BUCKET TOOTH

Description

FIELD

Embodiments disclosed herein relate to heavy equipment for performing excavation and/or digging operations.

INFORMATION

Construction operations, including construction operations for residential projects, commercial projects, or public works, for example, excavation and/or grading may be employed for anyone of multiple different purposes. For example, excavation may prepare a portion of a site for a concrete foundation or to form trenches in ground for deploying underground utilities. Similarly, grading may prepare a ground surface to support new structures, hardscape and/or landscape features. Excavation and or grading operations are typically carried out using heavy equipment such as, for example, backhoes, excavators, mini excavators, bulldozers, just to provide a few examples.

Heavy equipment used in excavation and/or grading operations typically employs a movable bucket which may be positioned using retractable and extendable hydraulic cylinders and/or the like. In particular implementations, a movable bucket used by heavy equipment typically includes metal teeth which assist in the efficient breaking up ground and/or dislodging rocks etc. In some excavation and/or grading operations, teeth attached to a movable bucket used by heavy equipment may be the leading point of contact with ground.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Claimed subject matter is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. However, both as to organization and/or method of operation, together with objects, features, and/or advantages thereof, it may be best understood by reference to the following detailed description if read with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1A is a side view of a backhoe tractor, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 1B is a view of a bucket for use in excavation and/or digging operations, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 1C is a view of a bucket tooth to be coupled to a shank to be connected to a bucket, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 1D is a view of a bucket for use in excavation and/or grading operations, according to an embodiment; and

FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C are views of a replacement tooth having a reduced hardness, according to embodiments.

Reference is made in the following detailed description to accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, wherein like numerals may designate like parts throughout that are corresponding and/or analogous. It will be appreciated that the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale, such as for simplicity and/or clarity of illustration. For example, dimensions of some aspects may be exaggerated relative to others. Further, it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized. Furthermore, structural and/or other changes may be made without departing from claimed subject matter. References throughout this specification to “claimed subject matter” refer to subject matter intended to be covered by one or more claims, or any portion thereof, and are not necessarily intended to refer to a complete claim set, to a particular combination of claim sets (e.g., method claims, apparatus claims, etc.), or to a particular claim. It should also be noted that directions and/or references, for example, such as up, down, top, bottom, and so on, may be used to facilitate discussion of drawings and are not intended to restrict application of claimed subject matter. Therefore, the following detailed description is not to be taken to limit claimed subject matter and/or equivalents.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

References throughout this specification to one implementation, an implementation, one embodiment, an embodiment, and/or the like means that a particular feature, structure, characteristic, and/or the like described in relation to a particular implementation and/or embodiment is included in at least one implementation and/or embodiment of claimed subject matter. Thus, appearances of such phrases, for example, in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily intended to refer to the same implementation and/or embodiment or to any one particular implementation and/or embodiment. Furthermore, it is to be understood that particular features, structures, characteristics, and/or the like described are capable of being combined in various ways in one or more implementations and/or embodiments and, therefore, are within intended claim scope. In general, of course, as has always been the case for the specification of a patent application, these and other issues have a potential to vary in a particular context of usage. In other words, throughout the disclosure, particular context of description and/or usage provides helpful guidance regarding reasonable inferences to be drawn; however, likewise, “in this context” in general without further qualification refers to the context of the present disclosure.

Some construction projects, such as in urban or suburban environments, involve excavating, digging and/or grading over subterranean structures such as, for example, underground utilities. Such underground utilities may include, for example, water lines, sewer lines, septic tanks, natural gas lines, high-voltage power lines, coaxial or optical communication lines, just to provide a few examples. In one aspect, excavating, digging and/or grading in urban or suburban environments may incur risk of damage to existing underground utilities. During excavation, for example, steel teeth affixed to a movable bucket may puncture, rupture or otherwise damage such existing underground utilities. In this context, a “bucket” as referred to herein means a structure and/or device attached to or attachable to a machine for use in operations for manipulating a solid material. For example, such a bucket may be attached to and/or be integrated with heavy equipment (e.g., backhoe, excavator or mini excavator) for use in digging, excavating and/or grading operations. In addition to causing physical damage to existing underground utilities requiring repair or replacement, such puncture, rupture or otherwise damage to such existing underground utilities may create an emergency condition, requiring halting a project, followed by evacuation and/or deployment of emergency first responders.

