US3724556A

US3724556A - Fill material compensator for an automatic hydro-mechanical land leveler

Info

Publication number: US3724556A
Application number: US00189609A
Authority: US
Inventors: J Servatius
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1971-10-15
Filing date: 1971-10-15
Publication date: 1973-04-03
Anticipated expiration: 1990-04-03

Abstract

Control apparatus including an action booster than can be attached to typical land levelers of the type having an elongated center articulated frame suitably supported at its ends and provided intermediate its ends with a scraper blade fixedly attached thereto and further supported adjacent the center thereof by automatic hydro-mechanical controlled wheels to maintain the height of the blade at a preset relationship with respect to a straight line extending between the support structure adjacent the ends thereof to effect land leveling as it is caused to travel over the surface of the earth. The apparatus boosts the response of the drive structure for the intermediate or blade support wheels to the elevation of the irregularities resulting in an optimum refinement of the leveling action thereof which is controlled by the relationship of the compacted ground contact point of the blade support wheels and a line between the compacted ground contact points of the front and rear support structure. The responsive action compensates for loose material in fill areas and for the problem that fill material would not heretofore spill under the blade properly to fill low places to the exact height of the blade.

Description

United States Patent 1191 Servatius 1 Apr. 3, 1973 [54] FILL MATERIAL COMPENSATOR FOR AN AUTOMATIC HYDRO- MECHANICAL LAND LEVELER [76] Inventor: John B.- Servatius, PO. Box 26, East Prairie, Mo. 63845 22 Filed: 0a. 15, 1971 21 Appl. No.2 189,609

Primary Examiner-Robert E. Pulfrey Assistant Examiner-Stephen C, Pellegrino Attorney-John R. Walker [57] ABSTRACT Control apparatus including an action booster than can be attached to typical land levelers of the type having an elongated center articulated frame suitably supported at its endsand provided intermediate its ends with a scraper blade fixedly attached thereto and further supported adjacent the center thereof by automatic hydro-mechanical controlled wheels to maintain the height of the blade at a preset relationship with respect to a straight line extending between the support structure adjacent the ends thereof to effect land leveling as it is caused to travel over the surface of the earth. The apparatus boosts the response of the drive structure for the intermediate or blade support wheels to the elevation of the irregularities resulting in an optimum refinement of the leveling action thereof which is controlled by the relationship of the compacted ground contact point of the blade support wheels and a line between the compacted ground contact points of the front and rear support structure. The responsive action compensates for loose material in fill areas and for the problem that fill material would not heretofore spill under the blade properly to fill low places to the exact height of the blade.

5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAPRB I975 3. 724,556 SHEET 1 OF 2 FIG. I

FIG. 2

INVENTOR. JOHN B. SERVATIUS p NI PATENTEDAPR 3 I973 SHEET 2 BF 2 @N NN I N VEN TOR. JOHN B. SERVATIUS FILL MATERIAL COMPENSATOR FOR AN AUTOMATIC HYDRO-MECHANICAL LAND LEVELER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to land levelers.

2. Description of the Prior Art In automatic hydro-mechanical land levelers of the general type described in Hobday U.S. Pat. No. 2,792,651 and Gurries et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,000,122, the usual practice is to mount a valve assembly on one of the articulating frame members which is mechanically linked to the other frame member so that when the intermediate wheels supporting the portion of the frame having the blade attached thereto pass over an irregular surface, the articulating motion of the frame members causes the valve to sense the degree of irregularity and drive the intermediate wheels in a direction which raises the blade as it passes over a depression and lowers the blade as it passes over a ridge. In other words, the valve is constantly sensing the irregularity and is constantly trying to maintain a straight line along the longitudinal axes of the articulating frame members by raising or lowering the intermediate wheels.

Certain disadvantages or problems prevail in land levelers of the above-described types, among which are: First, the fill material being loose when deposited in the low-lying areas will become compacted after natural settling has occurred, thus allowing a depression to exist even though the area appeared to be perfectly level immediately following the land leveling operation. Secondly, the blade or bowl of a finish land leveler moves only a slight distance, the space below the blade edge and the depression usually is rather narrow. Accordingly, the fill material will not readily spill under the blade to fill to the exact height of the blade. This problem is particularly prevalent when the moisture content of the fill material is high or the fill material is in clumps rather than being a fine powder or dust.

