Excavator and method of using excavator

Abstract: An excavator for constructing an underground continuous wall includes an extensible guide post (9), an endless chain (17) extending around a chain driving wheel (11) provided at the upper portion of the guide post and a chain sprocket (14) at the lower portion of the guide post, and a number of cutter bits (B) and a number of agitator bars (18) alternately arranged on the chain to form an endless chain cutter and a jet pipe (20) provided in the guide post for connection to a fluid supply source and having a number of nozzles (21) branched from the jet pipe. The endless chain cutter (17) is detachably fixed to the end of a boom (7) extending from a vehicle (A). The endless chain cutter (17) may be mounted for vertical movement on the boom (7) and be vertically driven by a driving device. The cutter bits (B) may be changed for harder cutter bits if obstacles are encountered in the ground.

Description: This invention relates to an excavator and to a method of using an excavator. In constructing an underground continuous wall according to a prior art technique, first a hole of an elliptical section having a 2 to 3 m major axis is dug in the ground to a predetermined depth by a powerful bucket or a hole is dug to a predetermined depth by two or three series of auger drills. After the hole formed in slurry is sealed with a bentonite solution to prevent further penetration of slurry, a reinforcing bar cage is placed in the hole and a ready mixed-concrete is then poured into the hole to form a foundation column. Such a method is repeated to form an underground continuous wall. With the underground continuous wall constructing method of the prior art described above, the processes are complicated and hence take much time until the completion of the continuous wall. Moreover, slurry or bentonite solution layers at joints between successive columns interrupt the formation of the continuous wall so that after completion of the wall, ground water tends to leak into the inside of the continuous wall through the joints. It is therefore very difficult to provide the underground continuous wall simultaneously having two functions as a foundations wall and a diaphragm wall. Moreover, in order to improve the ground in connection with construction of the underground continuous wall in the past, there had been a ground improving method wherein the ground is excavated with earth augers or the like, and at the same time a stabilizer is forcedly mixed with the earth and sand by agitator blades or the like. However, the operations of the method cannot be continuously carried out but only intermittently performed and hence with inefficiency. Furthermore, in the past in constructing underground wall piles (referred to sometimes as "elliptical piles") having substantially rectangular cross-sections seen in a plan view, rectangular holes were formed by excavating the ground by clam buckets or manually. However, such operations are inefficient and dangerous. Moreover, in removing underground obstacles such as rocks, concrete blocks and the like in the past, rock augers or the like were used to crush them and thereafter they were removed. Such operations are inefficient because they involve extra processes using an additional apparatus other than that used in the construction method of the underground continuous wall. Both EP-A-0 249 231 and GB-A-1 099 699 disclose an excavator in accordance with the preamble of claim 1. According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided an excavator comprising a guide post, an endless chain extending around a chain driving wheel provided at an upper portion of the guide post and a chain sprocket provided at a lower portion of the guide post, a plurality of cutter bits and agitator bars arranged on the chain to form an endless chain cutter, and a pipe associated with the guide post for connection to a fluid supply source and having a number of nozzles branched from the pipe, characterised in that a plurality of agitator bars are also provided on the chain. According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of constructing an underground continuous wall using an excavator having a construction in accordance with the first aspect of the present invention, the method comprising excavating the ground by driving the endless chain whilst jetting a hardening liquid through the pipe thereby to mix the hardening liquid with earth and/or sand in the excavated hole to form a solid cement wall. The preferred embodiments of an excavator hereinafter described and illustrated may be used for constructing an underground continuous wall both quickly and simply, the wall being substantially smoothly continuous and having functions as both a wall foundation and as a dividing wall. The preferred embodiments may be used for improving the ground, constructing wall piles and removing underground obstacles easily and with high efficiency without requiring other apparatus additional to the excavator. In constructing the continuous wall the need for an extra boring machine may be avoided. Instead, the ground may be continuously excavated by the excavator and the underground continuous wall can be continuously constructed by soil, cement or cement mortar in the space immediately behind the excavation. An underground continuous wall constructed in this way can have smooth surfaces without any joints or steps, reducing the risk of ground water leaking through the wall. The endless chain cutter may be vertically movable relative to a boom extending from a vehicle. This enables the cutter to be set at a desired depth by driving the chain of the cutter to force it into the ground, avoiding the need for a separate boring machine. The excavator may be used to excavate whilst a highly pressurised fluid is