Moon lock

A locking arrangement and method of locking a plurality of plate members (1) (FIG. 5) to a base surface, the base surface being provided with a plurality of locking anchors (5) provided in spaced apart relationship thereon. The locking arrangement is particularly suitable to eliminate the requirement for welding wear plates to equipment such as earthmoving equipment, washery and crushing equipment.

The present invention relates to a locking arrangement, and in particular, 
to a locking arrangement which is useful for adapting wear plates to 
equipment, such as that utilised in the mining industry, in washeries, or 
for crushing, etc. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
At present, in applying wear plates to earthmoving equipment, it is 
necessary to separately weld a multiple number of wear plates to the 
exterior surfaces of the said earthmoving equipment. 
Mining equipment wear plates for instance are applied to earthmoving 
equipment to reduce the wear to the equipment itself. Instead of the 
actual equipment being worn, the wear plates are worn, the wear plates 
then being able to be relatively easily replaced at the required periods 
of time. This reduces the unnecessary fabrication of earthmoving 
equipment, by increasing the working life of said equipment. 
At present, earthmoving equipment wear plates are constructed of extremely 
hard, abrasive resistant material which is designed to resist wear. These 
earthmoving equipment wear plates are constructed in sections, and each is 
separately welded to the surface of the earthmoving equipment. As will be 
appreciated, this welding operation, in attaching the earthmoving 
equipment wear plates to the earthmoving equipment, is extremely time 
consuming, resulting in, not only excessive time and man hours being spent 
in welding the wear plates to the earthmoving equipment, together with 
very long downtimes of the equipment itself, but also, the earthmoving 
equipment wear plates are prone to become dislodged from the earthmoving 
equipment due to difficulty in successfully welding the abrasive resistant 
material to the dissimilar parent material of the equipment. 
The present invention seeks to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art, 
by providing a simple and easy application method and apparatus for 
attaching the wear plates to the earthmoving equipment. 
The present invention also seeks to overcome the necessity to weld each and 
every wear plate to the earthmoving equipment, by providing a quick and 
simple interlock means to securely attach the wear plates to the 
equipment. 
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
In one broad form, the present invention comprises a locking arrangement 
for locking a plurality of plate members to a base surface, said base 
surface being provided with a plurality of locking anchors provided in 
spaced apart relationship thereon, each of said plate members being 
provided with at least one anchor receiving member thereon, each of said 
anchor receiving members being adapted to engage one of said anchors, such 
that, the edges of each said plate members are adapted to abutt with the 
edges of adjacent plate members, with the outer plate members being 
adapted to abutt retaining members being affixed to said base surface such 
that, each of said plate members is thereafter prevented from 
disengagement from said anchors. 
In a further broad form, the present invention provides a method of 
applying a plurality of plate members to a base surface, said base surface 
having a plurality of anchors provided in spaced relationship thereon, and 
said plate members each having at least one anchor receiving portion 
thereon, said method comprising the steps of: 
supplying a first of said plate members onto said base member by providing 
said at least one anchor receiving portion thereof in engagement with a 
said respective one of anchors; 
supplying further plate members onto said base member, each of said plate 
members being supplied in end abutting relationship with plate members 
subsequently supplied to said base member, such that, provision of plate 
members in such position prevent subsequently applied plate members from 
disengagement from said anchors; and, 
supplying retaining members around at least one peripheral row of plate 
members to abut with and consequently retain said plate members to said 
base plate. 
The present invention will become more fully understood from the following 
detailed description thereof. 
In order to facilitate the simple understanding of the present invention, 
the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying 
drawings in which;

DETAILS OF THE INVENTION 
In FIG. 1, an isometric view of a wear pad or wear plate for equipment such 
as that utilised in mining, washeries or crushing mills, is shown. Such an 
equipment wear pad can be adapted, by use of the moon lock arrangement in 
accordance with the present invention, to an equipment. The wear plate 
arrangement, generally designated by the numeral 1, comprises a body 
section 2, with a number of wear plate protrusions 3 spaced thereon, as 
required in accordance with the particular application of use. Wear plates 
are well known in the prior, reference being made to Potter U.S. Pat. No. 
4,716,66, Moen U.S. Pat. No. 4,128,132 and Beiswenger U.S. Pat. No. 
