Abstract:
A spaced series of generally C-shaped wear members, representatively excavating tooth adapters, are positioned on a front edge portion of a lip structure on, for example, an excavating bucket, by placing the lip edge portion between rearwardly extending top and bottom leg portions of each wear member. Spring-loaded, low profile attachment structures are mounted within top leg recesses of the wear members prior to the installation of the wear members on the lip structure. After the wear members are in place on the lip structure, the internally disposed attachment structures are secured to the lip structure at open rear ends of the top wear member legs in a manner causing the internal attachment structures to resiliently bias their associated wear members in rearward self-tightening directions relative to the lip structure. Protective shrouds are then connected to the open rear ends of the top wear member legs to conceal and protect their internally carried attachment structures. The wear members disposed at opposite lower corners of the bucket overlap bottom and inner and outer side portions of corner structural sections Of the bucket to shield them from operational abrasion.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention generally relates to excavating apparatus and, in a preferred embodiment thereof, more particularly provides improved apparatus for removably attaching a wear member, such as an excavating tooth adapter, to the lip portion of an excavating device such as a bucket, dipper or the like. 
     Large excavating buckets, dippers or the like are typically provided with a series of earth-cutting teeth which are each formed from two primary parts—a relatively large adapter and a relatively small replaceable point. The adapter has a base portion which is connectable to the forward lower lip of the bucket, and a nose portion onto which the tooth point is removably secured by a suitable connecting pin or other connecting structure. Compared to that of the adapter, the useful life of the point is rather short—the adapter typically lasting through five or more point replacements until the tremendous earth forces and abrasion to which the adapter is subjected necessitates its replacement. 
     Various structures have been previously proposed for removably attaching adapters, and other wear members such as wear shrouds, to excavating lip structures. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,145 to Ruvang a wear shroud having a generally C-shaped cross section is removably attached to the front edge of an excavating bucket lip by first placing the front lip edge in the interior of the wear shroud so that the top and bottom legs of the shroud respectively extend along the top and bottom sides of the lip. A rear end portion of the top shroud leg is then removably secured, using a J-bolt inserted into the top leg after the wear shroud is positioned on the bucket lip, to a base structure welded to the top side of the lip. A nut threaded onto the J-bolt at the rear end of the top shroud leg and facing the welded base structure prevents the forward removal of the installed wear shroud from the bucket lip. 
     While this particular wear member-to-lip attachment system has proven to be well suited for its intended purpose, it has several limitations and disadvantages. For example, the attachment system requires that the adapter portion of each adapter/tooth point assembly have a relatively high frontal projection area which increases the resistance to penetration of the adapter/tooth point assembly into the material being excavated. Additionally, the adapter-to-lip attachment structure is exposed to the material being excavated, and is thus subject to undesirable abrasion wear. Additionally, the rear portion of the installed adapter tends to promote excavated material “build-up” thereon which, in turn, undesirably decreases the available excavating payload of the bucket. 
     From the foregoing it can readily be seen that a need exists for improved wear member-to-excavating lip attachment apparatus which will eliminate or at least substantially reduce these limitations and disadvantages. It is to this need that the present invention is directed. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In carrying out principles of the present invention, in accordance with a preferred embodiment thereof, an excavating device, representatively an excavating bucket, is provided with a wear protection system extending along a front edge portion of its lower lip plate section. The wear protection system includes a series of specially designed wear members, illustratively excavating tooth adapters, which are mutually spaced apart along the length of the front lip edge portion. 
     Each wear member has a generally C-shaped configuration with a front portion from which first and second legs rearwardly extend along opposite sides of a cavity removably receiving a part of the front lip edge portion, the first leg of each wear member having an interior area. Illustratively, the first legs of the wear members are top legs thereof and extend rearwardly along the top side of the excavating lip, and the second legs of the wear members are bottom legs thereof and extend rearwardly along the bottom side of the excavating lip. 
     A series of connection sections are carried on the excavating lip, representatively on its top side, and are spaced apart along its length. Additionally, attachment structures are associated with the wear members, and removably secure them to the excavating lip structure. 
