Abstract:
A tooth assembly for mounting on the tooth horns of excavating or levelling apparatus buckets, shovels or alternative digging mechanisms. The tooth assembly includes a wedge-shaped adapter shaped for seating on the tooth horn, a tooth point transversely slidably engaging and bolted or otherwise locked to the adapter for engaging the material to be excavated and top and bottom wear caps also transversely slidably engaging and bolted to the adapter adjacent to the tooth point, for extending the life of the tooth assembly in the excavating or levelling operation.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending U.S. application Ser. No. 07/541,599, filed Jun. 21, 1990 now abandoned. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to digging and levelling apparatus such as draglines, backhoes, front-end loaders and like equipment and more particularly, to a tooth assembly for mounting on tooth horns of dragline buckets, backhoe shovels and front-end loader excavation or levelling equipment and engaging the material to be excavated or levelled. In a preferred embodiment, each tooth assembly is characterized by a wedge-shaped adapter which mounts directly on the tooth horn of the bucket, shovel or alternative digging or scraping mechanism of the operation equipment. A wedge-shaped tooth point is transversely seated on and bolted to the extending end of the adapter for engaging the material to be excavated or levelled and a pair of wear caps transversely encapsulate and are bolted to that portion of the adapter which projects between the tooth point and the tooth horn, for extending the life of the tooth assembly during the excavating or levelling operation. 
     One of the problems which is inherent in excavation and levelling operations using heavy equipment such as draglines, backhoes, front-end loaders and similar equipment is that of rapidly wearing the equipment teeth during the excavation or levelling operation. This problem is exacerbated under circumstances where the material to be excavated contains rocks, sand, concrete or other hard or abrasive particles which rapidly wear the bucket or shovel teeth and require expensive periodic retrofits or replacement of the bucket or shovel. Accordingly, it is customary in the industry to provide removable excavating teeth which mount on adapters positioned on shaped, spaced tooth horns provided in the bucket, shovel or other material-moving apparatus, which teeth are typically attached to the tooth adapter using pins or other techniques for removal due to wear. A problem associated with removing these teeth due to periodic wear is the difficulty of driving retaining pins or the like from registering apertures in the teeth and tooth adapters to remove and replace the teeth. Typically, this operation is effected using a large hammer, wherein the pins are manually driven from the teeth and tooth adapter, a procedure which requires considerable effort and is costly due to the labor involved. 
     Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a tooth assembly for mounting on buckets, shovels or other digging mechanisms in excavating or levelling apparatus, which tooth assembly is characterized by an adapter for removably mounting on each tooth horn of the excavating apparatus bucket, shovel or alternative excavating implement, a tooth point bolted to the tapered front end of the adapter and a pair of wear caps bolted to opposite sides of the adapter between the tooth point and the tooth horn. 
     Another object of this invention is to provide a tooth assembly for mounting on each of the teeth of an excavating or levelling apparatus bucket, shovel or alternative digging implement, which tooth assembly includes a wedge-shaped, transversely-slotted adapter for mounting on the tooth horn of the excavating apparatus, a wedge-shaped tooth point fitted with facing tooth point flanges for transversely engaging the corresponding transverse slots located in the adapter and removably fitting the tooth point to the adapter and top and bottom wear caps, each fitted with transverse ribs adapted for engaging corresponding additional grooves or slots provided in the adapter, for transversely mounting the wear caps on opposite sides of the adapter rearwardly of the tooth point to facilitate extended wear of the tooth assembly during excavating or levelling operations. 