The former of the above-mentioned problems was recognized by the Shumaker U.S. Pat. No. 2,650,441, from which the following is a quote:

It has been found that if a field is leveled by cutting high places to a level and filling low places to that level, it will not be level after plowing or tilling.

This is due to the settling of the loose earth in the fills and to the expansion of the formerly hard packed earth in the scraped off high spots. "Another object of this invention is to provide automatic means for raising and lowering a scraper that is substantially rigid about a horizontal axis and issupported fore and aft by ground-engaging support structure. Intermediate the fore and aft support structure are wheels which are free to drop into low places or raise when passing over higher places and the action of the wheels is used to raise and lower the cutting blade a proportionate distance. Certain problems prevail in practicing the 441 patent. Among these is the fact that it will not correct itself as it passes over an irregular surface. In other words, the operator must constantly evaluate the condition of the soil so that he can at all times adjust the automatic operation of the blade. Secondly, the features of the 441 patent cannot be incorporated with a land leveling machine having a frame that articulates about a horizontal axis.

In addition to the above-mentioned patents, the state of the art as known by the applicant includes the Hobday U.S. Pat. No. 2,846,792; Gurries et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,833,777; 2,893,140; and 2,900,746; Waterson U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,210,871; 3,287,835; 3,353,288; and 3,516,497. Additionally, it includes the Shuey U.S. Pat. No. 2,503,638; White U.S. Pat. No. 2,720,716; Kirchner U.S. Pat. No. 2,732,640; Shumaker et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,842,874; Knapp et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,092,922; and Young et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,428,133. None of the above references show or suggest applicants device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed towards overcoming the disadvantages and problems relative to previous land levelers. The concept of the present invention is to provide a booster action valve control apparatus that can be attached to land levelers of the type having an elongated center articulated frame suitably supported at its ends and provided intermediate its ends with a scraper blade fixedly attached thereto and further supported adjacent the center thereof by automatic hydromechanical controlled wheels to maintain the height of the blade at a present relationship with respect to a straight line extending between the support structure adjacent the ends thereof to effect land leveling as it is caused to travel over the surface of the earth.

The apparatus boosts the response of the drive structure for the intermediate or blade support wheels to the elevation of the irregularity resulting in an optimum refinement of the leveling action thereof. This is controlled by the relationship of the compacted ground contact point of the blade support wheels and a line between the compacted ground contact points of the front and rear support structure. An important feature of the invention is that the responsive action compensates for loose material in fill areas by overfilling the lower areas. Additionally, the exaggerated movement of the blade in response to the irregularities assures that the fill material contained within the bowl is spilled under the blade. In other words, even when the moisture content of the fill material is high, the compensator of the present invention assures that it will be discharged from the bowl as the blade passes over low places.

Another important feature of the compensator of the present invention is that it automatically corrects itself, i.e., the action for one possible setting can be thought of as the original response equal to the magnitude of the irregularity or a unit of one, plus a percentage of the original unit, e.g., percent, plus this percentage, or 75 percent of the original unit or 0.562, plus this pereentag'e of 75 percent of the 75 percent of the 75 percent of the original unit or 0.422, etc., to approximately 3.7 times the magnitude of the irregularity. The invention includes means for adjusting the amount of the booster action desired.

Another important feature of the compensator of the present invention is that it will not over-react since the hydro-mechanical response is not instantaneous. Accordingly, the blade support wheels pass immediately behind the blade and the leveling action of the blade to these irregularities is constantly changing the elevation of the compacted ground contact point for the blade support wheels, i.e., in relation to the straight line extending between the compacted ground contact points of the front and rear wheels which effects the vertical articulation of the land leveler and thus modifies the response. This continual action and reaction will produce a more accurately leveled field or roadbed than known prior land levelers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a vertical articulated land plane showing the fill material compensator of the present invention installed thereon.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the vertical articulated land plane of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken as on the line III-III of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken as on the line IV-IV of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of a horizontal and vertical articulated land plane showing a modified embodiment of the fill material compensator of the present invention installed thereon.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The fill material compensator apparatus 11 of the present invention is adapted to be used with any of the vertical automatic hydro-mechanical levelers 13 such as the well known articulated type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,000,122. The leveler 13 is pulled in a direction shown by an arrow 15 by a tractor or the like (not shown) which may be attached to a drawbar 17 in a well known manner.

