US3853346A

US3853346A - Crane bucket equipment

Info

Publication number: US3853346A
Application number: US00413668A
Authority: US
Inventors: W Perry; R Jobst
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1971-09-07
Filing date: 1973-11-07
Publication date: 1974-12-10
Anticipated expiration: 1991-12-10

Abstract

A holder with a capacity for two crane buckets holds one of these buckets for filling while the other is being emptied. On return of the emptied bucket to the holder a mechanism is equipped to detach the emptied bucket from the crane cable and to attach the filled bucket to the crane cable. The crane bucket is designed so that its weight operates hydraulic means for causing bottom opening and closing.

Description

[ Dec. 10, 1974 CRANE BUCKET EQUIPMENT FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [76] Inventors: Raymond O. Jobst, i476 Trotwood 864,849 4/1961 Great Britain..........i............i 294/70 Ave., Mississauga; William A. Perry,

28 Lewin Cres., Ajax, Ontario, both of Canada Primary Examiner-Frank E. Werner [22] Filed: Nov. 7, 1973 ABSTRACT 1 7 5 .l. m a D n o ru 3 .w l n. 0. A s BU m t oh u m. D. A l. l 2

[ Division Of 178,005, P 7, 1971, A holder with a capacity for two crane buckets holds one of these buckets for filling while the other is being emptied. On return of the emptied bucket to the holder a mechanism is equipped to detach the emptied bucket from the crane cable and to attach the filled bucket to the crane cable. The crane bucket is designed so that its weight operates hydraulic means for causing bottom opening and closing.

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SHEET 50F 6 FIG. 12

FIG. 13

FIGI14 PATENTEU DEC 1 (H974 SHEEI 8 [IF 6 FIG.15

CRANE BUCKET EQUIPMENT This application is a division of application SN 178,005 filed Sept. 7, i971 and now US. Pat. No. 3,780,8 80.

Thisinvention relates to a holder for crane buckets of the type usually used in the supply of concrete to construction sites, wherein the invention provides a holder for supporting a bucket which allows the lowering of an empty bucket by the crane cable for filling; and said support means supports at an adjacent location, a bucket which has been already filled, and the invention provides automatic means for disconnecting the crane cable from the bucket just lowered and connecting the same crane cable to the filled bucket so that no time is lost of the crane operators time through manual interchange of buckets.

In drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective illustrating the function of a holder in accord with the invention;

FIG. 2 shows across-section of the cable-bucket connection;

FIG. 3 shows a side view, bucket connection;

FIG. 4 shows a cross-section along the lines 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 shows a top view of the cable-bucket connection and disconnection mechanism at a different stage of the operating cycle from FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 shows a side view of this mechanism; FIG. 7 shows a section along the lines 7-7 of FIG.

partly in section, of the FIGS. 8 l1 show schematically the operation of the connect-disconnect means between the bucket and the crane cable;

FIG. 12 14 show the operation of the hydraulic circuit; and

FIG. 15 shows 'a chute for filling the bucket.

In the drawings the bucket support means is a frame work supported platform or table having twin apertures, each adapted to hold a crane bucket 10. Crane bucket 10 for use with the invention, resembles conventional buckets, differing in particular in their crane cable attachment means, their means for achieving orientation about a vertical axis. I

It is preferable if the bucket be specially designed for the development with dumping or discharging automatically rather than manually and a bucket so designed is illustrated in FIG. 3. The bucket is preferably designed to be a surface of revolution about its intended vertical axis and provided with a conical lower extent 12 and a cylindrical upper extent 14 having diametrically opposed rollers 15 on opposite sides thereof exterior of the bucket and mounted on horizontal axes, and an arm 16 pivotally connected at '19 to the top of the bucket at one end by means hereafter described and having upper plate 19 defining a pair of openings being bucket locations and dimensioned to receive the conical and lower

cylindrical portions

12 and 14 therein but to support on the edges of an opening the outwardly extend ing flanges 22 of the bucket. The bucket support means defines a cylindrical wall 26 about the position of each bucket resting as described in the bucket location, and on each such wall 26 is an upwardly facing sloping track 28, designed to form a track for rollers 15 which are located on diametrically opposed locations on the outside of each wall of the bucket.

