AU762584B2 - Cutting tool module - Google Patents

Description

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AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT S S S*

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S S S. S Applicant(s): SAMUEL EDWARD STRATTI Invention Title: Cutting Tool Module *s 0

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The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: 13/05 '03 TUTE 09:13 FAX 61299255911 GRIFFITH HACK [a 006 -2cutting Tool Module Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cutting tool module for mounting on a remote end of an articulated arm of earth moving equipment such as an excavator, and more particularly to a twin drum grinder head.

The present invention is related to the invention described in provisional patent application number P04075 to the same applicant, the contents of which are incorporated herein by way of reference.

Background Art Various modular devices for cutting, grinding and fracturing hard earth formations and rock during excavations trimming or planing floor faces, rock is side faces, trenching and general building footing detailing) are known in the prior art. Such devices can be removably mounted on the free end of an articulated arm of a tracked or conventionally wheeled excavator and the like.

For example, US patent 3922017 discloses an impact fracturing shank mounted within a housing. The housing is carried on a frame for 3600 rotational positioning about an axis of the frame, the frame being supported in pivotal manner at the free end of the articulated arm or boom of the excavator. The linked arms of the excavator are 25 themselves supported for movement within a substantially vertical plane on the body of the excavator in a known .00. manner. A mounting that allows for 3600 rotational positioning improves manoeuvrability of the fracturing tool in confined spaces.

Another example of a tool that is supported through an articulated mounting at the free end of an hydraulically actuatable arm of an excavator is a rock saw as disclosed 99 9.in US patent 5561926. There, a cradle is used to mount a 0' hydraulic or other type of motor which drives the rock saw 0099 35 blade. The cradle is disposed at the end of a multi-piece 9 0. 9 9999 COMS ID No: SMBI-00245919 Received by IP Australia: Time 09:24 Date 2003-05-13 13/05 '03_TUE 09:13 FAX 61299255911 GRIFFITH HACK -3linkage which is itself bolted to a mounting flange at the end of .the excavator arm to allow discrete Positional adjustment of the rock saw blade in three planes arranged orthogonally with respect to one another.

Conventional grinding heads, on the other hand, have a drive unit (motor) which is mounted separately from the tool on ~the excavator arm, and a gear train is used to transmit torque to the grinding wheels which are rotatably supported at a pedestal or housing bolted to a mounting base member at the linkage arm end remote from the drive.

This arrangement considerably limits the grinding head positioning during operation. In particular, the axis of rotation of the grinding wheels must always be perpendicular to the vertical plane of movement of the excavator arms.

The present invention seeks to address and ameliorate such shortcomings with grinding head tools for use with excavators and the like.

Suar ofte netion The present invention provides a head for a dual drum grinding machine used for earth and stone cutting operations, the head comprising: a support adapted to be mounted at the free end of a linkage arm of an earth moving vehicle; and a housing mounted to the support and having a drive positioned therein, the drive having at least one drive shaft, wherein the or each drive shaft extends from the drive, and arranged so that a grinding drum can be mounted to a drive shaft end on each of opposite sides of the housing.

.By incorporating the drive into the head, there is no need for an additional gear train between the drive motor and the grinding drums when mounted, which would make the 99::35 use of such a mount arrangement impossible. With such an improved arrangement, it is only necessary to run hydraulic Q~ 007 cOMS ID No: SMBI-00245919 Received by IP Australia: Time 09:24 Date 2003-05-13 13/05 '03 TUE 09:13 FAX 61299255911GRFIHAC J00 GRIFFITH RACK [a 008 4or electrical lines along the linkage arms to provide power supply to the drive motor, with the obvious attendant advantages.

Typically the earth-moving vehicle is a hydraulic excavator or caterpillar tractor. Alternatively, when a high torque electric motor is employed, power supply can be provided by a dedicated generator of the vehicle or by the vehicle's locomotion engine.

Preferably the drive is a hydraulically or electrically driven motor. Most preferably the driven motor is hydraulically driven and in use, has hydraulic working fluid pumped from the earth moving vehicle to which the head is attached.

Preferably the motor is locatable entirely within the 1S housing as a self contained, exchangeable device. such an arrangement wakes it easier to exchange the motor in case of malfunction without having to remove the support from its mounting at the linkage arm of the excavator.

Preferably the motor has a casing which includes an external mounting flange mountable to a cooperating flange disposed within the housing to fix the casing therewithin.

