METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MOVING A VEHICLE ON LOOSE SOIL

Abstract: The improvement is in that the upper layer of the ground or soil is moved away from before the wheels of at least one axle of the vehicle. In an arrangement for moving a vehicle having wheels and a frame structure on loose ground or soil, the improvement is in that a trench opening device (2) having a trench excavator is provided before each wheel (9) of at least one axle of the vehicle (1) and the devices (2) are mounted on the frame structure of the vehicle (1) for being the excavators movable between a lower working position and an upper traveling position and the devices have a trench opening width being not smaller than the wheel (9) before which it is arranged.

Description: Method and Apparatus for Moving a Vehicle on Loose Soil Field of the Invention The invention relates to a method for moving a vehicle on loose ground or soil. These vehicles have wheels and a frame structure. State of the Art 10 As it is well known, when a vehicle, e.g. a self-driven powe__κ*mSOhi e such as a tractor or a self-driven single-purpose machine such as a combine moves on loose soil, the greater part of the traction capacity is 15 consumed by the resistance of the loose soil. The ground under a wheel of a vehicle is compressed and when the wheel is driven, a certain slip occures between the wheel and the ground. The rolling resistance determined by these and other factors can result in the radical — r-C —ι r -l_—rr -.i JT-.. « -i•n•-, - * * «V-i.β-_• so co l ' 1.-■ o-_, r._.- «_>^ya *-t- •a»* V 4-nteW-i i__ + W "_ ■ *•..V_4> V•_ ■ ♦V--_?_ V■^■«»LA•. n W Mnn"n_i < *"■» * *--»l * + W j-»τ . Pollqwingly, the power machine such as a tractor will not be able to trail the vehicles attached to it. In other cases, the self-driven vehicle will dig itself in, and the driven wheels will become more and more 5 immersed into the loose soil. According to the state of art, the aforesaid difficulties can not be eliminated. To reduce the foiling resistance, wider wheels and tyres or instead of wheels, chain 0 tracks or caterpillar bands are used. The number of the driven wheels can be increased, too. Tyres with special profiles, surfaces or with appropriately adjustable inner pressures were proposed. However, the movement of vehicles is often difficult if not impossible because of - 2 - the lack of appropriate adhesion at the driven wheels. Loose soil often occurs in the agriculture. The tractors and single-purpose machines get havier and havier with their increasing power output and the ground or soil are frequently sodden or sloppy and softened by water. The rain and mud can paralyze the work on the fields in spring or autumn when the time for doing these works are in any case extremely short. Essence of the Invention The main object of the invention is to eliminate the aforesaid defficiencies and to provide .a method and an apparatus for moving a vehicle on loose ground or soil which is easy to realize and use with all vehicles and which lessen the loss in tractive output power or per¬ formance when the vehicle moves on loose ground or soil. The main ide of this invention is based on the fact that the soil becomes softened and sodden only in its upper layer. This upper layer can be very loose and slippery but in relatively small depth under this layer, the soil is solid or dense enough to be able to carry the loads of the wheels of the vehicle without the danger of immersion of the wheels into the soil. Therefore, this loose upper layer should be removed from before the wheels. Pollowingly, the improvement in the method of this in- vention is in that the upper layer of the ground or soil is moved away from before the wheels of at least one axle of the vehicle. In a preferred realization, the upper layer of soil can be moved away from before all wheels of the vehicle in the same time. The method can easily be realized when the upper layer of soil is moved away from before all wheels by opening a trench before the wheels. The trenches should be at least as wide as the wheel before which the trench is opened. According to the improvement of the apparatus in this invention, a trench opening device having trench exca¬ vator is ' provided before each wheel of at least one axle of the vehicle, and the devices are mounted on the frame of the vehicle for being the excavators move- able between a lower working position and an upper tra¬ veling position and the working width of the excavators is not smaller than the wheels before which they are arranged for opening the trench. In a preferred embodiment of this invention, the exca¬ vators are fixed to a piston rod of a hydraulic working ram which is mounted on the frame of the vehicle, where¬ by the excavators are infinitely adjustable between the lower working position and the upper traveling position. In an other embodiment, the excavators can be formed as trenching ploughs, each of which has two cutting plates and two beastboards fixed to the cutting plates in a detachable manner. The cutting plates and the breastboards can be fixed to each other at one of their smaller edge for forming an acute cutting angle. At the other of their smaller edges, the cutting plates are rounded-off. Brief description of the.drawings Further objects and details of the invention will be described hereinafter on the basis of a preferred em- bodiment with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, Fig. 1 shows a side elevational view of an embodiment of the invention in traveling position, Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the embodiment of Fig. 1 in working position, Fig. 3 is a detail of Fig. 2 in greater scale. Preferred embodiment In Fig. 1, a tractor 1 is shown as a vehicle in the sense of this invention, on the frame of which a trench opening device is mounted shown in general by reference numeral 2. The trench opening device 2 has a trench ex¬ cavator which, in this embodiment, is formed as a trenching plough 3 and a displacement element-formed as a hydraulic ram β. The hydraulic ram β is mounted on the frame of vehicle 1 by a consol 7 and trenching plough 3 is connected to the piston rod of ram 6. Hy¬ draulic ram 6 is fed with pressurized working agent via hydraulic conduit 11. In Fig. 2, the embodiment of Fig. 1 is shown in front elevational view, wherein trench opening device 2 is in a lower working position. In this position, trenching plough 3 cuts a trench 10. With reference to Fig. 1, too, it can be seen that, in this example, at all four • wheels 9 of vehicle 1 is one trench opening device 2. Console 7 is formed as a cross beam receiving rams 6 arranged before both wheels 9 of one axle of the vehicle 1. In Fig. 3, a portion of Fig. 2 is shown in greater scale. Trenching plough 3 of trench opening device 2 is half way between its working position as shown in Fig. 2 and traveling position as illustrated in Fig. 1. Trench 10 opened by the trenching plough 3 has rounded-off corner portions 12 seen in cross section of Fig. 3. Trenching plough 3 is assambled from four parts and detachable connections are provided between the parts. Two cutting plates 5 are arranged for opening the trench 10 in the soil which are fixed together at one 13 of their smaller edges under an acute angle. This edge 13 is the cutting or working edge of the plough 3. Lower corners 14 at the other edge of cutting plates 5 are rounded-off for forming the rounded-off portions 12 of the trench 10. Above cutting plates 5, breastboards 4 are arranged which are fixed to each other and to the corresponding cutting plates 5, respectively. Thus, the same acute angle is between breastboards 4 as between cutting plates 5 at edge 13. In function of this embodiment of the arrangement in this invention, the loose upper layer of the soil is moved away from before the wheels 9 of the vehicle 1. For doing so, trenching ploughs 3 of trench opening devices 2 arranged before the wheels 9 of vehicle 1 are immersed into the soil. Through hydraulic conduit 11, hydraulic rams 6 are put under pressure and trenching • ploughs 3 move from their upper traveling position as shown in Fig. 1 into the lower working position as shown in Fig. 2. In the soil, cutting plates 5 open trenches 10 and breastboards 4 spread the loose soil beside trenches 10. Since the working widths of trench opening devices 2 and, thus, the trenches 10 are not smaller than the wheels 9 of the vehicle 1, the wheels will move on the bottom surface of trenches 10 which is much more solid than the loose upper layer of the soil removed by trench opening devices 2. The parts of the trench opening devices 2 are fixed together in a detachable manner, thus, the measurements and the form of trenches 10 can be varied by providing cutting plates 5 and breastboards 4 with different forms and measurements. Further to this, parts of the devices 2 or of the ploughs 3 can be substituted with new ones when they get demolished or deterioriated. In these cases, the change of the entire unit will not be neces¬ sary. The position of ploughs 3 and, with this, the depth of the trenches 10 can be adjusted by rams 6, since the position of the ploughs 3 can infinitely adjusted between their upper and lower positions. It is not always necessary to arrange trench opening devices 10 before all wheels 9 of vehicle 1 but it must be there before each wheel 9 of at least one axle of the vehicle 1. It is preferable to arrange devices 2 * before the wheels 9 of the front axle of the vehicle 1, since the wheels 9 of the other axles will run on the same track and, thus, in the trenches 10 opened before the front wheels 9« The experiments with the arrangement of this invention have shown that even havy tractors can easily move on loose soil when using the trench opening devices 2..The energy consumed for opening the trenches 10 is much lesser than the energy being necessary for moving the vehicle 1 on the loose soil. After finishing the works on loose soil, ploughs 3 of trench opening devices 2 are retracted into the traveling position as shown in Fig. 1 by applying a pressure under the piston of rams 6. With this, the vehicle 1 can move without any hindrance on public roads or other streets having firm pavement. As it is self explanatory, instead of ploughs 3, any other kind of trench opening devices such as trenching disks etc. can be used.

