TOOTH BAR MOUNTING
A mounting for a tooth bar to a mounting surface of a thumb sub-assembly, the mounting including one or more inwardly narrowing slots located adjacent the mounting surface and into which a part of a mounting portion of the tooth bar can be wedgingly engaged, there being fixing means for fixing the tooth bar into engagement with the mounting surface following the mounting portion being wedgingly engaged.
1 . A mounting for a tooth bar to a mounting surface of a thumb sub-assembly, the mounting including one or more inwardly narrowing slots located adjacent the mounting surface and into which a part of a mounting portion of the tooth bar can be wedgingly engaged, there being fixing means for fixing the tooth bar into engagement with the mounting surface following the mounting portion being wedgingly engaged.
2 . A mounting according to claim 1 wherein the tooth bar is of a “universal” type.
3 . A mounting according to claim 1 wherein the tooth bar has four teeth configured to inter-engage with five teeth on a cutting edge of an excavator bucket.
4 . A mounting according to claim 1 wherein the sub-assembly has a mounting plate which forms the mounting surface.
5 . A mounting according to claim 4 wherein the tooth bar includes a plate whereby the tooth bar can engage and be bolted to the sub-assembly mounting plate by a series of bolts and associated nuts.
6 . A mounting according to claim 4 wherein the sub-assembly includes a pair of side plates which, in accordance with conventional construction, include along one edge thereof serrations or teeth.
7 . A mounting according to claim 6 wherein at the ends of the side plates, opposite to the mounting plate, are a pair of aligned openings whereby the sub-assembly can be attached to an excavator arm.
8 . A mounting according to claim 4 wherein the mounting plate of the tooth bar mounts a tooth assembly.
9 . A mounting according to claim 8 wherein the tooth assembly includes a plurality of teeth.
10 . A mounting according to claim 8 wherein the tooth assembly includes a toothed or serrated plate.
11 . A mounting according to claim 1 wherein the upper edge of the tooth bar mounting plate is beveled.
12 . A mounting according to claim 11 wherein the tooth bar mounting plate further includes a series of openings which align with elongate openings in the mounting plate of the subassembly through which, when aligned, bolts pass and whereby, with associated nuts, bolt the plates together.
13 . A mounting according to claim 12 further including a plurality of flanges, each having a finger portion which extends over the mounting surface of the mounting plate wherein each finger portion includes an edge surface which faces towards the mounting surface and is configured such that the distance between the edge surface and the mounting surface decreases inwardly from the distal ends of finger portion resulting in a narrowing slot into which the beveled edge of the tooth bar mounting plate can be engaged.
14 . A mounting according to claim 1 for use with a hydraulically controllable thumb.
15 . A mounting according to claim 1 for use with a fixed/rigid thumb where the clamping action with the fixed/rigid thumb is achieved by the crowd action of the bucket.
16 . (canceled)