Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Sumitomo Rubber Industries Limited

Kabushiki Kaisha Toyoda Jidoshokki Seisakusho

Masanori Kitano

Masaaki Kaneko

Yoshio Ueno

Kazumasa Okumura

Yuji Katsuta

Syunichi Shibasaki

Tohru Bisaka

A rolling wheel support structure for crawler traveling apparatus includes rotary shafts rotatably supporting rolling wheels which roll on a ground contacting side of an inner circumferential surface of an endless crawler, a track frame supporting the rotary shaft thereon, and a buffer member formed of an elastic material and provided between the track frame and a rotary shaft

Rolling wheel support structure for crawler traveling apparatus

A crawler apparatus, or crawler unit, which replaces a vehicle's wheel is disclosed. The crawler includes a drive wheel, a pair of front driven wheels, a pair of rear driven wheels, pairs of intermediate driven wheels, and an endless belt. The belt is wound about the wheels and defines a triangular shape. The drive wheel rotates the belt to move the vehicle. Stopper units are provided at the front and rear sides of the crawler to restrict the forward and rearward pivoting of the crawler about its drive wheel. The drive wheel is supported by a main frame. A sub frame is pivotally supported by the main frame by way of rubber bushings. This structure enables the sub frame to be inclined in the lateral direction of the belt with respect to the main frame. A space is defined between the two wheels of each set of intermediate driven wheels, which are supported by the sub frame. A portion of the drive wheel is inserted in the space defined between the wheels such that the drive wheel and driven wheels overlap one another. Guide rollers are supported at both sides of the drive wheel and cooperate with the drive wheel to support the belt.

Crawler apparatus for vehicle

Growing community of inventors

Yokosuka, Japan

Masanori Kitano