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US 5,360,313 AGranted
Coupling for heavy-duty machine
AssigneeGilmore Transportation Services, Inc.
InventorsCharles P. Gilmore, Jr., Dale R. Johnson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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AssigneeGilmore Transportation Services, Inc.
InventorsCharles P. Gilmore, Jr., Dale R. Johnson
Estimating the term…
A coupling for a heavy-duty machine to be used between a boom and a stick having a working tool for quick coupling and decoupling of the stick to the boom for the exchange of tools and being operable from the cab or operator's station on the machine without requiring the need for one or more persons or machines at the coupling during the coupling and decoupling process. The coupling also includes a unique locking mechanism that can be remotely controlled to lock and unlock the coupling when they are in mating engagement. The coupling includes a male member attachable to the boom of the machine and a female member connected to the stick. The male member is pivotally mounted at one end on the boom and connected at the other end to a hydraulic cylinder on the boom for articulating the male member on the boom. The male member further includes a grabber at one end and a picker at the other end for interchangeable use to guide the joining of the coupler members. The male and female members are symmetrically constructed so that either end of one member may be aligned with either end of the other. The coupling also includes a unique locking mechanism that can be remotely controlled to lock and unlock the coupling when they are in mating engagement. Further, the coupling includes unique hydraulic couplings for connecting a source of hydraulic power from the machine to the stick that may be just mated together or provided with remotely operable locking means.
In a heavy-duty machine including a ground-supporting base having an operator station, a boom pivotally mounted at one end to the base to swing vertically, a stick cylinder pivotally connected at one end to the boom, a stick pivotally mounted to the free end of the boom to swing vertically relative to the boom, a working tool mounted on the free end of the stick, and a quick-disconnect coupling between the stick and the boom for facilitating the interchangeability of sticks having different tools, whereby the connect and disconnect functions of the coupling are controlled at the operator station, the improvement in the coupling which comprises, a male member on the boom and a female member on the stick, said male member having a pin boss for pivotally connecting one end of the male member to the free end of the boom and a stick cylinder boss at the other end of the male member for pivotally connecting to the other end of said stick cylinder, said bosses being at the backside of the male member, said male and female members having mating faces, intermeshing elements on the mating faces of said male and female members for preventing relative movement along the faces of said members, and locking means operable from the operator station for locking the male and female members together in coupled relation and unlocking the male and female members to allow separation and decoupling, said locking means including a pair of fixed sockets on the female member, the longitudinal axis of each fixed socket being substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the female member, a pair of bars on said male member movable longitudinally of the male member and coacting with the mating sockets when the male and female members are together, and means reciprocally driving the bars in opposite directions between locking and unlocking positions and being slidably carried by the male member for longitudinal movement thereon, whereby seating of one bar ahead of seating of the other bar will cause sliding of the driving means until the other bar is seated thereby tightening both bars equally.
In a heavy-duty machine including a ground-supporting base having an operator station, a boom pivotally mounted at one end to the base to swing vertically, a stick cylinder pivotally connected at one end to said boom, a stick pivotally mounted to the free end of the boom to swing vertically relative to the boom, a working tool mounted on the free end of the stick, and a quick-disconnect coupling between the stick and the boom for facilitating the interchangeability of sticks having different tools, whereby the connect and disconnect functions of the coupling are controlled at the operator station, the improvement in the coupling which comprises, a male member on the boom and a female member on the stick, said male member having a pin boss for pivotally connecting one end of the male member to the free end of the boom and a stick cylinder boss at the other end of the male member for pivotally connecting to the other end of said stick cylinder, said bosses being at the backside of the male member, said members having mating faces, intermeshing elements on the mating faces of said male and female members for preventing relative movement along the faces of said members, guiding means on the male member coacting with guidable means on the female member to guidably bring the members into mating relationship, the guiding means on the male member including a grabber on one end and a picker on the other end, the guidable means on the female member including a pin mounted transversely to the longitudinal axis of the female member, means for interchangeably mounting the pin at either end of the female member to coact with either the grabber or the picker during coupling, and locking means operable from the operator station for locking the male and female members together in coupled relation and unlocking the male and female members to allow separation and decoupling.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.