Grapple pivot snubber

Abstract

A grapple assembly includes a grapple suspended from an outer end of the grapple boom by means including a double clevis permitting the grapple to swing about a pair of crosswise disposed pivot axes. A double clevis is pivotally connected to the lower end of an upright output shaft which is rotatably mounted in the grapple boom. A fluid supply passage is provided in the shaft and has a first pair of outlets disposed diametrically from each other and in a vertical plane containing one of the pivot axes and a first pair of snubber hoses are connected between these outlets and the grapple frame. Similarly, a second pair of outlets of the passage are located diametrically from each other and in a vertical plane containing the other pivot axis and a second pair of snubber hoses are connected between these outlets and the frame. A hydraulic circuit is provided for selectively pressurizing the snubber hoses to thereby stiffen them and inhibit swinging movement of the frame about the pair of axes. In a second embodiment of the invention, the fluid supply passage in the output shaft has only a single outlet and it is located on the axis of the shaft and connected between this outlet and a blind bore on the frame is a single snubber hose which intersects the pivot axes of the frame.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.