US20080086920A1

US20080086920A1 - Bucket assembly for excavator

Info

Publication number: US20080086920A1
Application number: US11/945,179
Authority: US
Inventors: Young Ju LIM
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2005-05-24
Filing date: 2007-11-26
Publication date: 2008-04-17
Also published as: CN101268234A; JP5058981B2; WO2006126775A1; KR20060087365A; KR100609494B1; JP2008542584A; CN101268234B

Abstract

Provided is a bucket assembly having a grappling member for excavator. The bucket assembly includes: a forward and backward tilting unit for forwardly and backwardly tiling a supporting plate mounted at a boom of the excavator through a first hinge bracket; a rotating unit rotatably disposed under the supporting plate of the forward and backward tilting unit; a driving unit including a supporting frame disposed under the rotating unit, a bucket member and a grappling member mounted to face the bucket member for driving the bucket member and the grappling member using an oil pressure, wherein the supporting frame and the grappling member have a bucket tooth with a hard metal tip and a grappling tooth with a hard metal tip; and a left and right tilting unit mounted at both of the forward and backward tilting unit and the rotating unit to tilt the rotating unit using oil pressure.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a bucket assembly having a grappling member for an excavator; and more particularly, to a bucket assembly having a grappling member for conveniently and efficiently laying stones and armored stones, loading and unloading woods, burying concrete pipes, and saving people from disasters by allowing an excavator to rotate a bucket member and a grappling member within 360° as well as tilting them in a left direction and a right direction in order to change a posture of a holding object and to move the holding object without damaging.

DISCUSSION OF PRIOR ART

In order to expand functions and applicable fields of an excavator, a grapple was additionally equipped with a bucket or independently assembled without the bucket at the excavator.
Such a conventional grapple for the excavator was introduced in Korea Patent Publication No. 2001-003054, entitled “EXCAVATOR HAVING GRAPPLE,” and FIG. 1 shows the excavator having a grapple arm according to the related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, a grappling arm 6 is mounted at a boom 4 that generates a force of grappling with a bucket 2. Such an excavator having the grappling arm is generally used to move woods and stones for landscaping. However, the conventional excavator must move or rotate by itself to change a posture of the stone or the wood due to the lack of capability to turn and to rotate the bucket 2 and the grappling arm 6 to a right and a left direction. Therefore, the productivity thereof is reduced and the operational range is limited due to the lack of capability to turn and to rotate.
FIG. 2 shows another conventional grapple for an excavator introduced in Korea Utility Model Publication No. 0277112.
Referring to FIG. 2, a grapple 8 is rotatably mounted at a boom of the excavator without a bucket to prevent operating parts from being wobbled or polluted by the foreign elements while the grapple 8 is rotating. Such a grapple 8 may minimize the vibration and the noise. The conventional grapple 8 for the excavator was generally used to move or to lay stones for the landscape construction and the rubble masonry construction. Although the grapple 8 is convenience to rotate a holding object, the foreign elements may be flowed into a gear assembly 10 because the gear assembly 10 is externally exposed. Therefore, the holding operation may be malfunctioned due to the externally-exposed gear assembly 10.
Furthermore, the grapple 8 is not allowed to be tilted to the left and the right although the grapple 8 tilts in the forward and the backward direction while holding the object. Such a limitation makes the excavator unable to perform accurate operations.
As shown, the grapple 8 is used only for holding the object. It cannot be used for excavating because the bucket is not assembled with the grapple 8. Therefore, various operations cannot be alternatively performed.
FIG. 3 shows an apparatus of rotating a bucket for an excavator. The apparatus of rotating a bucket was introduced in Korean Utility Model Publication No. 0261902.
Referring to FIG. 3, a plurality of driving gears 12 is formed on an inside surface of a rotation ring 14, and a ball housing groove 18 is formed between the outer circumference of the rotation ring 14 and an inner circumference of a housing 16. The ball housing groove 18 houses a plurality of balls 20 to slidably rotate a bucket. The plurality of driving gears 20 formed on the inside surface of the rotation ring 14 is geared a motor 22 and the bucket is fixed at a fixing plate 28 through an hole 26 of a connection fixing plate 24. The housing 16 is fixed at the connection fixing plate 24 and the rotation ring 14 is fixed with a connection rotating plate 30 to rotatably assemble the bucket 32. Such an apparatus of rotating a bucket is convenient to excavate. However, it cannot be used to lift up the stone, the woods or the pipes. Also, it cannot be used to tilt in the left direction and the right direction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Technical Problem

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a bucket assembly having a grappling member for conveniently and efficiently laying stones and armored stones, loading and unloading woods, burying concrete pipes, and saving people from disasters by allowing an excavator to rotate a bucket member and a grappling member within 360° as well as tilting them in a left direction and a right direction in order to change a posture of a holding object and to move the holding object without damaging.