     Each of the attachment structures has a portion which is (1) supported within the interior area of the top leg of its associated wear member for movement with the wear member onto the front lip edge portion of the excavating lip structure, (2) removably connected to one of connection sections, and (3) forwardly and rearwardly movable relative to the wear member and its associated connection section. Biasing structures are associated with the attachment structures and resiliently bias the wear members rearwardly relative to the front edge portion of the excavating lip structure to impart to the removably installed wear members a self-tightening force relative to the front lip edge portion to automatically compensate for operational wear at the adapter/lip interface area. 
     In a preferred embodiment of the wear members, the top leg of each wear member has an inner or bottom side, and the interior area of the top leg is defined by a depression extending inwardly through its inner side and opening outwardly through a rear end thereof. The top leg of each wear member has a projecting portion extending into the interior area thereof, and the attachment structure portion includes (1) a body portion disposed forwardly of the projecting portion, (2) a first portion extending rearwardly from the body portion and being slidably interengaged with the projecting portion for forward and rearward movement relative thereto, and (3) a second portion extending rearwardly from the body portion, the second portion being secured to one of the connection sections and being rearwardly movable relative to the projecting portion to move the body portion rearwardly toward the projecting portion. The biasing structure includes a spring structure interposed between the body portion and the projecting portion and being compressible therebetween in response to movement of the body portion toward the projecting portion. 
     Illustratively, in each of the spaced series of wear members, the projecting portion includes a spaced pair Of bosses having openings extending therethrough, the first portion includes a spaced pair of parallel first and second rods extending rearwardly from the body portion and slidably received in the openings in the spaced pair of bosses, the second portion includes a third rod extending rearwardly from the body portion parallel to and between the first and second rods, and the spring structure includes a pair of coiled compression springs circumscribing the first and second rods between the body portion and the bosses. Preferably, retaining structures carried by the first and second rods captives retain them in their associated boss openings. 
     Preferably, each of the connection sections has a hole extending therethrough between front and rear side surface portions thereof, and, in each of the attachment structures the third rod has a threaded rear end portion and extends rearwardly through an associated one of the connection section holes. The attachment structure further includes a nut member threaded onto the threaded rear end portion of the nut member and bearing against the rear side surface portion of the associated connection section and maintaining the springs on the first and second rods in compression. Each of the nut members preferably has an axially elongated configuration with a faceted end surface complementarily engaging an associated faceted rear side surface area of the associated connection section. 
     The specially designed configurations of the attachment structures in their preferred embodiment provides the installed wear members, which are illustratively excavating tooth adapters, with low profile configurations which desirably reduce their projected frontal areas and increase their earth penetration efficiencies. 
     The wear members are preferably provided with streamlined shroud structures which are removably connected to and cover their open rear ends. This desirably prevents excavating material from entering the interiors of the top wear member legs and abrading the attachment structures concealed and captively retained therein. The streamlined shroud structures also function to reduce the amount of excavated material which builds up at the rear ends of the top wear member legs, thereby desirably increasing the effective payload of the excavating bucket. 
     In a preferred embodiment of these wear member rear end shrouds, at each of the top wear member legs the shroud structure and the rear end of the top leg have releasably interlocked portions, representatively interlocked flanged and grooves, the rear end of the top leg has a first pair of mounting holes disposed on opposite sides thereof, and each of the shroud structure has a second pair of mounting holed disposed on opposite sides thereof and aligned with the first pair of mounting holes, and a retaining pin structure is releasably received in the aligned first and second pairs of mounting holes. 
     According to another aspect of the invention, the excavating lip structure has an end portion perpendicularly connected to a wall structure at a corner section of the bucket, and one of the spaced apart series of wear members is a differently configured corner wear member. The corner wear member, in a preferred embodiment thereof, removably receives the corner section and outwardly extends and shields from abrasion (1) inner and outer side portions of the wall structure, (2) a bottom side portion of the lip structure adjacent the wall structure, and (3) a front edge portion of the wall structure. 