The land leveler 13 includes an articulated frame 19, i.e., a main frame member 21 and a tail frame member 23. The forward end of the main frame member 21 is supported by a pair of wheels 25 and the rearward end of the tail frame member 23 is supported by a caster wheel 27. In other words, the

wheels

25, 27 support the fore and aft ends of the articulated frame 19 at a fixed distance above the ground.

A pair of movable wheels 29 support the midportion of the articulated frame 19 at various distances above the ground. This will be more fully disclosed later in the specification. The leveler 13 includes a transverse cam shaft 31 rotatably attached to the main frame member 21 so as to be free to rotate about a first axis and having cranklike members 33 fixedly attached thereto for rotatably supporting the pair of wheels 29 which rotate about a second axis.

The leveler 13 also includes a scraper blade assembly 35 rigidly attached to the frame member 21 and depending therefrom for scraping away higher areas of land and depositing the thusly collected fill material into lower lying areas as the leveler machine 13 is caused to travel over the irregular surface of the earth in a manner previously described. A hydraulic ram as sembly 38, being operably interposed between the cam shaft 31 and the frame member 21, may be suitably actuated for causing rotation about the first axis of the cam shaft 31, thus raising and lowering the scraper blade assembly 35.

A hydraulic directional control valve 39 is operably interposed between the ram assembly 37 and a source 41 of hydraulic fluid under pressure for controllably actuating the ram assembly 37. It should be understood that the articulated frame 19 pivots about a horizontally disposed pivot pin 43, i.e., the tail frame member 23 is pivotally attached to the main frame member 21 by the pivot pin 43 in the usual manner.

The fill material compensator 11 of the present invention generally comprises a bell crank leveler assembly 45 having at least one vertical arm 47 and a horizontal arm 49. The bell crank lever assembly 45 is pivotally attached to the articulating frame 19. More specifically, the bell crank leveler 45 is pivotally attached to the frame member 23 by a horizontally disposed pivot pin 51 as best viewed in FIGS. 3 and 4 of the drawings. Additionally, the apparatus 11 includes first linkage means or a linkage assembly 53 interconnecting the vertical arm 47 and the valve 39 for causing the valve 39 to be initially actuated when the frame 19 articulates as a result of the wheels 29 rolling over a slight mound or depression which causes the ram assembly 37 to rotatably drive the cam shaft 31 about the first axis thereof to an interim position for returning the frame 19 to a substantially straight line condition.

Further, the apparatus 11 includes a cam lever 55 suitably attached to the cam shaft 31 in any well known manner as by welding or the like. Further yet, the apparatus 11 includes a booster linkage assembly 57 which interconnects the horizontal arm 49 and the cam lever 55 for causing the ram assembly 37 to overcompensate for the irregularity of the surface and further rotatably-drive the cam shaft 31 about the first axis, i.e., beyond the just-mentioned interim position. This causes the scraper blade assembly 35 to slightly un dercut the higher-lying areas, that is, exaggerate the amount of cutting, and slightly overfill the lower-lying areas, resulting in more perfect planed leveling after natural settling of the fill material has occurred.

Particular attention is now directed towards FIGS. 3 and 4 of the drawings wherein it may be seen that the vertical arm 47 preferably comprises an inverted U- shaped structure having the vertical arm 47 and a second vertical arm 59 supported a spaced apart distance therefrom by a horizontal member 61. The

vertical arms

47, 59 are provided with aligned apertures 63 for receiving the pivot pin'51. In other words, a pair of lugs 65 are fixedly attached to the frame member 23 and are provided with apertures in alignment with the aperture 63 for also pivotally receiving the pivot pin 51. The

vertical arms

47, 59 are provided with a'plurality of apertures 67 along the length thereof, e.g., apertures 67a-67i.

