This application is a national phase of PCT application No. PCT/IB2016/055487, filed Sep. 15, 2016, which claims priority to IT patent application No. 102015000051758, filed Sep. 15, 2015, all of which are incorporated herein by reference thereto.
The present invention relates to the excavation of surfaces, in particular of solid floors, such as floors made of concrete, asphalt or similar solid materials, for example. The present invention thus relates to equipment for digging ditches and/or trenches of predetermined width and/or depth in surfaces and/or floors of the aforesaid type. In detail, the present invention relates to a solution for adjusting the working depth of equipment of the aforesaid type; even more in detail, the present invention relates to a solution aimed at allowing the automatic positioning of equipment of the aforesaid type in the best possible working condition.
Machines and/or equipment for working surfaces, in particular solid surfaces and/or floors, e.g. made of concrete and/or asphalt and/or similar solid materials, are known and widely used in the prior art. For example, milling machines, in particular hydraulic, are known for demolishing and/or milling solid surfaces of the aforesaid type. Excavating machines and/or equipment, usually of hydraulic type, are also known for obtaining and/or digging trenches of predetermined width and/or depth in solid surfaces and/or floors of the aforesaid type. In particular, the increasingly stringent need to lay piping (e.g. for gas or water), but also electrical cables and/or telephone wires, optical fibers etc., has led the manufacturers of equipment of the aforesaid type, simply named trenchers, to dedicate considerable efforts to developing trenchers which are increasingly more reliable and/or better performing. However, the trenchers of known type still display drawbacks which condition their performance.
A trencher of known type typically comprises a digging wheel or disc provided with digging teeth or punches which, during the rotation of the wheel, engage the layer to be worked (e.g. a floor in which it is intended to dig at least one trench), where the waste material is removed and taken to the surface. In particular, the digging wheel is typically rotated by a hydraulic motor fixed to the main supporting frame which, in particular, comprises an attachment 13 by means of which the equipment may be applied to a main operating machine. The motor and the respective trenching wheel are thus fixed to the main frame in predetermined position. Equipment of the aforesaid type is further known, which also comprises an adjustment frame intended to allow the adjustment the excavation depth. The adjustment frame is indeed fixed to the main supporting frame by means of adjustment means, e.g. a jack, a hydraulic piston or similar means, which can be alternatively elongated or shortened, or which are respectively extensible or retractable, by means of which the reciprocal position of the adjustment frame can be adjusted.
Finally, equipment of the aforesaid type is also known in which the main frame and the adjustment frame are rotationally disengaged and may be mutually rotated on a main rotation axis, which is substantially parallel to the rotation axis of said working or digging means.
In particular, in equipment of the latter type, the fact that the main supporting frame can be rotated, at least within given limits, without rotationally feeding the adjustment frame, allows to compensate for incorrect positioning of the main supporting frame (e.g. excessively inclined forwards or backwards), where the adjustment frame keeps its correct position with respect to the surface to be worked instead.
However, the equipment of known type described above, although appreciable from different points of view, is not entirely free from drawbacks and/or disadvantages.
For example, a first disadvantage relates to the fact that the width of the angular sector (the angle) within which the main supporting frame and the adjustment frame are reciprocally and rotationally disengaged it is too limited and does not allow to compensate for improper positioning of the main frame, e.g. caused by a particularly rough and/or irregular surface (on which the adjustment frame rests). Indeed, it is apparent for those skilled in art that, for example, an adjustment frame which is rotationally disengaged from the main supporting frame within an angular sector of at most 30° (in other words, an adjustment frame rotational with respect to the main frame by at most 30°) will not allow to completely compensate for improper orientations of the main frame with respect to the surface to be worked which are greater than 30° (in which the angle or sector between the main frame and the surface to be worked is greater than 30°).
A further drawback of the equipment of known type with rotationally disengaged main frame and adjustment frame relates to the solutions adopted for rotationally disengaging the main frame and the adjustment frame. Indeed, the solutions of known type are also often difficult to be provided, with consequent increase of time for manufacturing the entire equipment, and thus of production costs.
Additionally, the solutions of known type are often such as to weaken the reciprocal constraint between main frame and adjustment frame, with the consequent reduction of stability of the entire structure or at least of undesired play which is formed during the use of the equipment making the reciprocal positioning of the two frames always less accurate.
It is thus the main purpose of the present invention to overcome or at least minimize the drawbacks found in the equipment according to the prior art. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the drawbacks of the equipment according to the prior art described above. In detail, it is a further object of the present invention to provide equipment of the aforesaid type in which the working depth is adjustable, and possibly in which the resting surface on the ground of the adjustment frame is always substantially completely in contact with the surface to be worked, substantially irrespective of the orientation of the main frame with respect to the aforesaid surface. It is a yet another object of the present invention to provide equipment in which the adjustment of the reciprocal position of the main frame and of the adjustment frame, and thus of the digging or working depth, is such as to ensure the perfect resting of the adjustment frame on the ground, irrespective of the working depth set by means of depth adjustment means.
