Patent ID: 8336233

Claim:
A wear plate assembly for protecting the surface of an earth-moving machine, the wear plate assembly comprising: a base including a bottom, an opposed top, an upper surface of the top, a sidewall extending from the bottom to the top along a perimeter edge of the base, opposed inner and outer surfaces of the sidewall, and an interior bound by the inner surface of the sidewall; a wear plate including a top, an opposed bottom, an outer sidewall extending from the top to the bottom, opposed inner and outer surfaces of the outer sidewall, and an interior bound by the inner surface of the outer sidewall and the top; the wear plate is moveable with respect to the base between a free condition and an applied condition; in the applied condition of the wear plate, the top of the wear plate is received against the top of the base, the inner surface of the outer sidewall of the wear plate is in contact with the outer surface of the sidewall of the base, and the wear plate and the base cooperate to form a keyway; a key is moveable with respect to the keyway between free and applied conditions; in the applied condition of the key, the key is moveable within the keyway between a first position corresponding to an unlocked configuration of the wear plate and a second position corresponding to a locked configuration of the wear plate; and the keyway is located below the top of the base, wherein the wear plate moves between the free and applied conditions along a first axis; and the keyway extends along a second axis transverse to the first axis.