Abstract:
A blade accessory for use with heavy equipment to permit changeability between a bucket and a grading blade, the blade accessory comprising a frame, means for mounting the frame to the vehicle, means for attaching a bucket to the frame to permit pivotal movement of the bucket with respect to the frame about a vertical axis along with means to pivotably move the bucket in a horizontal plane. Means to mount the blade member on the front of the bucket are such that the blade member may be angled when the bucket is moved in the horizontal plane.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to heavy equipment and more particularly, relates to a blade accessory for attachment to heavy equipment.  
           [0002]    The field of heavy equipment is replete with various types of graders and front end loaders. A grader usually comprises a tractor from which a generally vertically disposed blade extends downwardly. The blade includes a lower edge which is essentially linear and which is selectively positioned relative to the tractor. Graders are employed in a variety of situations to move materials including snow and also for contouring surfaces such as roads as well as for filling trenches. In the case of large construction projects, it is common practice to employ a first tractor fitted with a backhoe bucket to move bulk material followed by grading by a second tractor fitted with a pivotably adjustable grader blade.  
           [0003]    However, for many smaller operations, two separate tractors can not be economically justified. Therefore, attempts have been made to removably attach adjustable grader blades to the bucket of a loader and/or backhoe. Such an attachment would permit an operator to use a single tractor for both grading and loading. In other circumstances, different types of equipment are used to expedite snow removal. The vehicles used include front end loaders and graders. Ownership of front end loaders is common since they are relatively simple and inexpensive. These front end loaders, however, while excellent for their intended purpose, are limited in their functions and it would therefore be useful to have a front end loader vehicle which could perform in a dual role—either as a front end loader for scooping up a load of material and lifting and depositing it on the truck or as a bulldozer or grader for either pushing large loads of heavy material or for grading a surface. Unfortunately, however, normal front end loaders are not properly equipped to permit them to function as a bulldozer.  
           [0004]    Other types of snow removal equipment commonly used include snow plow implements having a hitch mechanism which couples the snow plow blade to smaller vehicles such as pick-up trucks. The main advantage of existing equipment is that considerable time and effort is typically required in order to connect the implement to the truck and to disconnect it therefrom. Prior art equipment is further characterized by excessive complexity which leads to high manufacturing costs and substantial maintenance problems.  
           [0005]    In addition, the moldboards of existing grading equipment are susceptible to being damaged due to the manner in which they are mounted. The desirability of providing for the yielding of the moldboard when the blade strikes a stationary obstacle has been recognized. However, even the moldboards which are mounted for yieldable pivoting are permitted to pivot only in a relatively restricted manner. Consequently, the moldboards frequently pivot to such an extent that they bang against the pavement or against the portion of the pushframe, causing damage that requires costly repair or replacement of the moldboard.  
           [0006]    The above mentioned graders are particularly well suited for their use but their construction does not allow for other applications. As a result, conventional graders have a low degree of utilization and frequently are idled over long periods of time.  
           [0007]    Thus, conventional known machinery such as front end loaders, graders and grading implements specifically designed so as to be mounted on conventional small vehicles such as pick-up trucks, although quite useful for their intended purpose, suffer from a lack of versatility. Accordingly, there exists a need for a grader attachment that could allow for the conversion between graders and loader type vehicles. Such a need has been recognized in the past and there exists known grader blade attachments that may be used in conjunction with the buckets commonly employed on front end loaders, backhoes and the like to convert such vehicles into graders, snow plows or the like. However, such prior art attachments suffer from some drawbacks.  
           [0008]    Indeed, much of the prior art in the field of grader attachments consists of devices that are quite cumbersome to use, structurally complex and that necessarily require a great deal of time to install. Some of the known grader blade attachment devices are intended to provide means that will avoid the necessity of having the vehicle driver dismount from the main vehicle for installation and removal. However, in using such devices, care must be taken in driving the bucket vehicle and the device has many small fitting spaces in which ice and snow and other debris can accumulate and from which such debris must be removed before the grader attachment can be connected to a bucket of the vehicle.  
           [0009]    The grader attachment devices known in the past either have not provided for angulation of the blade with respect to the bucket on which it is mounted to permit changing of the angle of attack of the vehicle when used as a grader, or alternatively have not provided for easy changing of such blade angle. Furthermore, some of the prior art attachments are mounted directly on the lifting arms which are part of the machine and intended for various implements. The drawbacks of this type of attachment are, on one hand, that it is difficult to control and, on the other hand, that the lifting arms and their mountings have originally been dimensioned for quite different loads, loads of other magnitude and in other directions which may cause fatigue, buckling and fracture during use of the attachment.  