This arrangement can fix the casing within the housing againist axial and rotational movement. When the cooperating flange is centrally located in the housing this is advantageous in reducing bending loads to which the motor casing may be otherwise subjected.

Preferably when two separate drive shafts extend from the drive, the shafts are either coupled to one another directly or via a slip transmission for absorbing excessive axle torque imparted through the use of oppositely located grinding drums in operation on uneven ground.

Preferably each drive shaft end is flanged.

in a second aspect the present invention provides a dual drum grinding machine comprising a head as defined in the first aspect and two grinding drums, wherein each :grinding drum is mounted to the drive shaft ends.

COMS ID No: SMBI-00245919 Received by IP Australia: Time 09:24 Date 2003.05.13 13/'05 '03 TLTE 09:14 FAX 61299255911 GRIFFITH HACK Z~009 5 Each grinding drum may be independently detachable from its mounting support. Preferably each grinding drum comprises a hollow cylindrical body having a radially inwardly extending wall element which is mounted in -use to the drive shaft end flange. Preferably the wall element is a circular plate which is fixed, eg welded, to the internal wall of the or each drum and which in use is bolted to a drive shaft end flange. Preferably fastening studs or bolts are arranged to extend through corresponding aligned holes on each drive shaft end flange and each circular plate. The studs or bolts are preferably fasteningly engaged with nuts so as to fasten the grinding drum to a respective drive shaft.

Preferably each grinding drum has an exterior surface which supports a plurality of cutting protrusions fixedly or removably mounted thereon. In the use of two grinding drums, each grinding drum may be sim~ilar or nion-identical in shape.

Preferably a cover plate, which itself also supports cutting protrusions, is mounted to a terminal open end of the or each hollow cylindrical body.

Preferably bearings for supporting the grinding drums are provided at the drive and/or at the housing. in one embodiment, bearings for the grinding drums can be provided at the housing, thus reducing bending moments on drive shaft ends to which the grinding drums are keyed or flanged. Alternatively, or additionally, the bearings for the drive shafts within the motor casing can be dimensioned to sustain operational loads to which the grinding drums are subjected, thus dispensing with separate bearings for the drums at the housing.

Brief Description of the Drawing

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0 twjthiStanding any other forms which fall within the scope of the present invention, a preferred embodiment thereof will now be described, by way of example only, with :reference to the accompanying drawings.

COMS ID No:SMBI-00245919 Received by IP Australia: Time 09:24 Date 2003-05-13 13/05 '03 TUE 09:14 FAX 61299255911 GIFT AKIii GRIFFITH RACK 91010 -6 Figure 1 shows schematically, a hydraulic caterpillartype excavator that has .a twin drum grinding head module, in accordance with the present invention, mounted on the free end of the excavator arm; Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the twin drum grinding head module shown in Figure 1; Figure 3 shows an end elevational view of the grinding head module illustrated in Figure 2; Figure 4 Ehows a plan view of the grinding head module of Figure 2; and Figure 5 is an exploded, side elevational view similar to Figure 2 illustrating the different components of the grinding head module.

Modes for Carryin outh Ivein Referring firstly to Figure 1, a grinding head module is mounted on the end of an arm assembly 12 of a self propelled hydraulic excavator 14. The excavator 14 is of conventional design and has a caterpillar undercarriage 16 that support an upper body and cab 18.

The upper body can be rotated about a vertical axis A, with respect to the undercarriage. The upper body 18 has mounted thereto in a conventional manner the arm assembly 12.

The arm assembly includes a main boom 20 pivotally mounted at one end thereof for movement about a horizontal axis B at carriage 16. The other end of the boom has a lifting arm member 22 pivotal~ly mounted thereto so that the boom 20 and member 22 articulate in a common vertical plane. Hydraulically ac~iated rams 24 and 26 are arranged in the linkage to enable manipulation and movement of the main boom and lifting arm in the vertical plane.

A pair of tilt arms 27 and 28 are connected together and mounted at the remote end of the member 22. These arms are actuated by ram 29 to enable tilting movement of grinding head support frame 30. A grinding head in the form of tool unit 60 is mounted to the support frame 30 (as COMS ID Na:SMBI-00245919 Received by IF' Australia: Time 09:24 Date 2003 O5-13 13/05 '03 TIUE 09:14 FAX 61299255911 GRIFFITH HACK Z011i -7described below).- Turning now to Figures 2 to 5, the grinding head module 10 including support frame 30 and tool unit 31. is described in more detail.

