EP0525186A1

EP0525186A1 - Rock bed excavator

Info

Publication number: EP0525186A1
Application number: EP91906575A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Masayoshi K.K.Komatsu Seisakusho Takahashi; Ryoji K.K.Komatsu Seisakusho Kobayashi
Original assignee: Komatsu Ltd
Current assignee: Komatsu Ltd
Priority date: 1990-04-03
Filing date: 1991-04-01
Publication date: 1993-02-03
Also published as: EP0525186A4; WO1991015655A1

Abstract

A rock bed excavator provided with a working machine (5) mounted on an upper turning body (4) rotatably mounted on a self-propelled lower body (3), in which the working machine (5) is composed of: a mast (6) capable of being rotated around the horizontal axis (d) by a mast rotator (7); a swingable tip member (11) rotatably disposed on the tip of the mast (6) through a shell rotator (10) and swinged by a shell swinging cylinder (12); and a shell (14) pivotally supported by the tip member (11) at the base end and capable of being tilted by a shell tilting cylinder (16) in the vertical direction at the tip. Thus, a working angle of the shell can be changed by only the shell swinging cylinder (12) and shell tilting cylinder (16), thereby a working angle being kept easily. A hose guide (22) composed of a plurality of lines of chains (22b) is suspended from the upper part of the mast (3) and the hoses, which are clamped by clamp supporters (22b) extended crosswise between chains (22b), can smoothly be transferred without rubbing each other or interfering with the other units even when the mast elongates and contracts.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a rock bed excavator having a shell easily capable of being tilted at a constant working angle, and further a hose clamping device for clamping hoses which supply oil under pressure etc. to the working machines of such rock bed excavators wherein the hoses are prevented from rubbing one another or being twisted so as to improve their durability.