           [0010]    Also, most known snow plow mounting attachments rigidly affix the plow to the loader. Accordingly, because the plow blade is well forward of the loader&#39;s wheel the blade does not efficiently track the vertical contours of the plowed surface. Additionally, current mounting attachments are not interchangeable between the wide variety of large highway plows, nearly all of which have standard mounting brackets.  
           [0011]    Prior art attachments also suffer from the requirement of requiring either the provision of especially designed buckets or substantial modification to the existing bucket. In addition, prior art devices inherently require a substantial amount of time in mounting and dismounting the attachment. Also, flexibility of the loader equipment provided by the prior art attachments is somewhat negated by required permanent fixture and modifications to the equipment interfering with the normal use and performance of the loader equipment.  
           [0012]    One of the most common problems associated with the prior art attachments is that they typically involve close tolerance securing mechanisms that include many moving parts. Experience has demonstrated that, under winter use conditions involving repeated exposure to snow, ice, sand and salt, such complicated mechanisms are subjected to jamming, freezing and rusting. Consequently, the moving parts often become inoperable, or, even worse, break under excess force applied in attempting to free them. As mentioned previously, many snow plow mounting attachments necessitate bolting or welding fixtures or making modifications to the loader&#39;s bucket to assist in securing the plow to the loader. Frequently, however, such changes to the loader will impair normal loader operation. Invariably, such changes involve significant cost both in manpower and equipment.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0013]    It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a blade accessory for attachment to a bucket of the type commonly found in front end loaders, backhoes, and the like.  
           [0014]    It is a further object of the present invention to provide a blade accessory which can be quickly and easily attached to a bucket vehicle and which can be angled in a horizontal direction.  
           [0015]    It is a further object of the present invention to provide a blade accessory which can be connected to the bucket of equipment such as a front end loader or backhoe and wherein it may be attached without requiring the operator to come out of the cab.  
           [0016]    According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a blade accessory for attachment to a vehicle, the accessory comprising a frame, means for mounting the frame to the vehicle, a bucket, means for attaching the bucket to the frame to permit pivotal movement of the bucket with respect to the frame about a vertical axis, and means to pivotably move the bucket in a horizontal plane, and a blade member, means to mount the blade member on a front face of the bucket such that the blade member is angled when the bucket is moved in the horizontal plane.  
           [0017]    Preferably, the blade accessory includes at least one cylinder assembly for pivotably moving the bucket in the horizontal plane, the cylinder assembly comprising a cylinder having a piston rod, first and second connecting rods, each of the connecting rods having a first end connected to a distal end of the piston rod, a second end of the first connecting rod being connected to the frame, and a second end of the second connecting rod being connected to the bucket, the arrangement being such that movement of the piston will cause the connecting rods to move apart to thereby cause the bucket to pivotably move with respect to the frame.  
           [0018]    In a particularly preferred embodiment, the cylinders are mounted vertically and are mounted to the frame with the piston rod extending downwardly and the connecting rods being in a V-shaped configuration. Utilizing two such cylinder assemblies, one secured to each end of the bucket, any movement of the bucket and accompanying blade may easily be controlled.  
           [0019]    The means for attaching the bucket to the frame may include a V-shaped member having first and second arms. The V-shaped member interconnects the bucket and frame at an upper portion thereof with a first end of the first and second arms being pivotably connected to a center connecting point on the frame with second ends of each of the first and second arms being connected to the bucket.  
           [0020]    The blade accessory, as aforementioned, has a blade member which includes a blade frame, the blade frame preferably having a tongue portion extending through a rear wall of the bucket, the arrangement being such that the tongue portion is secured to the bucket rearwardly of the rear wall. In this respect, the tongue portion may be secured to the bucket by means of a locking pin which is pneumatically driven into and out of a locking position. The blade frame may fit within the bucket and the bucket may include guide means to guide the blade frame into a desired position.  
           [0021]    In a further aspect of the invention, one can incorporate a forklift assembly as will be discussed in greater detail hereinbelow.  