The track 28 is designed to ensure, that whateverorientation the bucket is dropped into the aperture, the two rollers follow diametrically opposed sectors of the track until the rollers come to rest in the opposed depressions 29 therein. In the preferred embodiment of the invention the track 28, comprises two portions,

each semi-circular in plan view and each meeting the 5-8, the orientation of the bucket 10, created by the sloping tracks 28 are such that the line joining the apertures in the ears-17 of one arm 14 are parallel to the aperture in the cars 17 of the other arm 14 so that a coupling means may in one sliding motion, insert a pin 31 for coupling through one set of ear 17 apertures, and withdraw the pin 31 for coupling from the other set of ear l7 apertures. Pairs of supports (here supports 30) on each side of the pivot 19 are designed to support the arms 14 at a desired height for such coupling (here equal heights) when the arms 14 are unsupported by a crane cable.

In the invention, a coupling bracket 35 replaces the crane hook as the means for attachment to the bucket 10, thus as far as the invention is concerned, the hook is not essential as the bracket may be attached to the cable. However, since the hook will usually be present for other purposes it is, in the preferred embodiment, used as the coupling means between the crane cable and the cable bracket. Thus the crane hook 37 is hooked through an aperture 39 in a bracket 35 designed to extend longitudinally downwardly from the spaced ears 17 with aligned apertures at the other, the

thereon with an aperture 38 in each end and the aperture 38 are spaced so that they may simultaneously align with the two pairs of apertures in the respective bucket arms 14 when the bucket arms 14 are both resting on supports 30 as best shown in FIG. 5 and 10. Although details of the connections of the bucket arms 14 will be discussed hereafter it should'be here noted that the shank 40 to which the bucket arm is attached, is provided with a vertical slot 42 designed to allow the pivot point 19 of the bucket arm 14 to always move to a point wherein the bucket arms are maintained aligned by the supports 30 regardless of the height of the shank 40. When the attitude of the bucket 10 and the cable is such that the cable coupling'bracket 3S hangs vertically there are provided hanging downwardly from the bracket arcuate plates 44 movable therewith on each side of the bracket said plates 44 being shaped to be convex downwardly.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 7, a pin 31 is provided dimensioned to be inserted through a pair of bucket arm ear 17 apertures and through the aperture 38 in the coupling link located therebetween. The pin 31 is arranged to project outwardly at each end beyond the bucket link ear members and the outwardly projecting portions are provided with circumferential grooves 46.

The bucket support means between the two apertures, is provided with a slide 48 which may be mechanically, electrically, hydraulically, or otherwise actuable by a micro-switch 50 which is located to be contacted by the cable bracket plates 44 at the' lowest point of lowering the cable and coupling means. The slide 48 is actuable to move between two limiting positions on the bucket holder in a relative movement direction parallel to the lines along which a pin 31 would be longitudinally inserted in aligned apertures. On the slide 48 are mounted, projecting from opposite sides, forks 52 which are shaped to have the inside edges of spaced tines fit in one of the circumferential grooves 46 of a pin 31 and hence to receive and support a pin 31 moved downwardly thereinto with the grooves receiving the tines so that the forks support the pin. The pins 31 outside of each of the grooves 46 are provided with tapering ends to assist entrance of the pin 31 into the aligned apertures.