     A still further object of this invention is to provide a tooth assembly for mounting on the conventional tooth horn of individual teeth in the bucket or shovel of various excavating apparatus, which tooth assembly includes a transversely slotted, wedge-shaped adapter having a lock opening in the top for securing the adapter to the tooth horn, a pair of L-shaped wear caps, each fitted with parallel ribs for engaging the corresponding transversely-oriented slots in the adapter and a pair of bolts for securing the wear caps to the adapter and further including a tooth point, also optionally fitted with a bolt opening and having spaced, facing tooth point flanges for engaging additional corresponding transverse grooves located in the adapter and a bolt or lock plate for securing the tooth point to the adapter forward of the wear caps. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     These and other objects of the invention are provided in tooth assemblies for mounting on corresponding spaced, tooth horns of excavating and levelling apparatus, each tooth assembly including a wedge-shaped adapter which tapers from an adapter base at one end to a narrow nose ridge at the opposite end and provided with parallel top and bottom rib slots and point rib slots which extend transversely across the bottom and top, wedge-shaped faces of the adapter; a tapered tooth point fitted with spaced, inwardly-facing point flanges designed to engage the parallel and spaced point rib slots in the adapter and slidably secure the tooth point on the adapter and a bolt extending through the tooth point wall into the adapter, or a lock plate seated in the open side of the tooth point, for securing the tooth point on the adapter; a pair of L-shaped top and bottom wear caps, each provided with cap plate ribs for engaging the parallel top and bottom rib slots, respectively, in the adapter and seating the wear caps on the top and bottom of the adapter from opposite directions; and a bolt extending through each of the wear caps, respectively and threaded into the adapter for removably securing the wear caps on the adapter. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention will be better understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a left side perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the tooth assembly of this invention, mounted on a conventional tooth horn of a bucket or shovel of an excavating apparatus; 
     FIG. 2A is a right side perspective view of the tooth assembly illustrated in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 2B is an exploded view of the tooth assembly illustrated in FIG. 2A; 
     FIG. 3 is a front, exploded view, partially in section, of the tooth assembly; 
     FIG. 4 is a side view taken along line 4--4, of the top wear cap element of the tooth assembly illustrated in FIG. 3; 
     FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective, partially sectional view of a wear cap bolt oriented for securing a wear cap element to the adapter element of the tooth assembly; 
     FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a bolt shoulder extending through the side plate recess of the bottom wear cap for mounting the bottom wear cap on the adapter element of the tooth assembly; 
     FIG. 7 is a left side view of a preferred embodiment of the adapter element of the tooth assembly; 
     FIG. 8 is a top view of the adapter element illustrated in FIG. 7; 
     FIG. 9 is a right side view of a preferred tooth point element of the tooth assembly mounted on the extreme front portion of the adapter; 
     FIG. 10 is a left side view, partially in section, of the tooth point, top wear cap and bottom wear cap elements mounted on the adapter element of the tooth assembly; 
     FIG. 11 is a top view of the top wear cap element of the tooth assembly; 
     FIG. 12 is an exploded view of an alternative preferred embodiment of the tooth point element of the tooth assembly; and 
     FIG. 13 is a sectional view of the tooth point taken along line 13--13 in FIG. 12. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to the drawings and FIGS. 1 and 2 in particular, the tooth assembly of this invention is generally illustrated by reference numeral 1 and is mounted on a conventional tooth horn 2 of the bucket or shovel 2a of a conventional excavator (not illustrated). The tooth assembly 1 includes a wedge-shaped adapter 3, fitted with a removable tooth point 15, which is transversely mounted on the adapter 3 by means of a tooth point bolt 33 and further including a transversely-mounted top wear cap 22 and bottom wear cap 36, both of which are also bolted to the adapter 3 by means of side plate bolts 32, respectively. Referring now to FIGS. 2A and 2B of the drawings, in a most preferred embodiment of the invention the adapter 3 includes a wedge-shaped adapter base 4 which tapers from a base plate 4a to a nose ridge 12, terminating the adapter nose 11. A base plate lock opening 5 is provided in the base plate 4a of the adapter base 4 for receiving a spool 38 and a companion wedge 39 and mounting the adapter 3 on the tooth horn 2 in conventional fashion. A pair of transverse, vertically-oriented, spaced stabilizing slots 6 are provided in the sides of the adapter base 4 and a threaded bolt opening 13 is also provided in both sides of the adapter base 4, for purposes which will be hereinafter further described. Spaced, parallel top rib slots 7 are also provided transversely in the top tapered face of the base plate 4a of the adapter base 4 and in a most preferred embodiment, the top rib slots 7 are T-shaped, as illustrated in the drawings. Similarly, a pair of spaced, T-shaped bottom rib slots 8 are provided in the bottom tapered surface or face of the adapter base plate 4a in the same relative position as the top rib slots 7. A pair of transverse, T-shaped point rib slots 9 are also provided in the adapter base 4 forwardly of the top rib slots 7 and bottom rib slots 8. It will be understood that the top rib slots 7, bottom rib slots 8 and point rib slots 9 may alternatively be shaped in a &#34;dove-tail&#34;, or alternative locking configuration, according to the knowledge of those skilled in the art. 
