This invention relates to a grabbing device of the rvpp mentioned in the preamble o the claim.

Sπ-A 7900040-0 and 7714027-S disclose grabbing evic or means directl" attached to an excavating bucket. Grabbinα arrns attached to an excavating bucket - svrnmetricall _* ' grabbing as according to the ^ r mentioned publication or grabbing otherwise - make it possible to use the excav bucket -for grabbing and lifting of obiects, e.g. pipes, π and the like. As the grabbing arms are arranged a-t the re side of the bucket, it must be swung into a back position before the grabbing arms can be brought to engage sav a pipe lying on the ground, resulting in the grabbing area being concealed to the operator the bucket. urt ern the machine arm will be constant!*' biassed b*' the weight of the bucket as well as b" that o~- the grabbing device. Λs a medium si e bucket mav have a weight of 1.000 kgs o ^~ more, it is easily seen that alreacv on idling ver _* ' heav weights are handled.

It also must be noted that todav a large number ^ bucke types are available, e.g. narrow buckets ^or πipe or ca l trench digging, wide ones ^f cr light material handlin , buckets with a ^-shaped bottom and a varietv o other special tvpes. T is in no va" so that the demand - ^~ -cr a grabbing device is restricted and related to ε s ecific

the result would be that all tvpes f buckets had to be eπuippcd with grabbing devices in the manner suggested in the ubl ca ions. ^A s an alternative, vo-u have to brinςi alonπ t<" the site ^r './or ^'1 " the grabbing device ecπn ^' pped bucket to have it at hand ^' need arises.

Another asrect in connection with grabbing devices directl'-' mounted at a bucket ^' r that the bucket and the grabbing device h rdl ^y can be expected to have the same l length. Λ ^~ a rul the bucket w l be worn out earlier and then the choice woul be between keer on repairing the bucket -Far beyond the normal and economical]-" motivated limit in order to have an at least nassable functioning carrier for the grabbing device. The alternative would be to discard or scrap the grabbing device nrematurelv together with the bucket.

Λ bucket equipped with grabbing arms but. otherwise arranged in a conventional manner, is in the same wav as ordinarv buckets onl" movable relative! _" to the excavator arm about a transverselv arranged axis and this fact results in that, in order to grab e.g. a pire positioned more or less tangen- tiall-" relative!-" to th° centre of pivot of the excavator, the entire machine must be operated and moved so that the vert.ical p vot plane o+ ^" the arm becomes essenti all ^-1 ' in parallel wi h the longitudina direction of said pipe. his, natural lv, involves a waste o-f ^" time and in man'' instances makes the grabber arms useless ?>n that li ^f ting slings, chains or the like have to be used ^f rr changing the position of the object to be lifted.

Besides the ^r act that the operator's view s obstructed b _" the bucket of the ''nown πvstems and grabbing can take place in certain positions onl", the possibil es or or entinπ

r. lifted obiect n ^~~ given nositior. r nrve - ^{~ ~} - ^~ v. towards r predetermined mounting nositior. are extremel ^y -" 1 ri tc ^r1 . ^: ithout moving the excavator tse! ^r displ cement r-~ ^~ oh-ϊoefs are possible on! _* -' in the d ect n t ^~ - ^~ the nrr or boor at known machine arrangements.

PF--- R901RQ4—0 d close a v ce adapted to ~ ^~ - inter— counled between an excavator boom or arr and a bucket or the lik tool and such device is so arranged as to allow turning o' the bucket around an axis oriented essential!" in the length direction o-* ^" the boor and tilting around P Γ. axis in the plane o movement o- ^~ the boor.. P." thi arrang"- men the bucket a*' be made wor ¹ -" sidewavs or obliouel*' n a" furthermore be tilted relative]'-- to the boom in order to make possible digging at slopes and the l ke in spite of the fact that the excavator machine stands in a positio in which conventional bucket connecting means would make digging αuite impossible.

In the device accordinςj to this invention a similar rotati and tilting apparatus is utili ed for a αuite new nurpose.

^~~ n- ^~ obiect c this invention is to ^rin about a device which besides the utilized funct on o ^r known devices increases the grabbing area and positions of the grabbing arms considerabl-', eliminates the drawback of having to keep attached the operator's v ew over the working area obstructing bucket and enables a wider ^i l o ^f use h the. possibili ^y o ^c combining the device with arbitrar*' tools at the same time as the device " be disconnected from the excavator on using the excavator or other purposes .

