GB2312413A - A dumper truck bucket - Google Patents

Abstract

A dumper truck bucket 12 mounted for both pivotal and substantially vertical movement, having first actuating means 14 for pivoting and second actuating means 15 for vertical movement. The actuating means 14 and 15 and the means by which the bucket 12 is mounted on the chassis 11, preferably in the form of a pair of arms 13, extend to the bucket sides, the arm ends being pivotally connected to the bucket 12 and chassis 11. Preferably the second actuating means 15 acts between the chassis 11 and an arm 13 while the first actuating means 14 preferably lies parallel to the arm 13 and acts as a rigid brace during vertical movement of the bucket 12. The truck may carry a dozer blade and it may be mounted on tracks. Also disclosed is a dumper truck seat (22, Figs. 2 and 3) pivotally mounted on the truck so that it can be pivoted from storage (Fig. 2) to in use (Fig. 3) positions.

Description

DUMPER TRUCKS This invention relates to dumper trucks.

Both wheeled and tracked dumper trucks are known and a number have mechanisms for elevating the bucket so that it can be emptied into a container. Many of these mechanisms are rather complex and expensive and they all rely on lifting mechanisms which lie beneath the bucket and act between the bed on which the bucket sits and the bucket itself. This can give rise to problems of stability and, further, it makes it extremely difficult to construct a truck which can maintain its bucket in a low enough position to receive cement from a standard cement-mixer and can elevate that bucket to a high enough position in which it can tip its contents into a builder's skip.

The present invention consists in a dumper truck having a chassis, a bucket, means for mounting the bucket for pivotal movement with respect to the chassis and for generally vertical movement with respect to the chassis, first actuating means for causing pivotal movement of the bucket and second actuating means for causing a generally vertical movement of the bucket characterised in that the mounting means and the first and second actuating means extend to the side of the bucket.

This arrangement means that the bucket can sit right down on the bed of the chassis and hence adopt the lowest possible position. Preferably, the mounting means include a pair of arms extending along respective sides of the bucket, each having one end pivotally connected to the chassis and the other end pivotally connected to the bucket.

In this case the bucket may have downwardly facing channels in which the arms engage in the untipped orientation of the bucket. In either event, the second actuating means may act between the chassis and an arm. The second actuating means may be a hydraulic ram.

The first actuating means may constitute a rigid brace during vertical movement of the bucket and may be constituted by a double acting hydraulic ram. In any event it may extend generally parallel with an associated arm and the arm, chassis (or an extensive thereof), double actuating ram and bucket may form a four-bar linkage.

The arms and rams may be directly coupled to the chassis or they may be coupled to the chassis via a fixed extension thereof, e.g. an upstanding wall.

The chassis may carry a dozer blade and this may be utilised to provide stability during lifting. The chassis may be wheeled or it may be mounted on tracks.

Although the invention has been defined above, it is to be understood that it includes any inventive combination of the features set out above or in the following description.

The invention may be performed in various ways and the specific embodiment will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a side-view of a dumper truck according to the invention with the elevated and tipped positions of the bucket also indicated; Figure 2 is a detail of the rear of the dumper truck showing a seat in a storage position; and Figure 3 illustrates the seat in its use position.

A dumper truck 10 comprises a tracked chassis 11, a bucket 12, mounting means generally indicated at 13 and first and second actuating means 14, 15.

Looking at the drawing in more detail, the mounting means 13 comprises a pair of arms 16, which extend along respective sides of the bucket 12 and which are pivotally mounted on an upstanding wall 17 about a horizontal axis.

The free ends 18 of the arms 16 are cranked and themselves pivotally mount the bucket 12 for tipping movement. The second actuating means 15 comprise a hydraulic ram, which acts between the chassis 11 and the arms 16 via a plate 19.

Conveniently such rams and plates are provided on each side.

The first actuating means comprises a double actuating ram 14 which is mounted between the wall 17 and the bucket 12 so that it extends generally parallel with the arms 16.

During vertical movement it can be locked in the position illustrated in the drawing so that it acts as a further brace for the bucket and indeed it forms a four-bar linkage with the bucket 12, the arm 16 and the wall 17. When this ram 14 is shortened, it pulls the front end of the bucket backwards causing it to pivot about the axis 21. There may be rams 14 on each side of the bucket.

In the fully lowered position shown in the drawing, the bucket can extend beneath the mouth of a standard cementmixer. It is also at a very convenient height for filling using a mini-digger. In use, the bucket can be elevated by extending the ram 15 causing the arms 16 to pivot upwardly.

Particularly conveniently the bucket may be provided with overturned lips 22, which form channels into which the arms 16 engage. This allows for a particularly stable lift. As this lifting takes place, the bucket is further braced by the rams 14. When fully elevated, the arms 16 are in a position high enough to allow the bucket to be emptied into a standard builder's skip and this is achieved, as mentioned above, by shortening the rams 14.

It may be desired to provide a seat 22 and/or stepper plate 23 in which case these are conveniently movable between a storage position (Figure 2) and a use position (Figure 3). As can be seen in the Figures the seat may be mounted on a safety nudge bar 24, which is pivotally mounted on the vehicle and can be locked in either illustrated position by mechanism 25.

This seat arrangement constitutes an invention either alone or in combination with the aforementioned features.

Claims (1)

1. A dumper truck having a chassis, a bucket, means for mounting the bucket for pivotal movement with respect to the chassis and for generally vertical movement with respect to the chassis, first actuating means for causing pivotal movement of the bucket and second actuating means for causing generally vertical movement of the bucket characterised in that the mounting means and first and second actuating means extend to the side of the bucket.

2. A truck as claimed in claim 1 wherein the mounting means includes a pair of arms extending along the respective sides of the bucket with one end pivotally connected to the chassis and the other end pivotally connected to the bucket.

3. A truck as claimed in claim 3 wherein the bucket has downwardly facing channels in which the arms engage in the untipped orientation of the bucket.

4. A truck as claimed in 2 or claim 3 wherein the second actuating means acts between the chassis and an arm.

5. A truck as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the first actuating means constitute a rigid brace during vertical movement of the bucket.

7. A truck as claimed in claim 6 wherein the first actuating means includes a double acting ram.

8. A truck as claimed in claim 6 or 7 as dependant on any one of the claims 2 to 5 wherein the double actuating ram extends generally parallel with an associated arm.

9. A truck as claimed in claim 9 wherein the arm, chassis, double actuating ram and bucket form a four bar linkage.

10. A truck as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the chassis carries a dozer blade.

11. A truck as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the chassis is mounted on tracks.

12. A truck substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

13. A dumper truck seat including mounting means for pivotally mounting the seat on a truck.

14. A seat as claimed in Claim 12 wherein the seat includes a stepper plate.

15. A seat claimed in Claim 12 or Claim 13 further comprising locking means for locking seat in a storage position or a use position.

16. A dumper truck as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 12 including a seat as claimed in any one of Claims 13 to 16.