Technical Solution

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is a bucket assembly having a bucket member and a grappling member for an excavator including; a forward and backward tilting unit for tiling a supporting plate mounted at a boom of the excavator through a first hinge bracket in a forward direction and a backward direction; a rotating unit rotatably disposed within 360° in a clockwise and a counter clockwise under the supporting plate of the forward and backward tilting unit; a driving unit including a supporting frame disposed under the rotating unit, a bucket member mounted at one side of the supporting frame and a grappling member mounted at other side of the supporting frame to face the bucket member for driving the bucket member and the grappling member using an oil pressure, wherein the supporting frame and the grappling member have a bucket tooth with a hard metal tip and a grappling tooth with a hard metal tip; and a left and right tilting unit mounted at both of the forward and backward tilting unit and the rotating unit to tilt the rotating unit in right and left directions using oil pressure.
The forward and backward tilting unit may include: a supporting plate having a first hinge bracket formed on a front and a rear thereof and a second hinge bracket formed at one side thereof to be separated at a predetermined space from the first hinge bracket; and a third hinge bracket formed to orthogonally cross the first hinge bracket within a predetermined space under the supporting plate.
The rotating unit may include: a top plate having a fourth hinge bracket assembled to the third hinge bracket mounted at the supporting plate through a hinge shaft pin to cross the third hinge bracket; a bottom plate housing a fifth hinge bracket disposed at one side of the top plate, a pinion gear mounted at other side of the top plate to be driven by an oil pressure motor, and a ring gear geared with the pinion gear; and an oil turning joint disposed between the top plate and the bottom plate to supply the oil pressure and to return.
The driving unit may include: a bucket member rotatably assembled at one side of a supporting frame formed under the bottom plate of the rotating unit; a grappling member rotatably assemble at other side of the supporting frame to face the bucket member; and a protector mounted at the oil pressure turning joint and an oil pressure cylinder between check valves as an oil pressure hose while connecting a hinge shaft hole formed on a bucket rotating plate and a driving bar of the grappling member at the supporting frame to protect the oil cylinder and the check valves from being impact with a target holding object.
The grappling member may include an additional grappling tooth having a holder surface portion formed in a shape of an arc smaller than the arc of the grappling member to lift up a pipe having a small diameter.
The left and right tilting unit may include: a second hinge bracket formed on a curving portion of an edge of the supporting plate of the forward and backward tilting unit; a fifth hinge bracket formed one side edge of the top plate of the rotating unit; and a tilt oil pressure cylinder for connecting the second hinge bracket and the fifth hinge bracket to be tilted in the left and the right using the oil pressure.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS

