wall 48 of the machine body 14 between a retracted, non-use position (
The retainer actuator 44 includes a slot 56 or other handle guide exemplarily formed in a rear wall 58 of the operator's station 22, a handle 60 coupled to the brace retainer 42 and extending through the slot 56 for movement therein and for access to the handle 60 by a human operator in the operator's station 22 for manual operation thereby, a fixed member 62 of the machine body 14 and a spring 64 or other biasing member acting between the fixed member 62 and the handle 60 so as to bias the brace retainer 42 toward the deployed position.
The slot 56 is generally J-shaped so as to have a notch or hook 66 formed therein. The retainer actuator 44 positions the brace retainer 42 in its non-use position when the handle 60 is captured in the notch 66 (
Referring to
Referring to
The brace 28 is configured to receive the boom 12 thereon. Exemplarily the free end of the brace 28 has a notch 70 formed therein. The notch 70 receives therein a boss 72 when the boom 12 comes to rest on the brace 28. The notch 70 is formed, for example, in opposed side walls 74 of the channel 38. The boss 72 is configured, for example, as a bar welded to the underside of a side arm 24 of the boom 12.
The boom 12 can be unlocked by a reverse procedure. In particular the boom actuator(s) 18 raise the boom 12 off the brace 28 from the second raised boom position to the first raised boom position. In so doing, the tab 50 disengages the brace retainer 42. The operator then manually operates the handle 60 of the retainer actuator 44 so as to retract the brace retainer 42 from the extended, deployed position to the retracted, non-use position. The operator manipulates the handle 60 to position the handle 60 in the notch 66 so that the brace retainer 42 is retained in its on-use position against the biasing force of the spring 64. After the brace retainer 42 is moved out of the way, the boom 12 can be lowered back down to the lowered boom position, with the brace 28 resuming its position on the back of the barrel 36 so as to again ride thereon during pivotal movement of the boom 12.
While the disclosure has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description is to be considered as exemplary and not restrictive in character, it being understood that illustrative embodiments have been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the disclosure are desired to be protected. It will be noted that alternative embodiments of the present disclosure may not include all of the features described yet still benefit from at least some of the advantages of such features. Those of ordinary skill in the art may readily devise their own implementations that incorporate one or more of the features of the present disclosure and fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.