jetted through the jet pipe to destroy the strata of the surrounding ground. The fluid may contain a stabilizer. The excavator can thus be used to continuously excavate the ground whilst simultaneously stabilising the ground strata to obtain uniformly stabilized ground. Embodiments of excavator apparatus in accordance with the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a side view of the excavator of the first embodiment according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a front view of the excavator shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the excavator shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a partial side view illustrating an endless chain cutter including cutter bits and agitator bars alternately arranged on an endless chain according to the invention; Fig. 5 is a side view of the endless chain cutter viewed in the direction V in Fig. 4; Figs. 6a, 6b and 6c are plan, front and side views of one example of cutter bits used in the endless chain cutter according to the invention, respectively; Figs. 7a, 7b and 7c are plan, front and side views of another example of cutter bits used in the endless chain cutter according to the invention, respectively; Figs. 8a, 8b and 8c are plan, front and side views of a further example of cutter bits used in the endless chain cutter according to the invention, respectively; Figs. 9a and 9b are plan and front views of one example of agitator bars used in the endless chain cutter according to the invention, respectively; Fig. 10 is a side view of the excavator of the second embodiment according to the invention; Fig. 11 is a plan view of the excavator shown in Fig. 10; Figs. 12a, 12b, 12c, 12d and 12e are views illustrating the method for constructing the underground continuous wall according to the invention for explaining the processes of the method; Figs. 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d, 13e and 13f are views illustrating the ground improving method according to the invention for explaining the processes of the method, Figs. 13b, 13d and 13f being plan views of Figs. 13a, 13c and 13e, respectively; and Figs. 14a, 14b, 14c, 14d, 14e, 14f, 14g and 14h are views illustrating the wall pile constructing method according to the invention for explaining the processes of the method, Figs. 14b, 14d, 14f and 14h being plan views of Figs. 14a, 14c, 14e and 14g, respectively. Figs. 1, 2 and 3 illustrate the excavator of the first embodiment according to the invention. In the drawings, reference numeral 1 denotes a ground to have formed therein an underground continuous wall. A crawler type vehicle A traveling on the ground 1 includes crawlers or endless tracks 2, a turntable 3, a swivel base 4, an operator's cabin 5 and an engine compartment 6. In the illustrated embodiment, extending forward from the swivel base 4 is a boom 7 having a rectangular cross-section which is integrally formed at its front end with a boom 8 extending at 90 degrees relative to the boom 7 in the left direction viewed from the operator's cabin 5. The end of the boom 8 remote from the boom 7 extends slightly outwardly beyond from the one side (the left side in the illustrated embodiment) of the vehicle A. A guide post 9 for an endless chain consists of long cylindrical members having rectangular cross-sections and is extensible by joining spare members to the guide post 9. A driving wheel 11 for driving a chain is supported by a bracket 10 provided on the top of the guide post 9 and adapted to be driven by a hydraulic motor 12. A chain sprocket 14 is rotatably supported by a bracket 13 mounted on the bottom of the guide post 9. The bracket 13 is supported resiliently relative to the guide post 9 by means of connecting members 15 (Fig. 1) with the aid of coil springs 16. An endless chain 17 extends around the chain sprocket 14 and the driving wheel 11, while a number of cutter bits B1, B2, B3, ... and a number of agitator bars 18 are alternately secured to the endless chain 17 to form an endless chain cutter C. Figs. 4 to 9 illustrate these cutter bits B and agitator bars 18 in detail. With each of the cutter bits B attached to one link of the endless chain 17, bits 19 are fixed in a plane perpendicular to the advancing direction of the chain 17 to a base plate 19a so as not to be aligned with the bits 19 of the adjacent cutter bits B. A bit holder 19b holds one or two bits 19 and fixed to the base plate 19a by welding. Three different arrangements of the cutter bits are shown in Figs. 6a-6c, 7a-7c and 8a-8c, respectively. As shown in Figs. 9a and 9b, each of the agitator bars 18 includes a base plate 18a attached to one link of the endless chain 17, plural arms 18b attached to the base plate 18a by welding so as to project from the base plate and bar members 18c fixed to free ends of the arms 18b, respectively. A jet pipe 20 is provided in the guide post 9 so as to be connected to a fluid supply source (not shown) provided externally, such as supply means for hardening liquid as cement milk, highly pressurized water or air, or a stabilizer as lime or cement. The jet pipe 20 has a number of nozzles 21 branched therefrom and disc-shaped lids 20a (Figs. 1 and 2) provided at the bottom end. The upper portion 9a of the guide post 9 is detachably fixed to the free end 8a of the boom 8 by means of bolts and nuts (not shown). A swivel locking device 22 (Fig. 1) is provided between the under surface of the boom 7 and a bracket 23 extending from the vehicle body for locking the swivel base 4 swiveled to a desired position. Figs. 10 and 11 illustrate the excavator of the second embodiment according to the invention wherein like components are designated by the same reference numerals as those in the preceding drawings. The excavator is substantially similar to that shown in Figs. 1 to 3 with exception