[001 ] The present invention relates to mould boards used for grading operations carried out by motor graders. In particular, the present invention relates to mould boards and the blades thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to mould boards for motor graders having variable length blade.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART

[002] In civil engineering and landscaping operations, grading is the activity undertaken to ensure a level or flat base, or a surface with a specified slope for subsequent construction work, like for making landscape and garden improvements, or a foundation, base course for road or railway or creating surface drainage by carrying out earthworks, often referred to as the sub-grade or finished contouring.

[003] Accordingly, a motor grader, also referred to as a road grader or grader is a construction equipment with a long blade for making a flat surface during the road or surface grading process.

[004] The mouldboard is a board in a plough for turning over the earth. It is a curved blade of a plough. The blade of the mould board should not have any joinery near the LHS and RHS for the sake of durability thereof.

[005] Presently available mould boards are of fixed length and the blade length thereof is also fixed. However, sometimes it may be necessary to have mould board and blade of different lengths. However, no joinery should be present at the connection point of mould board and its extension end bit.

DISADVANTAGES WITH THE PRIOR ART

[006] The following are the disadvantages with the mould board and blade discussed above: ® Lengths of presently available mould boards are fixed.

® Lengths of presently available mould board blades are fixed.

® Joinery are required at the connection point of the mould board and end bit extension thereof.

® Such joinery at the LH and RH side makes it non-durable.

® Fixed length of mould boards is costly as due to variety of lengths thereof required for different applications, thus more no. of spare mould boards need to be stored for replacements.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

[007] Some of the objects of the present invention - satisfied by at least one embodiment of the present invention - are as follows:

[008] An object of the present invention is to provide a mould board with a variable length for a motor grader.

[009] Another object of the present invention is to provide a mould board for motor graders, in which blade length can be adjusted as per the application requirement.

[010] Still another object of the present invention is to provide a mould board for motor graders, which is easy to be rearranged for achieving desired results.

[01 1 ] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a mould board for motor graders, which offers flexibility of blade length selection.

[012] A further object of the present invention is to provide a mould board with a variable length for motor graders, which reduces cost of spares to be kept. [013] These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description, when read with the accompanying figures of drawing, which are however not intended to limit the scope of the present invention in any way.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[014] In accordance with the present invention, a mould board (1 ) and blades combination (3, 4) are configured (Figs. 4-7). The end users can use this mould board (1 ) and blade combination (3, 4) in 2.6 m and 3 m lengths as per the requirement of the application concerned, without requiring any additional parts.

[015] This is achieved by making the blade in two pieces and by arriving at their unique lengths and mounting hole distances on the blade and mould board in such a way that different combinations of the same blades (3, 4) can be rearranged to achieve length of 2.6 m to 3.0 m and that too without any joinery at the connection point of mould board and the extension end bit in either of these arrangements.

[016] Accordingly, the arrangement of the holes on the mould board (1 ) and the blades (3, 4) is an important criterion to achieve this flexibility along with the variable length L of the overall blade.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[017] In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a motor grader with mould board assembly of varying lengths, wherein the mould board assembly comprises a blade combination of a plurality of interchangeable blades fitted on the operative edge of a mould board and a respective edge support fitted on the side edges of the mould board; wherein the mould board and the plurality of blades comprise a predefined blade combination to adjust the overall operative length of the mould board assembly, depending on the application of the motor grader. [018] Typically, the blade combination comprises a plurality of blades of different lengths.

[019] In one embodiment of the present invention, the operative edge of the mould board is provided with a blade combination comprising a pair of long blades of first length fitted on either end thereof and a short blade of second length fitted therebetween.

[020] Typically, the edge supports are fitted on either end of the side edges of the mould board.

[021 ] In another embodiment of the present invention, the operative edge of the mould board is provided with a blade combination comprising a short blade of second length each fitted on either end thereof and a pair of long blades of first length fitted therebetween.

