WO1993016254A1

WO1993016254A1 - Materials placing apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO1993016254A1
Application number: PCT/AU1993/000050
Authority: WO
Inventors: Timothy Westlake O' Sullivan; Antony Maxwell Brown; John Patrick Terrence O'sullivan
Original assignee: Sullivan Timothy Westlake O; Antony Maxwell Brown; Sullivan John Patrick Terrence
Priority date: 1992-02-07
Filing date: 1993-02-08
Publication date: 1993-08-19

Abstract

Placement apparatus for concrete or other pourable materials, including a kibble-type bucket (17), said bucket (17) having a hollow body (25) adapted to receive a material for transportation purposes through an upper mouth or entry section (28) and to allow material to be discharged through a lower openable discharge gate (23), the body (25), having on its side portions (22) which are normally upright in use attachement means (16) for releasable attachement of the bucket body to a rigid operating beam member (14) of a mobile prime mover having means (11, 12, 18, 19) for raising and lowering said beam member for placement at desired height of the load thereon constituted by said bucket (17) and its contents.

Description

MATERIALS PLACING APPARATUS TECHNICAL FIELD

THIS INVENTION relates to placing apparatus for concrete and other pourable materials, and it has more particular reference to the moving and placement of concrete by apparatus utilising a novel carrying and discharging bucket such as that commonly known in the industry as a "kibble". BACKGROUND ART

At the present time, whenever it is necessary to move concrete to a site where it is to be discharged, it is customary to use a crane having an operating cable carrying a bucket or container having an open top for filling purposes and a discharge gate at its lower end. One such bucket is commonly called a kibble and is used to great effect when the crane is required to lift concrete a considerable height and then discharge it at an elevated location, such as on to reinforcing rods for a progressively rising building structure. However, such buckets (hereinafter called "of the type described") are also lifted by crane and cable in work locations at which considerable heights of lifting are not involved, in which case it would be desirable if one could avoid the looseness of control arising from the use of the cable. It will be appreciated that when the bucket is lowered by the crane, its control will involve difficulties as it approaches the discharge location, such as reinforcing bars, so that skilful handling is essential to overcome the resultant problems and ensure that the incidence of accidents does not increase.

The prior art is not generally concerned with pourable materials and does not recognise the need for accurate delivery of such materials. For example, East German Specification No. 291,103 describes a shovel which collects rubble in a bucket when it scrapes the ground in horizontal disposition and then delivers the rubble by emptying from the bucket when the bucket is in vertical disposition. Other devices that includes a bucket mounted on a boom are used to fill sacks, as described in International Application No. 88/07965, and to crush rocks, for example German Specification No. 1634957, but of the known prior art only Japanese Specification No. 3-224961 is concerned with a pourable material such as concrete.

The abstract of the Japanese specification describes an arrangement in which a hopper is fixed to the side of a bucket of an excavator such as a back-hoe, by means of a suspension mechanism. This arrangement is somewhat complex and unwieldy since the bucket is interposed between the control means on the boom and the hopper which can make control of the hopper difficult, particularly as the bucket may obscure the operator's view of the hopper. Furthermore, the hopper illustrated has a straight cylindrical body which tapers to a discharge point which indicates that filling can only take place when the hopper is in a vertical disposition with the boom out-stretched. DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

Our present invention has been devised with a view ,to overcoming or alleviating the aforementioned problems associated with known apparatus for placing pourable materials, especially concrete, and it has for its principal object the provision of novel placing apparatus which will enable greater stability of the carrying and discharging unit to be achieved than heretofore.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved apparatus as above described which will enable more precise directional placement of concrete or other pourable material to be made on discharge, while employing less labour than previously.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide apparatus of the type mentioned for use in placing concrete or other pourable material and which will have improved load-up characteristics as compared with present buckets of the type described.

Other objects of the invention include the provision of such apparatus which may be made for achieving maximum efficiency while avoiding undue cost, and which will enable faster movement of the concrete or other pourable material in most places of operation. Further objects of the invention will be hereinafter apparent.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, our invention resides broadly in placement apparatus for concrete or other pourable materials, including a kibble- type bucket, said bucket having a hollow body adapted to receive a material for transportation purposes through an upper mouth or entry section and to allow the material to be discharged through a lower openable discharge gate, the body having on its side portions which are normally upright in use attachment means for releasable attachment of the bucket body to a rigid operating beam member of a mobile prime mover having means for raising and lowering said beam member for placement at desired height of the load thereon constituted by said bucket and its contents.