that the endless chain cutter C is vertically movable, while the excavator of the first embodiment has the endless chain cutter C fixed to the end of the boom 8. The feature of the excavator of the second embodiment different from that of the first embodiment will be explained hereinafter. In the second embodiment, the guide post 9 is provided with guide rails 24 along its length on both the sides thereof. Racks 25 are provided along and in parallel with the guide rails 24, respectively. A vehicle A traveling on the ground is provided with a forward extending boom 7 whose end is further provided with supporting plates 26 for vertically movably supporting the endless chain cutter C on both its sides. A pinion 27 which is engaged with the rack 25 and a hydraulic motor 28 for driving the pinion 27 are provided on each of the supporting plates 26. A lift guide block 29 shown as a square portion in broken lines in Fig. 10 is fixed onto insides of each supporting plate 26, and has guide members 30 and 31 extended therefrom so as to be slidably engaged with the guide rail 24. In constructing underground continuous walls by the use of the excavator of the first embodiment, first a vertical hole having a predetermined depth is digged in the ground at a position where the underground continuous wall is to be formed. After the endless chain cutter C having a desired length has been assembled in the hole, the chain cutter C is fixed to the boom 8 extending from the vehicle A. While the chain cutter C is driven in the directions shown by arrows D and E in Fig. 1, the vehicle A is driven in the direction shown by an arrow F to excavate along one side of the underground continuous wall to be constructed. In constructing the underground continuous wall by the use of the excavator of the second embodiment whose endless chain cutter C is vertically driven relative to the boom 7 extending from the vehicle C, the lower end of the endless chain cutter C is brought into contact with the ground 1 at the predetermined position and the endless chain 17 is then driven in the directions shown by arrows G and H in Figs. 10 and 12, while the pinion 27 in mesh with the rack 25 is driven to drive the endless chain cutter C to a desired depth as shown in Fig. 12b. Thereafter, the vehicle A is driven in the direction shown by an arrow I in Fig. 12b to excavate the ground 1, while a hardening liquid as a cement milk is jetted through the jet pipe 20 provided in the guide post 9 of the cutter C as shown in Fig. 12c. As a result, the hardening liquid is mixed with earth and sand in the just excavated hole to form soil cement walls 32 shown in Figs. 12d and 12e to construct the underground continuous wall. Reference numeral 33 illustrates H-beams inserted in the soil cement wall 32 with suitable intervals by hanging the H-beams before the soil cement wall 32 has hardened. In improving the ground by the use of the excavator having the endless chain cutter C described above, first the endless chain cutter C is inserted into the ground as shown in Figs. 13a and 13b. The ground 1 is then excavated by driving the cutter C in the direction shown by an arrow J, while pressurized water or air is jetted at the excavated place through the jet pipe 20 to destroy the stratum as shown in Figs. 13c and 13d and at the same time a stabilizer such as lime or cement is added thereto to stabilize the ground therearound as shown in Figs. 13e and 3f. In producing a wall pile in the ground by the use of the excavator having the endless chain cutter C, first the cutter C is inserted into the ground to a predetermined depth as shown in Figs. 14a and 14b and the cutter C is then moved through a desired distance M, while the chain 17 is being driven in the directions shown by arrows K and L as shown in Figs. 14c and 14d to excavate a hole 34 having a rectangular cross-section seen in a plan view. After reinforcing steels 35 are inserted into the hole 34 as shown in Figs. 14e and 14f, a concrete 36 is placed to form a wall pile (Figs. 14g and 14h). In removing obstacles such as rocks and concrete blocks in the ground by means of the excavator having the endless chain cutter C, cemented carbide tips (for example, TR 25 available from Toshiba Tungalloy Co. Ltd.) are used for blades of the cutter bits B arranged on the chain 17 of the cutter C. The chain 17 having the cemented carbide cutter tips is driven, while the endless chain cutter is moved to cut and remove the obstacles in the ground. The functions and effects of the excavator and the construction methods using the excavator according to the invention will be explained hereinafter. As both the excavators according to the first and second embodiments are applied to the vehicles A such as crawler type vehicles moving on the ground, it is possible to use the excavators at any places with ease for rapidly executing the operation. Moreover, as the excavator of the second embodiment of the invention enables the endless chain cutter C to move upward and downward relative to the boom 7 extending from the vehicle A, the cutter C can be set at a desired depth by driving the chain of the cutter C to force it into the ground. Therefore, the excavator according to the invention needs no boring machine such as earth drill which is required in the prior art. In both the excavators according to the first and second embodiments, the endless chain 17 extends around the chain sprocket 14 pivotally supported at the lower end of the guide post 9 and the drive wheel 11 provided at the upper end of the guide post 9, and a number of cutter bits B1, B2, B3, ... and a number of agitator bars 18 are alternately arranged on the chain 17 to form the endless chain cutter C. The endless chain 17 of the cutter C is adapted to be driven and the vehicle A is made movable so that high accuracy