     As further illustrated in FIGS. 2A, 2B, 3, 4 and 8, the top wear cap 22 and bottom wear cap 36 are designed to slidably mount transversely on the adapter base 4 of the adapter 3. The L-shaped top wear cap 22 and bottom wear cap 36 are each characterized by identical cap plates 23 and corresponding side plates 26 and are therefore interchangeable. The top wear cap 22 further includes a cap plate opening 24, which registers with the base plate lock opening 5 located in the adapter 3, to provide access to the spool 38 and wedge 39 for readily tensioning the wedge 39 if necessary, as illustrated in FIG. 2B. A pair of spaced, T-shaped cap plate ribs 25 are transversely located in the bottom surface of the cap plate 23 of the top wear cap 22 and are designed to register with the spaced top rib slots 7 provided in the adapter 3. Similarly, additional cap plate ribs 25 are provided in spaced relationship in the top surface of the cap plate 23 of the bottom wear cap 36 for registering with corresponding spaced parallel bottom rib slots 8, located in the bottom face of the adapter 3, also as illustrated in FIG. 2B. A side plate bolt opening 30 is provided in each of the side plates 26 of the top wear cap 22 and the bottom wear cap 36 for receiving the side plate bolts 32, respectively, in order to lock the top wear cap 22 on the top and one side of the adapter 3 and the bottom wear cap 36 on the bottom and opposite side of the adapter 3, as further illustrated in FIG. 2B. As illustrated in FIG. 8 of the drawing, the adapter 3 is fitted with an adapter recess 10 on one side to facilitate recessing of the side plate 26 of the bottom wear cap 36 and extension of the corresponding cap plate ribs 25, located in the bottom surface of the cap plate 23 of the top wear cap 22, into the corresponding side plate slots 28, provided in the extending end of the side plate 26 of the bottom wear cap 36. Similarly, the projecting cap plate ribs 25, located in the cap plate 23 of the bottom wear cap 36, project in registration with the corresponding side plate slots 28, located in the extending end of the side plate 26 of the top wear cap 22 when the top wear cap 22 and bottom wear cap 36 are assembled and interlocked on the adapter 3, as illustrated in FIGS. 2-5, in a most preferred embodiment of the invention. A side plate recess 29 is provided in the side plate 26 of each of the top wear cap 22 and bottom wear cap 36 and surrounds a corresponding side plate bolt opening 30, to accommodate the head of the side plate bolts 32 in countersunk, recessed relationship. Furthermore, spaced side plate lugs 31 are provided in the side plate 26 of the top wear cap 22 and bottom wear cap 36 for registering with corresponding spaced stabilizing slots 6, located in the sides of the adapter 3, respectively. Accordingly, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that when the top wear cap 22 and bottom wear cap 36 are mounted on the adapter 3 from opposite sides with the respective cap plate ribs 25 engaging corresponding top rib slots 7 and bottom rib slots 8 located in the bevelled top and bottom faces of the adapter base 4A, respectively, the top wear cap 22 and bottom wear cap 36 are interlocked, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2A. Furthermore, insertion of the side plate bolts 32 through the respective side plate bolt openings 30 in the side plates 26 of the top wear cap 22 and bottom wear cap 36, respectively, and threading of the side plate bolts 32 in the respective threaded openings 13 located in the sides of the adapter 3, locks the top wear cap 22 and bottom wear cap 36 securely on the adapter 3, with the side plate lugs 31 engaging the corresponding stabilizing slots 6 located in the adapter 3. The top wear cap 22 and bottom wear cap 36 are thus prevented from disengaging the adapter 3 without removing the side plate bolts 32. Furthermore, the heads of the side plate bolts 32 are securely recessed inside the respective side plate recesses 29, provided in the side plates 26, to minimize the possibility of shearing the side plates bolts 32 from the tooth assembly 1. 
