US3302730A

US3302730A - Earth boring machine

Info

Publication number: US3302730A
Application number: US306848A
Authority: US
Inventors: John V Bellsmith
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1963-09-05
Filing date: 1963-09-05
Publication date: 1967-02-07
Anticipated expiration: 1984-02-07

Description

Feb. 7, 1967 J. v. BELLSMITH 3,392,?3U

EARTH BORING MACHINE Filed Sept. 5, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 g INVENTOR JOHN V. BELLSMITH 1957 J. v. BELLSMITH 3,3@2,73@

EARTH BORING MACHINE Filed Sept. 5, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR 22 JOHN v. BELLSMITH United States Patent 3,302,730 EARTH BORING MAC John V. Bellsmith, 5592 Crow Canyon Road, Hayward, Calif. 94546 Filed Sept. 5, 1963, er. No. 395,348 3 Claims. (Cl. 173-48) The invention relates to a vehicle-mounted earth-boring machine for actuating a hole-digging auger.

Essentially, the mechanism and controls of the present earth boring machine are all unitarily carried by a twowheeled cart or trailer chassis in such a manner that the unit may be readily moved to and between, and operatively installed at, difierent working locations, and requires a minimum of ground preparation for operatively disposing it at such locations.

A more specific object is to provide a boring machine of the present character which readily provides an adjusted angle of boring of its anger with respect to the vertical.

Another object is to provide the earth-boring machine with a means which adapts it for its ready installation and gravity retention in position for its use at different Working points.

An added object is to provide an earth boring machine such that its ground-engaging parts are held clear of the ground while its chassis is disposed for a shifting of the machine between working points.

A further object is to provide a unitary earth-boring machine of the character described having a particularly simple and effective auger-positioning and actuating means therefor.

Yet another object is to provide a particularly simple auger-actuating means which is operative independent ly of the working positioning of the auger.

The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be set forth or be apparent in the following description of a typical embodiment of my invention, and in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an earth-boring machine embodying my features of invention.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary rear perspective view of a vehicular chassis which carries the mechanisms of the machine.

FIGURE 3 is a front view of the machine lacking its vehicular support and the controls for its mechanisms.

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the machine.

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary side section taken generally from the line 5-5 in FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary view taken from the line 6-6 in FIGURE 5.

FIGURE 7 is a plan view taken from the line 7-7 in FIGURE 5.

FIGURE 8 is a side elevation of the machine having a left-side portion of the chassis broken away.

FIGURE 9 is an enlarged fragmentary View taken at or below the line 99 in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 10 is a fragmentary elevation of an upper forward part of the machine taken from the right side of the machine.

FIGURE 11 is a fragmentary elevation taken from the rear of the upper part of the mechanism shown in FIG- URE 10.

As particularly disclosed, the operative mechanism of the present unitary earth-boring machine is carried by a vehicular support of a cart type in which the operative parts of the machine are carried on a wheeled frame or chassis 14 comprising spaced and mutually

coplanar side members

15 and 16 mutually connected and supported near their forward ends by an underlying axle 17 termi- 3,3@Z,730 Patented Feb. 7, 1967 nally carried on wheels 18 and rigidly connected at their other ends by a cross-member 19 which mounts a suitable hitch assembly 20 for use in attaching the machine to a power-driven vehicle for moving the machine about. The various working elements of the present machine are supported by a rigid carriage 21 which is adjustable on and along the sides of an upright frame member 22 of inverted U-shaped conformation having mutually parallel straight sides or legs 23 and 24- to which corresponding ends of the

chassis sides

15 and 16 closest to the axle 17 are terminally fixed at selected lower points thereof. The frame member 22 is further attached to the

side members

15 and 16 by

like brace bars

25 and 26 extending obliquely forwardly and upwardly from corresponding intermediate points of the said side members in fixed angular relation thereto to hingedly bolted connections with corresponding fixed points of the

respective sides

23 and 24 of the member 22 suitably fixed to the connected members, while the portions of the chassis 14 rearwardly of the axle 17 cooperatively provide a positioning handle or a draft tongue for the machine.

