Excavating lip-mounted adapter and associated connection and shielding apparatus

Abstract

Various embodiments of an excavating bucket are provided in which a spaced series of excavating tooth adapters are secured to a front edge of a lip portion of the bucket by welding opposite side ear portions of the adapters into complementarily shaped front edge recesses in the lip to thereby substantially strengthen the adapter / lip weld joints. Each adapter is configured in a manner such that no portion thereof extends rearwardly along the bottom side of the lip, thereby desirably reducing the vertical thickness of each adapter. Front lip edge protectors may be interdigitated with the adapters and suitably secured to the lip in a variety of manners, and replaceable tooth points are removably secured to front nose portions of the adapters.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention generally relates to excavating apparatus and, in representative embodiments thereof, more particularly provides improved excavating tooth adapters and associated techniques for operatively mounting them on the forward lower lip portion of an excavating device such as an excavating bucket. [0002] Large excavating buckets, dippers or the like are typically provided with a spaced series of earth-cutting teeth which are each formed from two primary parts—a relatively large adapter and a relatively small replaceable point. The adapter has a rear base portion which is welded to a front portion of the excavating lip, and a forwardly projecting nose portion onto which the replaceable tooth point is removably secured by a suitable connecting pin or other connecting structure. Additionally, a series of replaceable lip protectors or shields may be interdigitated with the adapters, and suitably secured to the lip, to shield front edge po...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008] These front weld areas which secure the adapters to the lip do not appreciably project above the top side of the lip and, for the most part, are positioned laterally outwardly of their associated adapters. Accordingly, compared to conventional techniques for welding adapters to excavating lips, the present invention provides a stronger weld joint due to the fact that the front weld joints, during use of the bucket, are subjected primarily to shear stress instead of tensile stress, and also provide enhanced attachment strength due to their positioning in a laterally offset relationship with their associated adapters. According to further features of the invention, forwardly facing portions of these front weld areas may be shielded by portions of the adapter connector ears or (if lip protectors are installed) by portions of the lip protectors.

[0009] Preferably, no portion of any of the adapters extends rearwardly along the bottom side of the lip. Accordingly, the overall heights of the adapters are reduced, thereby desirably increasing the overall earth penetration efficiency of the bucket. Lip protectors installed between the adapters are illustratively configured to extend directly along the bottom side of the lip. Since the installed lip protectors are extended directly beneath the bottom side of the lip, without any adapter portion being interposed between the underside of the lip and associated lip protectors, the lip protectors may be vertically thicker and are thus desirably provided with longer operating lives since they may be permitted to wear away clear to the underside of the lip before having to be replaced.

Problems solved by technology

In this conventional adapter / lip protector construction the positioning of portions of the lip protectors beneath the bottom adapter legs thickens the vertical dimension of the toothed excavating lip assembly in a manner undesirably lessening its earth penetration efficiency.

While this reduces the vertical thickness of the toothed excavating lip assembly, it undesirably weakens the adapter / lip attachment strength.

This is due to the fact that the weld area between the upper adapter leg and the top side of the lip (which provides substantially the entire adapter / lip attachment strength) is oriented in a manner such that the weld area is disposed in an exposed position above the top side of the lip and may be undesirably subjected to high tensile stresses during use of the excavating bucket.

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