In one preferred embodiment of the invention, the kibble-type bucket is provided with attachment means in the form of connection brackets and pivot pin means permitting attachment to a known type of excavator arm or beam forming part of a standard mobile excavator, such as a tracked implement for that purpose. The attachment means may suitably be similar to what is provided in the way of brackets and pins on back-hoe buckets or standard excavator buckets. In this embodiment, the customary cable lifting of the kibble-type bucket is replaced by a rigid excavator-beam connection so that the bucket will move in stable manner with the tracked excavator implement as the latter is moved to take the concrete to the place of discharge, at which location the discharge gate may be opened. In this way, precise directional placement of the material will be achieved with reduced labour since a single driver of the excavator will move the machine to locate the load at the discharge site and will then operate the controls to open the discharge gate and any associated directional-control discharge chutes.

It is preferred that the discharge chute be operated by a mechanism which may be actuated by manual, air or hydraulic means, while the design lends itself to unlimited capacity ranges, such as from 5 tonnes to 100 tonnes. Suitably, the kibble-type bucket may be designed in conjunction with the excavator connections to permit the bucket to be self-loading when so desired. While the kibble-type bucket is preferably used with an excavator beam, it is alternatively usable with front end loader machinery to achieve similar results. The invention not only embraces novel buckets of the type described having the features outlined, but also the combination of such a bucket with the appropriate prime mover or excavator or front end loader, with the beam or the like to which attachment is made. The invention also embraces the novel methods of handling materials as indicated.

In summary, the invention achieves a safe method of and apparatus for transporting concrete and other pourable materials such as sand, barkchip and the like from one place to another on a mobile piece of machinery, with increased directional placement and reduced overheads through reduced manpower cost. Other features will be clearer from our descriptions of preferred embodiments of the invention hereunder. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

In order that the invention may be more readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:-

Fig. 1 shows in side elevation and diagrammatically one form of kibble-type bucket of the type described adapted according to the invention for stable connection to a tracked excavator in this instance;

Fig. 2 shows in more details in side elevation a bucket similar to that of Fig. 1 but slightly modified;

Fig. 3 shows similarly in side elevation another embodiment of the bucket;

Fig. 4 is a top elevational view of the bucket of Fig. 3;

Figs. 5A and 5B, Figs. 6A, 6B and 6C, and Figs. 7A, 7B and 7C show in more details various forms of discharge chutes'

Fig. 8 shows yet another bucket unit as well as fittings therefor;

Fig. 9 shows apparatus similar to that of Fig. 1 in alternative operational modes, and

Fig. 10 is similar to Fig. 9 with other accessories illustrated. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Corresponding parts in the several Figures are given the same reference numerals, and with reference firstly to Fig. 1, the prime mover is a tracked excavator 10 having a first pivoting lifting arm 11 controlled by a ram 12 and pivotally connected at 13 to main beam 14 pivotally connected at 15 to a pair of brackets 16 on a kibble-type bucket 17. Movement of the beam 14 relative to the arm 11 is controlled by a ram 18 while another ram 19 is pivotally connected to the upper ends of the brackets 16 about axis 20 for controlling tilt of the bucket 17 relative to the beam 14 as apparent from Fig. 1. Similar but modified arrange¬ ments would be used if a front end loader were to be employed instead of the excavator 10.

Also shown in Fig. 1 in respect of the bucket 17 are upright frame members 21 at four corners and having side sheets 22 forming an enclosure to hold concrete or other materials for discharge only at the bottom discharge gate 23 medially in relation to downwardly-converging bottom plates 24 of the enclosure 25. Hydraulically-operated gate jaws 26 can be moved apart in unison by the excavator driver to permit concrete or other carried material to fall through the discharge gate 23. The upper end of the bucket 17 has a closure assembly 27 with a fill opening 28 at the side facing the driver and adapted to be uppermost even if the bucket 17 is tilted to horizontal disposition as shown in outline at the lower part of Fig. 1.

The slightly modified bucket of Fig. 2 is generally similar to that of Fig. 1, the quick hitch connector to the excavator at the brackets 16 being identical. There is also shown a material directing discharge chute 29 to receive material which exits the discharge gate 23 which has an hydraulic cylinder opening control assembly 30, but there is also a manual control 31. In this case the bucket 17 has an optional crane-lift connection yoke 32 and other details for its features as illustrated. It will be understood that opening of the discharge gate 23 can easily be controlled as desired, either manually or by power actuation such as air or hydraulic means. The bucket 17 can be attached as shown to the excavator beam 14 with the greatest of ease, with mechanical fitting by manual labour in most instances. However, any one of various types of quick connection and release systems could be used as available in the marketplace. Operations can be performed from the cabin of the excavator loader or other prime mover, or they can be controlled manually or otherwise at the discharge point at the bucket 17.