It is a further object of the present invention to suggest a solution which allows to increase the width of the sector or the angle within which the main frame and the adjustment frame can be rotationally disengaged.
It is also an object of the present invention to suggest a solution which allows to adjust the digging depth and/or the reciprocal rotational disengagement of the main frame and of the adjustment frame which is easy to be implemented and made at low cost, which is not such as to weaken the reciprocal constraint between the two frames and where no undesired play or slack is generated in the reciprocal constraint between the two frames.
Given the objects summarized above, the present invention is based on the general assumption according to which these objects can be achieved by means of equipment in which the adjustment frame has a slot (e.g. closed and of elongated shape) for accommodating at least one portion of actuating means of the digging means, which firstly allows the translation and possibly also the reciprocal rotation of the main supporting frame and of the main supporting frame.
On the basis of the assumptions above, the present invention relates to equipment for excavating solid surfaces or floors, such as made of asphalt or concrete or similar solid materials, for example, in particular for obtaining or digging trenches in said solid surfaces or floors, said equipment comprising a main supporting frame and rotatable working or digging means, which are rotationally fixed to said main supporting frame, a power source for actuating said working or digging means fixed to said main supporting frame and an adjustment frame, which defines at least one substantially flat contact portion adapted to be placed in contact with a corresponding portion of the surface to be worked; where said adjustment frame comprises a first guiding slot, through which at least one portion of said power source extends, said power source being translatable within said first slot, said adjustment frame being thus translatable with respect to said main supporting frame, where the translation of said adjustment frame is defined by the reciprocal engagement of said at least one portion of said power source and said first guiding slot.
According to an embodiment, said adjustment frame may be further rotated with respect to said main supporting frame (11), e.g. to the longitudinal extension axis of said power source.
Preferably, said main supporting frame and said adjustment frame may be reciprocally fixed by means of an engagement pole or pin extending in a direction substantially parallel to said longitudinal extension axis of said power source, where said engagement pole or pin may engage, for example, a second engagement slot, and where said second engagement slot may extend, for example, along an arc-shaped or semi-circular development centered on said longitudinal extension axis of said power source, said engagement pin or pole being in this case translatable along said second engagement slot on a plane which is substantially perpendicular to said longitudinal extension axis of said power source.
According to an embodiment, the equipment according to the present invention may comprise a third guiding slot in which a guiding element is engaged, which extends along a direction parallel to the extension direction of said pin or pole, said element being translatable in this case along said third guiding slot, said third guiding slot and said first guiding slot extending along developments which substantially overlap according to a side view substantially parallel to said longitudinal extension axis of said power source.
Advantageously, the equipment according to the present invention may comprise adjustment means adapted to allow to adjust the position of said adjustment frame with respect to said main supporting frame so as to allow to adjust the working depth of said working means, said adjustment means comprising, for example, a first fixing arm which is rotationally fixed to said main supporting frame by means of which said adjustment frame is fixed to said main frame, so that by rotating said fixing arm about its rotation axis in two opposite rotation directions, a translation of said adjustment frame is obtained with respect to said main supporting frame in two opposite translation directions, respectively.
The equipment according to the present invention may advantageously comprise actuating means which are alternatively extensible and retractable so that the extension of said actuating means translates into a rotation of said adjustment means in one rotation direction and the retraction of the said actuating means translates into a rotation of said arm in the opposite rotation direction.
It is a further object of the present invention an operating machine for excavating solid surfaces, such as made of asphalt or concrete or similar solid materials, for example, in particular for digging trenches in said solid surfaces, said operating machine being equipped with equipment according to the present invention.
