Deere + Company

Gary W Tindall

Richard Jon Smith

Edward H Kiefer

George P Lysenko

John J Larkin

Richard J Vize

A backhoe loader includes a tractor-type vehicle with an operator station enclosed in a cab. Access to the cab is provided through a pair of front doors that are respectively disposed on opposite sides of the tractor hood, the upper portion of the doors also forming the front windshield of the cab. The major portion of the doors is formed by curved window glass, and each door includes a rigid metal frame that substantially conforms to the door opening. The door is made by placing the metal frame in a mold and encapsulating the frame in a polyurethane material that is molded around the metal frame by a reaction injection molding process. The door hinges and the latching mechanism are attached to the metal frame, while the molded polyurethane supports the window glass.

Vehicle cab door construction

A backhoe loader has an enclosed cab, the opposite sides of which are essentially formed by large side windows. Each side window is formed by front and rear window panels that are mirror images of one another and are joined at their inner edges by a vertical hinge structure that permits either the front or rear window panel to swing 180.degree. from a closed to an open position, one window panel being closed while the other is fully opened. The hinge structure is formed by a pair of pivots respectively attached to the upper and lower portions of the window frame and a pair of relatively narrow hinge elements swingable on the pivot pins. The window panels have their inner edges secured to their respective hinge elements by an adhesive, and the hinge elements have inner edges that abut one another when both panels are in their closed position, a seal being provided along the inner edge one hinge element and being compressed by the inner edge of the other hinge element when the windows are in their closed condition.

Vehicle cab window

A window latch that includes a latch plate swingably mounted on the window and having edge notches facing a latch rod. The rod may be inserted in one notch for locking the window in a closed position. The other of the notches are keyhole shaped and the throat is smaller than the rod but will expand sufficiently to permit movement of the rod into and out of the respective notch.

Window latch

An open rectangular frame surrounds a group of instruments. A cover is slidably and pivotally mounted to the frame for movement between an operative position wherein it overlaps a majority of the frame and blocks access to the instruments surrounded by the frame, and a stored position wherein the cover rests on an upper surface of a console housing the instruments. The connection between the cover and frame is such that the cover has a portion which overhangs the area of the console carrying the instruments so as to reduce glare and thereby make reading of the instruments easier.

Instrument panel cover assembly

A window structure for closing an opening in an upright wall of a cab structure composed of upper and lower glass panels having adjoining horizontal edges. A horizontal hinge connects the upper edge of the upper panel to the cab structure so that the upper panel can swing inwardly to an upper horizontal position just under the roof of the cab. The lower panel may be mounted in the lower portion of the opening or on the rear face of the upper panel and when in the latter position, upper and lower panels may be swung upwardly against the roof of the cab and latched in this position. A gas-pressurized cylinder is used between the cab structure and the upper panel to aid in both raising the panels and to restrain the panels as they are lowered.

Growing community of inventors

Hazel Green, WI, United States of America

Gary W Tindall