Bucket with reduced dumping width

A loader, including a vehicle frame, lift arms mounted on the frame for movement between upper and lower positions, and a bucket having a bottom, a rear and spaced sides, said bottom and sides defining a dumping opening, the bucket being mounted on the lift arms for movement therewith, wherein the improvement comprises a gate pivotally mounted to the bucket for movement between a first position wherein the dumping opening is unobstructed, and a second position wherein the dumping opening is partially obstructed so that the dumping opening may be selectively narrowed when the bucket contents are to be dumped in a restricted area.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to loaders used in 
earth-moving service and the like and, more specifically, to means for 
reducing the width of the front portion of a loading bucket to facilitate 
dumping of the bucket's contents into a separate receptacle such as a dump 
truck, for example. 
It has proven desirable to provide earth-loading buckets with relatively 
wide entrances, as defined by the front edge and side walls of said 
buckets, in order to allow the greatest possible amount of material to be 
loaded into the bucket as the front edge of the bucket loosens and lifts 
said material as the bucket travels over the terrain to be cleared. 
However, relatively wide buckets are difficult to unload when the width of 
the receptacle is insufficient to accommodate all the falling debris and 
earth material. This may occur even though the width of the receptacle is 
greater than the width of the bucket as material falling from a bucket has 
the tendency to spread outwardly from the sides of the bucket, resulting 
in loss of material over the front or rear of the receptacle. This is 
especially inconvenient when the receptacle is a truck without a 
protective cover for the operator's station at the front of the vehicle. 
It has been determined that if the ratio of the width of the receptacle to 
the width of the bucket is less than about 1.4 to 1, the bucket must be 
positioned substantially centrally of the receptacle to avoid spillage of 
material over the sides of the receptacle when emptying the bucket. This 
is a disadvantage, as centering of a loader with respect to the receptacle 
may be impractical due to space and time limitations. 
When the length of the truck bed (measured from the operator's station to 
the rear of the bed), or other receptacle, is only slightly greater than 
the width of the bucket opening, spillage problems may occur even if the 
bucket is centered with respect to the receptacle. This situation arises 
in cases where relatively short dump trucks are utilized in 
material-moving operations. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the invention to provide a new and improved loader for 
use in earth-moving operations and the like. More specifically, it is an 
object of the invention to provide a loader, the bucket of which has a 
relatively wide opening that may be narrowed when the bucket is moved to 
its dumping position so as to provide a relatively narrow dumping opening 
which will effectively result in a dumping area of reduced size. 
An exemplary embodiment of the invention achieves the foregoing object in a 
loader having a gate mounted on one of the sides of the bucket of said 
loader for movement between a first position wherein the gate extends 
forwardly from a side of the bucket and does not obstruct the dumping 
opening of the bucket, and a second position wherein the gate extends 
inwardly from a side in order to partially obstruct the dumping opening. 
One version of the above embodiment includes a hydraulic cylinder mounted 
on the top of the bucket and connected to a pivot arm of the gate to 
effect movement of the gate between its first and second positions. 
Another embodiment of the invention comprises a loader with a gate mounted 
on the rear of the loader's bucket in close proximity to a side of the 
bucket for rotation between a first position wherein the gate extends 
forwardly from the rear of the bucket and is disposed against the bottom 
of the bucket, and a second position wherein the gate extends upwardly and 
forwardly of its mounting point on the rear of the bucket, thereby 
partially obstructing the dumping opening thereof. 
In one preferred embodiment of the invention, the above gate comprises a 
rigid member which includes a rear lever portion which extends rearwardly 
from the bucket for abutment against a lifting arm of the loader, thereby 
serving to move the gate between its first and second positions as the 
lift arm is moved between its lower and upper positions. 
One highly preferred embodiment of the invention comprises the above 
loaders with a second gate mounted at the opposite side of the bucket. 
Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following 
specifications taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to FIG. 1, an exemplary embodiment of a loader made according to 
the invention includes a wheeled vehicle frame, generally designated 10, 
provided with lifting arms 12 which are pivotally mounted to the frame 10 
by pivots 14. Hydraulic cylinders 16 are mounted to the frame 10 by pivots 
18 and to the arms 12 by pivots 20. Operation of the cylinders 16 raises 
or lowers the arms 12 in a known manner. 
As best seen in FIG. 2, a bucket, generally designated 22, is pivotally 
mounted to the arms 12 by pins 26 which extend through the ends 28 of the 
arms 12 and through two pairs of arcuate ribs 30 which form rear and 
bottom supports for the bucket 22. 
Referring again to FIG. 1, hydraulic cylinders 32 are pivotally mounted to 
the frame 10 by pivots 34 and to the bucket 22 by pins 38 located above 
the pins 26. The pins 38 extend through the ends 40 of the cylinders 32 
and through brackets 42 (FIG. 2) which form an integral part of the bucket 
22. Operation of the cylinders 32 tilts the bucket 22 on the arms 12, as 
is well known, thereby allowing material contained in the bucket 22 to 
fall therefrom into a suitable receptable, such as the bed 48 of dump 
truck 50. 