Support frame 30 includes a base plate 32, and two side plates 34 are welded to the base plate to extend orthogonally therefrom. A number of bracing plates 36 extend between side plates 34 to brace and stabilise the frame Each side plate has a pair of mounting holes 38 and 39 formed therethrough, with mounting hole 39 being generally elongated as shown. Extending between and supported at the opposing holes 38 is a front pin 40, which is secured at plates 34 by being fastened to a pair of opposing bushes 42 by bolt/nut 43). Similarly, a rear pin 44 extends between plates 34, and is secured thereto by being fastened bolted) to bushes 46. The bushes 46, in addition combine with a collar 48 and bolt/nut 49 to fasten the rear pin 44 between the plates 34.

Further, bushes 46 each have a plurality of through holes 50 extending therethrough, which can be aligned with throughholes 52 in plates 34, and bolts 54 can be extended through aligned holes at various lateral sliding positions of bush 46 in mounting hole 39, thereby fastening the bush at that position. Thus, the distance between the front and rear pins can be adjusted, thereby accommodating -various linkage geometries at the end of arm assembly 12 due to the various differences arising in linkage geometries and types, from different manufacturers). Also, a pair of bush brakes 55, that couple with rear pin 44 and bushes 46 are mounted o-ver rear pin 44 at the opposing inside faces of plates 34. The brakes are adjustable and regulate (control) the rotation of the frame 30 about member 22.

The tool unit 3i includes a plate 60 that abuts (and faces) base plate 32. The plate 60 can be rotated with respect to base plate 32 about axis C Figure 2).

COMS ID No: SMBI-00245919 Received by IP Australia: Time 09:24 Date 2003-05-13 13/05 '03 TUE 09:15 FAX 61299255911GRFIHAC J01 GRIFFITH HACK Z012 8- Extending from and mounted to plate 60 is buttress 62, which is mounted at its opposing end to motor housing 64.

The mounting of buttress 62 to plate SO is further stabilised by a plurality of webs 66 extending S therebetween.

Plate 60 has a coupling plate 68 fastened thereto welded), which rotates within a circular recess of bas e plate 32 when plates 32 and 60 are abutting).

In addition, extending upwardly from plate 32 is a locking pin bush upper half 70, and extending downwardly from plate is a locking pin bush lower half 71. A locking pin 72 extends through the upper and lower bush halves 70, 71, to lock the plate 60 against rotation with respect to base plate 32.

Further, the base plate 60 is held against plate 32 by coupling a locking plate 74 to coupling plate 68 (and plate via bolts 76. Thus, locking of the plate 60 against rotation with respect to the base plate 32 can be achieved by a manual placement of locking pin 72 to extend through respective aligning holes through the plates, or the movement in and out of the locking pin 72 can be automated.

Motor 80 is positioned within housing 64, by coupling the circumferential motor flange 82 with a respective internal circumferential flange 84 within the housing.

25 This fastening can be facilitated by bolting the motor to the housing, welding etc. as appropriate. A motor drive shaft 85 extends through the motor casing body 86, and respective drive plates 87 are mounted to opposite ends of :the drive shaft. Extending from each plate are a plurality of stud bolts 88, which extend through respective holes 89 formed through an internal circumferential web 90 of grinder drums 92- Thus, the drive plates 87 are fastened to respective webs 90 by tightening nuts 94 over stud bolts 88. This fitting can also be achieved by a friction/interference fit, by flanging etc.

The motor drive shaft 85 can be a common axle COMS ID No: SMBI-00245919 Received by IP Australia: Time 09:24 Date 2003-05-13 13/05 '03 TtTE 09:15 FAX 61299255911 GRIFFITH HACK j013 9 extending right through the motor, or individual aligned shafts can be coupled either directly or indirectly in the motor via a slip transmission that enables the absorption of excessive axle torque imparted on one drum relative to the other for example, when grinding uneven ground, or ground of varying hardness etc).

The motor 80 is typically removable from the housing 64, thus enabling easy repair or replacement. The motor is simply decoupled from its power supply lines and its mounting within the housing and, after removing drums 92, is lifted out of the housing 64.

