Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Kabushiki Kaisha Toyoda Jidoshokki Seisakusho

Yuji Katsuta

Masaaki Kaneko

Kazumasa Okumura

Masanori Kitano

Syunichi Shibasaki

Tohru Bisaka

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.

Growing community of inventors

Kariya, Japan

Yuji Katsuta