(Please note that the position of the pins and slide shown in FIGS. 5-7 differs from that shown in FIG. 1, in that relative to FIG. 1, the slide 48 has moved to the opposite position hence the pin 31 of FIG. 1 has, in FIG. 5 been inserted in linkage apertures and a pin 31 not shown in FIG. 1, is shown in FIG. 5 as just withdrawn from linkage apertures.) Furthermore it will be noted that FIG. 1 of the drawings corresponds to the position of the buckets in FIG. 8 of the schematics and 1 FIG. 10 of the schematics corresponds to the state of tion of'the pins 31 is reversed, and the pin 31 removed from the bucket arm 16 in FIG. 5 is coupling the 'arm 16 to a cablelink 36, the pin 31 passing through a bucket arm and a cable link 36 in FIG. 5 is withdrawn to uncouple these members.

The movement from one limiting position to the other is, as previously noted, caused when one of the arcuate plates 44'of the crane cable bracket 35 strikes the micro-switch 50. A cylinder 53 which may be pneumatic or hydraulic, is shown to schematically represent the actuating means, which will move the slide 48 from one position to the other. Both micro-switch actuated control system and the power device for operating the slide 48 are omitted since these, in many forms and alternatives are available to those skilled in the art. The micro-switch 50 will be connected to a control circuit arranged so that the depression of the micro-switch 50 by the arcuate plate 44 causes movement of the slide 50 to the opposite limiting position to the one it is in, but to remain in the states to which it has been switched (even though the micro-switch 48 remains depressed) until the micro-switch 48 is again depressed by a succeeding lowering of the plate 44.

As shown, the inside edges of the fork 52 tines are adapted to ride in one of the grooves 46 and to suspend the pin 31 in this way but to allow the withdrawal of the pin upwardly from the forks 52 and insertion of the pin downwardly into the forks. It will be noted that the downwardly extending arcuate plates 44 on the cable coupling means is (when a bucket is suspended from a cable so that the coupling link, as well as the cable bracket 35, is vertical) received in the pin groove 46 to hold the pin against longitudinal movement out of its coupling position all as shown in FIG. 1 and 2.

The operation of the bucket supporting part of the invention is as follows: a bucket 10 presumably empty after dumping at another location, is attached to the cable and hanging straight downward therefrom, as shown in'FIGS. 1, 2, 8 with the cable bracket 35 vertical (as it is in most situations) but with the cable link 36 and the bucket arm 16 coupled thereto, also disposed vertically. The bucket 10 just described, is being lowered into one of the holder locations while in the other holder location, there is a bucket filled from chute 41 (filling material not shown) resting in the holder with its bucket 10 coupling link 16 resting directed toward the other bucket holding aperture. A coupling pin 31 is contained in the forks 52 aligned with the apertures in ears 17 corresponding to the filled bucket. As the crane attached bucket is lowered into position into the empty opening, the track 28 acting on rollers 15 of the just lowered bucket, acts to place the bucket in the desired orientation, and the crane operator will control the crane cable location, to ensure that the bucket coupling arm 16 and the crane cable coupling link 36 fall toward the other bucket location as the cable continues to be lowered. (See FIG. 9.) When the empty (i.e., just lowered) bucket coupling arm 16 reaches its lower-most position as'defined by a pair of supports 30, the crane link 36 rotates until a horizontal position is reached as the crane operator continues to lower the cable. When the crane cable link is horizontally disposed, the link aperture is aligned with the f lled bucket arm 16 car aperture. Also as the bucket arm and link 36 move toward an orientation perpendicular to the bracket 35, the arcuate plates 44 move out of the grooves 46 in the pin 31 (of the just-lowered and empty bucket) in which they have been riding to allow later removal of the pin 31. This pin 31 comes to rest in the fork, which is located at one limiting position, receiving in its grooves'46 the inside edges of tines of the fork 52 so that the fork 52 will withdraw the pin 31 when the fork 52 is moved by the slide 48 to the other limiting position. When the cable coupling 'link 36 and the bucket arm 16 are horizontal the still downwardly extending arcuate plates 44 strike a micro-switch 50 actuating the slide 48 actuating mechanism by means, not shown but well known to those skilled in the art, and movement of the slide causes the fork 52 to withdraw the pin 31 linking the empty and just lowered bucket from its connection with one end of the cable link and the other fork 52 to insert the other pin 31 contained in its tines in the then aligned apertures of the other end of the cable link 36 and thefilled bucket coupling arm 16.