It will now be noted that the carriage 21 mounts a suitable ground-penetrating boring auger 27 having shank and

spiral bit portions

28 and 29 and carried on the carriage 21 for its axial reciprocation in a line equidistant from the

sides

23 and 24 of the frame member 22 and parallel to the common plane thereof, and that said plane is angularly related to the plane of the

chassis sides

15 and 16 in such a. relation thereto that the auger axis may be upright for a working application of the auger when the hitch end of the chassis is appropriately raised above the position at which it would be disposed while hitched to a towing vehicle. Also, the center of gravity of the present carriage-mounted assembly is arranged to be and remain forwardly of a vertical plane through the axis of support provided by the cooperative wheels 18 as the assembly is rocked about said axis, whereby the member 22 is constantly urged downwardly by gravity to supportedly engage an underlying ground surface to determine the angular relation of the auger axis to the vertical.

In the present assembly, the bottom ends of the

side portions

23 and 24 of the frame member 22 are preferably provided with suitable ground-engaging support feet 31 having bottom bearing portions 31' for determining the application line of the auger 27. As particularly shown in FIGURES 2 and 3 and 8 and 10, the support feet 31 are provided at the bottom of elongated angle-bar members 32 which have flanges 32' fixed to and oppositely outstanding from and along the

frame legs

23 and 24 while their other flanges 32" extend rearwardly and have the forward ends of the

chassis side members

15 and 16 fixed thereto by bolts 33 selectively engaged in corresponding holes 34 of lines thereof provided transversely through and along the flanges 32" whereby the angnlarity of the forward frame member 22 to the plane of the chassis 14 may be adjustably fixed, the arrangement being essentially such that the present machine is arranged to be utilized while the support feet 31 are operative at opposite sides of an application point for the auger for then providing a gravity determination of the position of the frame member 22.

As particularly shown, a lower platform 35 of the carriage 21 is provided at opposite sides thereof with tubular slide blocks 36 integral therewith and complementarily receiving intermediate portions of the

sides

23 and 24 of the frame member 22, which portions have uniform exterior cross-sections complementary to the uniform ex tericrs of said frame sides and cooperatively provide a sliding cantilever support for the carriage which includes the platform portion 35 connecting the slide blocks 36 transversely and intermediate thereof and extends fixedly and rearwardly from between the slide blocks 36 toward the axis of the support wheels 18 and carries the auger with its shank 28 in supported swiveled relation to it and with the auger axis in the plane of the frame 22 and midway between the frame sides. A double-acting hydraulic jack 37 is cooperative between the bracket platform and an upper rearward point of the frame member 22 for adjustably supporting the bracket 21 from the member 22 which is understood to function as a guide for the movable carriage 21 and the auger carried by it. In the present structure, the cylinder 38 of the jack 37 is fixed to the member 2.2 at a top connection 22' of the member at its return-bend portion, while the piston rod 39 of the jack depends from a piston (not shown) in the cylinder 38 to a bottom clevis' connection 39 with a cross-bar 40 offset rearwardly from the plane of the slide blocks 36 and fixedly connecting the bottom ends of said blocks below the bracket platform 35, whereby the spacial relation of the auger to the ground surface engaged by the support feet 31 is controllable by the use of the jack.

The upright front frame member 22 carries at its top a suitable power unit 41 for axially positioning the bracket-carried auger 27 by movably adjusting the carriage 21, with said power unit being indicated as comprising an internal combustion motor or engine having its power-output shaft 42 appropriately connected with a hydraulic pump 43 which is mounted on the carriage platform 35 and is operative to effect a piston-actuating circulation of the actuating liquid for the auger-positioning jack 37 as desired during a use of the present machine. As indicated in FIGURE 4, the bracket-carried engine 41 has a carburetor 44 and a fuel supply tank 45 unitarily associated with it, and its shaft 42 is connected with the shaft 46 of the pump 43 by a drive belt or chain 47 connecting pulleys or

sprockets

48 and 49 mounted respectively on the power shaft 42 and on the rearwardly extending end of the pump shaft 46 which is disposed in a fore-and-aft relation to the machine.