BACKGROUND TECHNOLOGY

A working machine is provided on a conventional rock bed excavator for excavating rock beds with cutters mounted on the tip end of a shell as illustrated in Figs. 9 and 10.
The working machine includes a boom b which is freely laterally swingable at the tip end thereof by a boom swinging cylinder a and is vertically tiltable by a boom tilting cylinder c.
The boom b is telescopically extendable and has a tip member e disposed at the tip portion thereof which is freely laterally swingable by a shell swinging cylinder d and a shell g which is freely rotatable by a shell rotator f is provided on the tip member e, and is vertically tiltable by a shell tilting cylinder h.
The shell g is provided with a rod (not shown) to the tip end of which a cutter bit is fixed for excavating rock beds j.
In the conventional rock bed excavator set forth above, the working angle of the shell g relative to the front rock bed j can be changed also by rotating the shell g or swinging or tilting the boom b as well as by swinging or tilting the shell g.
Consequently, there was a drawback that it was difficult to keep the working angle constant during the excavation of the rock beds.
It is the first object of the present invention to improve the drawback and provide a rock bed excavator easily capable of keeping the working angle of the shell constant relative to the rock bed in front of the shell.
Furthermore, some of the conventional rock bed excavators are provided with working machines disposed at the tip ends of extendable masts and driven by oil under pressure etc., which is supplied from the excavator bodies by way of hoses. However, the hoses connected to the working machines are swung accompanied by the elongation and contraction of the masts and the forward and rearward movements or the turning of the working machines.
Therefore in the conventional rock bed excavators, a plurality of hoses are clamped together by clamps or the parts of the hoses are fixed to other units such as the mast to prevent the hoses from moving.
In such conventional clamping methods, however, hoses etc. are pulled, twisted, or rubbed one another, or further interfere with other units every time when the working machine is operated or the mast is elongated or contracted, so that there is a drawback that they are worn out soon or broken.
Particularly in the conventional clamping method to fix a part of a hose to another unit for preventing the hose from moving, there was a drawback that the fixed portions are liable to be broken soon causing oil leakage when the hoses hang down since the weight of the hoses etc. is additionally applied to the fixed portions.
It is the second object of the present invention to improve such a drawback and provide a hose clamping device for a construction machine which prevents the abrasion or breakage of hoses etc. so as to improve the durability of the same.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In order to achieve the above object, a rock bed excavator according to the present invention is provided with a working machine mounted on an upper turning body rotatably mounted on a self-propelled lower body, in which the working machine is composed of a mast capable of being rotated round a horizontal axis by a mast rotator, a tip member which is rotatably disposed on the tip of the mast by way of a shell rotator and is swingable by way of a shell swinging cylinder, and a shell pivotally supported by the tip member at the base end thereof and capable of being tilted by a shell tilting cylinder in the vertical direction at the tip end thereof.
Thus, a working angle of the shell can be changed by the shell swinging cylinder and shell tilting cylinder alone and the working machine has less degrees of freedom, so that the working angle can be kept easily.
Furthermore, the rock bed excavator comprises a hose guide composed of a plurality of lines of chains which are suspended from the upper part of the extendable mast and the hoses which are clamped by clamp supporters extended across the chains. As a result, hoses can smoothly be transferred without rubbing one another or interfering with other units even when the mast elongates and contracts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 is a side view of a rock bed excavator according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a side view of a working machine, Fig. 4 is an enlarged side view of a hose guide of the rock bed excavator, Fig. 5 is a front view of Fig. 4, Fig. 6 is an enlarged side view of the chain portions of Fig. 4, Fig. 7 is a front view of Fig. 6, Fig. 8 is a cross- sectional view taken along VIII - VIII of Fig. 6, Fig. 9 is a plan view of a conventional working machine and Fig. 10 is a side view of Fig. 9.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figs. 1 to 3. In the figures, a rock bed excavator 1 is provided with a working machine 5 mounted on the front portion of an upper turning body 4 rotatably mounted on a self-propelled lower body 3 freely movable using caterpillars 2.
The working machine 5 comprises a mast which is telescopically extendable in the direction of the arrow A and is pivotally supported at the base end thereof by the upper turning body 4 by way of a mast rotator 7.
The mast rotator 7 includes a plurality of hydraulic motors 7a which enables the mast 6 to rotate round a rotation axis 0, by way of reduction gears 7b.
A shell rotator 10 having a rotation axis 0₂ which is in parallel with the rotation axis 0, is provided at the tip portion of the mast 6, and a hydraulic motor 10a provided in the shell rotator 10 rotates the tip member 11 round the rotation axis 0₂.
The tip end side of the tip member 11 can be swung horizontally round a supporting shaft 13 by a shell swinging cylinder 12, and a shell 14 is pivotally supported at the base end portion thereof by a bracket 11 a projecting from the tip member 11 with a pin 15.
The tip end side of the shell 14 can be vertically tilted round the pin 15 by a shell tilting cylinder 16 and a rod 17 having a cutter bit 17a fixed at the tip end thereof for excavating a rock bed 18 is provided on the shell 14.
An operation of the rock bed excavator will be described hereinafter.
A working angle of the shell 14 relative to the rock bed 18 for excavating the same is set according to the following steps:

At first the mast 6 is turned by the mast rotator 7, and thereafter the mast 6 is elongated or contracted to a proper height.