Briefly, one embodiment is directed to use of one or more bucket teeth to be fastened to a bucket coupled to heavy equipment, wherein the one or more teeth have an exterior that is of a reduced hardness. In one particular application, use of such teeth having an exterior with a reduced hardness may reduce a risk of damage to subterranean structures in excavation, grading and/or other digging operations in an urban or suburban environment.

As shown in FIG. 1A, backhoe 100 includes a tractor 102 coupled to a jointed backhoe arm 104. Backhoe arm 104 includes a boom 106 pivotally connected to a first end of dipper 108 and a bucket 110 pivotally connected to a second end of dipper 108. Hydraulic boom swing cylinders 112 are coupled to and between a boom base 116 and chassis 124 of tractor 102, and are extendable and retractable to pivot boom 106 about a generally vertical axis with respect to tractor 102. Hydraulic boom lift cylinder 114 is coupled to and between pivot boom 106 and boom base 116, and is extendable and retractable to pivot boom 106 about a generally horizontal axis with respect to boom base 116. Hydraulic dipper cylinder 118 is coupled to and between dipper 108 and pivot boom 106 and is extendable and retractable to pivot dipper 108 about a generally horizontal axis with respect to an upper end of boom 106. Hydraulic bucket cylinder 120 is coupled to and between bucket, 110 and dipper 108 is extendable and retractable to pivot bucket 110 with respect to dipper 108. Additionally, tractor 102 is coupled to a pair of loader arms 131 that are movable to raise and lower a loader bucket 132 responsive to an extension and retraction of a corresponding pair of hydraulic loader arm cylinders 133. An orientation of loader bucket 132 may be controlled by pivoting loader bucket 132 relative to loader arm 131 responsive to an extension and retraction of a pair of hydraulic loader bucket cylinders 134.

Connected to bucket 110 are a plurality replaceable teeth 124 that may provide leading contact with the ground in excavation operations, for example. Likewise, connected to loader bucket 132 are a plurality of replaceable teeth 126 that may provide leading contact with the ground in excavation and/or grading operations. Teeth 124 and/or 132 may be formed from forged steel to provide a sufficient exterior hardness to facilitate efficient excavation, digging and/or grading operations, and to enhance durability for use over multiple projects. As pointed out above, steel teeth attached to a bucket (e.g., bucket 110 and/or loader bucket 132) may cause damage to underground utilities in the course of excavation, grading and/or digging operations in an urban and/or suburban environment.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1B, bucket 110 may comprise teeth 124 fitted over shanks (not shown), which are attached to bucket 110 by welded joints, for example. In one particular implementation, as shown in FIG. 1C, a shank 141 (e.g., secured to bucket 110 by one or more welded joints) and a tooth 124 may have corresponding/aligned holes 143 formed therein to receive a pin (e.g., a pin 140) to secure the tooth 124 in place over shank 141. In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1D, loader bucket 132 may comprise teeth 126 that are fastened to loader bucket 132 by nut and bolt assemblies 142. Here, corresponding aligned holes may be formed in loader bucket 132 and portions of teeth 126 overlapping loader bucket 132 to receive nut and bolt assemblies 142.

As pointed out above, teeth 124 and/or 126, if formed from a hard material such as forged steel, may impart risk to subterranean structures while excavating, grading or otherwise digging in an urban and/or suburban environment. According to an embodiment, teeth 124 and/or 126, if formed from forged steel, may be replaced with teeth of a reduced and/or lowered hardness to reduce risk of damage to subterranean structures. Such a replacement tooth may be formed to have an exterior having a hardness not exceeding a particular score on a durometer scale. In one particular implementation, such an exterior of a replacement tooth may be specified to have a hardness not exceeding 65 on a Shore A scale durometer hardness scale.