A bucket assembly having a grappling member for an excavator, which includes a forward and backward tilting unit, a rotating unit, a driving unit and a left and right tilting unit, according to the present invention provides following advantageous effects.
At first, the bucket assembly having the grappling member according to the present invention requires less man power to lay stones for landscape or armor stones for building a breakwater, to load or unload woods, to bury a concrete pipe and to save people from disasters. Therefore, cost thereof can be reduced.
Secondly, the bucket assembly having the grappling member according to the present invention requires less number of workers for manual processors at a construction field. Therefore, the number of processes for the target construction is reduced and the period of construction is shortened, accordingly.
Furthermore, the bucket assembly having the grappling member according to the present invention enables the excavator to tile a holding object using a tilting oil pressure cylinder.
Moreover, the bucket assembly having the grappling member according to the present invention enables the excavator to rapidly hold a target object by including both of the bucket member and the grappling member and to rotate the holding object within 360° in the clockwise and the counter clockwise. Therefore, the excavator is allowed to change the posture of the holding object and to stack the holding object without moving itself, conveniently.
Additionally, the bucket assembly having the grappling member according to the present invention enables the excavator to rapidly change the posture of the holding object. Therefore, the excavator having the bucket assembly according to the present invention can perform accurate operations such as laying stones for landscape and armor stones for a breakwater and burying the concrete pipes.
Finally, the bucket assembly having the grappling member according to the present invention enables the excavator to prevent the holding object from being slide and to enhance the durability though attaching the hard metal tips on the bucket tooth and the grappling tooth, and the additional grappling tooth.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 shows the excavator having a grapple arm according to the related art;
FIG. 2 shows another conventional grapple for an excavator introduced in Korea Utility Model Publication No. 0277112;
FIG. 3 shows an apparatus of rotating a bucket for an excavator;
FIG. 4 is a view showing an excavator having a bucket assembling having a grappling member according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a side cross-sectional view of a bucket assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 5 taken along a line A-A;
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an additional grappling tooth for a bucket assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention; and
FIG. 8 shows a bucket assembly having a grappling member for describing tilting operations according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Other objects and aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, which is set forth hereinafter.
FIG. 4 is a view showing an excavator having a bucket assembling having a grappling member according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a side cross-sectional view of a bucket assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 5 taken along a line A-A.
Referring to FIGS. 4 through 6, a bucket assembly 50 for an excavator 56 includes a bucket member 52 and a grappling member 54. The bucket assembly 50 includes a forward and backward tilting unit 58, a rotating unit 60, a driving unit 62 and a left and right titling unit 4.
The forward and backward titling unit 58 tilts a supporting plate 70 connected to a first hinge bracket 68 using a pin of a boom 66.
The forward and backward titling unit 58 includes the first hinge bracket 68 connected to the boom 66, a second hinge bracket 72 formed on one side of the supporting plate 70 and a third hinge bracket 74 under the supporting plate 70 to orthogonally cross the first hinge bracket 68.
The rotating unit 60 is assembled under the supporting plate 70 of the forward and backward tilting unit 58 to be tilted in a left and a right and to be rotated in a clockwise and a counter clockwise at 360° by an oil pressure.
The rotating unit 60 includes a top plate 80, a bottom plate 92 and an oil pressure turning joint 94 assembled between the top plate 80 and the bottom plate 92 to supply the oil pressure and to return. The top plate 80 also includes a fourth hinge bracket 78 connected to the third hinge bracket 74 formed on the supporting plate 70 of the forward and backward tilting unit 58 through a hinge shaft pin 76 to cross the third hinge bracket 74. The bottom plate 92 includes a fifth hinge bracket connected to one side of the top plate 80, a pinion gear 86 connected at other side of the top plate 80 that is driven by a swing motor 84 and a ring gear 88 to be geared with the pinion gear 86 disposed in a housing 90.
The driving unit 62 is assembled under the rotating unit 60 to be operated by an oil pressure. The operating unit 62 includes a supporting frame 96 connected to the rotating unit 60, the bucket member 52 mounted at one side of the supporting frame 96 and the grappling member 54 mounted at other side of the supporting frame 96 to face the bucket member 52. The bucket member 52 and the grappling member 62 include a bucket tooth 100 and a grappling tooth 102 at bottom ends thereof respectively. The bucket tooth 100 and the grappling tooth 102 include hard metal tips 98.
As described above, the supporting frame 96 of the operating unit 62 is connected to the bottom plate 92 of the rotating unit 60. The bucket member 52 is rotatably assembled at one side of the supporting frame 96. And, the grappling member 54 is also rotatably assembled at other side of the supporting frame 96 to face the bucket 54. The operating unit 62 also includes an oil pressure cylinder 112 connecting a rotating plate 104 of the bucket member 52 and a driving bar 106 of the grappling member 54. The oil pressure cylinder 112 is connected to the oil pressure turning joint 94 by an oil pressure hose 110 through a check valve 108.
The supporting frame 96 includes a protector 118 having a predetermined size to protect the oil cylinder 112 from a target object to hold.
The left and right tilting unit 64 is connected to the forward and backward tilting unit 58 and the rotating unit 60 to tilt the rotating unit 60 in the right and the left direction from the forward and backward tilting unit 58 using the oil pressure.
