Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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TITLE OF THE INVENTION:
Material deflecting guard assembly for a vehicular track
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to guards mountable to a vehicular track to
prevent the
incursion of material, which might interfere with track operation.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
When foreign material enters a vehicular track, such foreign material may
interfere
with the operation of the track. A number of patents have been filed which are
intended to
address this problem: U.S. Patent 1,992,702 (Koop 1935); U.S. Patent 2,146,882
(Baker
1939); U.S. Patent 2,418,610 (Webb 1947); U.S. Patent 3,861,762 (Freedy et al
1975); U.S.
Patent 4,531,787 (Hart et al 1985); U.S. Patent 4,553,790 (Boggs 1985); and
U.S. Patent
5,775,447 (Dester et al 1998).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention there is provided a material deflecting
guard
assembly for a vehicular track, which includes an endless vehicular track
supported by a
track frame. The track frame having a drive wheel engaging and driving the
track and two
2 0 spaced apart idler wheels with rollers in between supporting the track.
Shield plates are
secured to the face of the track frame. The plates fit within boundaries
defined by the
track and are adapted to fill gaps through which debris might otherwise pass
through to the
endless track. The rollers, idler wheels and drive wheel are left open.
Arcuate shields are
secured to the face of the track frame in a position overlying the idler
wheels. A
2 5 downwardly angled elongated shield is secured to the face of the track
frame between the
idler wheels and immediately above the rollers.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
30 These and other features of the invention will become more apparent from
the
following description in which reference is made to the appended drawings, the
drawings are
for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to in any way limit
the scope of the
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invention to the particular embodiment or embodiments shown, wherein:
FIG.1 is a side elevation view of a vehicular track;
FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the vehicular track in FIG. 1 with a
material
deflecting guard assembly attached in accordance with the teachings of the
present invention.
FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of a shield plate;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an arcuate shield;
FIG. 5 is a side elevation view of a downwardly angled shield; and
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a fender.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The preferred embodiment, a material deflecting guard assembly for a vehicular
track
generally identified by reference numeral 10, will now be described with
reference to
FIGURES 1 through 6.
Structure and Relationship of Parts:
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown an endless vehicular track 12. Track 12 is
supported by a track frame 14, which has a drive wheel 16 engaging and driving
track 12
and two spaced apart idler wheels 18 with rollers 20 in between supporting
track 12. To
protect endless track 12 from foreign material, material deflecting guard
assembly 10 is
2 0 used as depicted in FIG. 1. Material deflecting guard assembly 10 includes
shield plates 22
are secured to the face 24 of track frame 14, and are shown in detail in FIG.
3. Shiled
plates 22 are bolted to arcuate shields 26 using, for example, 5/8" x 1"
bolts. Plates 22 fit
within boundaries defined by track 12 and are adapted to fill gaps through
which debris
might otherwise pass through to track 12 while leaving rollers 20, idler
wheels 18 and
2 5 drive wheel 16 open. Arcuate shields 26, shown in more detail in FIG. 4,
are secured to
track frame 14, such as by welding arm 27 onto track frame 14, in a position
overlying
idler wheels 18. A downwardly angled elongated shield 28, shown in more detail
in FIG.
5, is secured to face 24 of track frame 14 between idler wheels 18 and
immediately above
rollers 20 by using, for example, S/8" x 3/4" bolts. A fender 30, shown in
more detail in
3 0 FIG. 6, is secured to a vehicular frame (not shown) overlying drive wheel
16 by using, or
example, 1/2" x 1" bolts.
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Operation:
The use and operation of material deflecting guard assembly will now be
discussed
with reference to FIGS 1 through 6. Referring to FIG. 1, an endless vehicular
track is
supplied. Referring to FIG. 2, shield plates 22 are secured to face 24 of
track frame 24 to
prevent debris from passing through any gaps. Arcuate shields 26 are also
secured to face 24
of track frame 14 overlying idler wheels 18. Downwardly angled elongated
shield 28 is
secured to track frame 14 between idler wheels 18 and immediately above
rollers 20. A
fender 30 is attached to a vehicular frame (not shown) overlying drive wheel
16. As endless
track 12 travels, guards 22, 26, 28, and 30 prevent debris from accumulating
within track 12.
As rollers 20, idler wheels 18 and drive wheel 16 are left open, debris that
does enter is not
trapped in side and is expelled during movement.
Advantages:
The present guards were developed to meet a need experienced when working in
wood chip piles associated with saw mills. It was determined that existing
guards did not
provide adequate protection. The wood chip piles experience periodic collapses
or
"avalanches". These avalanches of wood chips would circumvent the guards and
become
packed inside the vehicular tracks.
2 0 In this patent document, the word "comprising" is used in its non-limiting
sense to
mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically
mentioned are not
excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article "a" does not
exclude the
possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context
clearly requires that
there be one and only one of the elements.
(t will be apparent to one skilled in the art that modifications may be made
to the
illustrated embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the
invention as
hereinafter defined in the Claims.