It will now be noted (FIGURES 5 to 7) that the shank 28 of the auger 27 depends from Within a depending sleeve extension 51 of a gear housing 52 for a power-transmission and speed-reducing gearing (not shown) fixedly carried on the carriage 21 and having the auger shank 28 supportedly swiveled in said extension, and said gearing suitably connects the auger shank 28 with a power-driven shaft 53 extending rearwardly from the housing and comprising the shaft of an internal combustion motor or engine 54 mounted on the platform 35 forwardly of the housing 52. Corresponding to the motor 41, the present motor 54 has a carburetor 55 and a fuel-supply tank 56 associated with it.

For facilitating the use of the present machine, the

carburetors

44 and 55 for the independently operable

internal combustion engines

41 and 54 preferably include control devices (not shown) such that said engines, while operating, have their operative speeds automatically maintained at adjustably predetermined set values, whereby the rate of circulation of the jack-actuating liquid for controlling the movable bracket 21 and the desired speed of actuation of the operating auger 27 may be independently and automatically maintained during a use of the machine. Also, each of the present power units comprising the

internal combustion engines

41 and 54 for respectively actuating the jack 37 and the auger 27 is provided with a suitable starting device (not shown).

As indicated in FIGURES 1 and 8 and 10, the circulation of the jack-actuating liquid is controllable through appropriate settings of a reciprocable three-way valve plug 60 of a valve unit 61 mounted on the chassis 14, and has

flexible tube connections

62 and 63 with the space of the jack cylinder 38 at opposite sides of the jack piston for reversedly controlling the circulation of the jack-operating liquid from a closed carriage-mounted reservoir 64 through

flexible tube connections

65 and 66 with the pump 43 and from the pump to said cylinder ends by appropriate settings of a control handle 67 for the valve plug 61 of the unit 60. As shown, the valve unit 60 is carried by a bracket 68 which is fixed to the chassis member 15 at a point thereof intermediate of its length and rearwardly of the corresponding support wheel 18 whereby the control for the lowering and raising of the carriage 21 and the auger 27 is at a point remote therefrom and is independent of the actuation of the auger-driving motor 54.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the advantages of the present earth boring machine will be readily understood by those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains. While I have shown and described a structure and arrangement which I now consider to be a preferred embodiment of my invention, I desire to have it understood that the showings are primarily illustrative, and that such changes and developments may be made, when desired, as fall within the scope of the following claims.

1. In a unitary earth-boring machine comprising an elongated rigid vehicular chassis intermediately carried on a ground-engaging support means for its normally permitted rocking about its axis of support and umtarily carrying at a forward end thereof in upwardly extending relation thereto a frame adjustably supporting a carriage mounting a unitary earth-penetrating auger adapted for its working application in an upright line fixedly related to the carriage, a drive mechanism cooperative between the frame and carriage for effecting up-and-dowrrad justments of the carriage, separate drive mechanisms; cooperative between the carriage and auger for actuating the auger, the center of gravity of the machine assembly being dipsosed forwardly of said axis of ground support of its chassis, and a ground-engaging foot means provided at the bottom end of said carriage-mounting frame and adapted for its normal gravital engagement with the ground adjacent the working line of the auger while disposing the chassis in upwardly sloping relation with respect to the point of attachment of the carriage-supporting frame thereto, whereby a lowering of the rearward end of the chassis is operative to lift the carriage-support= ing frame clear of the ground for a location-changing movement of the machine on the ground support for the chassis.

2. In a unitary earth-boring machine comprising an elongated vehicular chassis providing a pivoting ground= engaging support means intermediately of its length and directly carrying at the forward end thereof in upwardly extending angularly fixed relation thereto a rigid frame supporting a carirage adjustably mounted on said frame for up-and-down movements therealong and mounting an earth-penetrating auger fixedly related to the carriage, said machine assembly comprising a self-contained unit having its center of gravity disposed forwardly of its ground-supporting means, a ground-engaging foot means provided at the bottom end of said carriage-mounting frame and adapted for its normal supporting engagement with the ground laterally of and adjacent the working line of the auger by the action of gravity to cooperate with said pivoting support means of the chassis adjacent a working point of the auger, and independently operative drive mechanisms cooperative between the frame and the carriage and between the carriage and the auger for simultaneous or selective control for respectively effecting height adjustments of the carriage along said frame and actuating the anger, with the control means for the carriage-positioning mechanism provided on the chassis and the control means for the auger-actuating mechanism provided on the carriage.

