Abstract:
An attachment for a forklift truck comprising an articulated bucket, hydraulic ram and pallet-like platform for engagement with the forks of the truck. By using the existing hydraulic lines of the truck the bucket may be actuated between a horizontal and a dump positions. The ram is positioned medially on the bucket and a gusset plate is employed within the bucket to enable the forces to be distributed to the bucket plates in an even manner and so that the assembly may be constructed with plates of less weight.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates generally to front loading machines, and more particularly to a hydraulically articulated bucket mounted onto a pallet like platform which may be engaged by a forklift truck for employment as a front loader. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     The following art defines the present state of this field: 
     Badder, U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,296 describes an assemble detachably mountable on the forks of a fork-lift vehicle includes a frame having channels open at one end thereof for insertion there-into of respective ones of the forks of a fork-lift vehicle. A bucket having a bottom wall and an open front wall is tiltably attached to the frame for movement from one to the other of load holding and load dumping positions. Located at the open front wall of the bucket is a door movable mounted there on, which is movable to open and close the open front wall. The assembly also includes poser units, which can selectively move the bucket relative to the frame and open and close the door. The assembly can be used with a conventional forklift vehicle to scoop up particulate material form a surface, and carry the material to another location where it can be dumped from the assembly. 
     Rothbart, U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,129 describes an attachment for a forklift truck to facilitate the removal or clearing of snow or other materials and debris with the truck, including a frame having two rectangular elongated tubes adapted to receive the tines of the forklift, a plurality of transversely extending crossbars connecting said tubes together, ground-engaging members attached to each tube, a plow blade pivotally attached to the frame, and a shear pin assembly connected between the blade and the frame preventing uneven ground and/or obstruction on the ground from damaging the blade. 
     Shinkle, U.S. Pat. No. 5,531,036 describes a plow attachment for a forklift vehicle that has elongated cavities extending from the rear-side of the scrapper blade to receive the lift arms of the forklift vehicle. A connecting link is used to hold the plow attachment includes adjustable elements that permit the plow attachment to be mounted on the lift arms at an angle. 
     Haven et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,408,946 describes an application disclosing a design for an automatically dumping hopper for use with a forklift. The hopper is designed for a 1-man operation with the operator transporting stacking and dumping the hopper without leaving the forklift seat and without the use of any controls other than the controls of the forklift. Two embodiments of the invention are disclosed. One embodiment which is useful for sand, gravel and other loose bulk material has a hinged bottom secured to the side-walls with a hasp latch constructed such that when the hopper is tilted on edge, the hasp clears from its retainer, releasing the bottom to open when the hopper is lifted. The latch only releases upon tilting of the hopper so that the hopper cab be transported and stored when lifted vertically. The second embodiment, which is useful as a hopper for trash or other loose bulk material, has a pivotally mounted hopper on a base with an inclined front wall and a bracket that hooks onto a receiving box, permitting the operator to partially withdraw the fork of the lift fork, releasing the pivoted end of the hopper so that raising the fork will tip the hopper, dumping its contents into the receiving. 
     Bryant, U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,752 describes a safety mechanism for forklift attachment, prevents the premature dumping of a container residing on the attachment in situations where the container is not adequately secured to the attachment because of operator error or non-uniform size containers. 
     Best et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,150 describes a sweeping machine which includes a debris collection hopper and filter assembly which is readily attached to the lift bars of a conventional forklift so as tot be manipulated both horizontally and vertically by the forklift and which is mounted thereto so as to float relative to he forklift in order to follow the contour of the surface being swept. 
     Lazenby, U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,510 describes a concrete bucket assembly, which is rigidly mounted for vertical, tilting, and rotational movement for a forklift vehicle. The concrete bucket is provided with upper and lower ball and socket assemblies. The lower ball and socket assembly secures the bucket to the extending fork of the vertically movable frame of the forklift truck. The upper ball and socket assembly secures the bucket, at the top thereof, to an arm, which extends from and is pivotally secured to the vertically movable frame of the forklift vehicle. The hydraulic system of the vehicle is used to move a closure member at the funnel shaped bottom of the bucket and to also control movement of a chute at the bottom of the bucket. 
     Hoppey, U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,485 describes an attachment for a conventional forklift for enabling the lifting and pivoting of elongated containers such as barrels is disclosed, including a base frame means having connection means for connection to the forks of an operated container clamp jaw members on the frame, and hydraulic tilt means for pivoting the container clamp jaws to enable pouring from a container. 
