Patent Application
20050000709
The invention relates generally to bulldozer adjusting devices. More particularly, it relates to bulldozer blades and pitch adjusting devices for adjusting blade pitch having integral covers or shields.
Bulldozers and other bladed vehicles have many adjustments that are necessary to maintain the blade in the proper orientation for grading or digging the ground. Some of these adjustments may be easily carried out using readily available hand tools that are kept with the operator or on the vehicle. Some of them use specialized tools that are often misplaced or forgotten after the adjustments are performed.
One of the common features to adjust on a bladed vehicle is the pitch of the blade. The pitch of a dozer blade controls the angle the blade is at with respect to the ground when viewing the blade from the side. If the pitch is changed by tilting the top of the blade away from the cab of the vehicle, the blade engages the ground at a sharper angle and cuts more deeply into the ground. If the pitch is changed to tilt the top of the blade toward the cab of the vehicle, the blade engages the ground at a shallower angle and tends to scrape the ground more than dig down into it. When pitched back, this position is known as the carry position, which allows the blade to carry a larger load.
The blade pitch is changed relatively frequently when using a bulldozer or other bladed vehicle. The pitch controls the aggressiveness of cut, and the ability to control the aggressiveness of cut often changes as the vehicle moves from one portion of a work site to another portion. Furthermore, the pitch of the blade may be preferably changed when the texture, composition or moisture content of the soil changes. It should be clear that any of a variety of factors can make it desirable to change the pitch of the blade to better grade or scrape the soil.
Most bulldozers and bladed vehicles are provided with adjustment devices to adjust the pitch of their blades. These adjustment devices typically include a link whose length is adjustable to change the blade pitch. These links, however are typically not adjustable by hand, but are configured to require an external tool to change their length or otherwise adjust them. These tools may be misplaced, left on the vehicle, fall off and disappear when the pitch is adjusted.
What is needed therefore is a system for adjusting the pitch of a blade that reduces the possibility that the adjusting tool will be lost. What is also needed is a blade adjustment tool that can be quickly and easily used to reduce the downtime necessary to adjust the blade. What is further needed is a way of storing the adjusting tool that reduces the need for additional storage on the vehicle. What is also needed is an adjusting tool that will serve to reduce the costs of the vehicle by combining the functions of a pitch cover guard and an adjusting tool. It is an object of this invention to provide one or more of these benefits and advantages in one or more of the embodiments described below.
In accordance with a first embodiment of the invention, a bulldozer blade pitch adjuster is provided including a turnbuckle having first and second turnbuckle eyes, a turnbuckle body joining the turnbuckle eyes, and an elongate member configured to be removably fixed to the turnbuckle in a first stowed position and to engage the turnbuckle for adjustment in a second adjusting position. The elongate member may be configured to cover substantially all the turnbuckle body in the first stowed position. It may also be configured to cover exposed threads of the two turnbuckle eyes when it is in the stowed position. The elongate member may cover a top surface and two opposing sides of the turnbuckle body and the turnbuckle eyes to protect the turnbuckle from side injury as well. The turnbuckle body may have a first pair of opposed wrenching flats spaced a first distance apart and formed on the turnbuckle body's outer surface to engage the elongate member. There may be two or more pairs of these opposed wrenching flats that are spaced angularly around the longitudinal axis of the turnbuckle to provide multiple sets of engagement surfaces for the elongated member. The elongated member may be formed as an elongated U-channel formed of two elongate and parallel sidewalls and an elongated central bridging region extending between and coupling the two sidewalls. The central region may be cut away at one end to leave two parallel and facing longitudinal portions of the two sidewalls. The facing longitudinal portions may be spaced to define a gap therebetween equal to the first distance.
Referring to
Vehicle 100 is shown here as a bulldozer. It has a pair of forwardly extending arms of c-frame 108 disposed on either side of the vehicle to which blade 104 is coupled. The vehicle is supported on two endless tracks 110 that wrap around wheels 112 that extend laterally outward from opposite sides of the vehicle. The two arms are coupled together at their forward ends to provide a blade carrier 114 that has a plurality of mounts 116 (
An operator's compartment 118 is disposed in the center of the vehicle in which the operator and operator controls are located. Compartment 118 extends slightly outward on either side of the vehicle to overlap the tracks that support the vehicle.
In
Referring now to
Each side wall 128, 130 of cover 122 also includes an elongated L-shaped channel 134, 136, respectively. These channels 134, 136 are fixed (typically welded) to and between the side walls 128, 130 and the central bridging portion 132 to define rectangular hollows 138, 140, extending the length of the cover 122.