The present invention further relates to equipment for excavating solid surfaces or floors (S), such as made of asphalt or concrete or similar solid materials, for example, in particular for digging trenches in said solid surfaces or floors, said equipment comprising a main supporting frame and rotatable working or digging means, which are rotationally fixed to said main supporting frame, a power source for actuating said working or digging means fixed to said main supporting frame and an adjustment frame, which defines at least one substantially flat contact portion adapted to be placed in contact with a corresponding portion of the surface to be worked; where said adjustment frame comprises a first guiding slot through which at least one portion of said power source extends, said power source being translatable within said first slot, said adjustment frame being thus translatable with respect to said main supporting frame, where the translation of said adjustment frame is defined by the reciprocal engagement of said at least one portion of said power source and said first guiding slot; where said power source defines a longitudinal extension axis and where said adjustment frame is rotational about said main supporting frame with respect to said longitudinal extension axis of said power source. The present invention further relates to equipment for excavating solid surfaces or floors, such as made of asphalt or concrete or similar solid materials, for example, in particular for obtaining or digging trenches in said solid surfaces or floors, said equipment comprising a main supporting frame and rotatable working or digging means, which are rotationally fixed to said main supporting frame, a power source for actuating said working or digging means fixed to said main supporting frame and an adjustment frame, which defines at least one substantially flat contact portion adapted to be placed in contact with a corresponding portion of the surface to be worked; where said adjustment frame comprises a first guiding slot through which at least one portion of said power source extends, said power source being translatable within said first slot, said adjustment frame being thus translatable with respect to said main supporting frame, where the translation of said adjustment frame is defined by the reciprocal engagement of said at least one portion of said power source and said first guiding slot; where said main supporting frame and said adjustment frame are reciprocally fixed by means of an engagement pole or pin extending in a direction substantially parallel to said longitudinal extension axis of said power source, where said engagement pole or pin engages a second engagement slot, and where said second engagement slot may extend along an arc-shaped or semi-circular development centered on said longitudinal extension axis of said power source, said engagement pin or pole being thus translatable along said second engagement slot on a plane which is substantially perpendicular to said longitudinal extension axis of said power source.
Further embodiments of the equipment and of operating machine according to the present invention are defined in the dependent claims.
The present invention will be clarified below by describing some embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. It must be noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings; on the contrary, all the variants and changes to the embodiments shown and described below which will be clear, apparent and immediate to those skilled in the art are included in the scope of the present invention. In particular, in the accompanying drawings:
FIGS. from 1a to 1c each show a side view of a trencher according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which the adjustment frame of the equipment is not shown for clarity;
FIGS. from 4a to 4c show side views of the equipment according to the present invention in respectively different working conditions;
The present invention is particularly and effectively applied to equipment for digging trenches and/or ditches; for this reason, hereinafter, the present invention will be described with particular reference to application to a trencher.
However, the possible applications of the present invention are not limited to trenchers; on the contrary, the present invention can be effectively and conveniently applied to different equipment, such as for example milling equipment for milling surfaces or, in all cases, for working and/or demolishing surfaces, in particular solid surfaces.
The methods of using or employing the equipment according to the present invention can be appreciated with reference to
As shown, during the digging of the trench, with the digging wheel or disc 16 rotating, the operating machine 100 is either advanced or retracted, respectively, in one of the two directions indicated by the double arrow (either from the right leftwards or from the left rightwards in the figure) so as to respectively either push or feed equipment 10, and thus make it either advance or retract in the same advancement direction. For clarity, hereinafter it is assumed that the operating machine 100, and thus the equipment 10, moves from the left rightwards. In the ideal condition shown in
It can thus be inferred that the set digging depth K is kept also if the main frame 11 is not positioned ideally with respect to the surface S to be worked or dug.
The purely and typically mechanical features of the equipment according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described hereinafter with reference to FIGS. from 1a to 1c and
The equipment according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in the FIGS. from 1a to 1c and in
A second axle 18p extends from the plate 11b of frame 11 towards the exterior of the frame 11 itself (on the side of plate 11b opposite to plate 11a). Furthermore, a pole or pivot 17 extends from plate 11b, again towards the exterior of the frame 11; a fixing and/or adjustment arm 12 pivots on the rotation or pivoting pole 17 and is adapted to be rotated with respect to the rotation axis defined by the pole or pivot 17 in the two rotation directions indicated by the arrows in
With reference now to
From the above, it can be inferred that, in particular, the arm or the fixing element 12 is shaped as a class 1 lever, in which, in particular, the resistance (constituted by the adjustment frame 30) is applied to an end of the lever or arm (to the pole or pin 19), the effort (generated by the actuating means 18) is applied to the opposite end of the lever or arm 12 (to the axle 21), while the lever fulcrum (constituted by the pivoting pin 17) is placed in intermediate position between the points of application of the resistance and effort, respectively.
Obviously, alternative solutions to the one described above are comprised within the scope of the present invention, such as for example, obtaining the engagement slot 31 in arm 12 instead of in the plate 30a of the adjustment frame 30, where in this case the adjustment pin or pole will extend from the plate 30a of the adjustment frame 30 to engage the corresponding slot 31.
Solutions for adjusting the different working and/or digging depth from that described above which substantially comprises the arm or the fulcrum 12 and the hydraulic piston 18 are also comprised in the scope of the present invention; for example, solutions which comprise alternatively extensible and retractable adjustment means, e.g. a jack, a hydraulic piston or similar means, interposed directly between the supporting frame 11 and the adjustment frame 30, where the extension direction of said means is substantially parallel to the direction of translation of the adjustment frame with respect to the main frame, which are not shown in the drawings are comprised within the scope of the present invention.
