Bucyrus Erie Company

Bucyrus International Inc.

Robert A Gregor

David S Austin

Ned L Morgan

An excavator base is fabricated on-site by first erecting a substructure of beams on a concrete foundation. Large flat plates are placed on the substructure, welded together at their adjacent edges, and cut at a perimeter to form a bottom plate. A prefabricated center section is welded to the bottom plate. Upright diaphragms and edge plates are assembled on the bottom plate and welded to each other and to the bottom plate. Large flat plates are assembled on the top of the diaphragms, and edge plates, and are welded thereto and to each other. The welded plates are cut at a perimeter to complete a top plate. The base is then removed from the substructure. Alternately, the top plate can be formed on the substructure first and then removed and set aside for later use. Adjacent plates are held flat for welding using brackets and wedges.

Method for fabricating an excavator base

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

Robert A Gregor