In one application, teeth installed on bucket 110 and/or loader bucket 132 may be readily selected and/or changed to adapt backhoe 100 to specific operations such as, for example, excavation, grading and/or otherwise digging in different environments/applications such as, for example, urban/suburban environments, rural/agricultural environments (e.g., where no subterranean structures are expected), archeological digs, softer soil, just to provide a few examples of environments/applications to which backhoe 100 may be adapted. In one embodiment, teeth 124 on bucket 110 may be readily replaced and/or swapped by removing pins 140 holding teeth 124 in place on shanks, removing teeth 124 to expose the shanks. Teeth with a lowered/reduced hardness may then be placed over the exposed shanks. Removed pins 140 may then be placed in aligned holes in the shanks and teeth with the lowered/reduced hardness to secure the teeth with a lowered/reduced hardness in place. Similarly in another embodiment, teeth 126 on loader bucket 132 may be readily replaced or removed by loosening and removing nut and bolt assemblies 142, and removing teeth 126 from loader bucket 132. Teeth with a lowered/reduced hardness may then be positioned over holes in loader bucket 132. Nut and bolt assemblies 142 may then be placed back in aligned holes in the loader bucket 132 and teeth with the lowered/reduced hardness to secure the teeth with a lowered/reduced hardness in place.

While particular example embodiments disclosed herein are directed to replacement of a full-hardness teeth (e.g., formed from forged steel) with teeth of a particular reduced/lowered hardness, in other embodiments an operator may have the option of selecting replacement teeth with a variety of different levels of reduced/lowered hardness. For example, different optional replacement teeth may have different ranges of hardness available for selection for tailoring to a specific operation. Such different ranges may be, for example, durometer Shore A scale range 35-45, 45-55, 55-65, 65-75, 75-85, 85-95, just to provide examples of different ranges of hardness that may be imparted to an exterior of a replacement tooth for a bucket for use in digging, excavation and/or grading operations. This may be accomplished, for example, by altering a chemical composition of a polymer (e.g., acetal resin) used for forming an exterior of a replacement tooth with a reduced hardness. For example, this may be achieved by blending Derlin with other polymers/materials to vary hardness of exterior material of a bucket tooth to be tailored to a particular application. This may, for example, enable an operator to further tailor excavation or grading operations for particular environments/applications.

According to an embodiment, features of a replacement tooth 224 to be fitted over a shank (e.g., fitted over shank 141 to replace a forged steel tooth 124) are shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C. In one embodiment, replacement tooth 224 may be formed as a solid polymer structure from injection molding, milled from a solid block or formed from a 3-D printer, for example. Such a polymer material may comprise a high-performance acetal resin such as Derlin® marketed by Dupont™, for example. It should be understood, however, that this merely an example of a material that may be used for forming a replacement tooth and/or an exterior of a replacement tooth, and claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

Particular dimensions and/or parameters to define replacement tooth 224 shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C may be varied to adapt to multiple different sizes of shank 141 and/or applications. In one particular implementation, for example, lengths/distances EW, IW, T1, T2, h may be 2.25″, 1.47″, 1.68″, 2.50″ and 5.25″, respectively. Corner radii R1, R2 and R3 may be 0.1875″, 0.0625″ and 0.2500″ respectively. Angle alpha may be about 80.0°. Additionally, hole 226 to receive a pin to secure replacement tooth to shank 141 may have a diameter of 0.570″. Again, it should be understood that these are dimensions are merely examples of dimensions for a replacement tooth to fit on a particular-sized/dimensioned shank 141 and for a particular application, and that these dimensions may be altered and/or tailored to be adapted to different sizes/dimensions of shank 141, for example.

The particular implementation of FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C, replacement tooth 224 is formed to be a solid structure of a uniform polymer material. In another implementation, replacement tooth 224 may be formed to have one or more inner layers of a first material to be in direct contact with a surface of shank 141, and one or more outer layers of a second material to be on an exterior of replacement tooth 224. For example, such inner layers in contact with the surface of shank 141 may comprise a forged or milled steel while such outer layers on an exterior of replacement tooth 224 may comprise polymer such as the aforementioned high-performance acetal resin, for example. In one implementation, such outer layers may be formed on the inner layers by deposition. In another implementation, such outer layers may be formed as a separate structure, which is then secured to the inner layers using an adhesive.

While the particular examples discussed above relate to replacement teeth for a bucket used by a backhoe, it should be understood that embodiments discussed herein similarly apply to teeth attached to buckets employed by other types of excavation equipment such as an excavator or mini excavator, just to provide a couple of examples.