Again with reference to
With reference again to
In the case of element 20, the diameter of the cylindrical intermediate portion substantially coincides with (or is possible slightly smaller than) the width of slot 32s, while the diameter of the disc-shaped portion is slightly greater than the width of slot 32s; the accidental release of element 20 from plate 30a is thus avoided. In the case of slot 32d, its width substantially either coincides with or is slightly larger than the diameter of the portion of motor 15 which extends therethrough, where the diameter of said portion of motor 15 which extends through slot 32d is greater than the adjacent portion of motor 15 accommodated in the housing 15a of plate 11a and thus also the diameter of the housing itself 15a. The accidental disengagement of motor 15 from plate 11a is thus avoided.
From the above, it is also possible to understand the reason why the two slots 32s and 32d are also said guiding (in addition to engagement) slots.
Indeed, during the translation of the adjustment frame 30 with respect to the main supporting frame 11 (from the bottom upwards and from the top downwards with respect to the figures) according to the methods explained above (by means of the piston 18 for setting and/or adjusting the working depth), the adjustment frame is guided during its translation by the slots 32s and 32d in which the cylindrical portion of element 20 and the portion of motor 15 are respectively engaged.
During the rotation of frame 30 with respect to frame 11, instead, frame 30 rotates with respect to the longitudinal axis of the axle 16a (and thus of motor 15), where motor 15 and element 20 are free to rotate inside slot 32d and slot 32s, respectively, and where the rotation travel (with the width of the rotation sector) is defined by the extension of the slot 31 along which the pole or pin 19 can translate.
Further guiding means 14 (FIGS. from 3a to 3c) are further provided along either one side or both opposite sides of the main supporting frame 11, where as shown in
The different functions and purposes of the various parts of the equipment according to the present invention described above will be summarized below with reference to
What changes in FIGS. from 4a to 4c is the position of the attachment 13 of the main frame 11, where
A different angle of the attachment 13 (and thus of the main frame 11) correspond to each of the different heights of attachment 13 with respect to the surface S with respect to the vertical, the attachment and the frame 11 being more inclined counterclockwise in the condition of
In other words, for clarity and from the working condition shown in
The above can be appreciated in a particularly direct manner with reference to
It has thus been demonstrated, by means of the above detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention shown in the drawings, that the present invention can achieve the set purposes and/or overcome or at least minimize the typical drawbacks of the solutions according to the prior art.
In particular, according to the present invention, the main frame and the adjustment frame are not rotationally constrained, thus where, also in case of accidental rotation of the supporting frame the adjustment frame remains in the desired position, i.e. with the resting surfaces always perfectly resting on the surfaces to be worked, so that accumulations of waste material under the resting surfaces is avoided, thus keeping the working depth constant.
Furthermore, the equipment according to the present invention allows to accurately and reliably adjust the reciprocal position of the adjustment frame and of the supporting frame and thus of the digging depth, as well as a wide reciprocal rotation of the adjustment frame and of the main frame.
Finally, according to the present invention, for the reciprocal rotation of the adjustment frame and of the main frame, the accommodation housings of the power source and/or of the rotation axle of the digging wheel are exploited where, thus, according to the present invention the entire structure is neither weakened nor burdened by additional constraints, and where finally the reciprocal rotation of the two frames is obtained by means of solutions which are simple to be implemented and/or manufactured and thus are low cost.
Although the present invention is explained above by means of a detailed description of the embodiments thereof shown in the drawings, the present invention is not obviously limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings; on the contrary, all variants and embodiments described and shown will appear obvious and immediate to those skilled in the art. For example, according to an alternative embodiment, the guiding means 14 may be replaced by a pair of further guides or slots, each obtained in a side wall of the guiding frame or of the main frame and in which an engagement pole or guide is engaged which extends towards the exterior of the main supporting frame or towards the interior of the guiding frame 30, respectively. Likewise, slot 32s and the respective element 20 may be replaced by guiding means 14 of the type described above (
Again the hydraulic piston 18 may be replaced, for example, by a manually adjustable jack. Furthermore, the possible applications of the present invention are not limited to wheel and/or chain trenchers, but are applicable to all the equipment where adjusting the working depth is appropriate, e.g. demolition equipment, milling equipment o similar equipment.
The scope of the present invention is thus defined by the claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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102015000051758 | Sep 2015 | IT | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/IB2016/055487 | 9/15/2016 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2017/046725 | 3/23/2017 | WO | A |
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20170022674 | Stark | Jan 2017 | A1 |
20170101746 | Sewell | Apr 2017 | A1 |
20170254046 | Risi | Sep 2017 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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1197601 | Apr 2002 | EP |
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International Search Report and Written Opinion dated Jan. 25, 2017 for corresponding PCT patent application No. PCT/IB2016/055487. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20180258611 A1 | Sep 2018 | US |