Unit Rig & Equipment Co.

Hubert J McAulay

Orville B Francis

Means for driving the back walls of the buckets of an excavating wheel having a plurality of circumferentially arranged digging buckets. Each digging bucket is provided with a pivotal back wall mounted on the excavating wheel. The excavating wheel is rotatably mounted on a central shaft. A central sprocket is freely rotatably mounted on a bucket wheel hub which is mounted on the central shaft. A mounting bracket is attached directly to the main frame of the vehicle and extends outwardly therefrom. An offset sprocket which is smaller in diameter than the central sprocket is rotatably attached to the opposite end of the bracket. The axes of rotation for the central sprocket and the offset sprocket are parallel. A continuous chain passes around the sprockets with the chain constrained to move in a predetermined path. Push rods are pivotally attached at one end to connecting links of the chain so that the push rods are disposed at equal intervals along the length of the chain. Each push rod is also pivotally attached at its opposite end to one of the pivotal back walls of the digging buckets. Each push rod, as the link to which it is attached passes near and over the offset sprocket, urges its associated back wall to pivot outwardly relative to the central shaft to an extreme outward position which is the material dumping position of the digging bucket. A controlled amount of slack is maintained in the chain so as to impart a whip-like effect to the pivotal connecting links, increasing the velocity of outward wall movement. The push rod also urges its associated back wall to pivot inwardly relative to the central shaft after its associated link has passed over and beyond the offset sprocket to an inner position which is the material receiving position of the digging bucket.

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Tulsa, OK, United States of America

Hubert J McAulay