Patent ID: 7413092

Claim:
A construction machine comprising: a lower traveling body; an upper rotating body rotatably mounted on the lower traveling body; a swing bearing including an outer ring and an inner ring and supporting the upper rotating body such that the upper rotating body can rotate; and a vertical separating/connecting device interposed between the swing bearing and the lower traveling body and adapted to separate the lower traveling body and the upper rotating body from each other or to connect the lower traveling body and the upper rotating body to each other, the vertical separating/connecting device including: an externally toothed ring member fixed to a bottom surface of one of the outer ring and the inner ring of the swing bearing with first ring-member-attaching means and having lug-shaped external teeth that are arranged in the circumferential direction with predetermined intervals therebetween; a ring-member-rotating unit that rotates the externally toothed ring member in forward and reverse directions by a predetermined angle; an internally toothed ring member fixed to the lower traveling body with second ring-member-attaching means positioned on an attachment pitch circle having the same diameter and the same center as a pitch circle obtained by connecting attachment positions of the first ring-member-attaching means, the internally toothed ring member having internal teeth that mesh with the external teeth of the externally toothed ring member, the external teeth of the externally toothed ring member and the internal teeth of the internally toothed ring member being positioned such that the external teeth are allowed to move or such that the external teeth engage with the internal teeth when the externally toothed ring member is rotated by the ring-member-rotating unit by the predetermined angle; and a ring-member-fixing unit that fixes the externally toothed ring member or the internally toothed ring member to maintain the engagement between the external teeth and the internal teeth.