           [0022]    The above arrangement permits use of the bucket either on its own or with the blade attached to the front of the bucket. The bucket alone or the bucket with blade may be angled for either grading or snow removal. The blade can be quickly connected to the bucket from the cab of the loader without the operator coming out. The system of attachment is designed such that there is no need to attach or detach any hydraulic lines. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING  
       [0023]    Having thus generally described the invention, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings illustrating embodiments of the invention, in which:  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 1 is a front exploded view illustrating a bucket with a blade attachment in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 2 is a rear exploded view illustrating the bucket and blade attachment;  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 3 is a rear perspective view of the bucket;  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the blade attachment;  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 5 is a front view of the bucket;  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the connecting frame;  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a connecting V-shaped bar;  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a knuckle pin part;  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 9 is an exploded view illustrating one of the angle adjustment cylinders and associated linking components;  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 10 is an exploded view illustrating a locking cylinder part;  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating part of a hydraulic circuitry used for controlling a bucket/blade combination such as the one shown in FIGS. 1 and 2; and  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 12 is a schematic side elevational view illustrating the use of other accessories. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0036]    Referring to the drawings in greater detail and by reference characters thereto, there is illustrated in FIG. 1 the three main components which may be attached to a suitable vehicle. These comprise a blade assembly generally designated by reference numeral  10 , a bucket generally designated by reference numeral  12 , and a frame generally designated by reference numeral  14 .  
         [0037]    As the accessory is substantially symmetrical about a vertical plane passing through the center, similar reference numerals with a prime will be utilized for parts which are a mirror image of the parts on the other side.  
         [0038]    Frame  14 , as best seen in FIG. 6, includes a top wall  18  and a pair of side walls  20 ,  20 ′. Along top wall  18  there is a top wall lug  22  extending forwardly thereof and which lug  22  includes an aperture  24  therein.  
         [0039]    Each side wall  20 ,  20 ′ has a pair of upper side wall lugs  26 ,  26 ′ respectively with apertures  28 ,  28 ′ formed therein. Similarly, at the lower end of each side wall  20 ,  20 ′ there are provided a set of lower side wall lugs  30 ,  30 ′ having respective apertures  32 ,  32 ′ therein.  
         [0040]    As will be seen from FIG. 6, frame  14  also includes first and second lower ears  36 ,  36 ′ which are located exteriorly of lower side wall lugs  30 ,  30 ′ respectively. Lower ears  36 ,  36 ′ have apertures  38 ,  38 ′ respectively formed therein. As may be seen in FIG. 6, frame  14  includes ears  40  extending upwardly from the front and rear of bottom wall  41  and having a sleeve  42  extending therebetween. Extending upwardly from top wall  18  are mounting blocks  34 ,  34 ′.  
         [0041]    Bucket  12 , as best seen in FIGS. 3 and 5, includes side walls  44 ,  44 ′, upper rear wall  46 , rear wall  47 , and lower rear wall  49 . Extending rearwardly of upper rear wall  46  are sets of lugs  48 ,  48 ′ each having apertures  50 ,  50 ′ respectively formed therein.  
         [0042]    Also extending rearwardly from rear wall  47  are brackets  52 ,  52 ′ having apertures  54 ,  54 ′ respectively located therein. Ribs  56 ,  56 ′ are formed on the rear portion of bucket  12  and extend along upper rear wall  46  and rear wall  47 . Extending between ribs  56 ,  56 ′ is a plate  58  on which there is provided an ear  60  having aperture  61  formed therein. Formed in rear wall  47  of bucket  12  is an opening  62  (FIG. 5) for reasons which will become apparent hereinbelow. A pair of guides  74 ,  74 ′ are located on the interior of side walls  44 ,  44 ′ respectively.  
         [0043]    Blade assembly  10 , as may be best seen in FIG. 4, includes a blade  64  having an A-frame generally designated by reference numeral  66 . Mounted on the bottom of A-frame  66  are a pair of shoes  68 ,  68 ′ while at the apex of A-frame  66  there is provided a tongue  70  having an aperture  72  formed therein.  
         [0044]    For connecting bucket  12  to frame  14 , there is provided a V-bar  76  having a first arm  78  and a second arm  80 . An aperture  82  is formed at the base of V-bar  76  and a pair of apertures  84  are provided at the distal ends of arms  78  and  80 . Connecting pins  86  and  88  are provided for reasons which will be discussed hereinbelow.  
         [0045]    An air cylinder  90  is provided for securing bucket  12  to frame  14  and includes a locking pin  92 . There are also provided connecting pins  94  and  96 .  