     In another preferred embodiment of the invention each of the side plate bolts 32 is provided with a bolt shoulder 34, located beneath the head thereof and a lock washer 35, illustrated in FIG. 6, may be provided on the threaded shank of the side plate bolts 32 for securing each of the side plate bolts 32 in the adapter 3, as illustrated in FIG. 6. However, in a most preferred embodiment of the invention the heads of the respective side plate bolts 32 are spaced from the recess shoulder 29A of each side plate recess 29, as illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6. This spacing facilitates limited movement of the top wear cap 22 and bottom wear cap 36 with respect to the adapter 3 and serves a stress-relieving function to minimize damage to the tooth assembly 1 by operation of the excavation or levelling equipment upon which the tooth assembly 1 is mounted. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2A, 2B, 9 and 10 of the drawings, the wedge-shaped tooth point 15 is fitted with spaced tooth point flanges 16 extending in inwardly-facing relationship from the diverging tooth point legs 17. The tooth point 15 tapers from the tooth point leg 17 to a narrow contact edge 18 and a ridge groove 19 is shaped transversely in the tooth point 15 inwardly of the spaced tooth point flanges 16, and extending from the wall 17a, to the open side of the tooth point 15, as illustrated in FIG. 9. A shaped panel 20 is typically provided in the top and bottom face of the tooth point 15 to optimize efficiency in the digging operation. A tooth point recess 21 is provided in the wall 17 of the tooth point 15 and surrounds a tooth point bolt opening 14, which receives a tooth point bolt 33, fitted with a bolt shoulder 34, in the same manner as the side plate bolts 32, described above. Accordingly, referring now to FIGS. 2B and 10, the tooth point 15 is designed to slidably mount on the adapter nose 11 of the adapter 3 by matching the tooth point flanges 16 with the corresponding point rib slots 9 provided in the adapter 3 and transversely sliding the tooth point 15 into position. The tooth point bolt 33 is then registered with the corresponding tooth point bolt opening 14 located in the wall 17 of the tooth point 15 and threadably inserting the threaded shank of the tooth point bolt 33 into the threaded opening 13, located in the adapter 3, to secure tooth point 15 on the adapter 3. When the tooth point 15 is so inserted on the adapter 3, the tooth point legs 17 are located in close proximity to the corresponding edges of the cap plates 23 of the top wear cap 22 and bottom wear cap 36, respectively, as illustrated in FIG. 10. However, a working gap 37 is maintained between the tooth point 15 and the top wear cap 22 and bottom wear cap 36, respectively, to facilitate movement of the tooth point 15 and top wear cap 22, as well as the bottom wear cap 36, with respect to the adapter 3, as heretofore described. In this respect, in a most preferred embodiment of the invention, like the top wear cap 22 and the bottom wear cap 36, the tooth point 15 is secured to the adapter 3 using a tooth point bolt 33 which is fitted with a bolt shoulder 34 to facilitate movement of the tooth point 15 with respect to the adapter 3 in the same manner as the top wear cap 22 and bottom wear cap 36 illustrated in FIG. 6. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 12 and 13 of the drawings, in an alternative preferred embodiment of the invention the open side of the tooth point 15 is fitted with a flange groove 43, for slidably receiving the lock plate flange 42 of the lock plate 41, thus eliminating the necessity for a tooth point bolt 33, illustrated in FIG. 10, to secure the tooth point 15 on the adapter 3. Subsequent mounting of the top wear cap 22 and bottom wear cap 36 on the adapter 3 prevent removal of the lock plate 41 from the flange groove 43. As illustrated in FIG. 12, when the lock plate 41 is slidably seated in the flange groove 43, the plate tab 44 registers with the ridge groove 19 and there is no necessity for an adapter recess 10, illustrated in FIGS. 2B and 8, in the adapter 3. 
     It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art from a consideration of the drawings that the tooth assembly of this invention exhibits multiple favorable structural characteristics not found in conventional assemblies. The interlocking relationship between the top wear cap 22 and bottom wear cap 36, along with the transverse, slidable mounting of these structural members and the tooth point 15 on the adapter 3, facilitate an extremely strong, versatile wear-resistant assembly. Furthermore, recessing of the respective side plate bolts 32 and the side plates 26 of the top wear cap 22 and the bottom wear cap 36 and the tooth bolt 33 in the side of the tooth point 15, as well as the alternative lock plate 41, facilitate excavation and levelling of all types of material without fear of shearing the respective side plate bolts 32 and tooth point bolt 33. Moreover, replacement of the top wear cap 22, bottom wear cap 36 and tooth point 15 independently or in concert, is quickly and easily facilitated in an optimum way by simply removing the side plate bolts 32 and tooth point bolt 33, sliding the top wear cap 22, bottom wear cap 36 and tooth point 15 from the adapter 3 and replacing these members by reversing this procedure. Alternatively, under circumstances where a lock plate 41 is used in lieu of a tooth point bolt 33 to secure the tooth point 15 on the adapter 3, the top wear cap 22 must first be removed before removing the lock plate 41. Shock and impact resistance of the tooth assembly 1 is facilitated by mounting the top wear cap 22 and bottom wear cap 36 and tooth point 15 in a non-rigid, but secure relationship on the adapter 3 to facilitate a selected minimum movement of the top wear cap 22, bottom wear cap 36 and tooth point 15 with respect to the adapter 3. A tooth assembly 1 is mounted on each tooth horn 2 of a conventional bucket or shovel of a conventional excavating apparatus in conventional manner, utilizing the spool 38 and wedge 39 according to the knowledge of those skilled in the art. It will be appreciated that alternative means for mounting the tooth assembly 1 to the tooth horn of such equipment may also be implemented without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as embodied herein. 
     While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been described above, it will be recognized and understood that various modifications may be made in the invention and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications which may fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.