When the cable is now raised, the cable link is rotated so that its new bucket arm-link connection extends downwardly, and the filled bucket arm 16 rotates upwardly, both link member 36 and arm member 16 pivoting so that the full bucket arm and the cable link are vertically extending in similar orientation to that shown in FIG. 2, and as shown in FIG. 8. When the cable link 36 assumes a vertical position, the downwardly extending arcuate plates 44 enter the grooves 46 at each end of the coupling pins 31 so that the coupling pin 31 is held in position coupling the bucket arm 16 to the crane link 36. The empty and just lowered bucket in the bucket means is now available for filling.

It will be obvious, although not shown, that the micro-switch 50 which disconnected one bucket and connected the other may be used to cause automatic switching of the cement feeding chute to switch a chute such as the one shown from a feed position over the now full bucket to one over the now empty bucket, without the necessity of performing such change manually.

FIG. shows a chute 41 operable between two positions by a cylinder 43 to alternate the two bucket locations, as shown in FIG. 1. As already stated, such an arrangement may, like the slide, be controlled by the micro-switch 50.

There are two principal aspects of the bucket described in the specific embodiment.

In one aspect of the bucket, this must be designed for cooperation with the bucket holder previously described. Thus the bucket must be designed to rest on the holder, must be designed to cooperate with the holder to assume a predetermined orientation when lowered to rest therein and must be provided with coupling means for coupling to the crane cable.

In a second aspect, there is preferably provided a bucket suitable for use with the bucket holder and satisfying the above criteria but, in addition, providing a bucket with or without the above cooperating aspects which allow the bucket bottom to be conveniently opened and closed for dumping therethrough, and uses hydraulic instead of manual power for this purpose (in distinction from present bottom opening buckets) but does not require an exterior power source.

In the first aspect above discussed, the bucket is exteriorly shaped to be easily received in the holder. In the present form the shaping of the bucket is as a surface of revolution open at the top, normally closed at the bottom, with side walls cylindrical at the upper portion and with side walls forming a tapering cone from that portion downwardly to the bottom of the bucket.

As previously explained, cooperating means are required between the holder and the bucket to provide for coupling to the crane cable and in this aspect, the holder provides the tracks 28 and to complement these tracks the bucket is provided with diametrically opposed rollers 15 which ride on the track and carry the bucket to the correct orientation. It will be obvious that there are alternative means ,of providing through cooperation of the bucket and the holder, that the bucket shall arrive at the correct orientation and that this may involve sliding of the bucket on the surface without rollers and may involve other sorts of guideways and keying all in accord with techniques, well known to those skilled in the art, to achieve the correct orientation.

The bucket is, asalready described, provided with suspension means, designed with regard to the orientation achieved by the rollers on the guideways, to provide that when a lowered bucket has come to rest in the holder, in the proper location and orientation, it is uncoupled from the crane cable and another bucket already resting in the holder, coupled thereto.

The bucket is preferably provided with bottom opening means, since this is most suitable for cooperation with the bucket holder just described.

There is preferably provided a bottom opening bucket hydraulically actuated as hereinafter described. The principal of the operation of hydraulically actuated opening for a suspended container, herein discussed, is not limited to crane buckets, but it is felt, may be applied to any suspended container.

