Rubber crawler, method for making rubber crawler, lug for rubber crawler and vehicle provided with rubber crawler
AssigneeArtic Investments S.A.
InventorKoenraad Pringiers
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A rubber crawler for a tracked vehicle involves an endless rubber belt body for revolving around first and second members that are spaced from each other, which belt body has an outer peripheral face including a plurality of lugs that protrude outwardly from the belt body, each of which lugs has a ground-contacting surface and a sidewall extending outwardly from the belt body to the ground-contacting surface, the sidewall having a groove extending transversely to the length direction of the belt body, and each of which lugs is at least partially made of material that is deformable, at the groove of the sidewall, when the belt body bends to facilitate removal of soil from the groove.
Claims30
A rubber crawler for traction of a tracked vehicle, said rubber crawler comprising an endless rubber belt body for revolving around first and second members that are spaced from each other, said belt body bending when revolving around the first and second members, said belt body having a length direction, said belt body comprising an outer peripheral face including a plurality of lugs that protrude outwardly from said belt body, each lug of said plurality of lugs comprising:
- (i) a tread surface at an outermost end of said lug;
- and (ii) a sidewall extending outwardly from said belt body to said tread surface, said sidewall comprising a groove extending transversely to said length direction of said belt body, said lug comprising deformable material such that, when said lug bends around a given one of the first and second members, said groove deforms to facilitate removal of soil material contained in said groove.
A rubber crawler for traction of a tracked vehicle, said rubber crawler comprising an endless rubber belt body for revolving around first and second members that are spaced from each other, said belt body bending when revolving around the first and second members, said belt body having a length direction, said belt body comprising an outer peripheral face including a plurality of lugs that protrude outwardly from said belt body, each lug of said plurality of lugs comprising:
- (i) a tread surface at an outermost end of said lug;
- and (ii) a sidewall extending outwardly from said belt body to said tread surface, a maximum dimension of said tread surface in said length direction of said belt body being greater than a height of said sidewall, said sidewall comprising a groove extending transversely to said length direction of said belt body, said lug comprising deformable material such that, when said lug bends around a given one of the first and second members, said groove deforms.
A rubber crawler for traction of a tracked vehicle, said rubber crawler being revolvable around a plurality of wheels of the tracked vehicle, said rubber crawler comprising an endless rubber belt comprising an inner side for facing the plurality of wheels and a ground-contacting outer side for contacting the ground, said ground-contacting outer side comprising a plurality of traction lugs that project outwardly and are distributed along a length direction of said rubber crawler, each traction lug of said plurality of traction lugs comprising:
- (a) a base;
- (b) a tread surface at an outermost end of said traction lug;
- and (c) a sidewall extending outwardly from said base to said tread surface and extending transversely to said length direction of said rubber crawler, said sidewall comprising a groove, said groove having a depth measured perpendicularly from an imaginary straight line interconnecting two points of said sidewall which delimit said groove, said traction lug comprising deformable material such that, when said traction lug bends around a wheel of the plurality of wheels, said groove deforms.
A crawler for propelling a tracked vehicle on a ground surface, the tracked vehicle comprising a crawler drive arrangement including at least one wheel for imparting movement to said crawler along a drive direction, said crawler comprising an endless belt for mounting on the crawler drive arrangement, said endless belt comprising a body and a plurality of traction lugs projecting from said body, each traction lug comprising (i) a base proximal to said body, (ii) an outermost surface distal to said body and defining a ground-engaging interface between said traction lug and the ground surface, and (iii) a sidewall extending between said base and the ground-engaging interface, said sidewall extending in a direction that is non-parallel to said drive direction, said sidewall including a recess configured to resiliently distort when said traction lug bends around the wheel of the crawler drive arrangement.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.