     Jobmann et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,873 describes a drum lifting attachments for allowing forklift trucks to be able to raise and lower 55-gallon storage drums. A first embodiment includes a drum lifting attachment having two pairs of arcuate lifting arms positioned side-by-side to allow for lifting two 55-gallon plastic drums simultaneously. This embodiment includes a pair of arcuate arms for each drum. A rotatable rectangular flap can fold-down over the portion of the side-by side connection between the two pairs of arcuate arms in order to allow for the lifting of a different diameter sized drum. Optionally, the fold-down flap can have arcuate shaped sides. Optionally, plural flaps of increasing sizes can be folded down to adjust for the different diameter drums. A second embodiment includes a fork lifting attachment that includes four sets of arcuate arms for allowing four 55-gallon drums to be able to be lifted simultaneously. The drums to be lifted in include standard 55-gallon metal drums, 55-gallon conical drums and drum sizes of varying diameters. Each of the embodiments includes attachment couplers for hooking about the standard parallel forks of a fork lifting truck. The drum lifting attachments can be formed from galvanized steel, stainless steel, and combinations thereof. The lifting attachments are able to lift and lower two drums and our drums simultaneously. 
     Eaglesham, U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,631 describes a cleaning attachment to fit a forklift truck for cleaning substantially vertical surfaces. The attachment includes a mounting frame fitted with spaced-apart hollow sleeves to receive the forks of the forklift truck and thereby connect the frame with the hydraulic hoist for vertical movement. An elongated scrubbing element is mounted with a support frame connected with the mounting frame by spaced-apart parallel arms. The arms are pivotally mounted with the mounting frame and support frame respectively to provide reciprocating movement of the scrubbing element toward and away from the surface to be cleaned. In use the scrubbing element is traversed over the surface to be cleaned by vertical movement of the hoist and horizontal movement of the forklift. 
     The prior art teaches front loading equipment of various types and also, a front loading bucket attachment for a forklift truck (Badder). However, the prior art does not teach that such a forklift attachment can be configured, with respect to its structure, in such a simplified manner making it very inexpensive, relatively light in weight and easy to use. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages as described in the following summary. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention teaches certain benefits in construction and use which give rise to the objectives described below. 
     The present invention provides an attachment for a forklift truck comprising an articulated bucket, hydraulic ram and pallet-like platform for engagement with the forks of the truck. By using the existing hydraulic lines of the truck the bucket may be actuated between a horizontal and a dump positions. The ram is positioned medially on the bucket and a gusset plate is employed within the bucket to enable the forces to be distributed to the bucket plates in an even manner. 
     A primary objective of the present invention is to provide a forklift truck attachment having advantages not taught by the prior art. 
     Another objective is to provide such an attachment that is enabled for using hydraulic controls of the forklift truck for bucket actuation. 
     A further objective is to provide such an attachment that is easily attached to the forks of the truck so as to be quickly utilized when necessary. 
     Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
     The accompanying drawings illustrate the present invention. In such drawings: 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention illustrating the position of a hydraulic ram; 
     FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective front view thereof; 
     FIG. 3 is a side elevational view thereof illustrating bucket manipulation and fork engagement. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The above described drawing figures illustrate the invention, a front-end loading apparatus  10  utilizing a bucket attached to a forklift for scooping, carrying and dumping materials such as dirt, snow, sand and any number of other materials. The loading apparatus  10  comprises the three primary elements, as described below. 
     The loading apparatus  10  comprises bucket  20  having, as an integral assembly, a bottom plate  30 , a pair of spaced apart side plates  40  positioned laterally to the bottom plate  20 , and a rear plate  50  (FIG.  2 ). The rear plate  50  provides a bucket pivoting means receiving means  60  (FIG. 2) and a ramming means attaching means  70  (FIG.  1 ). The plates define a scooping volume  80  enabled for scooping, carrying and dumping a payload  90  (FIG.  2 ). The bucket  20  includes a gusset plate  45  for strengthening the bucket medially. On both the vertical and horizontal planes, the gusset plate  45  provides a means for strengthening the bucket at the point where bucket positioning forces are applied as defined below. 