     In a preferred embodiment thereof, the excavating apparatus further comprises a series of lip protectors captively and releasably retained on the front edge portion of the excavating lip, the lip protectors having top side portions interdigitated with the top legs of the wear members, and bottom side portions underlying and shielding from abrasion the bottom legs of the wear members. A series of depending support members are anchored to the bottom side of the lip structure and are spaced apart along its length. The lip protectors are releasably interlocked with the support members and the wear members and are forwardly removable from the front edge portion of the excavating lip structure. The excavating apparatus also representatively further comprises a series of excavating tooth points removably mounted on the front portions of the wear members and blocking the forward removal of the lip protectors from the front edge portion of the excavating lip. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a partially phantomed front and top side perspective view of a portion of a representative excavating bucket incorporating therein a specially designed wear protection system embodying principles of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is an enlarged scale front and right side top perspective view of an excavating tooth assembly removed from the bucket; 
     FIG. 3 is an enlarged scale cross-sectional view through the bucket taken along line  3 — 3  in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is an enlarged scale cross-sectional view through the bucket taken along line  4 — 4  of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 5 is a front and right side top perspective view of an adapter mounting base portion of the wear protection system; 
     FIG. 6 is a rear and right side top perspective view of the mounting base illustrating how a specially designed resilient connection structure, captively retained within the interior of an adapter, interfits with and is secured to the mounting base; 
     FIG. 7 is a rear and right side top perspective view of an excavating tooth assembly illustrating its connection to a phantomed lip plate portion Of the excavating bucket; 
     FIG. 8 is a right and front side perspective view of a rear end shroud portion of an excavating tooth assembly; 
     FIG. 9 is a bottom rear side perspective view of a portion Of the excavating bucket illustrating lip protectors interdigitated with the excavating teeth assemblies; 
     FIG. 10 is a front top side perspective view of a pair of lip protectors partially illustrating their interfit with a base member welded to the bottom side of the front lip plate portion of the excavating bucket; 
     FIG. 11 is a front and right side top perspective view of one of the base members; 
     FIG. 12 is a rear and right side bottom perspective view of the base member shown in FIG. 11; 
     FIG. 13 is an enlarged scale cross-sectional view through a pair of lip protectors, and an associated base member with which they are releasably interlocked, taken along line  13 — 13  of FIG. 10; 
     FIG. 14 is a rear perspective view of a corner portion of the excavating bucket; 
     FIG. 15 is a partially exploded perspective view of part of the excavating bucket corner portion shown in FIG. 14; 
     FIG. 16 is a front perspective view of the corner portion of the excavating bucket, with portions thereof having been removed for purposes of illustrative clarity; and 
     FIG. 17 is an outer end and rear side perspective view of part of the excavating bucket corner portion illustrating the protective interfit therewith of a corner adapter portion of the wear protection system. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Perspectively illustrated in FIG. 1 is an excavating device, representatively an excavating bucket  10 , having along a bottom side thereof an elongated lip plate  12  with front and rear edges  14  and  16 , top and bottom sides  18  and  20 , and a pair of opposite ends including a left end  22  shown in FIG.  1 . Extending along a front edge portion of the lip plate  12  is a specially designed wear protection system  24  which embodies principles of the present invention and shields certain portions of the lip plate  12 , and other subsequently described portions of the bucket  10 , from operational abrasion wear. 
     The wear protection system  24  includes a spaced apart series of wear members  26 , including a differently configured corner wear member  26   a , which are representatively excavating tooth adapters; a spaced apart series of lip protectors  28 , and a spaced apart series of replaceable excavating tooth points  30  removably secured to the adapters  26  in a conventional manner. While the wear members  26  are illustratively excavating tooth adapters, it will be readily appreciated by those of skill in this particular art that they could be other types of wear members such as, for example, wear shrouds. 
     With reference now to FIGS. 1-7, the adapters  26  are spaced apart along the length of the lip plate  12 . Each of the adapters  26  has a front or nose portion  32  from which top and bottom legs  34  and  36  rearwardly extend along a cavity  38  that removably receives a front edge portion of the lip plate  12 , with the top leg  34  extending rearwardly along the top side  18  of the lip plate  12  and having a rear end  40 , and the bottom leg  36  extending rearwardly along the bottom side  20  of the lip plate  12 . 