Claims: - 8 - Claims 1. A method for moving a self-driven vehicle on loose ground or soil, characterized in that an upper layer of the ground or soil is moved away from before wheels of at least one axle of the vehicle. 2. The method as claimed in. Claim 1, wherein the upper layer of the ground or soil is moved away from before all wheels of the vehicle. 3. The method as claimed in Claims 1 or 2, wherein the upper layer of the ground or soil is moved away by opening a trench before ' the wheels, wherein the trench is at least as wide as the wheel-before which it is opened. 4. An arrangement for moving a vehicle having wheels and a frame structure on loose ground or soil, characterized in that a trench opening device (2) having a trench ex¬ cavator is arranged before each wheel (9) of at least one axle of the.vehicle (1) and the devices (2) are mounted on the frame sturcture of the vehicle (1) for being the excavators movable between a lower working position and an upper traveling position and the working width of the excavators is at least as wide as the wheels (9) before which they are arranged. 5. The arrangement as claimed in Claim 4, wherein the device (2) has a hydraulic working ram (6) and the ex¬ cavators are fixed to a piston rod of the hydraulic working ram (6) being mounted on the frame of the vehicle (1), whereby the excavators are infinitely adjustable between said lower working position and upper traveling position. 6. The arrangement as claimed in Claims 4 or 5, wherein ' the excavators are formed as trenching ploughs (3), each of which has two cutting plates (5) and two breastboards (4) fixed to the cutting plates (5) in a detachable manner. 7. The arrangement as claimed in Claim 6, wherein the cutting plates (5) and the breastboards (4) are fixed together at one (13) of their smaller edges for forming an acute cutting angle. 8. The arrangement as claimed in Claims 6 or 7 f wherein the cutting plates (5) have rounded-off lower corners (14) at their other smaller edges.

Inventors: AICHELBURG AUREL, AICHELBURG LASZLO, AICHELBURG, AUREL, AICHELBURG, LASZLO
Applicants: AICHELBURG AUREL, AICHELBURG LASZLO, AICHELBURG, AUREL, AICHELBURG, LASZLO
Application year: 1985
Main classification: E02F3
IPC codes: B62D57, E02F5, E02F9