Figs. 3 and 4 show in side elevation and top elevation the same type of bucket 17 as before, the plan view showing in more details the brackets 16 and their pivot pins 33 and 34 at the connections 15 and 20, as well as the filler opening 28. For the apparatus of Figs. 3 and 4, there is provided a discharge attachment indicated by the numeral 35 in Fig. 3 and being of selected form as indicated by Figs. 5A and 5B in relation to the same attachment as for the main kibble-type central discharge, or of the modified types shown in either Figs. 6A, 6B and 6C, or 7A, 7B and 7C, the latter being similar to a concrete chute shape but designed to have a 360 degrees rotational ability. Other features are of minor but useful design importance and self- explanatory from these Figs. Dimensions are variable according to the requisite tonnage of the excavator. For example, a 1 cubic metre kibble-type bucket might be a convenient size using for example a 18-20 ton excavator, but all variations are feasible between a .25 cubic metre bucket using a 4-5 ton excavator and a 5 cubic metre bucket using a 60 ton excavator for example.

There is shown in Fig. 8 a bucket 17 similar to that of Fig. 1 but having in this case one or more slide rails 36 which are used only in conjunction with the bucket shovel 37 which is an attachment to be fitted to the top of the unit for material pick-up. These components of shovel 37 and skid or slide rails 36 are used in self-loading and discharge of sand, for example, using cabin controls. Discharge control chutes of the types previously described are also shown in Fig. 8. INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

Figs. 9 and 10 are also self-explanatory and show the many uses to which the combination of an excavator and our novel bucket can be put, quite apart from moderate lifting and placing in low-rise building. In position 40 in Fig. 10, the bucket is in place under a agitator unit for refilling and it can be moved to position 41 where it is discharging concrete into formwork in a difficult location. The position 42 is that of pouring concrete blockfill in awkward places. The position 43 is one in which the bucket 17 is discharging concrete using extended chutes, such as a ground slab using concrete chute extensions. Fig. 9 shows the use of our apparatus in a pipeline laying operation with sand filling required. The excavator 10 can use a self- loading bucket as at position 44 and movable to the position 45 at which the load of sand can be discharged.

The objects of the invention were set out in some details in the preamble hereto, as well as the broad features of the invention, while the described embodiments add convenient design details illustrating the many variations which can be made, as will be readily apparent to persons skilled in the art and without departing from the scope and ambit of the invention, the broad nature of which has been set forth herein.

Claims

1. Placement apparatus for concrete or other pourable materials, including a kibble-type bucket, said bucket having a hollow body adapted to receive a material for transportation purposes through an upper mouth or entry section and to allow material to be discharged through a lower openable discharge gate, the body having on its side portions which are normally upright in use attachment means for releasable attachment of the bucket body to a rigid operating beam member of a mobile prime mover having means for raising and lowering said beam member for placement at desired height of the load thereon constituted by said bucket and its contents.

2. Placement apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the attachment means comprises a plurality of connection brackets adapted to support a pivot pin at each point of attachment.

3. Placement apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the attachment means comprises a pair of connection brackets extending substantially perpendicularly from the body, an upper portion of the connection brackets supporting a first pivot pin parallel to and spaced from the body and a lower portion of the connection brackets supporting a second pivot pin parallel to and spaced from the body.

4. Placement apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein the first pivot pin is attached to a hydraulic ram extending from the beam member and adapted to control the tilt of the bucket, and the second pivot pin is attached to the end of the beam member.

5. Placement apparatus as claimed in claim 4 wherein the bucket is of the type having upright frame members at four corners and having side sheets attached to the frame members to form the hollow body and downwardly converging plates extending from the bottom of each side sheet to the discharge gate, the discharge gate being adapted to receive a discharge chute to direct discharge of the contents of the bucket.

6. Placement apparatus as claimed in claim 5 wherein the discharge gate can be operated by a mechanism which can be actuated by manual, air or hydraulic means, or by air or hydraulic means in conjuction with a manual control.

7. Placement apparatus as claimed in claim 5 wherein the upper end of the bucket has a closure assembly with a fill opening formed therein, the closure assembly being adapted to maintain the fill opening uppermost when the bucket tilts.

8. Placement apparatus as claimed in claim 5 wherein the upper end of the bucket has a scoop assembly and the bucket is tiltable to a horizontal disposition, the bucket having skids mounted on one side and being so made and arranged that the bucket slides on the skids when in horizontal disposition.

9. An excavator or the like including placement apparatus as defined in any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. Placement apparatus or an excavator as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.