     A series of connection members  42  (see FIGS. 3,  5  and  6 ) are welded to the top side  18  of the lip plate  12  in a spaced apart relationship along its length, and are aligned with the adapters  26  and rearwardly extend from the front lip edge  14 . Each connection member  42  has a downwardly and forwardly sloped front end portion  44  which extends along a similarly sloped top surface  14   a  of the front lip edge portion  14  (see FIG.  3 ), and a rear end portion  46  with a top side recess  48  formed therein. At the front side of the recess  48  is an upstanding boss  50  having front and rear sides  52 , 54  and a circular opening  56  extending therethrough between the front and rear sides  52 , 54 . An annular faceted area  58  (see FIG. 6) is formed in the rear side  54  and circumscribes the circular opening  56 . A front top side recess  60  is formed in the connection member  42  and extends between its sloped front end portion  44  and the front side  54  of the boss  50 . 
     As shown in FIG. 6, each adapter  26  has associated therewith a specially designed attachment structure  62  which, as later described herein, releasably retains the adapter  26  on its associated portion of the lip plate  12  and resiliently biases the adapter  26  rearwardly relative to the lip plate  12  in a self-tightening manner which automatically maintains a close front-to-rear fit between the adapter and the lip plate to compensate for operational wear at their interface areas. 
     Each attachment structure  62  includes a body portion  64  having front and rear ends  66  and  68 , top and bottom sides  70  and  72 , and horizontally outwardly projecting flanges  74  disposed on opposite horizontal sides of the body  64  at its front end  66 . A spaced apart parallel pair of rods  76  longitudinally extend rearwardly from the flanges  74 , are circumscribed by coiled compression springs  78 , and have snap ring type retaining members  80  removably installed on their rear ends. A third, larger diameter rod  82  longitudinally extends rearwardly from the rear end  68  of the body  64 , between and parallel to the rods  76 , and has a threaded rear end portion  82   a  (see FIG.  3 ). Each attachment structure  62  also includes an axially elongated cylindrical nut member  84  having an annular faceted front end surface  86  configured to complementarily engage the annular faceted boss surface  58  on the connection member  42  (see FIG. 6) and a noncircularly cross-sectioned driving section  88  at its rear end. 
     In FIG. 6, for purposes of illustrative clarity, the attachment structure  62  has been shown secured to its associated connection member  42 , but without its associated adapter  26 . As cross-sectionally illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the body, rod and spring portions  64 , 76 , 82 , 78  of the overall attachment structure  62  are carried by the adapter  26  for movement therewith onto the lip plate  12  and securement to the connection member  42  in a manner later described herein. More specifically, this portion of the attachment structure is captives retained within a depression  90  formed in the underside of the top adapter leg  34  and opening outwardly through its rear end  40 . 
     This captive retention of a portion of the attachment structure  62  within the top leg depression  90 , for movement with the adapter  26  onto the lip plate  12 , is effected by means of a pair of bosses  92  (only one of which is visible in FIG. 4) projecting into the interior of the top adapter leg  34 , from its interior surface, and having circular holes  94  extending therethrough as shown in FIG.  4 . This captively retained portion of the attachment structure is installed within the interior of the top leg  34 , prior to the installation of the adapter  26  on the lip plate  12 , by rearwardly passing the rear ends of the side rods  76  through the boss holes  94 , so that the springs  78  are interposed between the body flanges  74  and the front sides of the interiorly projecting bosses  92 , and the rear ends of the rods  76  project rearwardly beyond the rear sides of the bosses  92 . The snap rings  80  are then installed on the rear ends of the rods  76  to captives retain the rods  76  slidingly within the boss holes  94 . 