3. In an earth-boring machine comprising an elongated vehicular chassis intermediately providing an underlying transverse axis of rocking support from the ground of the machine assembly rearwardly of its center of gravity and unitarily carrying at the forward end thereof in upwardly extending and angularly adjustable relation thereto a rigid frame supporting a carriage adjustably mounted on said frame for up-and-down movement therealong and mounting in fixed relation thereto an earth-penetrating auger in adjusted relation along an upright line of application and also mounting independently operative drive mechanisms for mutually independent use in respectively effecting height adjustments of the carriage along said frame and for actuating the auger, and a ground-engaging foot means provided at the bottom end of said carriage-mounting frame and adapted for the normal supporting engagement of the frame and forward chassis with the ground laterally of and adjacent the working line of the auger by the action of gravity while then disposing the chassis in upwardly sloping relation with respect to the point of attachment of the carriage-supporting frame thereto whereby a lowering of the portion of the chassis rearwardly of its rocking axis will lift the foot means of the frame from the ground to pro- 20 vide for the use of the lowered said rear chassis portion as a draft tongue for use positioning the machine at a working point therefor.

References (Iited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/ 1898 Tipton 17322 8/1942 Mathews 173-23 7/1949 McCardell 173-22 4/1953 Gunning 17322 12/1953 Abrams 173-26 3/1956 Bailey 173-26 12/1956 Jones 173-22 1/1960 Hitchcock 17322 6/1960 Kromberg 173-26 6/1965 Jamer et a1 17322 FOREIGN PATENTS 3/1952 Australia.

FRED C. MATTERN, JR., Primary Examiner.

BROUGHTON G. DURHAM, MILTON KAUFMAN,

Examiners.

L. P. KESSLER, Assistant Examiner.

Claims

1. IN A UNITARY EARTH-BORING MACHINE COMPRISING AN ELONGATED RIGID VEHICULAR CHASSIS INRERMEDIATELY CARRIED ON A GROUND-ENGAGING SUPPORT MEANS FOR ITS NORMALLY PERMITTED ROCKING ABOUT ITS AXIS OF SUPPORT AND UNITARILY CARRYING AT A FORWARD END THEREOF IN UPWARDLY EXTENDING RELATION THERETO A FRAME ADJUSTABLY SUPPORTING A CARRIAGE MOUNTING A UNITARY EARTH-PENETRATING AUGER ADAPTED FOR ITS WORKING APPLICATION IN AN UPRIGHT LINE FIXEDLY RELATED TO THE CARRIAGE, A DRIVE MECHANISM COOPERATIVE BETWEEN THE FRAME AND CARRIAGE FOR EFFECTING UP-AND-DOWN ADJUSTMENTS OF THE CARRIAGE, SEPARATE DRIVE MECHANISMS COOPERATIVE BETWEEN THE CARRIAGE AND AUGER FOR ACTUATING THE AUGER, THE CENTER OF GRAVITY OF THE MACHINE ASSEMBLY BEING DISPOSED FORWARDLY OF SAID AXIS OF GROUND SUPPORT OF ITS CHASSIS, AND A GROUND-ENGAGING FOOT MEANS PROVIDED AT THE BOTTOM END OF SAID CARRIAGE-MOUNTING FRAME AND ADAPTED FOR ITS NORMAL GRAVITAL ENGAGEMENT WITH THE GROUND ADJACENT THE WORKING LINE OF THE AUGER WHILE DISPOSING THE CHASSIS IN UPWARDLY SLOPING RELATION WITH RESPECT TO THE POINT OF ATTACHMENT OF THE CARRIAGE-SUPPORTING FRAME THERETO, WHEREBY A LOWERING OF THE REARWARD END OF THE CHASSIS IS OPERATIVE TO LIFT THE CARRIAGE-SUPPORTING FRAME CLEAR OF THE GROUND FOR A LOCATION-CHANGING MOVEMENT OF THE MACHINE ON THE GROUND SUPPORT FOR THE CHASSIS.