Bearings for the grinding drums 92 can be provided at the motor 80 to support the load on the drive shaft thereat). Alternatively (or in addition) the drums can be supported (borne) on the housing 64 in a roller bearing arrangement).

Each grinder drum has a plurality of grinding spikes 100 welded to the outside thereof. After attaching the drums 92 to the drive plates, drum and plates 102 are then bolted to the end of the grinder drum using bolts 104.

Either or both drums can be removed if necessary, simply by detaching its associated end plate 102 and the nuts 94 at that end.

Typically each removable grinder drum has a diameter 25 dimension in the range 0.450 to 3.0 metres inclusive.

Typically each removable grinder drum has a width dimension in the range 0.075 to 0.10 metres inclusive. It is possible to operate the cutting tool with different dimension drums fitted to either side of the motor drive and driveshaft 85 coupling system.

In use, and with reference to Figure 1, the grinding head module can be operated in its conventional orientation as shown. However, where it becomes necessary to grind difficult to access corners etc, the grinding head module 35 can be rotated by rotating plate 60 about base plate 32 on axis C to any desired rotational position (as COMS ID No: SMBI-00245919 Received by IP Australia: Time 09:24 Date 2003-05-13 13/05 '03 TUE 09:15 FAX 61299255911 GRIFFITH HACK I014 10 determined by the positioning of throughholes in the plates and locking pin 72). Grinding can then continue at this new orientation. This provides the operator of the excavator with additional degrees of freedom not otherwise achievable with conventional grinding heads.

The drive motor obviously can receive electric power or a working fluid through conventional supply lines, which are simply extended to the new positional orientation of the motor.

Whilst the invention has been described with reference to a number of preferred embodiments, it should be appreciated that the invention can be embodied in many other forms.

e COMS ID No: SMBI-00245919 Received by IP Australia: Time 09:24 Date 2003-05-13

Claims (14)

1. A head for a dual drum grinding machine used for earth and stone cutting operations, the head comprising: -a support adapted to be mounted at the free end of a linkage arm of an earth moving vehicle; and a housing mounted to the support and having a drive positioned therein, the drive having at least one drive shaft, wherein the or each drive shaft extends from the drive, and arranged so that a grinding drum can be mounted to a drive shaft end on each of opposite sides of the housing.

2. A head as claimed in claim 1 wherein the drive is a hydraulically or electrically driven motor.

3. A head as claimed in claim 2 wherein driven motor is hydraulically/driven and in use, has hydraulic working fluid pumped from the earth moving vehicle to which the head is attached.

4. A head as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3 wherein the motor is locatable entirely within the housing.

A head as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 4 wherein the motor has a casing including an external mounting flange mountable to a cooperating f-lange disposed within 25 the housing to fix the casing therewithin.

6. A head as claimed in any one of the preceding claims o* @9 wherein when two separate drive shafts extend from the drive, the shafts are either coupled to one another directly or via a slip transmission for absorbing torque.

7. A head as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein each drive shaft end is flanged.

8- A dual drum grinding machine comprising a head as claimed in any one of the preceding claims and two grinding drums, wherein each grinding drum is mounted to the drive shaft ends.

9. A dual drum grinding machine as claimed in claim 8 9 *o999* 9 9 COMS ID No: SMBI-00245919 Received by IP Australia: Time 09:24 Date 2003-05-13 13/05 '03 TLUE 09:16 FAX 61299255911 GRIFFITH HACK [a 016 -12 wherein each grinding drum comprises a hollow cylindrical body having a radially inwardly extending wall element which is mounted in use to the drive shaft end flange.

A dual drum grinding machine as claimed in claim 8 or claim 9 wherein each grinding drum has an exterior surface which supports a plurality of cutting protrusions fixedly or removably mounted thereon.

11. A dual drum grinding machine as claimed in claim wherein a cover plate, which itself also supports cutting protrusions, is mounted to a terminal open end of the or each hollow cylindrical body.

12. A dual drum grinding machine as claimed in any one of claims 8 to ii wherein bearings for supporting the grinding drums are provided at the drive and/or at the housing.

13. A head substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

14. A dual drum grinding machine substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated this 9th day of May 2003 SAMUEL EDWARD STRATTI '0*9 By his Patent Attorney S. p25 GRIFFITH HACK COMS ID No: SMBI-00245919 Received by IP Australia: Time 09:24 Date 2003-05-13