Bucyrus Erie Company

Ned L Morgan

Robert A Gregor

A tread belt drive system for heavy mobile equipment includes an endless tread belt made up of a plurality of identical links joined together by link connecting pins. Each of the links has a ground engaging bottom and a top having a cog, or cog portion, positioned medially of the link ends, which cog has fore and aft driving surfaces. A pair of longitudinally extending tumbler rim and roller engaging surfaces which extend above the cog are positioned on the top of the link, one on each side of the cog. The links have fore and aft pin connections with the pin center below the engaging surfaces in alignment with the driving surfaces. The drive system also includes rollers which support the weight of the equipment and drive and idler tumbers each having a rim and teeth. The teeth of the driving and idler tumblers are entrapped between the fore and aft driving surfaces of the cogs of adjacent links to drive and guide the endless belt; the rollers and the rims of the tumblers bear on and roll along the engaging surfaces of the links and the link connection pins follow the tumbler rotation on its pitch circle. In a preferred embodiment, the driving surfaces of the cogs have an involute gear profile; and the driving teeth of the tumbler have a matching involute gear profile.

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New Berlin, WI, United States of America

Ned L Morgan