The schematic representation of FIGS. 12-14 may render the principle of the bottom opening bucket more understandable. The schematics may be related to FIG. 3 with the cable connectable through the apparatus already described (arm 16 and shank 40) to the piston 1 10 of actuating cylinder 100. The actuating cylinder is connected as indicated in FIGS. 3 and 1 to the frame of the crane bucket. The bottom closure cone 134 for the bucket, is connectedto the piston 132, while the cylinder 130 is connected to the frame of the bucket. The

cylinders

130 and 100 and the lines connecting them will be filled with hydraulic fluid. As shown in the drawings, a pair of lines 120 and 122 connect the opposite side of the actuating cylinder 100 to a control valve 124. The control valve 124 is connected to an actuating device, here a hydraulic cylinder 130, through a pair of

lines

126 and 128. As shown, with hydraulic cylinder 100 attached to the bucket and the piston attached to the crane cable, the weight of the bucket on the cable tends to cause flow outward from the cylinder 100 along line above the piston and flow inward to the cylinder along line 122 below the piston. The effect of this tendency to flow is controlled by the control valve 124 operable, in the position of FIG. 12 to direct hydraulic fluid to close the bucket by sending fluid along line 126 toward cylinder and receiving fluid along line 128 from cylinder 130; and in the position of FIG. 13 to open the bucket by reversing the connection between lines 120 and 122 on the one hand and

lines

126 and 128 on the other hand and; in the position as shown in FIG. 14, to disconnect the actuating cylinder 100 from the actuable cylinder 130 and hence to prevent flow in lines 120 and 122. The oneway valves in lines 120 and 122 labelled 131 and 132 respectively, allow flow only outwardly from cylinder 100 in line 120 and toward the cylinder in line 122. A line 130 also connects the upper side of the actuating cylinder 100 with the lower side'and this is provided with a one-way valve 133 allowing flow only from the lower side of the cylinder 100 to the upper.

In the operation of suspending the bucket the location of these members is shown in FIG. 12. Thus the bottom is closed and flow is prevented in lines 120 and 122 because the tendency for flow in these lines, in the direction indicated by the arrows, holds closed the cone 134 against the cone 12 since the piston is moved to its lowest position as set by contact of the cones l2 and 134.

In the lifting and lowering of the bucket into the holder (with the bucket arm suspended from the cable in distinction to FIG. 3) the bottom 134 will thus be maintained closed for filling andcarrying concrete. When, with the bucket suspended by the cable, it is desired to dump the bucket, then the valve is shifted to the position of FIG. 13 so that the weight of the bucket pulls the piston 110 upward relative to the cylinder 100, the piston directs hydraulic fluid along the upper line 120 into the lower end of the actuable cylinder 1311 to raise the actuating piston 132 while fluid flows out of the upper end of cylinder back to the actuating piston along lines 126, valve 124 and line 122. The raising of the actuating cylinder 132 raises the cone 134 relative to the cone 12 opening the bottom of the bucket to dump the load. When the load has been dumped in this manner and it is desired to close the bucket, the manual control is set to set the valve in the position of FIG. 12. The flow of fluid from the upper end of the actuating cylinder 100 under the weight of the bucket is still actuated by the weight of the bucket, to pump hyl draulic fluid through line 120, the control valve 124 and to the upper end of the actuable cylinder 130 to lower the piston 132 and the closure member 134 until it closes the bottom of the bucket by contacting cone 12 and at the same time stopping hydraulic flow. During closing of the bucket and lowering of the piston 132, return flow from the actuable cylinder 130 takes place through line 128 and line 122.

The piston 100 is returned to its lowest position under the weight of the rod 40 and the piston 110 when the piston is not suspended but is resting in the bucket holder. In this position, the hydraulic operation is, as is demonstrated in FIG. 14. In this position the weight of the rod 40 and piston 132 will tend to move the piston 110 downwardly in the cylinder 100. In the preferred embodiment, positive force is added to the gravitational by providing a compression spring 111 bearing downwardly on a shoulder movable with rod 40 and upwardly on a shoulder attached to the bucket frame and designed to bias rod 40 and piston 110 downwardly relative to bucket and cylinder 100. (In the preferred embodiment the rod 40 is connected to the actual piston rod of piston 110 through a pivot 113 to prevent transmission of the suspension stresses from rod 40 to the piston rod and downward stresses between the rod 40 and the piston rod are effectively transmitted through the pivot 113.) With piston 110 moving downwardly relative to cylinder 100 fluid is forced outwardly through line 122 and drawn inwardly along line 120. Since the outward flow'along line 122 is blocked by valve 132 and inward flow along line 120 cannot take place through valve 131, the flow takes place from the lower to the upper side of the piston along line 122,