     As can be seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, with the portion  64 , 76 , 82  of the attachment structure  62  captives retained in this manner within the interior of the top adapter leg  32 , the portion  64 , 76 , 82  may be moved forwardly and rearwardly relative to the top adapter leg  34 , and is resiliently biased by the springs  78  in a forward direction relative to the top adapter leg  34 . 
     When an adapter  26  is to be installed on the lip plate  12 , the adapter is simply moved rearwardly onto the front edge of the lip plate  12  in a manner such that a front edge portion of the lip plate enters the adapter cavity  38  (see FIG.  3 ), the threaded rear end portion  82   a  of the rod  82  passes rearwardly through the hole  56  in the boss portion  50  of the connection member  42  at the lip location on which the adapter is being installed, and a lower side section of the attachment structure portion captively retained within the interior Of the top adapter leg  34  is downwardly and complementarily received in the rear top side recess  60  (see FIGS. 6 and 7) of its associated connection member. 
     Next, the nut member  84  is threaded onto the nut end portion  82   a  projecting rearwardly beyond the boss  50  and tightened in a manner drawing the attachment structure body  64  rearwardly toward the connecting member boss  50  and thereby compressing the springs  78  (see FIG. 4) between the body flanges  74  and the internal bosses  92  within the interior of the top adapter leg  34 . The compressed springs  78  maintain a continuous rearward biasing force on the now installed adapter  26  that resiliently urges its front portion  32  rearwardly toward the front lip plate edge  14  to thereby maintain a resilient rearward tightening force on the adapter  26  to automatically compensate for operational wear at the adapter/lip interface area. The complementary engagement between the faceted areas  58 , 86  on the nut  84  and the boss  50  (see FIG. 6) help to keep the nut  84  from loosening during use of the bucket  10 . 
     With the adapter  26  installed on the lip plate  12  in this manner (see FIG.  7 ), the nut  84  is exposed at the open rear end  40  of the top adapter leg  34 . TO cover the exposed nut  84 , provide the rear end of the top adapter leg  34  with a more streamlined configuration, and to substantially seal off the interior of the top adapter leg  34  from the entry thereinto of abrasive excavating material which could damage or interfere with the resilient biasing action of the attachment structure  62  captively retained within the interior of the top adapter leg  34 , a streamlined hollow protective shroud member  96  is installed at the open rear end  40  of each of the top legs  34  of the adapters  26 . 
     Turning now to FIGS. 1,  3 ,  4 ,  7  and  8 , each of these shroud members  96  has an open bottom side  98 , a front end face  100 , and a pair of opposite side walls  102  with grooves  104  and circular openings  106  formed therein. Each shroud member  96  is releasably held on the rear end of its associated top adapter leg  34  by means of an interlock between the grooves  104  and an opposing pair of flanges  108  on the rear end of the top adapter leg  34  (see FIG.  7 ), and a retaining pin structure  110  (also shown in FIG. 7) having an elongated metal pin member  112 , and a pair of annular resilient bushing structures  114  which are carried in the two opposing shroud member circular openings  106 . 
     After the adapter  26  is mounted on the lip plate  12  as previously described, the rear shroud member  96  is installed on the open rear end of the top adapter leg  34  by moving the shroud member  96  forwardly toward the rear end of the top adapter leg  34  until the adapter leg flanges  108  (see FIG. 6) complementarily enter the shroud grooves  104 , and the front end face  100  of the shroud  96  (see FIGS. 3,  4  and  8 ) abuts the rear end  40  of the top adapter leg  34 . When this occurs, the open bottom side  98  of the shroud  96  downwardly abuts the top side  18  of the lip plate  18 , and the opposite side wall holes  106  in the shroud  96  are generally aligned with opposite side wall holes  116  (one of which is visible in FIG. 7) in the rear end of the top adapter leg  34 . The pin member  112  is then inserted through the resilient bushings  114  in the shroud holes  106 , and the top adapter leg holes  116  to captively retain the shroud  92  on the rear end of its associated top adapter leg  34 . 
