There is described a mechanical hammer that was developed to drive posts and piles, but which has other uses.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,387,173 (Jinnings et al) titled “pile driver” is an example of a mechanical hammer.
There is provided a mechanical hammer that includes a support and an elongated member. The support defines a linear guide track. A support mounting assembly is provided on the support for mounting the support. For example, the support may be mounted to an articulating boom that is capable of positioning the mechanical hammer in preparation for use. The elongated member is laterally confined by the support while being movable back and forth along the linear guide track between an extended position extending from the support and a retracted position relatively retracted within the support. A rack and pinion drive assembly is provided to selectively drive the elongated member along the linear guide track. The drive assembly includes two toothed racks mounted on opposed sides of the elongated member and extending lengthwise along the elongated member in parallel spaced relation. Two pinion gears are rotatably mounted to the support. Each of the two pinion gears engage one of the two toothed racks. Two drive motors selectively impart rotation to the pinion gears, with the pinion gears engaging the toothed racks to move the elongated member along the linear guide track.
Two embodiments of the mechanical hammer will hereinafter be illustrated and described. A first embodiment has the two unidirectional drive motors rotate the pinion gears which engage the toothed racks to lift the elongated member to the retracted position, when the two unidirectional drive motors are deactivated, the elongated member falls by force of gravity to the extended position. A second embodiment has four unidirectional drive motors. When when activated a first pair of the four unidirectional drive motors rotate the pinion gears which engage the toothed racks to move the elongated member to the retracted position, while a second pair of the four unidirectional drive motors are deactivated and rotate freely. When activated the second pair of the four unidirectional drive motors rotate the pinion gears which engage the toothed racks to drive the elongated member to the extended position, while the first pair of the four unidirectional drive motors are deactivated and rotate freely.
It is advantageous to provide an attachment mounting assembly at the first end of the elongated member. This enables additional mass attachments to be mounted to the attachment mounting assembly for the purpose of increasing the mass of the elongated member.
An advantage of these embodiments is the low profile of the mechanical hammer for use where there is relatively little clearance. The second embodiment provides an additional advantage as the drive motors increase the impact energy by driving the elongated member to the extended position when in a vertical orientation. Further, the second embodiment can be used in a horizontal or angular orientation as gravity is not required for activation.
These and other features will become more apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the appended drawings, the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to be in any way limiting, wherein:
A mechanical hammer generally identified by reference numeral 10, will now be described with reference to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Elongated member 14 of mechanical hammer 10 moves from the retracted position illustrated in
There are two embodiments, the drive motors 40 for a first embodiment which is a gravity impact version of mechanical hammer 10 are illustrated in
While various type of drive motors 40 may be used with the invention, in developing the proto-type, hydraulic motors were used. When hydraulic fluid is pumped by a pump from a hydraulic reservoir, the system becomes pressurized and drive motors 40 rotate in one direction. When drive motors 40 are deactivated, by shutting off the pump, drive motors 40 rotate frees in the opposite direction in response to a force with hydraulic fluid flowing back to the hydraulic reservoir.
Referring to
Referring to
When activated, the second pair of the four unidirectional drive motors 40 rotate pinion gears 38 which engage toothed racks 36 on either side of elongated member 14 to drive elongated member 14 to the extended position, illustrated in
An advantage common to both the first embodiment with unidirectional drive motors and the second embodiment with bidirectional drive motors is the low profile of mechanical hammer 10. This allows mechanical hammer 10 to be used where there is relatively little clearance.
An additional advantage of the second embodiment is that drive motors 40 increase the impact energy by driving the elongated member to the extended position when in a vertical orientation.
A further advantage of the second embodiment is that they facilitate mechanical hammer 10 being used in a horizontal or angular orientation, as gravity is not required for activation.
The hammer can be attached to a crane, excavator, mast and or a drill carrier for use in horizontal or vertical applications.
In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be one and only one of the elements.
The scope of the claims should not be limited by the illustrated embodiments set forth as examples, but should be given the broadest interpretation consistent with a purposive construction of the claims in view of the description as a whole.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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3060670 | Oct 2019 | CA | national |