valve 133, line 130 and line 120. The piston 110 is therefore moveddownwardly in its cylinder and the fluid fills the space thereabove, ready to actuate the opening and closing of the bottom of the bucket when the cylinder is again suspended. If the piston 110 cannot be sufficiently lowered to actuate these operations during the intervals in which the bucket is supported in the holder, this interval may be lengthened from time to time on the bucket set on another surface sufficiently long to sufficiently lower the piston 132 in the cylinder 130.

Some generalizing aspects of the opening and closingv apparatus should be noted. The principle is a hydraulic means for usingthe weight of a suspended article to provide the hydraulic pressure for opening and closing the suspended container. It is noted, therefore, that it is not-necessary to the invention that the container be a cement bucket although the invention is admirably suited for this purpose.

It is further noted that the invention is not limited to the type of bottom opening using the member 134 shown, since the hydraulic force developed by the suspended container may be used to provide other opening and closure means. Such other opening and closure means could include using the hydraulic force developed by a suspended container to move a horizontal slide for a bottom opening container (as now performed manually) or using the hydraulic force developed for a side opening for the container.

I claim:

1. Hydraulic opening means for a container normally suspended comprising:

an actuating hydraulic cylinder;

an actuable reversible hydraulic device connected to control the opening and closing of said container,

a pair of hydraulic lines connecting the hydraulic cylinder on opposite sides of the piston therein to a control valve and a pair of hydraulic lines connecting the control valve to the hydraulically actuable device,

said control valve being designed to connect said hydraulic cylinder to said device in one sense or in the reverse sense, or to disconnect said hydraulic cylinder from said device. said container opening control being designed so that flow to said actuable device in one sense causes opening of said container and flow to said actuable device in the other sense causes closing of said container. said actuating hydraulic cylinder being connected to form part of the mechanical connection between said container and the suspension means therefor, said connection being designed and constructed so that the weight of the suspended container tends to move the actuating piston and cylinder relative to one another to tend to move hydraulic fluid in said lines.

whereby: with the; control means disconnecting the actuating and the actuable devices, the container may, while suspended, be maintained in its closed or open states; with the control means connecting the actuating and actuable device in one sense, and

- the device suspended by the suspension means, the

actuable device opens the container; with the control means connecting the actuating and actuable device in the other sense the actuable device closes the container.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the hydraulic actuating device is also mechanically and hydraulically connected so that the container on a base surface tends to move the piston relative to the cylinder in an opposite direction to the tendency for relative moveto create forces tending, when said bucket is suspended thereby from a cable, to move a first piston in one direction relative to a first hydraulic cylinder,

said controlled opening and closing means for the bottom of said bucket being designed and constructed to be operated in accord with relative movement between a second piston and a second hydraulic cylinder,

connections for providing a supply of hydraulic fluid under pressure due to relative movement in one direction of said first piston relative to said first cylinder to cause movement of said second piston relative to said second cylinder,

a valve having at least two settings for controlling said connections, said two settings corresponding to:

a. hydraulic flow between said firstand said second cylinder in a hydraulic connection such that movement of said first piston relative to said first cylinder due to the weight of said bucket on said cable causes flow to said second cylinder in a direction to cause increased opening of the bottom of said bucket, i

b. hydraulic flow between said first and said second cylinder in a hydraulic connection such that movement of said first piston relative to said first cylinder due to the weight of said bucket on said cable causes flow to said second cylinder in a direction to cause decreased opening of the bottom of said bucket.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein said bucket, first piston and cylinder are designed so that said bucket resting with its own weight on a supporting surface is designed to create forces tending, when said bucket is suspended thereby from a cable, to move said first piston in the'other direction relative to said first hydraulic cylinder,

an hydraulic line connects said first cylinder on one side of said first piston with said first cylinder on the other side of said first piston,

said last-mentioned line being provided with a one way valve means allowing flow in said line only when said piston movement relative to said operative cylinder is in said other direction.