Another obiect rna" be to make i possible to attach a grabbing device direct!" at the tool holder o ^r tb ⁰ -

excavator and h re!" r ^ a n ^■ * no ^ ^" ror uti 1 ^' c*irc the rotation and tilting arrangement. ^π h ^ρ grabbing ev'C" w ll then be directl" carried b* ^r the -yc-vnt r nm via its standardised tool coupling. Or. attachinn - ^~ -nr ^~ detaching the couplings for the hvdraulic s* ^r stem w ll have to be manual! coupled and uncoupled.

"he features ch rac erisin the invention are peci ^f e in the following claims.

Tn the ^f ollowing the invention will be closer described wi h reference to the accomp ny ng drawings, in which

FIG. 1 is a side view showing the device according to th s invention mounted between a rotation and tilting arrangement attached to a boom or arm of an excavating mach ne and a bucket,

FIG. 2 shows the device seen obliσuel*' ^c rorπ above disconnected and with the grabbing arms in a cjrabbing position,

FIG. 3 is a front v.iev.' of the rotation and tilting arrange¬ ment together with the device according to this invention in a pre-coupling position, and

FIG. 4 shows the arrangement according to Fig. 3 ^c ror one side.

At the outer end of an only partiall _* ' shown e cav tor arm 1 , there is arranged an essentiallv conventional, rotation arrangement 2 an' ¹ such arrangement carries an end part 3, bv means c ^~J~ a hvdraulic r ^~~~ . i nder ~τ~- ^{~ ~~} on arrangement ■" rotatable relative!" to the ^~ -r~ ^~ around ^~ ~r ^~ axis " in a direction transverse - the arm. r> rl i nnralle ¹ with the axis connect ⁱ ng the arm arrangement to the chassis o the excavator.

a rotating and tilting apparatus, as a unit designated c , is mounted at the end nart 3 b*' means e^ toda" nver ^■■ on αuick coupling means, "hi apparatus llow full turring rotation and si e ^y tilting of a unit attached or coupl to same apparatus, e.g. an excavating bucket r the ^VP and includes a base plate 7 di sconnectabl " attached * ^~ c. th end part 3 c f the arm 1 and eαuipped with bear ⁱ ngs P for a "oke nart 9, to v/hi oh a turnplate 10 s at ached, "b" turnplate unit has a l wer also ^urnable portion I ¹ , to which i attached a coupling part, the construc ion and function of which will be described below.

^f -π-ie "o nart ⁿ w th the turnplate 10 with attached and carried units are - by means of the cylinder and p ton units 13 intercoupled between the base late -- nr ¹ . the turnplate unit and a not shown pressure medium actuated rotator device - tiltable around an axis A through the bearings 8 and rotatable around the central axis C of the turnplate 10.

The grabbing device according to the invention, as a unit designated 14, is b" means o ^r the coupling device 12 arranged at the rotating and til ing apparatus f> at. its side remote from the arm 1.

The grabbing device A includes a box like frame, made from two sturd" spaced plates 1 ^r - mutually connected b inner and outer flange plates 16. Tn . e the box like frame there is, between the plates l ^~~ a space 17 for a pair of grabbing arms designated IS. "he grabbing arms

In are arranged as doubl ? am levers carried b-" a bearin pin 39 each, which b*-- reasons cjiver: below are axial 1v displaceabl ^• ■' carried b the frame. The portion o ^r each arm situated on the one side of the bearing nin 19 forms the verv grabbing arm whereas the portion on the onocsit

side -orm an abutment or the c ^y lin er and pi.stor r'nvir-f on!--' shown. ^~ - ^~ -drsh dott c lines., wh ch causer the a ms o move into and during the active position and each arm has its OV.T device there ^f ore. " ^{~ ~} c ^y linder and niston vi ^c 20 are hv πuick couplings connected to pi es, which ^~ -> r- P. swivel oint at the rotation and tilting apparatus ^r -. is connected to the hvdraulic s s em o-- the machine ^~~ v ^~ its control means.

^c o called pilot gouverned checV valves are arranged at the connect Or. foτ the cl inder and piston devices for s f guarding narall l movements at the αrabber arms and furthermore result in a sel lockinc e ^f fect so that the grabber arms also in case of a pressure loss remain in reached and b _* ' the cylinder arid piston devices caused position .

The coupling part 12 can as already mentioned be found at the rotatable part 11 of the turnplate and this part has - as can be seen in ^~~~ i q . 3 - at one end two protruding ears 21 arrancjed to cooperate with a number o^ various connecting devices of various tvnes of tools, "he holed ears have inside edges 22 at a right angle to each other. Λt. one end of the grabbing device there are pockets 23 formed b" perforated ?.-- plates welder] to the end portions of the ^f lange plates 16. "he spaces ava lable for the ears at each pocket are de ^f ined inwardl*' b ' pins 25 traversing the pocket openings.