The tip member 11 is turned by the shell rotator 10, and thereafter the shell 14 is swung by the shell swinging cylinder 12 and is tilted by the shell tilting cylinder 16. In this way, the working angle of the shell 14 relative to the rock bed 18 can be set only by operating the five movable portions, more easily compared with conventional methods.
Inasmuch as the working angle of the shell can be determined by operating the shell swinging and tilting cylinders alone being free from the operations of other movable portions of the working machine, it is easy to keep the working angle, and furthermore, the working angle can be easily changed during the operation by the shell swinging and shell tilting cylinders alone if the mast is held in parallel with the rock bed.
Accordingly, it is operated more easily compared with the conventional rock bed excavators in which the working angle is set by operating six movable portions, and when the working angle is to be changed during the operation it can be changed by the shell swinging and tilting cylinders 12 and 16 alone if the mast 6 is held in parallel with the rock bed 18.
Provided at the upper portion of the mast 6 are actuators such as various cylinders or rotators, to which oil under pressure is supplied from the excavator body 1 by way of hoses 20 etc. composed of a plurality of high pressure hoses.
One ends of the hoses 20 etc. are coupled to pipings 21 on the side of the excavator body 1 in front of the mast rotator 7 as illustrated in Fig. 4, and the other sides thereof are coupled to various actuators provided on the upper portion of the mast 6 and are supported by a hose guide 22 at the central portions thereof.
The hose guide 22 is composed of two lines of chains 22b each comprising a series of a plurality of links 22a, and the chains 22b are connected to each other at a given interval by a plurality of supporting rods 22c.
One sides of the chains 22b are connected to the upper portion of chain guides 23 vertically provided in front of the mast 6, while the other sides thereof are connected to the tip end of brackets 6a projecting from the upper portion of the mast 6.
Hoses 20 etc. are accommodated between these chains 22b so as to be lined up from the inner side, and are clamped between the chains 22b by clamp supporters 22d provided between the supporting rods 22c.
The operation of the rock bed excavator will be described hereinafter. Before the rock bed is excavated, the mast 6 is extended or contracted so that the rod 17 for excavating the rock bed may reach its working position. Accompanying the movement of the mast 6, the hose guide 22 suspended from the brackets 6a provided on the upper portion of the mast 6 is also extended or contracted to hold the hoses 20 etc. for supplying oil under pressure to the actuators provided at the upper portion of the mast 6.
Consequently the hoses 20 etc. can be prevented from becoming entangled with one another and from interfering with other units while keeping proper curves at the lower portions of the hoses 20 etc..
Since the curved portions of the hoses 20 etc. lower along the chain guides 23 as the mast 6 is contracted, the chain guides 23 guide the chains 22b so as to prevent the same from being twisted.
Although a rock bed excavator is illustrated in Fig. 4, the present invention can be applied to whole construction machines having working machines comprising actuators driven by oil pressure etc. provided at the upper portions of extendable masts.

INDUSTRIAL UTILIZATION

As described above in detail, inasmuch as the six movable portions in a conventional working machine are reduced to five in the present invention, operating points are reduced in number so that the operation becomes easier.
Furthermore, the working angle of the shell relative to the rock bed can be set only by operating the five movable portions, so that positioning the shell and setting the working angle are more easily performed compared with a conventional rock bed excavator.
Since the working angle of the shell can be determined by the operations of the shell swinging and tilting cylinders alone and is not affected by the operation of other movable parts in the working machine, it is easy to keep the working angle. Moreover, when the working angle is to be changed during the operation, it is easily changed by operating the shell swinging and shell tilting cylinders alone if the mast is held in parallel with the rock bed.
Furthermore, inasmuch as a plurality of hoses etc. suspended from the upper portion of an extendable mast are supported by a chain type hose guide, the hoses etc. are prevented from being twisted, rubbing one another, being entangled one another or interfering with other units even if the hoses etc. are elongated or contracted accompanied by the elongation and contraction of the mast.
As a result, the hoses etc. can be remarkably improved in their durability eliminating their early abrasion and breakage.
Still furthermore, the vertical movement of hoses etc. can be smooth since they can have curved portions having proper curvatures at the lower portions thereof so as to prevent them from being bent sharply and injured, and they are provided with chain guides for vertically guiding the curved portions thereof so as to prevent the same from being twisted.

Claims

Claims
1. A rock bed excavator provided with a working machine mounted on an upper turning body rotatably mounted on a self-propelled lower body, in which the working machine is composed of a mast capable of being rotated round a horizontal axis by a mast rotator, a swingable tip member rotatably disposed on the tip of the mast by way of a shell rotator and swinged by a shell swinging cylinder, and a shell pivotally supported by the tip member at the base end thereof and capable of being tilted by a shell tilting cylinder in the vertical direction at the tip end thereof.
2. A hose clamping device of the rock bed excavator having a working machine in which various actuators are provided at the upper portion of an extendable mast and are driven by oil under pressure etc. supplied to the actuators from the excavator body by way of hoses etc., wherein a hose guide composed of a plurality of lines of chains is suspended from the upper portion of the mast and the hoses etc. are clamped by clamp supporters extended across the chains.
3. A hose clamping device according to claim 2, wherein the hose clamping device is provided with chain guides for vertically guiding the curved portions formed at the lower portions of the hoses etc. and at the hose guide for supporting the hoses etc.