There are several apertures in cover 122, including an aperture 142 This is provided to lock the cover from moving for and aft. That is why the bolt extends up out of the cover. The long slot is required as the turnbuckle is adjusted in and out since the hole in the center block is fixed, but the distance to the front pin is changing which the cover is locked over. Greasing of these turnbuckles is from the side of items 126 and 127. Items 127 and 180 are purchased as an assembly and slide down over item 176.
A second aperture 144 is also provided in cover 122 to connect the cover 122 to the turnbuckle 124, and more particularly the turnbuckle body 125. The aperture 144 is elongated to accommodate changes in the length of the adjuster 106. Aperture 142 surrounds a fitting that extends from the eye in end 127 of the adjuster 106. Whenever the length of the adjuster changes, the distance between the eye in ends 127 and the middle of aperture 147 changes. A retaining pin 145 of turnbuckle 124 is inserted through second aperture 144 and through a third aperture 147 in turnbuckle body 125. The pin is secured in turnbuckle body 125 and keeps cover 122 from coming off. Alternative configurations of the retaining pin include a threaded pin 145 that is retained by a nut, and a pin 145 that has a ball detent disposed to retain the pin within the aperture that receives it.
At one end of turnbuckle 124 are two parallel and facing longitudinally extending portions 146, 148 of the cover 122. These portions have inner surfaces that are generally parallel and define therebetween a slot 150 that is configured to receive the body 125 of turnbuckle 124.
The elongate extending portions 146, 148 include portions of both the sidewalls 128, 130 and channels 134, 136. Each extending portion therefore describes a boxlike structure formed of the sidewalls and the channels which are fixed (preferably welded) thereto. These boxlike structures provide additional strength to cover 122 when it is used to adjust the turnbuckle.
Turnbuckle 124 is comprised of a turnbuckle body 125 that is generally polygonal in cross section, preferably a square (as shown here) or a regular hexagon. It has a two pairs 156, 158, and 160, 162 of opposing parallel planar surfaces. These pairs of surfaces are spaced the same distance apart—a distance preferably equal to the space between the parallel facing surfaces of longitudinally extending portions 146, 148 of cover 122. This permits the cover to engage and adjust the turnbuckle's length. Each pair of planar surfaces acts as wrenching flats. The pairs are circumferentially spaced ninety degrees apart, surfaces 156 and 158 being ninety degrees from surfaces 160 and 162 about the longitudinal axis of turnbuckle 124.
The turnbuckle body 125 has two co-axial holes 164, 166 extending into each opposing end of body 125. These holes are threaded, one with a right hand thread and the other with a left hand thread, to engaged similarly threaded ends 154, 155 of turnbuckle eyes 126, 127.
A key 168 is provided to engage the end 170 of pin 145. This key, is inserted into hole 172 in pin 145 to prevent the pin from being withdrawn from the turnbuckle body 125 and cover 122 (see
The cover 122 is shown in a first stowed position in
To prevent the turnbuckle body from inadvertently rotating with respect to the turnbuckle eyes, cover 122 of the adjuster 106 is configured to engage and be blocked from free rotation by the stationary non-rotatable structures, the preventing body 125 from rotating, since cover 122 is fixed to body 125. The structures that block cover 122 from rotating include pins 174, 176, eyes 126, 127, blade 104 and blade carrier 114. While all these devices block rotation, the first device to block rotation is the bolt that extends out of aperture 142. If turnbuckle body 125 were to rotate with cover 122 attached, cover 122 would interfere with one or all of these structures before it could freely rotate through an entire revolution. Thus all of these structures inhibit or prevent free rotation of the turnbuckle body 125 with respect to the turnbuckle eyes 126, 127.
The two longitudinally extending portions 146, 148 are oriented such that they extend one on each side of either of the pairs of surfaces 156, 158 and 160, 162 of turnbuckle body 125. In
When the cover is placed in this second, adjusting position, it can be grasped and rotated in the manner shown in
It will be understood that changes in the details, materials, steps, and arrangements of parts which have been described and illustrated to explain the nature of the invention will occur to and may be made by those skilled in the art upon a reading of this disclosure within the principles and scope of the invention. The foregoing description illustrates the preferred embodiment of the invention; however, concepts, as based upon the description, may be employed in other embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the following claims are intended to protect the invention broadly as well as in the specific form shown.