The linkage assembly 53 preferably includes an elongated rod 69 having one end thereof pivotally attached to the valve structure 39 with a clevis pin 71. The opposite end of the rod 69 is provided with a threaded portion for threadedly receiving a sleevelike member It should be understood that the valve 39 includes well known structure obvious to those skilled in the art, e.g., like that described in the Gur ries et al. U.S. Pat.

No. 2,990,746. In other words, the valve 39 is the same type as that used on automatic header controls for combines and cotton pickers. Accordingly, the valve 39 includes movable actuating structure as a valve lever or a bell crank member 75 which pivots about a pivot pin 77 as the rod 69 is caused to move to and fro substantially along the longitudinal axis of the leveler 11 in a manner yet to be described.

From FIG. 3 of the drawings, it may be seen that moving the rod 69 to the right causes additional actuating structure 78 of the valve 39 to be moved downwardly and conversely, moving the rod 69 to the left allows the actuating structure to move upwardly. It should be pointed out that upward movement of the actuating structure for the valve 39 is experienced when the movable wheels 29 pass over a mound since the

frame members

21, 23 pivot about the pivot pin 43. This upward movement of the actuating structure of the valve 39 permits fluid under pressure to communicate from the source 41 to the hydraulic cylinder ram 37 which retracts and causes the cam shaft 31 to rotate in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 3 of the drawings, thus moving the wheels 29 closer to the frame member 23, thus lowering the blade assembly 35 so it may plane off the mound as it is caused to travel over the surface.

The linkage assembly 53 includes a pair of adjustment pins 79 which are radially disposed about the sleevelike member 73 and have one of the ends thereof fixedly attached to the sleevelike member 73 in any well known manner as by welding or the like. Thus, this establishes free ends thereof for selective reception into the plurality of apertures 67a-67i in the

vertical members

47, 59. The adjustment pins 79 are shown being received in the apertures 67g in FIGS. 3 and 4 of the drawings. It should be understood that the pins 79 may optionally be threaded bolts having head portions thereon which are larger than the apertures 67a-67i and the threaded shank portion extends into suitable threaded radially disposed apertures in the sleevelike member 73. However, I prefer that the pins 79 be fixedly attached to the sleevelike member 73 as previously described; accordingly, the respective outer ends of the pins 79 are provided with transverse apertures (not shown) for receiving retainer cotter pins (not shown) so that the pins 79 may be expeditiously attached to the bell crank assembly 45.

Still referring to FIGS. 3 and 4 of the drawings, the principal embodiment for the booster linkage 57 includes a pair of elongated rigid link members 81 provided with suitable apertures adjacent the ends thereof for receiving a pair of pivot pins 83. The cam lever 55 also is provided with an aperture for receiving one of the pivot pins 83 and the outer end of the horizontal arm 49 is provided with an aperture for receiving the other pivot pin 83. It should not be obvious to those skilled in the art that clockwise rotation of the cam shaft 31 moves the link members 81 upwardly, thus causing the bell crank lever assembly 45 to rotate in a counterclockwise direction about the pivot pin 51 which allows further upward travel of the actuating structure for the valve 79. This additional displacement of the valve 39 causes the blade assembly 35 to be lowered beyond the height of the mound or irregularity to slightly undercut the higher-lying areas. Ac-

cordingly, opposite actions on the linkage assembly 53 and the booster linkage 57 causes an opposite action on the valve 39, thus slightly overfilling the lower-lying areas, resulting in more perfect land leveling after natu ral settling of the fill material has occurred.

In other words, the till material compensator 11 of the present invention, when attached to an automatic hydro-mechanical leveler in the described manner will multiply the response to any irregularity as it is caused to travel over the surface. The multiplication factor depends upon the particular aperture 67a-67i in which the adjustable pins 79 are received. The aperture 67a is adjacent the uppermost end of the

arms

47, 59 and exaggerates the over-compensating responsive action to the greatest extent. Conversely, placing the pins 79 in the apertures 67i reduces the over-compensating responsive action to a minimum. The intermediate aperture 67b-67h provide compensating action in varying degrees between the above-described extremes. Further, rotation of the sleeve 73 about the threaded portion of the rod 69 provides vernier adjustment of the lowest relative position of the scraper blade assembly as governed by the roughness of the ground, the tractor horsepower, and/or the capacity of the blade 35.

