Work vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10252571-B2
Application number	US-201615295126-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 17, 2016
Priority date	Oct 17, 2016
Publication date	Apr 9, 2019
Grant date	Apr 9, 2019

Abstract

A work vehicle includes a vehicle frame, a rotating connection unit provided in the vehicle frame, and a caster assembly connected to the rotating connection unit. The rotating connection unit includes a housing sleeve, a swivel post, a first bearing and a second bearing supporting the swivel post to be rotatable within the housing sleeve, and a rotation stopper disposed between the swivel post and the housing sleeve to stop rotation of the swivel post. The caster assembly includes a caster wheel, and a caster bracket connected to the swivel post to rotatably support the caster wheel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A work vehicle comprising:
a vehicle frame;
a front support device provided forward of the vehicle frame and including a first end and a second end;
rotating connection units, one of the units being provided at the first end of the front support device, the other of the units being provided at the second end of the front support device, each rotating connection unit including
a housing sleeve,
a swivel post,
a first bearing and a second bearing supporting the swivel post to be rotatable within the housing sleeve, and
a rotation stopper disposed between the swivel post and the housing sleeve to stop rotation of the swivel post, wherein the rotation stopper is a single piece and is one of:
unrotatably fixed to the housing sleeve and not fixed to the swivel post, or;
unrotatably fixed to the swivel post and not fixed to the housing sleeve;
to allow for sliding friction between the rotation stopper and at least one of the swivel post or the housing sleeve; and

a caster assembly connected to each of the rotating connection units, the caster assembly including
a caster wheel, and
a caster bracket connected to the swivel post to rotatably support the caster wheel.

2. The work vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the rotation stopper comprises a bushing element having an inner circumferential surface contacting an outer circumferential surface of the swivel post, and an outer circumferential surface contacting an inner circumferential surface of the housing sleeve.

3. The work vehicle according to claim 2 , wherein the rotation stopper is made of rubber.

4. The work vehicle according to claim 2 , wherein the outer circumferential surface and the inner circumferential surface of the rotation stopper have projections and recesses arranged in series.

5. The work vehicle according to claim 2 , wherein the outer circumferential surface differs from the inner circumferential surface in unevenness.

6. The work vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the first bearing and the second bearing comprise two sealed ball bearings vertically spaced apart from each other, and
the rotation stopper is disposed between the two sealed ball bearings.

Assignees

• Kubota Kk

Inventors

• Jordan Barry
• Walden Robert

Classifications

• A01D34/82

  Other details · CPC title

• B60B33/023 Primary

  by using friction · CPC title

• B60B33/0039

  Single wheels · CPC title

• B60B2900/131

  Vibrations · CPC title

• B60B33/0068

  the swivel axis being vertical · CPC title