     Referring now to FIGS.  1  and  14 - 17 , at the left bottom corner of the excavating bucket  10  is a corner structural portion  120  of the bucket which is of a conventional construction, defines an end portion of the lip structure, and is similar to a right corner structural portion (not shown) of the bucket. Corner structural portion  120  includes a horizontally oriented base plate member  122  having inner and outer sides  124  and  126 , top and bottom sides  128  and  130 , and front and rear ends  132  and  134 ; a vertical first plate member  136  welded to an outer top side portion of the base plate member  122  and projecting upwardly therefrom, and a somewhat narrower second plate member  138  welded to the top end of the first plate member  136  and extending upwardly therefrom. A bucket bottom side wall  140  (shown in phantom in FIG. 1) is welded to the rear edge  16  of the lip plate  12 , and the rear end  134  of the base plate member  122 , and extends rearwardly therefrom. Additionally, a vertical left side wall  142  of the bucket  10  (also shown in phantom in FIG. 1) projects upwardly from the left edge of the bottom wall  140  and is welded to rear edge portions of the vertical corner plates  136  and  138 . 
     As previously mentioned, the corner adapter  26   a  has a configuration different from the configurations of the other adapters  26  illustrated in FIG.  1 . Specifically, and with reference now to FIGS. 14,  15  and  17 , the corner adapter  26   a  has a front portion  32   a  from which top and bottom legs  34   a , 36   a  rearwardly along a cavity  38   a . Top leg  34   a  has a front portion  144 , a slot  146  extending rearwardly from the front portion  144 , a rearwardly projecting tab  148  with a circular opening  150  therein, and a downturned inner side portion  151 . On the outer side of the corner adapter  26   a  is a vertical wall  152  that extends between the top and bottom legs  34   a , 36   a.    
     An attachment structure  62  (see FIG. 16) identical to the previously described attachment structures  62  used in conjunction with the adapters  26  is captively retained in a similar manner within the corner adapter  26   a  and is utilized in conjunction with a connection member in the form of a bracket  154  (see FIG. 16) welded to and extending between an inner side surface of the first plate member  136  and the top side  128  of the base plate member  122 . Bracket  154  has a circular hole  156  extending therethrough, and an annular faceted area  158  circumscribing he hole  156  on the rear side of the bracket  154  as illustrated in FIG.  15 . 
     The corner adapter  26   a  is installed on the bucket  10  by moving the adapter  26   a  rearwardly in a manner such that the first vertical plate member  136  enters the adapter slot  146 , the base plate member  122  enters the cavity  38   a , and a rear end portion the attachment structure center rod  82  (see FIG. 16) rearwardly passes through the bracket hole  156 . The nut  84  is then tightened against the rear face of the bracket  154  to rearwardly compress the attachment structure springs  78  against the internal bosses within the adapter  26   a  (not shown) that slidably carry the adapter structure side rods  76 ). 
     With the corner adapter  26   a  installed in this manner, the front portion  144  Of its top leg  34   a  overlies and protects from abrasion a front side area of the corner bucket structural portion  120 ; its horizontally opposite vertical side wall portions  151 , 152  overlie and protect from abrasion horizontally inner and outer opposite side surface areas of the corner bucket structural portion  120 , and the bottom adapter leg  36   a  overlies and protects from abrasion a bottom side area of the corner bucket structural portion  120 , as shown in FIGS.  1  and  14 - 17 . 
     After the corner adapter  26   a  has been installed, a hollow rear end shroud  160  (see FIGS.  1  and  14 - 16 ) is installed over the open rear end of the corner adapter  26   a . On its top side, the shroud  160  has a notch  162  (see FIG. 15) that receives the adapter tab  148 . To releasably retain the shroud  160  in place on the corner adapter  26   a , a retaining pin structure  164  (see FIG. 16) is operatively placed in circular holes  166  on opposite sides of the shroud  160 , and in the adapter tab hole  150  disposed between the holes  166 . 
     The installed shroud  160  also provides abrasion protection for a section of the corner bucket structural portion  120 . In addition to this abrasion protection, conventional wear shroud members  168 , 170  (see FIGS. 1 and 14) are suitably secured to front edge portions of the vertical structural plate members  136  and  138 . 
