Adjustable Back Guard for Loader Bucket Transport
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional front loader buckets lack a solution to securely transport stackable items like wood, lumber, or poles without risking damage to the bucket arms, hydraulic lines, or the tractor's hood due to items falling over the rear side.
Innovation Solution
A back guard attachable to the bucket, featuring adjustable supports and a mechanism to accommodate different bucket widths, which extends across the rear to prevent items from falling and includes side guards for additional stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a back guard is added to prevent items from falling rearwardly, then safety and reliability are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The back guard is divided into multiple components: left support, right support, back support, and adjustment mechanism. Each component serves a specific function and can be independently adjusted or replaced, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The adjustment mechanism allows the back support to be dynamically repositioned to accommodate different bucket widths. This dynamic adaptability ensures reliable performance across various bucket sizes without requiring multiple fixed designs.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the back guard is made adjustable to accommodate different bucket widths, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The back guard is designed as a universal attachment that can be fitted to various bucket widths through the adjustment mechanism. The left and right supports can be repositioned along the back support, allowing a single design to serve multiple bucket sizes and configurations.
Solution Approach 2:
The adjustment mechanism provides dynamic adaptability by allowing the left and right supports to be repositioned to different locations on the back support. This enables the same back guard to accommodate different bucket widths without requiring multiple specialized designs.
3Reliability
If side guards are added to prevent items from falling sideways, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The side guards are integrated with the existing back guard structure, sharing common supports and mounting points. This merging of functions allows lateral protection to be added without requiring completely separate support structures, thereby reducing overall complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A back guard for a loader bucket is removably mountable to the bucket and can accommodate buckets having different widths. A bucket assembly that includes the bucket and the back guard can accommodate stacked items, such as wood, for transport on the loader bucket. It has a back plate sufficiently strong to hold debris, while not obstructing the vision of the tractor operator. The back plate is slideably disposed relative to left and right supports that are mountable, respectively to the left and right sides of the bucket to provide a sliding mechanism. Each side of the back guard can accept additional implementations, such as left and right side guards useful for further containing the items in the bucket, so that more items can be transported. A method of forming the back guard includes welding components thereof.