The present invention relates to hungry board assemblies for use with both on highway and off highway truck bodies in the mining and excavation industries.

BACKGROUND

The discussion of any prior art documents, techniques, methods or apparatus is not to be taken to constitute any admission or evidence that such prior art forms, or ever formed, part of the common general knowledge.

"Hungry boards", sometimes known as spill boards, are wings or extensions to the top edges of tip truck bodies for the transportation of loads such as coal and ore. The use of hungry boards allows the bodies to transport higher capacity loads as higher piles of load may be heaped in the body without the load falling over the body edge.

Traditionally, hungry boards are steel wings that are welded or otherwise permanently fitted to the body.

These traditional hungry board systems suffer from a number of disadvantages. They add additional weight to the tare weight of the truck so that there is less available payload and so a resulting loss of revenue.

The traditional hungry boards are made of steel and are welded to the truck body. They are susceptible to damage from rocks / material / or other excavator buckets making contact with them. W

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The steel splits open when damaged and fills up with dirt adding even more weight. The boards are dangerous if not repaired since steel can break off and cause injury to personnel and damage to tyres.

Furthermore, the boards are labour intensive to repair and can take several days to repair or replace.

Additional cost is incurred to hire welding machines and consumables for repairs. Damaged units need to go back to a workshop for repairs since they cannot be repaired effectively in the field. Additional cost of scaffolding or man lifts EWP are incurred to safely house maintenance personnel during repairs.

Other associated problems and additional costs are that cranes are required to lift the boards off and back on to the bodies. People need to work at heights for long periods of time. Personnel are exposed to heat from welding, grinding and cutting of materials. Personnel are exposed to noise when dogging into place to fit up and weld. Personnel have to fill out hot work permits. Personnel have to fill out working at height permits. It will be realized that repairs to the hungry boards may tie up multiple maintenance personnel for days. The repair process may also cause issues environmentally on site due to sand blasting and painting of units when replaced.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved hungry board system that addresses one or more of the above discussed problems of the prior art and/or which is at least a useful alternative to those hungry boards that have hitherto been known in the prior art. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a hungry board assembly including:

a hungry board formed of a non-ferrous material;

one or more resilient members;

a fastening system for attaching the hungry board to a body by means of said resilient members.

Preferably the fastening system includes one or more anchor members for fastening to the body with each including an elongate shaft.

In a preferred embodiment the fastening system includes one or more anchor brackets formed into an underside of the hungry board and corresponding to the anchor members.

Preferably rotation plates are located beneath the anchor brackets.

The one or more, resilient members may comprise springs located about corresponding ones of the elongate shafts wherein the springs are captured between a feet of the anchor members and the rotation plate.

Preferably ends of the anchor members opposite the feet penetrate the rotation plate and the body anchor bracket and are retained at their outer end by respective fastening members.

The hungry boards may be formed with cutaways to allow access for a tool to the fastening members.

An elongate internal support plate may be located within the hungry board to distribute impact forces thereon across at least two of the resilient members. The hungry board assembly may further include a plurality of rigid fastening assemblies for additional fastening of the hungry board to the body.

In one embodiment the rigid fastening assembly includes lugs that are received within complementary receptacles formed in the hungry board. Preferably the rigid fastening assembly includes pins, bolts or the like to fasten the lugs within the complementary receptacles.

In a first embodiment the hungry board is formed of an elastomeric material.

In a preferred embodiment the resilient members comprise springs. For example, cylindrical springs or double conical springs may be used. Alternatively, the resilient members may comprise a^ piece of elastomeric material and/or composite material, such as a tough synthetic rubber for example.

The fastening system includes a nuts, bolts and washers for retaining one end of the resilient member to the body and another end to the hungry board.

In a preferred embodiment, the hungry board is formed with a series of receptacles to receive corresponding ones of the one or more resilient members.

Preferably the resilient members and the receptacles are of complementary cylindrical shapes.

An infill may be provided between art end of the hungry board and an edge of the body to thereby present a continuous edge.

Preferably the height of the hungry board corresponds to the type of load for which the body is to be used. According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided an ore transportation vehicle having a body fitted with a hungry board assembly of the type described above.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of attaching a hungry board to a truck body including the steps of: locating a series of apertures along a lip of an edge of the body;

retaining resilient members in the series of apertures; and

securing the hungry board to the resilient members.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of attaching a hungry board to a truck body including the steps of: fastening a series of anchor members along an edge of the body;

retaining resilient members about the anchor members; and

securing the hungry board to the anchor members for the resilient members to absorb forces impacting the hungry board in use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The Detailed Description is not to be regarded as limiting the scope of the preceding Summary of the Invention in any way. The Detailed Description will make reference to a number of drawings as follows:

Figure 1 is an isometric view of a body fitted with hungry boards according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the body of Figure 1

Figure 3 is a detailed view with the hungry board cutaway to reveal a resilient fastening arrangement.

