The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 08, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 17, 1999
Robert D. Toms, Sycamore, IL (US);
Sean C. McGinnis, DeKalb, IL (US);
Caterpillar Inc., Peoria, IL (US);
Abstract
Endless rubber track laying machines are provided with a pair of track laying assemblies positioned on opposite sides of the work machine. Each track laying assembly includes an endless rubber belt entrained around a drive wheel, an idler wheel, and a plurality of supporting mid-rollers. A fluid cylinder is connected to the idler wheel for tensioning the endless rubber belts. The present recoil activated valve includes a two position poppet valve positioned between the fluid cylinder and an accumulator. With this recoil activated valve the tensioning system locks the fluid cylinder as the work machine traverses side slopes. Thus, a simple system is provided that can be solely fluid actuated or actuated by an electronic monitoring system, thereby providing a system that reduces the possibility of the endless rubber track from un-tracking.