     With reference now to FIGS. 1,  3 ,  4  and  9 - 13 , each of the lip protectors  28  has a tapered front edge portion  172  with a notch  174  at its rear side, a body portion  176  extending rearwardly from the front edge portion  172  and having top and bottom sides  178 , 180  and a pair of opposite side flanges  182 . For purposes later described herein opposite left and right side projections  184  are formed on the front edge portions  172 . 
     As illustrated in FIGS.  3  and  9 - 13 , the excavating bucket  10  also includes a spaced series Of base members  186 . Each base member  186  has a top wall  188  with a top side  190 , opposite side edge depressions  192  and a front end  194 , and a forwardly and downwardly sloped rear wall  196  with an angled depression  198  (see FIG. 3) formed in a front side thereof. The top sides  190  of the base members  186  are welded to the bottom side  20  of the lip plate  12  in a manner positioning the base members rearwardly apart from the front lip plate edge  14  and aligned with the adapter mounting locations on the lip plate  12 . 
     With the adapters  26  removably secured to the lip plate  12  as previously described herein, the lip protectors  28  are slid rearwardly into place on the lip plate  12  in an interdigitated relationship therewith as can be best seen in FIG.  1 . After the lip protectors  28  are rearwardly slid into place in this manner they releasably interlock with the lip plate  12 , the adapters  26  and the support members  186  in various manners. 
     Specifically, as best illustrated in FIG. 1 the front lip edge  14  enters the complementarily configured rear side notches  174  in the lip protectors  28 , with the front edge portions  172  of the lip protectors  28  being interdigitated with the top adapter legs  26  as shown in FIG.  1 . Additionally, sloped rear end portions  182   a  of the lip protector side flanges  182  are complementarily received in the front side depressions  198  of the rear support member walls  196  (see FIG.  3 ), and the forwardly disposed opposite side projections  184  on the lip protectors  28  (see FIG. 10) are received in complementarily configured opposite side grooves  200  in the adapters  26  (see FIGS.  2  and  7 ). Opposite rear corner portions of the lip protector bodies  176  are received in the edge depressions  192  of the support members  186  (see FIGS.  10  and  13 ), and opposite side edge portions of the top support member walls  188  (see FIG. 13) are complementarily received in corresponding cutout areas  202  in facing edge portions of the lip protector bodies  176 . As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 9, with the lip protectors  28  slid rearwardly into place on the lip plate  12  in this interlocking manner, the lip protector side flanges  182  underlie the bottom adapter legs  36  and shield them from abrasion wear. 
     With the lip protectors  28  on the lip plate  12 , the replaceable tooth points  30  are installed on the adapters by placing the front adapter portions or “noses”  32  into complementarily configured rearwardly opening sockets  204  (see FIGS. 3 and 4) and then inserting suitable connecting pins (not shown) or other connecting structures into aligned holes  206 , 208  respectively extending through the adapter noses  32  and opposite side wall portions of their associated tooth points  30 . As best illustrated in FIGS. 3,  4  and  9 , rear end surface portions  210  of the installed tooth points  30  block forward movement of the installed lip protectors  28 , thereby captively retaining the lip protectors  28  on the lip plate  12  without the necessity of using fastening members of any sort to accomplish this task. 
     As can be seen from the foregoing, the use of the specially designed attachment structures  162  provides the adapters  26  with substantially reduced maximum projected frontal areas, thereby improving the operational efficiency of the excavating bucket  10 . Moreover, the use of the rear end shrouds on the adapters shields their captively retained attachment structures  162  from abrasive material and additionally gives the rear ends of the overall tooth/adapter structures a considerably more streamlined configuration, thereby reducing that amount of excavating material retained in the bucket at these rear end locations and desirably increasing the buckets operational payload. Additionally, as previously described herein, the specially configured corner adapter  26   a  provides substantially enhanced abrasion shielding for the overall corner structural portion  120  of the excavating bucket  10 . 
     The foregoing detailed description is to be clearly understood as being given by way of illustration and example only, the spirit and scope of the present invention being limited solely by the appended claims.