The left and right tilting unit 64 includes a second hinge bracket 72 formed on a curving portion of an edge of the supporting plate 70, a fifth hinge bracket 82 formed at one side edge of the top plate 80 of the rotating unit 60 and a tilt oil pressure cylinder 120 connecting the second hinge bracket 72 and the fifth hinge bracket 82 to control the direction of tilting such as a left and a right using the oil pressure.
The tilt oil cylinder 120 is assembled to the second hinge bracket 72 and the fifth hinge bracket 82 to be tilted at a predetermined angle in order to form a left titling angle and a right titling angle from a hinge shaft pin 76 that connects the third and the fourth hinge brackets 74 and 78.
The tilt oil pressure cylinder 120 may be disposed at a predetermined angle to provide a predetermined level of oil pressure.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an additional grappling tooth for a bucket assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to FIG. 7, the bucket tooth 100 and the grappling tooth 102 are disposed at one ends of the bucket member 52 and the grappling member 54, respectively.
The additional grappling tooth 122 includes a holding surface portion 124 shaped in an arc to lift up a small pipe.
The bucket member 52 and the grappling member 54 also include hard metal tips that are inwardly projected to prevent the holding objects from being slide, to securely hold the target object and to prevent the bucket member 52 and the grappling member 54 from being worn and torn. Such a hard metal tip may be attached on the holder surface portion 124 to securely hold the target object.
A numeral reference 114 denotes a hinge shaft hole.
FIG. 8 shows a bucket assembly having a grappling member for describing tilting operations according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The oil cylinder 112, the oil turning joint 94 and the check valve 108 included in the excavator and operations thereof are widely known to those skilled in the art. Therefore, detail thereof is omitted.
An operator of the excavator drives the bucket assembly 50 assembled at one end of the boom 66 to lay stones for landscaping or armor stones for building a breakwater and to bury concrete pipes.
That is, the operator drives the bucket member 52 and the grappling member 54. The bucket member 52 and the grappling member 54 are accurately controlled through the forward and backward tilting, the left and right tilting and the 360° rotating.
The bucket assembly 50 of the excavator may be driven in various ways according to characteristics of the operator to control a posture of the bucket assembly and the order of driving. Therefore, the bucket assembly 50 according to the present embodiment is not limited by a following example of driving the bucket assembly 50.
The bucket assembly having a grappling member according to the present embodiment will be described with a construction example that the excavator having the bucket assembly according to the present embodiment lays stones on an inclined side of a waterway.
At first, the forward and backward tilting unit 58 of the bucket assembly 50 is tilted to properly tilt the supporting plate 70 in order to lift a long stone up among various shapes of stones.
Then, the operator controls the oil pressure cylinder 112 to generate a predetermined level of an oil pressure to spread out the bucket member 52 and the grappling member 54 as wider as a size of a target object. Then, the operator controls the bucket member 52 and the grappling member 54 to grape one side of the long stone.
After deciding a position of the long stone to be laid, the operator controls the swing motor 84 to rotate the ring gear 88 of the rotating unit 60. Then, the bucket member 52 and the grappling member 54 are rotated together with the bottom plate 92 to rotate the lifted long stone to a target angle.
After the rotating the lifted long stone using the bucket assembly 50 at the target angle, the operator control the tilt oil pressure cylinder 120 of the left and right tilting unit 64 to rotate the rotating unit 60 to one of left and right at a predetermined angle to insert the lifted long stone into the target position without touching stones near the target position.
As described above, the bucket member 52 and the grappling member 54 inserts the lifted long stone into the target position while maintaining the lifted long stone to be tilted at the target angle. Therefore, the bucket assembly according to the present embodiment accurately moves the heavy stones according to a target operation.
Also, the bucket member 52 includes the bucket tooth 100 with the hard metal tip 98 and the grappling member 54 includes the grappling tooth 102 with the hard metal tip 98 to prevent the target holding object from being slide and to enhance the durability of the bucket member 52 and the grappling member 54.
Furthermore, the bucket assembly 50 according to the present embodiment drives the swing motor 84 of the rotating unit 60 to rotate the ring gear 88 when the excavator having the bucket assembly 50 is used to bury a huge pipe instead of the stone. Then, the holding pipe can be rotated within 360° by the bucket member 52 and the grappling member 54 mounted at the supporting frame 96 of the bottom plate 92 of the rotating unit 60. Therefore, the pipes are conveniently assembled at connecting portion thereof.
If there is dirt inside the huge pipe, the dirt can be removed by tilting the pipe at a predetermined angle through driving the tilting oil pressure cylinder 120 of the left and right tilting unit 64. Therefore, accuracy and reliability are improved.
When the excavator having the bucket assembly 50 is used to bury a small pipe, the additional grappling tooth 122 may be assembled to the grappling member 54 instead of using the grappling tooth 102. The holder surface portion 124 of the additional grappling tooth 122 allows the grappling member 54 to stably hold the small pipes having various diameters.
The bucket assembly 50 according to the present invention can be used to hold various objects such as woods as well as the stone, the huge or the small pipes.
The bucket assembly according to the present embodiment includes the protector 118 at the supporting frame 96 to prevent the oil pressure cylinder 112 and the check valve 108. Therefore, the bucket assembly according to the present invention performs more accurate operations while preventing the holding object from being impacted or broken.
While the present invention has been described with respect to certain preferred embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