On assembling, shown in ^igs. 3 and A , the ears 21 are introduced ^■■' nto the nockets 23 so that the oblique inside edges 22 of the ears engage the pins 25 and align th<~ ~~ r ^~ ~ correctl*' each one in its nockef simultaneousl ^y as he*' serve as add ⁱ tional abutments. On reaching this position lockinα together ir- achieved bv ovinσ the carrnnα n. c

so that thev traverse each pocke ' 3 and pass through the hole 2 ir. each outer plate. In the embodiment h w, the movement o ^r the nins is achieved manual1'.', but in an lternative' embodiment h ^y draulic control ^{Λ ~~} v\ ^~ --- ^~ m " be engaging the pins 19. "he pins 19 have radial through bores 23 for a locking rod 29. Tn the outward] ^y displace' ¹ position the roc ^~ runs outside bracing plates 30 but in the inwardl" displaced locking position through not. shown bores in the same plates. Tn the embodiment having h ^y dr uli controlled pine; the locking a" be achieved in another ppropr ate wav.

Uhen the carrying pdnr 1° are in their inward!*' displaced position and locked b the rod 29, the grabbing device is securely anchored to the rotation and tilting apparatus.

From especially Figs. 1 and 2 can be seen that the grabbing device is mounted cbliαuelv relatively to the axis C of the turnplate unit and to the plane P, within which the rotatable parts are rotatable. "he reason behind this is as ^r ollo s. Tf a mounting similar to the one shown in the patent referred to, i .e. where the pivot axes of the grabbing arms are narallel with the rear side of the bucket and transfer that idea to a device according to this invention, thus a bucket carried grabbing device connected with the arm 1 over a rotating and tilting apparatus, one will ^r ir.d that, in snite o ^f the rotatabilitv blind sectors occur in certain positions o~ ^~ rσtation and this is caused b the ^" act that the maximum achievable angle o ^f movement, for the tilting apparatus cannot exceed Δ0--, , .

^τ n certain sectors i will be impossible to reach the ground with the grabbing arms.

ven ^1~ the grabbing device instead was ^~ o arrange^ that the pivot axes of the arms ''ere at right angle to the axis of rotation, the same problems would be had. Pead or blind sectors where the arms do not reach the ground will be the result.

Tn order to eliminate the above mentioned drawbacks the grabbing device according to this invention is obliσuei _* -' arranged relativel ^y to the- rotational axis ^r or plane ^r and more in detail so that radial planes throuαh the mutually parallel axes of the grabbing arms lie in about 3- ^r ιθ anσle relativel ^y to the plane ^ ^c rotation around t e axis o. Fig. 1 shows in dash lines how the pivot plane ^ of the grabbing arms forms an angle relative!*' to the plane ^~~~ of the rotation apparatus. The possible angle o^ tilting V, i.e. the largest angle the rotational plane ^ the grahbincr device may be displaced into bv means of the c ^y linder and piston devices 13, together with the obl.iαue angle of the grabbing device relatively to the plane ^~~ > of rotation, is 90°.

The dead or blind sectors are eliminated b _* ' the arrangement described and the grabbing device can function independent of the rotational position.

As the drawing figures show, there are at the rotation and tilting apparatus another set o ^r attachment means or connectors. These include hooks 31 intended to co¬ operate with transverse abutment studs 32 at a bucket or the like 33 and a locking wedge means 3^ movable by means o ^r a cylinder and piston arrangement, the wedge means being arranged to as a wedge engage a cocperatinα ^f itting on the upper side of the bucket ^ ^~ or lockingl* _' secure same. The ^f eatures just mentioned are per se known and make it possible to attach a bucket beyond the grabbing

device as shown in rig. ]., so that the bucket a*' be used in a conventional, manner.

I ^f the grabbing device onl*' is to be used, it is normally advantageous to disconnect the bucket and put.it aside as otherwise also the weight of the bucket, up to and even exceeding 1.000 kg, reduces the pa ^y -load handable bv the grabbing device. ^p or the same reason, it is possible ^c only excavating is at hand, to dis- connect the bucket and the grabbing device and disconnect the latter from the rotation and tilting apparatus and connect the bucket directly to same.

The fact that the grabbing device is carried \~' ^~ the rotation and tilting apparatus makes it verv movable and it is possible to grab in all directions without problems and also handle and position the load carried. The latter is of impoi'tance especially in pipe laving work as vou mav put the pipes down into the dug pit aligned and in correct position and further move the pipes towards already put dov/n pipes in order to ch.i eve an interconnecting of same. For such moving together, resulting from the use of non-circular cross section sealing rings, which during the moving together proce- dure, roll and pass a position of equilibrium before they with snap action pull the pipes together. Conven¬ tional pulling together normally necessary tools are, thus, superfluous.