3,971,323. Wear plates are commonly applied to equipment such as 
earthmoving mining, washery and crushing equipment, to protect the 
earthmoving equipment from wearing out by constant usage. Rather than the 
equipment itself wearing out, the wear plates, which can be replaced, are 
changed after an appropriate amount of use of said equipment. 
The preferred embodiment of the present invention will be hereinafter 
described with reference to the wear plates of the present invention being 
adapted to earthmoving equipment. It should however be understood that the 
invention is not limited to such particular application. 
Previously however, a suitable method of attaching the wear plates to the 
earthmoving equipment has not been provided. At present, it is necessary 
to weld the wear plates to the earthmoving equipment. As will be 
appreciated, this is an extremely time-consuming process, when the 
earthmoving equipment itself cannot be utilised for the purpose of mining. 
In FIG. 2 is detailed a plan view of the earthmoving equipment wear plate 
configuration shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 illustrates the spaced apart 
relationship of the various wear plate protrusions 3 as applied to the 
body 2. 
FIG. 3a illustrates a cross-sectional view through line AA of FIG. 2, 
illustrating the wear plate protrusions 3 protruding through the upper 
surface thereof, and the moonlock anchor receiving recess or female 
portions 4 at the lower surface thereof. FIG. 3b illustrates a 
cross-sectional view through line BB of FIG. 2, showing the preferred 
angled inclination of the wear plate protrusion 3 in accordance with the 
illustration of FIG. 1. FIG. 3c shows a cross-sectional view through line 
CC of FIG. 2, also illustrating the angled protrusion of the two outer 
wear plate protrusions 3, also in accordance with FIG. 2. 
In FIG. 4 is illustrated how several earthmoving equipment wear plate 
sections may be inter-engaged by means of the moonlock arrangement in 
accordance with the present invention. The figure illustrates how a 
plurality of spaced apart moon lock anchors 5 are provided on the exterior 
surface of a earthmoving equipmentl. In accordance with the preferred 
embodiment of the present invention, each wear plate 1 is extended over 
and adapted to engage two adjacent upstanding moon lock anchors 5, which 
themselves are welded or bolted to the base of the earthmoving equipment. 
As illustrated in FIG. 4, each separate earthmoving equipment wear plate 1 
is located such that the ends thereof abut the two adjacent earthmoving 
equipment wear plates 1, located in the adjacent rows thereto. Obviously, 
however, the wear plates 1 near to the perimeter of the equipment may be 
varied in size such that, if required, the edges of each perimeter weat 
plate 1 may be substantially aligned. This may be achieved by varying the 
chute size of the individual wear plates. When designing wear plates to 
fit a specific equipment, it is advantageous to have a computer facility 
as an aid therefore. For instance, the physical dimensions and constraints 
may be inputted into the computer and the computer may then automatically 
calculate the preferred size of the indivdidual wear plates such that they 
completely cover the external surface of the equipment. By such method, 
the chute size may be varied in width, breadth and thickness, as required. 
Each of the moon lock anchors 5 is preferably constructed of mild steel, 
stainless steel or any other material which is suitable for the 
application. The wear plates of the present invention may be cast or 
manufactured out of plate. The adaptor plates may be covered by a variety 
of wear materials, for example, bisalloy 360 or the like, polyurathane 
plastics, ceramic tiles, etc. 
In FIGS. 5a and 5b, are illustrated plan and elevational views of the moon 
lock anchor construction which may be bolted to the earthmoving equipment 
by means of three bolts applied through the bores 6. Alternatively, the 
earthmoving equipment wear plate anchor may be attached to the earthmoving 
equipment by means of welding or any other suitable method of application, 
or, the moonlock anchors may be cast on as part of original equipment. A 
suitable constuction for an earthmoving equipment wear plate moon lock 
anchor which may be welded to the earthmoving equipment is illustrated in 
FIGS. 5c and 5d, FIG. 5c illustrating a plan view thereof, and FIG. 5d 
illustrating an elevational view thereof. 
As will be noted, the moon lock anchor when attached to the base surface of 
the equipment is upstanding; whereas the corresponding lock anchor on the 
wear plate is recessed to thereby provide a male-female interlocking 
arrangement. 