Figure 4 is a further detailed view with the hungry board cutaway and showing an additional rigid fastening arrangement.

Figure 5 is an exploded view of the hungry board and plurality of resilient fasteners.

Figure 6 is a cross sectional detailed view of a resilient fastener. Figure 7 is a cross sectional detailed view of a rigid fastener.

Figure 8 is a top and side view of a tip truck body equipped with hungry boards according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 9 is an exploded view of a resilient fastening arrangement according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 10 is an assembly view of the resilient fastening arrangement of Figure 9.

Figure 11 is view of the top side of a head board section of a tip truck body according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 12 is a view of the front of the tip truck body of Figure 11.

Preferred features, embodiments and variations of the invention may be discerned from the following Detailed Description which provides sufficient information for those skilled in the art to perform the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to Figures 1 and 2, there is shown a body 2, such as a tip truck body for the transportation of a load. Hungry boards 4 have been fitted along the lips 5 of upper edges of the body 4 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

A metal infill 3 is provided between the hungry board 4 and the forward, acutely angled, portion of the lip 5 in order to present a continuous upper edge.

The hungry board 4 is preferably formed of a resilient, elastomeric composite material which is able to absorb the shocks and stresses associated with the impact of load material as the body is loaded.

Figure 3 is a detail view in which the hungry board-has been partially cut away to review a plurality of resilient members 6, which are received into corresponding receptacles 7 formed into the hungry board. The resilient members 6 may be cylindrical springs, double conical springs or solid pieces of elastomeric material. The resilient members 6 penetrate through holes 9 formed through the upper lip 5 of the edge of body 2.

Figure 4 is a further detail view in which a series of rigid fastening assemblies 8 are provided for fastening a portion of the hungry board 4 to the upper lip of the edge of body 2, as will subsequently be described in more detail with reference to Figure 7. The fastening assemblies include box shaped lugs that receive bolts or pins to hold them within complementary recesses formed within the hungry board 4.

Figure 5 is an exploded view showing the plurality of resilient members 6 interposed between the upper lip of the edge of body 2 and the hungry board 4.

Figure 6 is a detailed cross sectional view showing the fastening of a resilient member 6 between the hungry board 4 and the upper lip 5 of the edge of body 2. It will be seen that the lower portion of the resilient member is received within tube 10. The upper edge of tube 10 abuts about the rim of a hole formed through the upper lip 5 of the edge of body 2. A bolt 12 extends from the lower portion of the resilient member 6 and is captured by a nut 14 and washer 16. The washer 16 is oversized relative to tube 10 so that bolt 12 and hence the resilient member 6 are captured relative to the upper lip of the edge of the body.

At its upper extent the resilient member 6 terminates in an upper bolt 18 which protrudes into a bore 20. A nut and washer 22 capture the upper bolt 18 thereby securing the hungry board 4 to the upper lip 5 of the edge of the body 2.

Figure 7 is a detailed cross sectional view showing the fastening of a hungry board 4 to the upper lip of the edge of the body 2 by means of the rigid fastening assembly 8 including a box shaped lug 26, bolt 24 and washers and nuts 28. The box shaped lug 26 is welded to the top of the upper lip 5 of the edge of the body 2.

It will be seen in Figures 6 and 7 that the underside of the hungry board 8 is shaped to complement the topside of lip 5 of the body. It will be realized that the underside of the hungry board 8 may be appropriately shaped to complement other lip shapes and sizes as required.

Preferably the height of the hungry board 4 is selected to be appropriate for the type of load-for which the body is to be used.

Referring now to Figure 8, there is depicted a tip truck bucket, or body, 30 that has been fitted with hungry boards 4 according to a preferred resilient fastening system as will be explained shortly with reference to Figure 9. The forward end of the body 30 has also been fitted with head boards 32 which are of the same form as the hungry boards 4 but fitted with a rigid fastening assembly, for example a fastening assembly corresponding to that described with reference to Figure 7.