Claims

1. A bucket assembly having a bucket member and a grappling member for an excavator comprising:

a forward and backward tilting unit for tilting a supporting plate mounted at a boom of the excavator through a first hinge bracket in a forward direction and a backward direction;

a rotating unit rotatably disposed within 360° in a clockwise and a counter clockwise under the supporting plate of the forward and backward tilting unit;

a driving unit including a supporting frame disposed under the rotating unit, a bucket member mounted at one side of the supporting frame and a grappling member mounted at other side of the supporting frame, wherein the bucket member and the grappling member faces each other, wherein the driving unit is driven using oil pressure and wherein the supporting frame and the grappling member have a bucket tooth with a hard metal tip and a grappling tooth with a hard metal tip, respectively; and

a left and right tilting unit mounted at both of the forward and backward tilting unit and the rotating unit to tilt the rotating unit in right and left directions with respect to the forward and backward tilting unit using oil pressure.

2. The bucket assembly of claim 1, wherein the grappling member includes an additional grappling tooth having a holder surface portion formed in a shape of an arc smaller than the arc of the grappling member to lift up a pipe having a small diameter.

3. The bucket assembly of claim 1, wherein the forward and backward tilting unit includes:

a supporting plate having a first hinge bracket formed on a front and a rear thereof and a second hinge bracket formed at one side thereof to be separated at a predetermined space from the first hinge bracket; and

a third hinge bracket formed to orthogonally cross the first hinge bracket within a predetermined space under the supporting plate.

4. The bucket assembly of claim 3, wherein the grappling member includes an additional grappling tooth having a holder surface portion formed in a shape of an arc smaller than the arc of the grappling member to lift up a pipe having a small diameter.

5. The bucket assembly of claim 1, wherein the rotating unit includes:

a top plate having a fourth hinge bracket assembled to the third hinge bracket mounted at the supporting plate through a hinge shaft pin to cross the third hinge bracket;

a bottom plate housing a fifth hinge bracket disposed at one side of the top plate, a pinion gear mounted at other side of the top plate to be driven by an oil pressure motor;

a ring gear geared with the pinion gear; and

an oil turning joint disposed between the top plate and the bottom plate to supply the oil pressure and to return.

6. The bucket assembly of claim 5, wherein the grappling member includes an additional grappling tooth having a holder surface portion formed in a shape of an arc smaller than the arc of the grappling member to lift up a pipe having a small diameter.

7. The bucket assembly of claim 1, wherein the driving unit includes:

a bucket member rotatably assembled at one side of a supporting frame formed under the bottom plate of the rotating unit;

a grappling member rotatably assemble at other side of the supporting frame to face the bucket member; and

a protector mounted at the oil pressure turning joint and an oil pressure cylinder between check valves as an oil pressure hose while connecting a hinge shaft hole formed on a bucket rotating plate and a driving bar of the grappling member at the supporting frame to protect the oil cylinder and the check valves from being impact with a target holding object.

8. The bucket assembly of claim 7, wherein the grappling member includes an additional grappling tooth having a holder surface portion formed in a shape of an arc smaller than the arc of the grappling member to lift up a pipe having a small diameter.

9. The bucket assembly of claim 1, wherein the left and right tilting unit includes:

a second hinge bracket formed on a curving portion of an edge of the supporting plate of the forward and backward tilting unit;

a fifth hinge bracket formed one side edge of the top plate of the rotating unit; and

a tilt oil pressure cylinder for connecting the second hinge bracket and the fifth hinge bracket to be tilted in the left and the right using the oil pressure.