Drive sprocket for the rubber belt of a track-type vehicle

Abstract

An undercarriage assembly for a track-type vehicle is described. The assembly comprises at least one closed-ring rubber belt, internally provided with a continuous insert made of a plurality of metal elements embedded in the rubber mass that constitutes the rubber belt. The metal elements are positioned at a fixed and predetermined distance apart from one another, which determines the pitch of the rubber belt. The rubber belt further encloses therein one or more reinforcing elements, each consisting of a metal wire bundle oriented according to an axis substantially parallel to the longitudinal development central axis of the rubber belt. The assembly also comprises a plurality of rolling elements of each rubber belt, consisting of at least one drive sprocket, configured to mesh with the metal elements of the continuous insert and to rotationally move the respective rubber belt, of at least one idler wheel and of a plurality of rollers. Each drive sprocket consists of a gear integral with at least one disk arranged on a plane parallel to the development plane of the gear. An annular groove is interposed between the gear and each disk and each disk is provided with a smooth circumferential surface that engages with a predefined portion of the inner surface of the rubber belt, so as to absorb one part of the contacting forces that are generated between the rubber belt and the entire plurality of rolling elements of the rubber belt.