DESCRIPTION

The present invention refers to a protective element for a wear element of earthmoving machines, in particular, for protecting the front part of adapters of earthmoving machines.

Background of the invention

The components of earthmoving machines are subject to wear, and they need protective elements to prevent or delay this wear.

One of the components that is subjected to this wear is the front part of adapters. The adapter has a rear part suitable for being fixed to the shovel, and a front part suitable for being housed inside a cavity of the wear element or tooth. The rear part has an attaching part, e.g., like two legs, an upper leg, and a bottom leg, the rear part also has a connection part which connect the attaching part with de front part of the adapter. The front end of the adapters is inside the cavity of the tooth when the tooth and the adapter are attached, but the connection part are exposed to the ground and to the excavated material, and that contact of the connection part of the adapters with the excavated material makes that area of the adapter be subjected to a high level of wear.

Therefore, mechanical protective elements are used to cover and protect that area of the adapter. It is necessary that these protective parts are mechanically fastened to the adapter to avoid using welding that can negatively affect the adapter, and above all to facilitate the change of that protective element. When this protective element has reached a high level of wear, that element should be changed by a new one, without changing the adapter.

Adapters wear out especially in the upper part and in the lower part, the wear on the sides is reduced, because the greatest quantity of the material cross for over and bottom part of the adapters, the laterals have some protection by other adapters and shrouds.

Usually, pieces called wear caps are used, which protect only the upper part of the adapter. Two wear caps can also be used, one on the top and one on the bottom, but in this case the sides are unprotected.

In small sizes there are little room to collocate two wear cups, and further in some fields or applications two wear caps are not necessary because the wear is not enough to waste two wear cups, but in applications where the wear is extremely, two wear caps are very necessary, in normal conditions or when the wear is not extremely, an upper wear cap is necessary, this invention is for extremely wear applications.

Another problem appears when, in larger sizes, the protective elements may weigh more than 20 kg. in these cases, the pieces are obliged, for safety, to carry a lifting eye, which allows them to be manipulated with a crane or hoist. In these cases, the lower wear caps are very difficult to place, due to two factors:

Firstly, because, also for safety reasons, a bucket cannot be manipulated through its lower area in the field, and it can only be done if the bucket is not mounted on the machine and located in the workshop.

Secondly, there is no upper access for accessing to the lower part of the adapter and to place the lower wear cap. The chain that supports the piece cannot be placed between the adapters and the center protectors.

In these cases where in large sizes it is difficult to place a lower wear cap, the lower section of the connection part of the adapters is usually enlarged, that is to say, the bottom connection part of the adapter leg is enlarged, but the downside is that if the wear is prolonged the bottom leg may break anyway. Even though at the end of the life of the adapter also ends in that area, the best thing is to have protective elements that can be replaced, and thus extend the life of the adapter in all its perimeter.

Description of the invention Therefore, one purpose of the present invention is to provide a protective element that protects the entire front perimeter of a wear element of earthmoving machines, in particular, for protecting the connection part of adapters of earthmoving machines.

With the protective element according to the present invention it is possible to solve said drawbacks, providing other advantages that are described below.

The protective element for a wear element of earthmoving machines according to the present invention is made from one piece, comprising:

- a first protective portion;

- a second protective portion placed opposite to the first protective portion; and

- two side protective portions.

Advantageously, at least one of the side protective portions comprise an internal protrusion, and preferably both protective portions comprise an internal protrusion. That protrusion is used to guide the protective element over the adapter which have a groove to receive the protrusion, for positioning and maintaining in position the protective element.

According to a preferred embodiment, the, or each, internal protrusion has a substantially parallelepiped shape defining a plurality of stop flat surfaces. The backwards movement of the protective element is stopped by the back stop surfaces of the internal protrusions. The upwards and downwards movements are stopped by the upper, frontal, and lower surfaces of the internals protrusions.

Furthermore, the side protective portions are preferably U-shaped, defining a central part and two lateral parts, and the, or each protrusion, is placed in the internal central part of the side protective portions, Positioning the protrusions in internal central part of the side protective portions, make the protrusions of the protective element and the groove in the adapter be less exposed to the wear, this optimized the designs of the protective elements and make them more efficiently and resistant.

According to a preferred embodiment, the side protective portions are flat, the first protective portion is curved, and the second protective portion is also curved. Following the shape of the connection part of the adapter with an extra thickness for protection.

Preferably, the protective element comprises a lifting eye, which is placed in the first protective portion.

Furthermore, the protective element according to the present invention has a collar shape.