The bucket 22 has spaced side walls 52 and 54, an arcuate rear and bottom 
wall 56, and a spill plate 58. A front edge 60, as shown in FIG. 1, is 
disposed forwardly of the wall 56 and the forward extremities 62 of the 
ribs 30. 
Referring to FIG. 2, the side wall 52 of the bucket 22 is provided with a 
forwardly extending gate 72 which is pivotally mounted to the side wall 52 
by a hinge 74 for movement between a first position shown in dotted lines 
wherein the gate extends forwardly from side wall 52, and a second 
position wherein the gate extends forwardly and inwardly from side wall 
52, as shown in solid lines in FIG. 2. A similar gate 80 is pivotally 
mounted to the side wall 54 for movement between a similar first position 
and second position. Hydraulic cylinders 86 and 88 are mounted on the 
spill plate 58 by brackets 90 and 92 and are pivotally connected to the 
gates 72 and 80 by arms 94 and 96 thereon, respectively, as by pins 98 and 
100. 
Extension of the cylinders 86 and 88 pivots the gates 72 and 80, 
respectively, from their respective first positions to their second 
positions, thereby partially obstructing the entrance 66 to the bucket 22 
so as to effectively narrow the dumping opening. 
Loading of the bucket 22 may be accomplished with the gates 72 and 80 
disposed in their first positions, thereby providing the dumping opening 
66 with its greatest possible width. When the bucket 22 is in its dumping 
position (shown in FIG. 1) over the receptacle 48, the operator of vehicle 
10 may actuate either or both of the cylinders 86 and 88, thereby moving 
gates 72 and 80 to their second positions so as to narrow the bucket 
opening. 
Either of the gates 72 or 80 may be operated independently of the other, or 
simultaneously, at the option of the operator. It may be desirable to 
operate only one of the gates in situations where there is sufficient 
clearance between one side of the bucket and the corresponding boundary of 
the receptacle to avoid spillage of material as it is dumped. 
The resultant narrowing of the bucket opening limits the outward spread of 
material as it is dumped from the bucket 22. This will allow the vehicle's 
operator to position the bucket 22 in a dumping position over receptacle 
48 without positioning the center of the bucket substantially centrally of 
the receptacle. 
In cases where the reaceptacle is only slightly wider than the bucket, 
spillage problems may occur even if the bucket is centered over the 
receptacle. This is often the case where relatively short dump trucks are 
used to receive and transport material. Narrowing of the bucket opening as 
described above acts to restrict the area into which the dumped material 
will spread, thereby allowing relatively wide buckets to be used with 
short receptacles. 
FIGS. 3-6 illustrate an alternative embodiment of the invention wherein 
gates 102 and 104 are pivotally mounted to the side walls 52 ad 54 of the 
bucket 22 as by pins 106 which extend substantially perpendicularly to the 
walls 52 and 54. 
The gates 102 and 104 each include a wedge-shaped plate 108 which extends 
forwardly of the respective pivot pins 106 and levers 110 which extend 
rearwardly of the associated pins through the rear wall 56 and which 
underlie the arms 12. The plates 108 each include a flat bottom 112 and a 
tapered upper surface 114. As shown in FIG. 6, the surfaces 114 taper both 
forwardly from the associated pin 106 and inwardly from the corresponding 
walls 52 and 54. The plates 108 are substantially heavier than the 
associated levers 110 so as to normally reside in the position illustrated 
in FIG. 3 due to the influence of gravity. 
The gates 102 and 104 are pivotal on pins 106 between a first position 
wherein the bottom portions 112 are disposed against the bottom of the 
bucket 22, and a second position wherein the plates 108 extend forwardly 
and upwardly of the pivot axes defined by pins 106. 
Movement of the gates 102 and 104 from the first position to the second 
position is effected by the abutment of levers 110 against the 
undersurface 118 of the arms 12 when the arms are moving toward an 
elevated position, as shown in FIG. 4. 
Tilting of the bucket to a dumping position will cause the gates to move 
fully to their second position, as shown in FIG. 4. 
The gates 102 and 104 serve to narrow the effective dumping width of the 
bucket 22 when the gates are in their second position. Material positioned 
between the gates and the rear wall 56 will slide inwardly from the side 
walls 52 and 54 due to the inward taper of the surface 114 of each gate. 
Thus, the downward flow of material will be substantially limited to the 
area between the inner edges 120 and 122 of gates 102 and 104 during 
dumping. 
After dumping, the gates 102 and 104 will return to their first positions 
simply by means of returning the bucket 22 to its loading position (shown 
in FIG. 3), as the plates 108 are heavier than levers 110 and will pivot 
from their second positions to their first positions due to the influence 
of gravity. 
From the foregoing, it may be appreciated that a loader made according to 
the invention will provide a relatively wide loading width while allowing 
selective narrowing of the dumping width. As a consequence, the need to 
center the bucket with respect to the receptacle when dumping will be 
obviated, resulting in economy of time and reduction of spillage.