The hungry boards 4 depicted in Figure 8 are of a non-ferrous composite material and typically 1 meter long by 450mm high by 220mm thick with a weight of about 18kg. However, boards of a plurality of other lengths may be made so as to facilitate fitting of the boards about the body 30.

With reference to Figures 9 and 10, each of the hungry boards 4, and head boards 32, is formed with a pair of spaced apart vertical bores 34 corresponding to and depending downward from, the access cutouts 40 that are shown in Figure 8. Referring again to Figure 9, vertical bore 34 receives the threaded end 36 of an anchor bolt 38. As shown in Figure 9, which is an exploded view of a resilient fastening system for attachment of the hungry board 4, the anchor bolt 38 is formed with a flat foot 60 from which a shank 62 of square cross section extends. The shank 62 terminates upwardly in a threaded upper end 36. A compression spring 52.is located about the shank 62.

The foot 60 of the anchor bolt 38 is welded or otherwise fastened to the topside of lip 5 of the body 30. The hungry boards 4 and head boards 32 are formed with access cutouts 40 to facilitate access of a tightening tool, such as a socket wrench to tighten lock nut 30 onto threaded end 36 of anchor bolt 38.

The threaded end 36 penetrates a bore 54 formed through rotating plate 48, a slot 56 formed through body anchor bracket 46 and a hole 58 formed through internal support plate 42.

Body anchor bracket 46 is an inverted "U" shape piece of metal that is formed into the underside of the hungry board 4. The rotating plate 48 is formed with an outwardly convex upper surface that complements the interior apex of the anchor bracket 46 so that the two abut.

The internal support plate 42 is also formed into the hungry board 4 and is of sufficient length to span between adjacent anchor bolts 38 and to be fastened over them by means of its holes 58.

In use, upon an impact force being directed to the side of the hungry board 4, the hungry board transmits the force to body anchor bracket 46 which in turn transmits the force through rotating plate 48, which it abuts, and so onto compression spring 52. The compression spring acts to absorb and dissipate the force so that the likelihood of damage to the hungry board 4 occurring is greatly reduced.

The internal support plate 42 assists since it helps to distribute the impact force between the adjacent compression springs that it is coupled to. It will also be noted that the slot 56 through body anchor bracket 46 allows for the anchor bracket, and so hungry board 4, to move relative to the threaded end 36 of anchor bolt 38 to transmit lateral forces to the compression spring 52. Furthermore, the rotation plate 48 upon which anchor bracket 46 sits is also able to move, and in particular to rotate, relative to the threaded end 36. Consequently impact forces causing both rotation and lateral movement of the hungry board are transmitted to and absorbed by the compression spring 52.

Referring now to Figure 11 , composite head board panels 64 may be used in place of the steel panels that are regularly employed. By using composite panels the weight of body is reduced so that the size, and weight, of the reinforcement gusseting, shown as item 66 in Figure 12, can also be reduce thereby leading to a reduction in weight and fuel consumption for the vehicle. Furthermore, as indicated by item 68 of Figure 11 , composite head board panels of modified shape can be readily manufactured to accommodate the underlying vehicle cabin envelope.

It will be understood that a hungry board system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a number of advantages.

> Less expensive to build

Are extremely light

> Allows for more payload

More payload more revenue

> Are extremely strong

> They have give and flex in them when rocks / material / excavator

bucket makes contact with them

> They are impact resistant

> They are mounted in individual pieces to the body

> They have independent mounting bolts, elastomeric or spring mounting systems for flex and ease of replacement

> Can be easily removed and replaced by one to two men due to weight

> No cranes required to fit to body

Minimal time for personnel working at height to fit system complete or by sections

> No scaffolding required > Minimal use of a EWP

> No hot permits required

> Less maintenance costs for personnel

> more profit for operation

> Less ongoing maintenance cost and truck down time to a mining site, more profit

No welding , cutting or grinding

> No noise to the maintenance personnel when fitting

> No painting or sand blasting required,

> The systems may be color coded to suit an specific model truck

> They can be replaced in the field in a matter of minutes not days as with steel

> Sites can have replacement pieces in store

No welding machine hire or consumable costs

Systems are supplied in kit form or individual sections

In compliance with the statute, the invention has been described in language more or less specific to structural or methodical features. The term "comprises" and its variations, such as "comprising" and "comprised of is used throughout in an inclusive sense and not to the exclusion of any additional features.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to specific features shown or described since the means herein described comprises preferred forms of putting the invention into effect. The invention is, therefore, claimed in any of its forms or modifications within the proper scope of the appended claims appropriately interpreted by those skilled in the art.