         [0046]    A knuckle pin generally designated by reference numeral  102 , as best seen in FIG. 8, has a shaft  104  with a distal end portion  106  designed to receive a nut  108 . A pin  110  is utilized for connection purposes.  
         [0047]    Movement of bucket  12  and blade assembly  10  is provided through means of cylinders  118 ,  118 ′ and reference will now be made to FIG. 9 illustrating cylinder  118 . Cylinder  118  includes a cylinder mount  120  and a piston rod  122  extending out the opposite end with aperture  124  being formed therein. A first connecting rod  126  has apertures  128  and  130  at opposite ends thereof as does a connecting rod  132  with apertures  134  and  136 . Connecting pins  138 ,  140  and  142  are utilized for connecting the components together as explained hereinbelow.  
         [0048]    As aforementioned, blade  64  is secured to A-frame  66  and preferably shoes  68 ,  68 ′ are coated with a material such as TEFLON (trademark for polytetrafluroethylene). Shoes  68  support frame  66  within the bottom of bucket  12 . A-frame  66  may be held in place by guides  74 ,  74 ′ on the inside of bucket  12 . Tongue  70  extends through opening  62  formed in rear wall  47  and is locked in place by locking pin  92 . Locking pin  92  is actuated by inner cylinder  90  which in turn is connected to bucket  12  at ear  60  through aperture  61 .  
         [0049]    Bucket  12  is mounted to frame  14  by means of V-bar  76  and knuckle pin  102 . V-bar  76  attaches to bucket  12  through apertures  50 ,  50 ′ in lugs  48 ,  48 ′ respectively utilizing pins  88 . Preferably, the V-bar ends contain self aligning bearings to allow some movement.  
         [0050]    V-bar  76  is connected to frame  14  by means of pin  86  which extends through aperture  82  and aperture  24  in lug  22 . Knuckle pin  102  provides a second attachment and is secured to bucket  12  by means of pin  96 . The other end of knuckle pin  102  attaches to frame  14  by passing through sleeve  42  and being retained in place by means of nut  108 .  
         [0051]    Frame  14  attaches to the heavy equipment firstly by means of upper side wall lugs  26 ,  26 ′ by means of suitable pins (not shown). A second connection between them is provided using apertures  32 ,  32 ′ in lower side wall lugs  30 ,  30 ′. Pin  59  is used for the lower connection and at the same time, it also secures the lower end of connecting rod  132  through apertures  136 .  
         [0052]    Bucket  12  is angled by movement of cylinders  118 ,  118 ′ which push or pull on the connecting rods  126 ,  132 ,  126 ′,  132 ′. The rods, as may be seen in FIG. 9, will perform a scissor like movement which pulls the bucket  12  on one side while pushing it on the other. Cylinders  118 ,  118 ′ are connected at their cylinder mount  120 ,  120 ′ to mounting blocks  34 ,  34 ′ by pins  142 ,  142 ′. Preferably, the cylinder mount  120 ,  120 ′ contains a self-aligning bearing to allow movement in its operation. The piston rod  122  is secured through aperture  124  by means of pin  138  which extends through aperture  124 , and aperture  128  of rod  126  and aperture  134  of rod  132 . Connecting rod  132  attaches to the frame by means of a pin  49  which extends through apertures  136  and aperture  38  of lower ear  36 . As in the other case described above, there is also preferably provided a self-aligning bearing. Connecting rod  126  is secured to bucket  12  by pin  140  which extends through aperture  130  and apertures  54  in bracket  52 . A self-aligning bearing is also provided.  
         [0053]    [0053]FIG. 11 illustrates the basic hydraulic schematic wherein there is provided a distribution block  144  operatively interconnected between a left cylinder  118  and a right cylinder  118 ′.  
         [0054]    [0054]FIG. 13 illustrates, in schematic form, a slightly modified arrangement. In this arrangement, it will be seen that frame  14  is connected to loader boom  146  and to loader tilt  148 . In this embodiment, intermediate bucket  12  and frame  14  there is provided a forklift structure generally designated by reference numeral  150 . Forklift structure  150  is secured to cylinder  118  at attachment point  152  and includes forklift tines  154 . In turn, forklift tines  154  can be designed to engage bucket  12  as is schematically shown in FIG. 13.  
         [0055]    It will be understood that the above described embodiments are for purposes of illustration only and that changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.