Resilient guide bushing mounting for blast hole drills or the like

Abstract

The guide bushing of a blast hole drill is resiliently mounted to dampen lateral vibrations of the drill string. The mounting arrangement comprises four pads symmetrically placed about the bushing and restrained against all but radial movement. Each pad includes a radially inner bearing section that bears against the exterior of the bushing, an outer backing section that is radially movable with respect to the bearing section, and a resilient cushion between the two sections. A four-lobed cam ring surrounds and faces the backing sections and is rotated to simultaneously load all the cushions to a selected degree. In the preferred embodiment, the mounting components are in an enclosed housing that defines guide channels for the pad and that can easily be fitted into the deck of a machine.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.