Flexible track belts

申请号 US3773394D 申请日 1970-11-27 公开(公告)号 US3773394A 公开(公告)日 1973-11-20
申请人 CATERPILLAR TRACTOR CO; 发明人 GRAWEY C;
摘要 Circular support belts having internal, wound inextensible filaments encased in elastomer retain a plurality of circumferentially disposed track shoes which are attached to these support belts through an elastomeric couple in which shaped keepers are employed to compressively load the elastomer at the couple to secure the track shoes to the internal inextensible filaments of the support belts. A dense elastomer insulated joint is formed wherein direct physical contact by the track shoes and/or the keepers with these filaments is avoided and a resulting couple is obtained which prevents slipping movement between the track shoes and the filaments. The resulting track belt system can be employed about the periphery of pneumatic tire carcasses to increase traction, protect the carcass, etc.
权利要求
1. A flexible track belt comprising: at least one flat elastomer endless support belt having a centrally disposed inextensible reinforcing ply of circularly wound inextensible reinforcing filaments in a side-by-side relationship therein to form connected loops of substantially equal diameters forming at least one cylindrical ply with filaments individually encased by elastomer; a plurality of removable oblong track shoes circumferentially arranged about the outer peripheral surface of said flat support belt at spaced intervals, said track shoes oriented transversely across said support belt and transverse to the axes of said reinforcing filaments in said support belt, and a plurality of attaching means coupling said track shoes to said support belt, each of said attaching means having an outer belt engaging member and an inner keeper member, each of said inner keeper members having a belt conforming channel recess with a uniform recess cross-section therein, said keeper members arranged at circumferentially spaced intervals about the inner peripheral surface of said support belt and integrally formed with said support belt so elastomer portions of said support belt separate adjacent edges of said keeper means from one another thereby providing a continuous inner surface, each of said keeper members confining in its channel recess the lateral contiguous edges of a portion of said belt having said reinforcing filament encased in elastomer operable to prevent lateral extrusion of elastomer surrounding said reinforcing filaments when said portion is clamped in its contiguous channel recess so elastomer in said portion can be loaded with sufficient force to prevent slippage between said attaching means and said inextensible reinforcing filaments due to a couple formed therebetween as the elastomer is densified by said force.
2. The flexible track belt as described in claim 1 wherein several equal diameter support belts are eMployed therein with said belts connected together with elastomer webs.
3. The flexible track belt defined in claim 1 wherein the keeper members are bonded to the elastomer endless support belt.
4. The flexible track belt as defined in claim 1 wherein the elastomer is loaded with at least 1,500 PSI to enhance the couple.
5. The flexible track belt as defined in claim 1 wherein the cylindrical ply is disposed within the support belt adjacent to the neutral bending axis of said support belt.
6. The flexible track belt as defined in claim 1 wherein the inner surfaces of the oblong track shoes form the outer belt engaging member of the attaching means.
7. The flexible track belt defined in claim 1 wherein each of the attaching means is adjustable and operable to vary the force on the portion of the elastomer belt within its keeper member.
8. The flexible track belt as defined in claim 1 wherein the inextensible reinforcing filaments are composed of steel wires having diameters from 0.0005 to 0.050 inches.
9. A flexible track belt as defined in claim 1 wherein key means are included attached to the inner periphery of the resulting track belt to prevent lateral shifting thereof on a supporting unit.
10. The flexible track belt as defined in claim 1 wherein the key means include cheek members on opposite sides of the track belt which project radially inward for engagement with the sidewalls of a supporting pneumatic carcass.
11. The flexible track belt as defined in claim 1 wherein the elastomer endless support belt has at least wo cylindrical plies.
12. The flexible support belt defined in claim 11 wherein fabric layers are disposed between adjacent cylindrical plies of the inextensible reinforcing loops.
13. The flexible track belt defined in claim 1 wherein the reinforcing filaments are brass plated and bonded to the surrounding elastomer.
14. The flexible track belt defined in claim 13 wherein cross sectional ratio of reinforcing filaments to elastomer in the support belt is controlled to prevent extrusion of elastomer from the open ends of the keeper members whereby the elastomer confined by each keeper member can be densified to enhance the couple between the attaching means and the individual reinforcing filaments.
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