GB2388004A

GB2388004A - Digging and earth moving tool

Info

Publication number: GB2388004A
Application number: GB0206801A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Raymond Robert Robinson; Shaun Massey; Isaac Lee; Michael Dodds
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-03-22
Filing date: 2002-03-22
Publication date: 2003-11-05
Also published as: GB0206801D0

Abstract

A digging and earth working tool comprises an elongate slide bar 1 at the end of which are pivotally mounted a pair of opposed bucket jaws 11. Each bucket is attached to a bracket 7 by at least one operating arm 9. An operating lever 3 is pivotally connected to the slide bar and connected to the bracket by a link bar 5. In use, the slide bar is held in a substantially vertical position, while a downward movement of the lever pushes the slide bracket down the bar causing the jaws of the buckets to close collecting soil. The tool can be lifted using the hand grasp 2. The buckets are opened by raising the lever, causing any soil in the buckets to be released.

Description

Digging and Earth Working Tool This invention relates to a manually

operated digging and earth-working tool; the main application would be to dig holes for posts Postholes may be dug manually using a specially shaped spade known as a spit Double bladed spits are also known where the blades are pivoted to enable them to collect and deposit some of the spoil from a hole.

Another tool for digging postholes is in the form of an auger, which consists of a large Archimedes screw driven into the ground by rotating it using a large 'T', shaped handle This is commonly known as a post hole borer; a similar tool may also be power driven Another method of producing postholes employs explosives.

A major shortcoming with all of these tools and techniques is that they are inefficient in terms of extracting loose dirt or slurry from the hole. Clearly this is an important shortcoming as the hole must be clear to permit the post to be inserted According to the present invention there is provided a tool made of appropriate material comprising a pair of bucket jaws, mechanically linked to an operating lever The bucket jaws are two identical toothed jaws similar to those found on a JCB mechanical digger; different sized bucket jaws may be used to produce different sized holes. Raising or lowering the operating lever moves the sliding bracket, by means of the link bar, up or down the hand held slide bar This in turn urges the bucket jaws to pivot around a fixed point at their respective sides thereby effecting working of the tool (i.e opening and closing the jaws) The tool can lift spoil from an excavation with very little or no back spill and the jaws are so close knit that loose soil, sand, and even slurry can be collected, this cannot be done efficiently using existing manually operated tools Also, the jaws are strong enough to lift stones and

r more solid objects from the excavation It is possible to dig deep holes as well as shallow holes by fitting and adjusting extensions to the operating mechanism Smaller versions of the tool can be used in the garden for planting shrubs and trees.

The tool is designed to be operated by one person and it does not require strenuous effort to dig a large hole However, some pre-breaking of heavy soils like clay may be necessary to dig the hole A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Figure I shows a side elevation of the digging tool with the jaws of the buckets open about to be impelled into the earth Figure 2 is a similar view with the jaws closed and full of earth being lifted out of the hole The operating mechanism for the tool can clearly be seen by inspection of these two Figures Figure I shows a slide bar I and hand grasps 2 with the operating lever 3 connected to the slide bar 1, by an operating lever/slide bar pivot 4 The link bar 5, is connected to the operating lever 3 by the operating lever/link bar pivot 6 and to the sliding bracket 7 by the link bar/sliding bracket pivot 8 The sliding bracket 7 is located near the bottom of the slide bar I and is connected to four bucket operating arms 9 by the sliding bracket/operating arm pivots 10 The two bucket jaws 11 are connected to the four bucket operating arms 9 by the operating arm/bucket pivot points 12 At the base of the slide bar I is a fork 13 which connects the slide bar 1 to the bucket jaws 1 1 and allows the bucket jaws I 1 to pivot around a pivot rod 14 When the operating lever 3 is in a raised position, as shown in Figure 1, the bucket jaws 11 are open ready to be pushed into the earth 15 Figure 2 shows the bucket jaws I I closed, after having been pushed into the earth 15, and full

of soil 16. The closure is effected by moving the operating lever 3 downwards which transmits this motion to the bucket jaws I I via the link bar 5, the sliding bracket 7, and the four bucket operating arms 9 The digging tool is removed from the hole by lifting it using the hand grasp 2 When the operating lever 3 is raised, the soil 16 collected in the bucket jaws I I will be dumped in the required location The digging tool is then returned to the hole and the process repeated until the hole is of the required dimensions

Claims

( 4 CLAIMS

1. A digging and earth working tool comprising an elongate slide bar at or adjacent one end of which are 5 pivotally mounted a pair of opposed bucket jaws, a bracket slidably mounted on the one end extent of the slide bar, at least one operating arm pivotally mounted to, to extend between, each bucket jaw and the bracket, an operating lever one end of which is pivotally mounted to the slide 10 bar at a region remote from the one end thereof, and a link bar one end of which is pivotally mounted to an intermediate region of the operating lever and the other end of which is pivotally mounted to the bracket, the arrangement being such that, on pivoting movement of the 15 operating lever relative to the slide bar, the bracket is moved by the link bar longitudinally of the slide bar, and the bucket jaws are moved by the operating arms between open positions remote from one another and closed positions engaging with each other to define an earth receiving 20 volume therein.

2. A tool as claimed in claim 1 and further comprising a hand grasp on the slide bar between the pivotal mounting of the operating lever to the slide bar 25 and the bracket.

3. A tool as claimed in claim 2 and further comprising a hand grasp on the free end of the operating lever remote from the slide bar.

S

4. A tool as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 3, and comprising, for each bucket jaw, a pair of operating arms one extending between each side of the associated bucket jaw and the bracket.

10

5. A digging and earth working tool substantially as described with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.