Particular attention is now directed towards FIG. 5 of the drawings wherein asecond embodiment of the fill material compensator 11 of the present invention is shown attached to a well known horizontal and vertical articulated land plane 213. In other words, the land plane 213 is similar to the land plane 13 with the main difference being that a pivot pin disposed along a vertical axis enables the land leveler 213 to be turned around or headed in an opposite direction without making a wide sweeping turn. Accordingly, the leveler 213 includes an intermediate frame member 87 having the front end thereof pivotally attached to the main frame member 21 by the pivot pin 85 and the aftend thereof pivotally attached to the tail frame member 23 by the pivot pin 43. The main frame member 21 additionally includes a pair of platelike members 89 fixedly attached to the member 21 and extend rearwardly beyond the member 21 at a spaced apart distance so as to overlap the intermediate member 87. The members 89 are provided with suitably aligned apertures for receiving the pivot pin 85.

The booster linkage structure 257 for the leveler 213 includes an elongated flexible cable 91 having one end thereof attached to the horizontal arm 49 and the other end thereof attached to the cam lever 55. It should be observed that the cam lever 55 preferably is positioned radially about the cam shaft 31 at a different location than when attached to the cam shaft 31 for the principal embodiment. In other words, the cam lever 55 is displaced substantially from the cam lever 55 for the principal embodiment for obvious reasons.

Additionally, the booster linkage 257 for the lever 213 includes a sheave structure 93 which is fixedly attached to the main frame member 21 for receiving and guidingly constraining a mid-portion of the cable 91, substantially as shown in FIG. 5. Additionally, a tension spring 95 is included for urging rotation of the bell crank lever assembly 45 in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 5.

More specifically, the cam shaft 31, when caused to rotate in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 5, creates tension on the cable 91 for causing clockwise rotation of the bell crank lever assembly 45. Conversely, the tension spring 95 urges the lever assembly 45 in the opposite direction when the cam shaft 31 is caused to rotate in a clockwise direction.

It should be observed that the preferred location for the aperture adjacent the outer end of the horizontal arm 49, i.e., for receiving the end of the cable 91, is along the longitudinal axis of the pivot pin 85. Further, a swivel 97 may optionally be included between the sheave 93 and the arm 49 to preclude twisting of the cable 91.

The heretofore-described operation of the fill material compensator 11 of the principal embodiment is also intended to describe the operation of the justdescribed alternate embodiment.

Although the invention has been described and illustrated with respect to preferred embodiments thereof, it is not to be so limited since changes and modifications may be made therein which are within the full intended scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In combination, an automatic hydro-mechanical land leveler having articulating frame means rigidly supported fore and aft at a fixed distance above the ground, a pair of movable wheels supporting the midportion of said frame means at variable distances above the ground, transverse carn shaft means rotatably attached to said frame means for rotation about a first axis and rotatably supporting said pair of wheels about a second axis, scraper blade means depending from said frame means for scraping away higher laying areas of land and depositing the thusly collected fill material into lower laying areas as said land leveler is caused to travel over the irregular surface of the earth, hydraulic ram means interconnecting said cam shaft and said frame means for raising and lowering said scraper blade means by rotatably driving said cam shaft about said first axis, valve means operably interposed between said ram means and a source of hydraulic fluid under pressure for controllably actuating said ram means, a fill material compensator apparatus comprising bell crank lever means having vertically and horizontally disposed arms and being pivotally attached to said frame means, first linkage means interconnecting said vertical arm of said bell crank means and said valve means for causing said valve means to be initially actuated when said frame means articulates as a result of said pair of wheels rolling over a slight mound or depression thus causing said ram'means to rotatably drive said cam shaft about said first axis thereof to an interim position for returning said frame means to a substantially straight line condition, cam lever means attached to said cam shaft, and booster linkage means interconnecting said horizontal arm of said bell crank means and said cam lever means for causing said ram means to over compensate for the irregularity of the surface and further rotatably drive said cam shaft about said first axis beyond said interim position thereof, thus causing said scraper blade means to slightly undercut the higher laying areas and slightly over fill the lower laying areas as controlled by the compacted ground contact oints of the su port wheels resulting in more perfect and leveling a ter natural settling of the fill material has occurred.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which said vertically disposed arm of said bell crank means is provided with a plurality of apertures for selectively receiving said first linkage means to adjustably control the magnitude of said over compensating responsive action of said ram means.

