Elastic endless crawler
An elastic endless crawler including an annular belt-shaped elastic crawler body, the crawler body includes a series of driven elements for operation of the crawler and a reference plane which passes through respective centers of the drive elements and extends in a longitudinal direction of the crawler, and a thickness of one side relative to the reference plane and a thickness of the other side relative to the reference plane are different from one another. The lengths between respective crawler body end surfaces facing in a crawler widthwise direction, and the reference lane are different from one another. A thickness of one side, which is shorter in length, of the crawler body is greater than that of the other side, which is longer in length, of the crawler body.
1. An elastic endless crawler, comprising: an annular belt-shaped elastic crawler body, wherein:
the crawler body comprises an outer peripheral surface, at least one cord defining at least one cord group, a series of driven elements for operation of the crawler, and a reference plane defining a surface passing through respective centers of the series of driven elements and extending in a longitudinal direction of the crawler; and
a thickness of one width side of the crawler body relative to the reference plane and a thickness of the other width side of the crawler body relative to the reference plane are different from one another, wherein the thickness is a dimension between a cord center of the cord group and the outer peripheral surface of the crawler body.
2. The elastic endless crawler of claim 1 , wherein lengths between respective crawler body side surfaces facing in a crawler widthwise direction and the reference plane are different from one another.
3. The elastic endless crawler of claim 2 , wherein the thickness of one width side of the crawler body, having a small width, is greater than the thickness of the other width side of the crawler body, having a larger width.
4. The elastic endless crawler of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of cords for reinforcement are embedded at respective left and right sides relative to the reference plane in the crawler body such that the cords extend in the crawler longitudinal direction and are spaced apart along the crawler widthwise direction with a predetermined spacing.
5. The elastic endless crawler of claim 4 , wherein lengths between respective crawler end surfaces in a crawler widthwise direction and the reference plane are different from one another and wherein when one width side, having a small width, is referred to as a N side and the other width side, having a larger width, is referred to as a W side and when
a length dimension between a cord center at the N side and the outer peripheral surface of the crawler body is T N ,
a length dimension between a cord center at the W side and the outer peripheral surface of the crawler body is T w ,
a length dimension between the reference plane and the N side crawler body end surface is W N , and
a length dimension between the reference plane and the W side crawler body end surface is W w ,
T N /T w ≦( W w +W N ) 0.5 /W w 0.5 .
6. The elastic endless crawler of claim 4 , wherein a plurality of cores are embedded in the crawler body with predetermined intervals along the crawler longitudinal direction such that the cores extend individually in the crawler widthwise direction, which is orthogonal to the crawler longitudinal direction, and are disposed parallel with one another.
7. The elastic endless crawler of claim 6 , wherein the series of driven elements comprise sprocket engaging holes, each of which is formed in the crawler body and disposed between two adjacent cores.
8. The elastic endless crawler of claim 6 , wherein lengths between respective crawler end surfaces in a crawler widthwise direction and the reference plane are different from one another and wherein when one width side, having a small width, is referred to as a N side and the other width side, having a larger width, is referred to as a W side and when
a length dimension between a cord center at the N side and the outer peripheral surface of the crawler body is T N ,
a length dimension between a cord center at the W side and the outer peripheral surface of the crawler body is T w ,
a length dimension between the reference plane and a core end surface at the N side is S N , and
a length dimension between the reference plane and a core end surface at the W side is S w ,
T N /T W ≦( S W +S N ) 0.5 /S W 0.5 .
9. The elastic endless crawler of claim 4 , wherein a plurality of lugs are regularly provided in a protruding manner at the outer peripheral surface of the crawler body with predetermined intervals along the rubber crawler longitudinal direction.
10. The elastic endless crawler of claim 9 , wherein lengths between respective crawler end surfaces in a crawler widthwise direction and the reference plane are different from one another and wherein when one width side, having a small width, is referred to as a N side and the other width side, having a larger width, is referred to as a W side and when
a length dimension between a cord center at the N side and the outer peripheral surface of the crawler body is T N ,
a length dimension between a cord center at the W side and the outer peripheral surface of the crawler body is T W ,
a length dimension between the reference plane and a lug edge at the N side is L N , and
a length dimension between the reference plane and a lug edge at the W side is L W ,
T N /T W ≦( L W +L N ) 0.5 /L W 0.5 .