[022] Typically, the mould board is provided with a respective extension bit-end fitted at either of the side edge thereof for matching the overall length of the blade combination.

[023] Typically, the mould board is configured without any joinery at the connection point thereof with the extension end-bits fitted on either side thereof.

[024] Typically, the blades are fitted on the operative edge of the mould board by means of a plurality of fasteners tightened in holes made at predefined intervals provided on the mould board as well as the blades.

[025] In a further embodiment of the present invention, the mould board assembly comprises a three-piece blade combination with a pair of long blades of first length fitted on either end thereof and a short blade of second length fitted therebetween; the blades disposed on the operative edge of the mould board and a respective edge support fitted on the side edges of the mould board. [026] In a still further embodiment of the present invention, the mould board assembly comprises a four-piece blade combination with a short blade of second length each fitted on either end of the mould board and a pair of long blades of first length congruently fitted therebetween; the blades disposed on the operative edge of the mould board and a respective edge support fitted on the side edges of the mould board; wherein a respective extension bit-end fitted at either of the side edge of the mould board for matching the overall length of the blade combination.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

[027] The present invention will be briefly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[028] Figure 1 shows a typical motor grader having a mould board with a single fixed length blade thereof.

[029] Figure 2 shows an enlarged view of the mould board with the fixed- length blade thereof fitted in motor grader of Figure 1 .

[030] Figure 3 shows a motor grader having the mould board with variable blade combination configured in accordance with the present invention.

[031 ] Figure 4 shows a typical mould board blade combination configured in accordance with the present invention as shown in Figure 3.

[032] Figure 5 shows another view of the mould board blade of Figure 4 rearranged with a different blade length according to the present invention.

[033] Figure 6 shows a perspective enlarged view of the mould board with plurality of holes for offering flexibility of blade length adjustment according to the present invention. [034] Figure 7 shows a front view of the blade with a different length adjusted according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

[035] In the following, the mould board and blade thereof for the motor grader configured in accordance with the present invention will be described in more details with reference to the accompanying drawings without limiting the scope and ambit of the present invention in any way.

[036] Figure 1 shows a typical motor grader 10 with a mould board MB fitted with a single fixed length blade for carrying out the various grading operations.

[037] Figure 2 shows an enlarged view of the mould board MB with the blade BL of a fixed-length L fitted in motor grader of Figure 1 . A plurality of holes H are provided at predefined intervals for tightening the blade BL on the mould board MB. Here, the encircled area A represents the region where blade BL should not have any joinery on the LHS and RHS thereof for ensuring the durability thereof.

[038] Figure 3 shows another motor grader 100 having the mould board with variable blade combination (MB _V ) configured in accordance with the present invention. Normally, the blade combination MB _V for the motor grader 100 includes a blade combination including at least a pair of long blades 3 and short blades 4 each fitted on the long edge 6 of mould board 1 . The mould board 1 and blade combination 3, 4 are configured such that the end users can use this mould board 1 and blade combination 3, 4, e.g. in 2.6 m and 3 m lengths or as per the requirement of the application concerned without requiring any additional parts. For this, the extension end-bits 5 fitted on either side edge 7 of the mould board 1 play a crucial role in adjusting the overall operative length of the mould board. [039] Figure 4 shows a typical mould board blade combination MB _V configured in accordance with the present invention and fitted on motor grader of Figure 3. Here, a three-piece blade combination is fitted on mould board 1 with edge support 2 and includes a pair of long blades 3 and a short blade 4. The mould board 1 and blade combination 3, 4 are configured such that the end users can make a predefined blade length L (i.e. L1 +L2+L1 ), e.g. in 2.6 m without requiring any additional parts (e.g. extension end-bits 7).

[040] Figure 5 shows another blade combination of mould board 1 fitted with a different blade length L (i.e. L2+L1 +L1 +L2) combined in accordance with the present invention. This four-piece blade configuration is selected by deciding the respective lengths thereof and a respective extension bit 5 fixed at either long-end of the mould board 1 . The mounting hole distances on these blades 3, 4 and mould board 1 are selected to obtain a 3.0 m long blade as per the requirement of the application concerned without requiring any additional parts and without requiring any joinery at the connection point of mould board 1 and the extension end bit 5 in this arrangement.

