Front tower structure for a mining vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9751445-B1
Application number	US-201615160005-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	May 20, 2016
Priority date	May 20, 2016
Publication date	Sep 5, 2017
Grant date	Sep 5, 2017

Abstract

A front tower on a truck body for use with a mining vehicle. The truck body includes a truck bed including a canopy and a front exterior wall. The front exterior wall includes at least one front tower. The front tower includes two longitudinal plates spanning the front exterior wall, at least one gusset plate transverse and connected to the longitudinal plates, and a landing plate transverse and connected to the longitudinal plates. The landing plates are configured to transfer load stress from the bed to a frame of a mining vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A truck body for use with a mining vehicle comprising:
a canopy and a front exterior wall, wherein the front exterior wall comprises a front tower, wherein the front tower comprises:
two or more longitudinal plates spanning the front exterior wall;
a gusset plate transverse and connected to the longitudinal plates; and
a landing plate transverse and connected to the longitudinal plates, wherein the landing plate is configured to transfer load stress from the truck body to a frame of a mining vehicle.

2. The truck body of claim 1 , wherein the front tower comprises two or more gusset plates.

3. The truck body of claim 1 , wherein the front tower is welded to the front exterior wall.

4. The truck body of claim 1 , wherein the front tower is bolted to the front exterior wall.

5. The truck body of claim 1 , wherein the front tower is connected to the canopy of the truck body.

6. The truck body of claim 5 , wherein the front tower is connected to the canopy of the truck body with canopy connecting plates.

7. The truck body of claim 1 , wherein the front tower spans the front exterior wall from a base of the front exterior wall.

8. The truck body of claim 1 , wherein the front towers are offset from a vertical axis by about 14 degrees to about 16 degrees.

9. The truck body of claim 1 , wherein the landing plate is connected to the longitudinal plates with a landing connecting plate.

10. The truck body of claim 9 , wherein the landing connecting plate includes support plates.

11. A front tower for use on a mining vehicle comprising
two or more longitudinal plates configured to span a front exterior wall of a mining vehicle body;
a gusset plate transverse and connected to the longitudinal plates; and
an landing plate transverse and connected to the longitudinal plates, wherein the landing plate is configured to transfer load stress from a truck body to a chassis of the mining vehicle.

12. The front tower of claim 11 , wherein the front tower comprises two or more gusset plates.

13. The front tower of claim 11 , wherein the front tower is configured to be connected to a canopy of the truck body.

14. The front tower of claim 13 , wherein the front tower is configured to be connected to the canopy of the truck body with canopy connecting plates.

15. The front tower of claim 11 , wherein the longitudinal plates are substantially parallel.

16. The front tower of claim 11 , wherein the landing plate is connected to the longitudinal plates with a landing connecting plate.

17. The front tower of claim 16 , wherein the landing connecting plate includes support plates.

18. A mining truck comprising:
a truck frame;
a truck body comprising a front exterior wall and a canopy;
the front exterior wall comprising a front tower configured to transfer load stress from the truck body to the truck frame;
wherein the front tower comprises:
parallel longitudinal plates spanning the front exterior wall from a base of the truck body to the canopy;
at least one gusset plate transverse to the longitudinal plates; and
a landing plate transverse to the longitudinal plates.

19. The mining truck of claim 18 , wherein the front tower comprises two or more gusset plates.

20. The mining truck of claim 18 , wherein the front tower is configured to be connected to the canopy of the truck body with canopy connecting plates.

Assignees

• Caterpillar Inc

Inventors

• Arul Samuel J
• Fujan Steven J

Classifications

• B62D21/09

  Means for mounting load bearing surfaces · CPC title

• B60Y2200/41

  Construction vehicles, e.g. graders, excavators · CPC title

• B60P1/286 Primary

  Loading buckets · CPC title

• B62D33/0222

  Connecting elements between stanchions, e.g. roof supporting elements, stiffeners (non-fixed roofs B60J7/00; securing and covering of load B60P7/00) · CPC title