3. The combination of claim 1 in which said booster linkage includes elongated rigid link means interposed between said horizontally disposed arm of said bell crank means and said cam lever means, one end of said link means being pivotally attached to said bell crank means and the other end being pivotally attached to said cam lever means to rotatably drive said bell crank respectively forward and backwards as said pair of wheels roll over high and low laying areas.

4. The combination of claim 1 in which said booster linkage means includes elongated flexible cable means having one end thereof attached to said horizontally disposed arm of said bell crank means and the other end thereof attached to said cam lever means, sheave means attached to said frame means for receiving and guidingly constraining a mid-portion of said cable means, and spring means for urging rotation of said bell crank means in a predetermined direction of rotation as said pair of wheels roll over a mound and said cable means driving said bell crank means in an opposite direction of rotation when said pair of wheels roll over a depression in the surface of the earth.

5. The combination of claim 1 in which said booster linkage means includes elongated flexible cable means having one end thereof attached to said horizontally disposed arm of said bell crank means and the other end thereof attached to said cam levermeans, sheave means attached to said frame means for receiving and guidingly constraining a mid-portion of said cable means, and spring means for urging rotation of said bell crank means in a predetermined direction of rotation as said pair of wheels roll over a mound and said cable means driving said bell crank means in an opposite direction of rotation when said pair of wheels roll over a depression in the surface of the earth.

* k I! I

Claims

1. In combination, an automatic hydro-mechanical land leveler having articulating frame means rigidly supported fore and aft at a fixed distance above the ground, a pair of movable wheels supporting the midportion of said frame means at variable distances above the ground, transverse cam shaft means rotatably attached to said frame means for rotation about a first axis and rotatably supporting said pair of wheels about a second axis, scraper blade means depending from said frame means for scraping away higher laying areas of land and depositing the thusly collected fill material into lower laying areas as said land leveler is caused to travel over the irregular surface of the earth, hydraulic ram means interconnecting said cam shaft and said frame means for raising and lowering said scraper blade means by rotatably driving said cam shaft about said first axis, valve means operably interposed between said ram means and a source of hydraulic fluid under pressure for controllably actuating said ram means, a fill material compensator apparatus comprising bell crank lever means having vertically and horizontally disposed arms and being pivotally attached to said frame means, first linkage means interconnecting said vertical arm of said bell crank means and said valve means for causing said valve means to be initially actuated when said frame means articulates as a result of said pair of wheels rolling over a slight mound or depression thus causing said ram means to rotatably drive said cam shaft about said first axis thereof to an interim position for returning said frame means to a substantially straight line condition, cam lever means attached to said cam shaft, and booster linkage means interconnecting said horizontal arm of said bell crank means and said cam lever means for causing said ram means to over compensate for the irregularity of the surface and further rotatably drive said cam shaft about said first axis beyond said interim position thereof, thus causing said scraper blade means to slightly undercut the higher laying areas and slightly over fill the lower laying areas as controlled by the compacted ground contact points of the support wheels resulting in more perfect land leveling after natural settling of the fill material has occurred.

5. The combination of claim 1 in which said booster linkage means includes elongated flexible cable means having one end thereof attached to said horizontally disposed arm of said bell crank means and the other end thereof attached to said cam lever means, sheave means attached to said frame means for receiving and guidingly constraining a mid-portion of said cable means, and spring means for urging rotation of said bell crank means in a predetermined direction of rotation as said pair of wheels roll over a mound and said cable means driving said bell crank means in an opposite direction of rotation when said pair of wheels roll over a depression in the surface of the earth.