In FIG. 6 is detailed a plan view and an elevational view of the moon lock 
adaptor plate, which is designed to inter-engage with the moon lock anchor 
5 illustrated in FIG. 5. The base plate 7 of the moon lock anchor is 
provided with two cut-outs 12 thereon, each of the cut-outs being formed 
of a substantially rectangular section 8 and a semi-circular section 9. 
The curved edge of the semi-circular section 9 is tapered or inclined to 
correspond to the taper or incline 12 on the moon lock anchor 5 
illustrated in FIG. 5 to enable the corresponding anchors to mate 
together. Also shown in FIG. 6 are cut-out portions 11, which are cut out 
for the purpose of reducing the weight of the adaptor plate 7 and 
consequently, the weight of the earthmoving equipment, and, also, to allow 
the plug welding of wear plates to the adaptor plate. 
In FIG. 7, is illustrated a plan view of a moon lock adaptor plate 7 
specifically designed for a earthmoving equipment wear plate, which has 
been cast in one section. The view shown in FIG. 7 is that of the 
underside of the moonlock adaptor plate 7. 
In FIGS. 8a and 8b are illustrated elevational views of the earthmoving 
equipment moon lock adaptor plate 7 as illustrated in FIG. 7. FIG. 8a 
illustrates the earthmoving equipment wear plate protrusions 3 at spaced 
apart locations upon the body 2 of the wear plate. FIG. 8a also 
illustrates the adaptor plate portion 7 of the wear plate with each of the 
shaped cut-outs 12 thereon for mating with the male portion of the moon 
lock anchor. 
In FIG. 9 is illustrated a partially exploded isometric view of a moon 
plate arrangement as applied to a sled base, this arrangement also then 
provided with a bull nose retainer plate. As illustrated, each of the wear 
plates 13 are, one at a time, provided over a pair of male anchors 15, 
upon the base structure 16. Once each of the wear pads 13 are applied to 
the base plate 16 and interlocked with moonlock anchors 15, the bull nose 
retainer 14 is then applied adjacent one end thereof. The bull nose 
retainer 14 may be welded or bolted or applied to the base plate 16 by any 
suitable means of connection. Once the bull nose retainer 14 is applied to 
the base plate 16, the bull nose retainer 14 prevents any lateral movement 
of any of the wear pads 13, preventing any of the wear pads 13 from 
disengaging from the base plate 16. Consequently, each and every wear pad 
13 is adapted to the base plate 16 on a semi-permanent basis. 
In FIG. 10 is illustrated an isometric view of a bull nose keeper which may 
be welded to the apparatus adjacent to the cast moon plate arrangement as 
shown in FIG. 9. This bull nose keeper 14 is simply welded or applied by 
means of bolts or the like to the earthmoving equipment after each of the 
wear pads are applied thereto, to retain the wear pads 13 in position on 
the earthmoving equipment. 
In FIG. 11 elevational views of the earthmoving equipment wear pads 13 as 
illustrated in FIG. 9 are shown. FIG. 11a illustrates the wear pad 13 with 
a shaped upper surface effectively providing protrusions 3 thereon, said 
protrusions 3 being of the format as hereinbefore described, or of any 
other appropriate format. The lower portion of the earthmoving equipment 
wear pad 13 is shown with a shaped cut-out 12 which equipment wear pad 13 
is shown with a shaped cut-out 12 which as the female lock anchor is 
adapted to receive the male anchors 15 as shown in FIG. 9. FIG. 11b also 
illustrates a further elevational view of the earthmoving equipment wear 
pads 13 of FIG. 9. In this figure the earthmoving equipment wear pad 13 is 
shown from an end elevational view, which is of lesser height than the 
central portion of the wear pad as shown in FIG. 11a. 
In FIG. 12, is shown some various alternative embodiments of the underside 
of the adaptor plate as hereinbefore described. As illustrated, the 
earthmoving equipment wear plate adaptor plate may take the form of 
varying shapes, for instance octangular, triangular, square or 
semi-circular shape, it should be understood that any other shaped anchors 
and corresponding adaptor plates may be provided, to achieve the same 
function of male-female connection of the locking arrangement as 
hereinbefore described. 
It should be understood to people skilled in the art that numerous other 
variations and modification can be made to the invention as hereinbefore 
described. Such variations and modifications should however be considered 
to be within the scope of the present invention as broadly described 
hereinbefore and as claimed hereinafter.