5. Means as claimed in claim 3 including means for preventing flow from said first cylinder to said valve when said first piston movement relative to said first cylinder is in said other direction.

Claims

1. Hydraulic opening means for a container normally suspended comprising: an actuating hydraulic cylinder; an actuable reversible hydraulic device connected to control the opening and closing of said container, a pair of hydraulic lines connecting the hydraulic cylinder on opposite sides of the piston therein to a control valve and a pair of hydraulic lines connecting the control valve to the hydraulically actuable device, said control valve being designed to connect said hydraulic cylinder to said device in one sense or in the reverse sense, or to disconnect said hydraulic cylinder from said device. said container opening control being designed so that flow to said actuable device in one sense causes opening of said container and flow to said actuable device in the other sense causes closing of said container. said actuating hydraulic cylinder being connected to form part of the mechanical connection between said container and the suspension means therefor, said connection being designed and constructed so that the weight of the suspended container tends to move the actuating piston and cylinder relative to one another to tend to move hydraulic fluid in said lines. whereby: with the control means disconnecting the actuating and the actuable devices, the container may, while suspended, be maintained in its closed or open states; with the control means connecting the actuating and actuable device in one sense, and the device suspended by the suspension means, the actuable device opens the container; with the control means connecting the actuating and actuable device in the other sense the actuable device closes the container.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the hydraulic actuating device is also mechanically and hydraulically connected so that the container on a base surface tends to move the piston relative to the cylinder in an opposite direction to the tendency for relative movement when said container is suspended. a line connecting the actuating cylinder on one side of said piston with the actuating cylinder on the other side of said piston, said last-mentioned line being provided with one way valve means allowing flow in said line only when said piston movement relative to said operating cylinder is in said opposite direction.

3. A bucket, an upper connection to allow said bucket to be suspended by a crane cable, a controlled opening and clOsing means for the bottom of said bucket, the suspension means for said bucket being designed to create forces tending, when said bucket is suspended thereby from a cable, to move a first piston in one direction relative to a first hydraulic cylinder, said controlled opening and closing means for the bottom of said bucket being designed and constructed to be operated in accord with relative movement between a second piston and a second hydraulic cylinder, connections for providing a supply of hydraulic fluid under pressure due to relative movement in one direction of said first piston relative to said first cylinder to cause movement of said second piston relative to said second cylinder, a valve having at least two settings for controlling said connections, said two settings corresponding to: a. hydraulic flow between said first and said second cylinder in a hydraulic connection such that movement of said first piston relative to said first cylinder due to the weight of said bucket on said cable causes flow to said second cylinder in a direction to cause increased opening of the bottom of said bucket, b. hydraulic flow between said first and said second cylinder in a hydraulic connection such that movement of said first piston relative to said first cylinder due to the weight of said bucket on said cable causes flow to said second cylinder in a direction to cause decreased opening of the bottom of said bucket.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein said bucket, first piston and cylinder are designed so that said bucket resting with its own weight on a supporting surface is designed to create forces tending, when said bucket is suspended thereby from a cable, to move said first piston in the other direction relative to said first hydraulic cylinder, an hydraulic line connects said first cylinder on one side of said first piston with said first cylinder on the other side of said first piston, said last-mentioned line being provided with a one way valve means allowing flow in said line only when said piston movement relative to said operative cylinder is in said other direction.