In a particular context of usage, such as a particular context in which tangible components are being discussed, therefore, the terms “coupled” and “connected” are used in a manner so that the terms are not synonymous. Similar terms may also be used in a manner in which a similar intention is exhibited. Thus, “connected” is used to indicate that two or more tangible components and/or the like, for example, are tangibly in direct physical contact. Thus, using the previous example, two tangible components that are electrically connected are physically connected via a tangible electrical connection, as previously discussed. However, “coupled,” is used to mean that potentially two or more tangible components are tangibly in direct physical contact. Nonetheless, is also used to mean that two or more tangible components and/or the like are not necessarily tangibly in direct physical contact, but are able to co-operate, liaise, and/or interact, such as, for example, by being “optically coupled.” Likewise, the term “coupled” may be understood to mean indirectly connected in an appropriate context. It is further noted, in the context of the present disclosure, the term physical if used in relation to memory, such as memory components or memory states, as examples, necessarily implies that memory, such memory components and/or memory states, continuing with the example, is tangible.

Unless otherwise indicated, in the context of the present disclosure, the term “or” if used to associate a list, such as A, B, or C, is intended to mean A, B, and C, here used in the inclusive sense, as well as A, B, or C, here used in the exclusive sense. With this understanding, “and” is used in the inclusive sense and intended to mean A, B, and C; whereas “and/or” can be used in an abundance of caution to make clear that all of the foregoing meanings are intended, although such usage is not required. In addition, the term “one or more” and/or similar terms is used to describe any feature, structure, characteristic, and/or the like in the singular, “and/or” is also used to describe a plurality and/or some other combination of features, structures, characteristics, and/or the like. Furthermore, the terms “first,” “second” “third,” and the like are used to distinguish different aspects, such as different components, as one example, rather than supplying a numerical limit or suggesting a particular order, unless expressly indicated otherwise. Likewise, the term “based on” and/or similar terms are understood as not necessarily intending to convey an exhaustive list of factors, but to allow for existence of additional factors not necessarily expressly described.

Furthermore, it is intended, for a situation that relates to implementation of claimed subject matter and is subject to testing, measurement, and/or specification regarding degree, to be understood in the following manner. As an example, in a given situation, assume a value of a physical property is to be measured. If alternatively reasonable approaches to testing, measurement, and/or specification regarding degree, at least with respect to the property, continuing with the example, is reasonably likely to occur to one of ordinary skill, at least for implementation purposes, claimed subject matter is intended to cover those alternatively reasonable approaches unless otherwise expressly indicated. As an example, if a plot of measurements over a region is produced and implementation of claimed subject matter refers to employing a measurement of slope over the region, but a variety of reasonable and alternative techniques to estimate the slope over that region exist, claimed subject matter is intended to cover those reasonable alternative techniques, even if those reasonable alternative techniques do not provide identical values, identical measurements or identical results, unless otherwise expressly indicated.

It is further noted that the terms “type” and/or “like,” if used, such as with a feature, structure, characteristic, and/or the like, using “optical” or “electrical” as simple examples, means at least partially of and/or relating to the feature, structure, characteristic, and/or the like in such a way that presence of minor variations, even variations that might otherwise not be considered fully consistent with the feature, structure, characteristic, and/or the like, do not in general prevent the feature, structure, characteristic, and/or the like from being of a “type” and/or being “like,” (such as being an “optical-type” or being “optical-like,” for example) if the minor variations are sufficiently minor so that the feature, structure, characteristic, and/or the like would still be considered to be predominantly present with such variations also present. Thus, continuing with this example, the terms optical-type and/or optical-like properties are necessarily intended to include optical properties. Likewise, the terms electrical-type and/or electrical-like properties, as another example, are necessarily intended to include electrical properties. It should be noted that the specification of the present disclosure merely provides one or more illustrative examples and claimed subject matter is intended to not be limited to one or more illustrative examples; however, again, as has always been the case with respect to the specification of a patent application, particular context of description and/or usage provides helpful guidance regarding reasonable inferences to be drawn.

In the preceding description, various aspects of claimed subject matter have been described. For purposes of explanation, specifics, such as amounts, systems and/or configurations, as examples, were set forth. In other instances, well-known features were omitted and/or simplified so as not to obscure claimed subject matter. While certain features have been illustrated and/or described herein, many modifications, substitutions, changes and/or equivalents will now occur to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all modifications and/or changes as fall within claimed subject matter.