     The loading apparatus  10  (FIG. 1) further comprises a fork engagement platform  100  providing a fork engaging means  110  (FIG. 2) enabled by bolting, clamping or spring action snap-on device for engagement with the forks  120  of a fork-lift truck as best shown in FIG.  3 . It should be noted that the forks  120  are temporarily fixed in place within the fork engaging means  110  by bolting or quick-release device using ears  112  (FIG.  3 ), assuming a receiving holes are provided in corresponding positions in the forks  120 . At the distal end  130  of the fork engagement platform  100 , an integral bucket pivoting means  140  enables, by the use of bolts, steel rod(s) or such, pivotal engagement with the bucket pivoting means receiving means  60 . In this manner, the bucket  20  is enabled for rotation between a level attitude  150 , as shown in FIG. 3, for scooping the payload from a horizontal surface (not shown), and a dumping attitude  160  for dumping the payload. 
     In the preferred embodiment, the fork engaging means  110  of the fork engagement platform  100  comprises a pair of spaced apart fork sleeves  200  (FIG. 2) joined by the bucket pivoting means  140  at the distal end  130  and by a stabilizing strut means  210  at the proximal end  220  as shown in FIG.  1 . 
     Still further the apparatus comprises a ramming means  170 , such as a hydraulic cylinder, pneumatic cylinder, or possibly an electric motor or other known motive device, pivotally engaged with the fork engagement platform  100  at a first end  190  of the ramming means  170 , which in the preferred embodiment is the end of a cylinder housing thereof. It is pivotally engaged with the bucket  20  at the second end  180  in a position opposing the gusset plate  45 . The common positioning of the gusset plate  45  and the ramming means  170  is considered to be highly inventive in that it enables a considerably lighter construction in light of the prior art and in light of use with a forklift truck. This saving in weight and strengthened construction results in improved performance in payload and hauling capability. The ramming means  170  is enabled for linear extension and contraction by hydraulic pressure so as to rotate the bucket for positioning it between the level attitude  150  and the dump-attitude  160 . This enables the loading apparatus  10  to dump loads  90  into designated areas, and to elevate and dump the load  90  over retaining walls and other barriers (not shown in the figures). 
     The ramming means  170  necessarily provides a ramming means mounting strut means  230  positioned integrally between the fork sleeves  200 , as is clearly shown in FIG.  2 . Preferably, if the ramming means  170  is a single hydraulic cylinder, as in the preferred embodiment, it is positioned medially on the mounting strut  230  so that the force applied to the bucket  20  is centered on the bucket. If more than one cylinder is employed, they would preferably be spaced apart symmetically on the bucket  20  for the same reason. 
     The apparatus further provides a hydraulic pressure actuating conduit means  240  (FIG. 1) enabled by applying hydraulic, e.g., pneumatic, pressure, for actuating the ramming means  170  for enabling bucket motion in accordance with the following description of invention use. The hydraulic lines of the forklift are attached to the hydraulic ram  170  using the forklift side shift lines normally used to move the forklift assembly horizontally left or right in relation to the forklift truck as is well known to those of skill in the art. These lines are therefore not used for lateral motion of the loading apparatus. 
     The preferred method of operation of the present invention is to position the forklift truck (not shown) with the bucket  20  in the level attitude  150  (as shown in FIG. 3) and at a necessary height and relationship to the materials being moved. The operator then follows four steps in utilizing the present invention. 
     First, the operator drives the truck and bucket directly into the materials to be moved, filling the bucket  20  with the payload  90 . Second, the operator backs the forklift truck and bucket  20  away from the materials being moved and proceeds to the point of destination. The destination point could be positioned in a truck bed, in a designated dumping area, or behind a wall or other barrier, etc. Third, the operator positions the bucket  20  over the destination point, by raising or lowering it to accommodate the height of the destination point. Fourth, the operator positions the bucket  20  in the dump-attitude  160  (FIG. 3) to release the materials and may expedite such dumping by moving the bucket  20  rapidly between level attitude  150  and dump-attitude  160 . The process is repeated until the materials are relocated to the destination point. When the project is complete, the operator repositions the bucket  20  in the level attitude  150 , positioning the forklift forks  120  at ground level for storage and in readiness for the next project. At this point, the bucket  20  may be removed by withdrawing the bolts or other retaining device from ears  112 , and the hydraulic lines  240  of the forklift truck so as to restore the forklift truck to its original configuration and ready to be used in its more traditional role of lifting and moving pallets or other warehouse and loading dock operations. 
     While the invention has been described with reference to at least one preferred embodiment, it is to be clearly understood by those skilled in the art that the invention is not limited thereto. Rather, the scope of the invention is to be interpreted only in conjunction with the appended claims.