underground continuous walls can be built with high efficiency. The underground continuous wall constructing method using the excavator of the second embodiment of the invention needs no extra boring machine digging a hole to a predetermined depth in the prior art method. According to the method the ground is continuously excavated by the excavator, while the underground continuous wall can be continuously built by soil cement or cement mortar in the space immediately after being excavated. As the underground continuous wall formed by the method have smooth surfaces without any joints or steps, there is no risk of ground water leaking through the wall surfaces. Therefore, the method can form the continuous wall in the ground and at the same time enables the formed continuous wall to be used as a wall foundation. Further, the ground improving method is capable of continuously excavating the ground by the use of the excavator described above and at the same time stabilizing strata thereat. Therefore, the method can always obtain uniformly stabilized ground. As the method needs no additional equipment, the stabilizing operation is executed with low cost and with high efficiency. Moreover, the wall pile constructing method can easily build wall piles by using the excavator for constructing the underground continuous wall without using clam buckets. Therefore, the forming operation can be executed with high efficiency without any danger as in the prior art. Further, the underground obstacle removing method needs no particular crushers such as rock augers required in the prior art. All that is required is to replace usual cutter bits of the endless chain cutter of the excavator with cemented carbide tip bits. With such an excavator, underground obstacles can be cut and removed, while grooves for underground continuous walls are being excavated without requiring any particular arrangement therefor. Consequently, the operation efficiency can be greatly improved.

Claims: An excavator comprising a guide post (9), an endless chain (17) extending around a chain driving wheel (11) provided at an upper portion of the guide post and a chain sprocket (14) provided at a lower portion of the guide post, a plurality of cutter bits (B) arranged on the chain to form an endless chain cutter, and a pipe (20) associated with the guide post for connection to a fluid supply source and having a number of nozzles (21) branched from the pipe, characterised in that a plurality of agitator bars (18) are also provided on the chain. An excavator as claimed in claim 1, wherein said guide post (9) is extensible by adding additional guide post members. An excavator as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein a cutter bit (B) comprises a base plate (19a) attached to one link of the endless chain (17), and plural bit holders (19b) attached to the base plate and having at least one bit (19). An excavator as claimed in claim 3, wherein the bits (19) of the cutter bits (B) are arranged in a plane perpendicular to the direction of drive of the endless chain and are not aligned with the bits of adjacent cutter bits. An excavator as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein said cutter bits (B) comprise replaceable cutter blades (19). An excavator as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein an agitator bar (18) comprises a base plate (18a) attached to one link of the endless chain (17), plural arms (18b) attached to the base plate by welding so as to project from the base plate and bar members (18c) fixed to free ends of the arms. An excavator as claimed in any of the preceding claims, comprising guide rails (24) provided on side surfaces of the guide post (9) and extending in the longitudinal direction of the guide post, at least one rack (25) provided in parallel with the guide rails, supporting plates (26) for attachment to a boom extending from a vehicle to support the endless chain cutter on both its sides as it is moved vertically, a pinion (27) provided on the supporting plates to mesh with the rack, and driving means (28) for driving the pinion. An excavator as claimed in claim 7, further comprising a lift guide block (29) fixed to the inside of each supporting plate (26) and guide members (30, 31) associated with the lift guide blocks to be slidably movable on the guide rails (24) and the rack (25). An excavator as claimed in any of the preceding claims, comprising a boom (7) extending from a vehicle (A), an end of the boom projecting outwardly from a side of the vehicle and being attached to the guide post (9). A method of constructing an underground continuous wall using an excavator of the construction claimed in any one of the preceding claims, the method comprising excavating the ground by driving the endless chain (17) whilst jetting a hardening liquid through the pipe (2a) thereby to mix the hardening liquid with earth and/or sand in the excavated hole to form a soil cement wall. A method as claimed in claim 10, wherein before the soil cement wall hardens, reinforcing members are inserted at intervals in the soil cement wall. A method as claimed in claim 10 or claim 11, wherein the excavator is of the construction claimed in claim 7 or claim 8 and the method further comprises the initial steps of bringing the lower end of the endless chain cutter into contact with the ground at a predetermined position and forcing the endless chain cutter into the ground to a desired depth by driving the pinion (27) in mesh with the rack (25) whilst driving the endless chain.

Inventors: KITANAKA KATSUMI, KITANAKA TAKEHIKO, KITANAKA, KATSUMI, KITANAKA, TAKEHIKO
Applicants: KOBE STEEL LTD, TOMEN KENKI CORP, KOBE STEEL, LTD, TOMEN KENKI CORPORATION
Application year: 1992
Main classification: E02F3
IPC codes: E02F9, E02F3, E02D19, E02D17, E02D5, E02F5, E02D3