[041 ] Figure 6 shows a perspective enlarged view of the mould board of Figure 5, shown with plurality of holes H to offer a flexibility for blade length adjustment in accordance with the present invention. Here, unused holes H are encircled C on the mould board 1 in this 3 m configuration.

[042] Figure 7 shows another front view of the mould board 1 of Figure 3 having a blade combination with blade length adjusted in accordance with the present invention. Here, unused holes H on mould board 1 are marked D. Therefore, the arrangement of the fasteners F tightened through holes H (not visible here) both on the mould board 1 and blades 3, 4 as well as the blade length are the important criteria for achieving the flexibility of the mould board made according to the present invention. TECHNICAL ADVANTAGES AND ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE

[043] The mould board and blade configured in accordance with the present invention has the following technical and economic advantages:

• Provides a flexibility in blade length, so it is based on the road width and without carrying any new parts except for the extension end bits.

• Ease of changing the length by the user/customer because no additional parts have to be carried. Thus, the customer need not carry or stock different lengths of mould boards and blades.

• Simple arrangement of holes on the mould board and blade, which are easy to assemble and dismantle.

• No additional parts required for extension, except for the extension bit.

• No new part is added, so no carrying space is required

• Similar to the existing design, because the end bit joint is not aligned with blade joint.

[044] In the previously detailed description, different features have been summarized for improving the conclusiveness of the representation in one or more examples. However, it should be understood that the above description is merely illustrative, but not limiting under any circumstances. It helps in covering all alternatives, modifications and equivalents of the different features and exemplary embodiments.

[045] The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept. [047] Many other examples are directly and immediately clear to the skilled person because of his/her professional knowledge in view of the above description.

[047] These innumerable changes, variations, modifications, alterations may be made and/or integrations in terms of materials and method used may be devised to configure, manufacture and assemble various constituents, components, subassemblies and assemblies according to their size, shapes, orientations and interrelationships. Therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments.

[048] The exemplary embodiments described in this specification are intended merely to provide an understanding of various manners in which this embodiment may be used and to further enable the skilled person in the relevant art to practice this invention. The description provided herein is purely by way of example and illustration.

[049] Throughout this specification the word "comprise", or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising", shall be understood to implies including a described element, integer or method step, or group of elements, integers or method steps, however, does not imply excluding any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or method steps. In the claims and the description, the terms "containing" and "having" are used as linguistically neutral terminologies for the corresponding terms "comprising".

[050] The use of the expression "a", "at least" or "at least one" shall imply using one or more elements or ingredients or quantities, as used in the embodiment of the disclosure in order to achieve one or more of the intended objects or results of the present invention. Furthermore, the use of the term "one" shall not exclude the plurality of such features and components described. [051 ] The numerical values given of various physical parameters, dimensions and quantities are only approximate values and it is envisaged that the values higher or lower than the numerical value assigned to the physical parameters, dimensions and quantities fall within the scope of the disclosure unless there is a statement in the specification to the contrary.

[052] Also, any reference herein to the terms 'left' or 'right, 'up' or 'down, or 'top' or 'bottom' are used as a matter of mere convenience and are determined by standing at the rear of the machine facing in its normal direction of travel.

[053] The various features and advantageous details are explained with reference to the non-limiting embodiment/s in the above description in accordance with the present invention. The descriptions of well-known components and manufacturing and processing techniques are consciously omitted in this specification, so as not to unnecessarily obscure the specification.

[054] Furthermore, the various components shown or described herein for any specific application of this invention can be widely known or used in the art by persons skilled in the art and each will likewise not therefore be discussed in significant detail. When referring to the figures, like parts are numbered the same in all of the figures.