Patent ID: 7665806

Claim:
A device for closing a shaft opening in a containment wall of a milling machine cutter drum assembly, the drum assembly including a rotatable drum and a drive shaft for rotating the drum about a shaft axis, the shaft extending through the shaft opening in the containment wall so as to connect the drum with a mainframe of the milling machine, at least one of the drive shaft and the containment wall being vertically movable and the shaft opening extending generally vertically in the containment wall, the closure device comprising: a barrier member movably couplable with the mainframe so as to be pivotable about a barrier axis, the barrier axis being generally fixed with respect to the drive shaft such that the barrier member is linearly displaceable with respect to the containment wall, the barrier member being disposeable generally against the containment wall so as to extend at least partially across the shaft opening to generally prevent material flow through the shaft opening; and a coupler configured to movably couple the barrier member with the containment wall such that vertical linear displacement of one of the drive shaft with respect to the containment wall and the containment wall with respect to the drive shaft angularly displaces the barrier member about the barrier axis as the vertical position of the drive shaft within the shaft opening is varied so that at least a portion of the barrier member extends across and generally obstructs the shaft opening.