Furthermore, the protective element does not need a pin to be fixed in position, it is self-holding between the adapter and the tooth, so as a back surface of the tooth contacts with a front surface of the protective element, maintaining the protective element in position. The contact of the back surface of the tooth and the front surface of the protective element avoids the forward movement of the protective element. That is to say, the collar shape of the protective element of the present invention allows having a big frontal contact surface with the tooth, that firmly stops the forward movement of the protective element.

With the protective element according to the present invention, the following advantages, among others, can be achieved:

- a better resistance and an increased efficiency;

- reduction of the stresses in critical points of the protective element;

- an optimized design of the protective element, having a height enough for protecting the wear element substantially but not protruding;

- it can be mounted from the upper side of the wear element, not being necessary to access to the lower part of the wear element;

- it increases the contact zone with the wear element in the whole perimeter of the protective element;

- it provides an increased stabilization, preventing undesired movements, in particular, rearwards and downwardly;

- the wear element is less exposed to wear, because by providing the protrusion(s) on the side portion(s), it permits to make more integrated designs; and

- with lower designs, the penetration into the ground is enhanced and provides a longer life.

Furthermore, the positioning of the guides on the sides provides the following advantages:

The geometries and position of the guides in wear caps is very limited. In the current wear caps, above all in small sizes, there is not much surface in the upper/lower area for these caps.

- They are less exposed to wear.

- The wearcaps are less exposed to wear, because by making the guide on the side it allows to make designs more integrated to the tooth-holder set. Also with lower designs, these improve penetration into the ground, (more penetration of the system) and with more wear material before being punctured (more duration).

The frontal contact surface also increases the contact zone with the tooth on the whole perimeter of the collar.

Brief description of the drawings

For a better understanding the above explanation and for the sole purpose of providing an example, some non-limiting drawings are included that schematically depict a practical embodiment.

Figure 1 is a frontal perspective view of the protective element according to the present invention;

Figure 2 is a rear perspective view of the protective element according to the present invention;

Figure 3 is a side view of the protective element according to the present invention mounted in its use position around a wear element; and

Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of a tooth provided with a wear element and the protective element according to the present invention. Description of a preferred embodiment

The protective element, identified generally by numeral reference 1 , is used for protecting wear elements of earthmoving machines, in particular, for protecting the connection part 10 of adapters 7 of earthmoving machines, as shown in Figures 3 and 4. The wear element or adapter has a front part 8 a rear part 7, that rear part comprises an attaching part 11 and a connection part 10.

The protective element 1 according to the present invention is made from a single piece, and according to the shown embodiment, has a collar shape.

In particular, the protective element 1 comprises a first protective portion 2, which is the upper protective portion in the use position, a second protective portion 3 opposite to the first protective portion 2, which is the lower protective portion in the use position, and two side protective portions 4.

Therefore, the wear element or adapter is protected on their upper, lower and side parts by the protective element 1.

The first and second protective portions 2, 3 are curved, and the side protective portions 4 are flat. The first and second protective portions 2, 3 are curved because they are apart from the shape of the adapter, these portions are significant parallel from the adapter and the tooth.

As shown in the drawings, the side protective portions 4 are U-shaped, defining a central part and two lateral parts.

One or both side protective portions 4 comprise an internal protrusion 5, that is used as a contact or abutment portion with the wear elements tooth 9 and adapter 7. In the shown embodiment, the internal protrusion 5 is placed in both side protective portions 4.

The, or each, internal protrusion 5 has a substantially parallelepiped shape, defining a plurality of flat surfaces, in particular, a frontal flat surface 51 , a rear flat surface 52, an upper flat surface 53, and a lower flat surface 54, as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Furthermore, the protective element 1 according to the present invention comprises a lifting eye 6, in particular, placed in the external part of the first protective portion 2.

This lifting eye 6 permits the placement and removal of the protective element 1 when the protective element 1 is heavy and it cannot be moved by hand.

The placement and removal of the protective element 1 according to the present invention can be done from its upper part, not been necessary to access to its lower part.

This is because the protective element 1 defines frontal and rear openings, thanks to its collar shape.

Once in its use position the internal protrusions 5 stabilize the protective element 1 , preventing undesired movements with respect to the wear element 9.

As shown in Figure 4, the protective element 1 is mounted on an adapter 7 to be fixed or stopped with the wear element 7, mounted on the front part of the adapter.

Even though reference has been made to a specific embodiment of the invention, it is obvious for a person skilled in the art that the protective element described herein is susceptible to numerous variations and modifications, and that all of the details mentioned can be substituted for other technically equivalent ones without departing from the scope of protection defined by the attached claims.