JP2000233775A - Rubber crawler - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce turning resistance, and to reduce a pitching phenomenon by forming a groove for dividing a top surface part of rubber lugs on the slightly inside of the width directional tip of the rubber lugs. SOLUTION: In a rubber crawler (an illustrated right half is a conventional rubber crawler), long/short rubber lugs 5, 6 are alternately formed on an outside surface of a rubber elastic body 1 according to an embedded position of core metal 4, the long rubber lug 5 has the length reaching the width directional end of the rubber elastic body 1, and is provided to transmit driving force. In this case, a groove 10 is formed at an interval A in the lengthwise direction of the rubber crawler on a top surface of left/right end parts of the long rubber lug 5. A tip part 5 of the long rubber lug 5 can independently more easily move than the other part 5b of the long rubber lug 5 by forming a groove 10. Thus, the long rubber lug 5 is more smoothly deformed by the presence of the groove 10 at turning time of the rubber crawler and running-on time to an obstacle to faciltate turning by absorbing lateral directional force at turning time as well as to reduce a pitching phenomenon of a vehicle.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rubber track, and more particularly to a rubber track with reduced turning resistance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a rubber crawler has a structure in which a metal core is buried in rubber at a constant pitch with a steel cord row in a longitudinal direction, and a rubber lug having a single character in the width direction is usually provided on an outer surface. The structure contributes to the transmission of propulsion. The rubber track is provided on the left and right sides of the agricultural vehicle, for example, and is provided to the traveling unit. During turning, the rotation of one rubber track is stopped, and the stopped side is turned inside.

[0003] However, the rubber lug of the rubber crawler on the side of which the rotation is stopped during turning of the vehicle not only causes a contact resistance with the ground to cause a large turning resistance, but also causes a large turning resistance, especially on a dry asphalt surface or a concrete surface. There is a disadvantage that a pitching phenomenon occurs in the vehicle when turning.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and reduces the turning resistance by devising a rubber lug formed on the outer surface of a rubber crawler to reduce the pitching phenomenon. It has been lost.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the gist of the present invention is to provide a rubber comprising an endless rubber elastic body having a rubber lug extending in the width direction on the outer surface thereof. A crawler, characterized in that a groove for dividing a top surface portion of the rubber lug is formed slightly inward of a widthwise front end of the rubber lug.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the rubber crawler of the present invention, the top of the tip of the rubber lug is divided by forming a groove at the tip of the rubber lug, so that the tip of the rubber lug is easily moved. At the time of turning, the lateral force is absorbed by that much to facilitate turning, and the pitching of the vehicle is reduced.

Further, when the rubber crawler rides on an obstacle or the like while traveling, the rubber lug end is easily bent due to the presence of the groove, so that the rubber crawler can smoothly ride on the obstacle, and the rubber lug end lacks or cracks. Etc. can be prevented.

More specifically, when the present invention is applied to a rubber crawler for combine use, the present invention has a feature that it is easy to turn on asphalt or concrete while maintaining the running performance in wet fields. is there.

The groove is preferably formed outside the width of the metal core in the width direction of the rubber crawler, so that the end of the rubber lug can be easily bent without being affected by the metal core, and the lateral force during turning can be reduced. It becomes easier to absorb. It is preferable that the cross section of the groove has a square, trapezoidal, triangular, or elliptical shape, and has a shape that expands outward.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The rubber track of the present invention will be described below in more detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view of the outer surface side of the rubber track, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the inner surface side, FIG.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA. In each figure, the right half is a conventional rubber track and the left half is an example of the rubber track of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an endless rubber elastic body constituting a rubber crawler, which is continuous endlessly in the vertical direction on the paper of FIG. 2 is a rubber elastic body 1
Is a steel cord as a tensile member buried in the longitudinal direction. In this example, a metal core 4 having a pair of protrusions 3 is embedded at a constant pitch on the inner surface side of the steel cord 2. Projections 3 provided on a cored bar 4 protrude from the inner surface of the rubber elastic body 1 to provide a function of preventing a track roller or the like from coming off.

A rubber lug is usually formed on the outer surface of the rubber elastic body 1 in accordance with the embedding position of the metal core 4, and long and short rubber lugs 5 and 6 are alternately formed. It has a length reaching the widthwise end of the body 1 and is used for transmitting driving force. In addition, 7 is a metal core 4,
4 is a sprocket engagement hole formed between the four. The width of the rubber elastic body 1 of this rubber crawler is 450 mm, the height of the rubber lugs 5 and 6 is 40 mm, the width of the base of the rubber lug 5 is 42 mm, and the width of the top is 13 mm. Rubber lugs 5, 6
A tapered portion 8 is formed at the left and right front ends.

In the conventional rubber track shown in the right half of the figure, the rubber lugs 5, 6 are relatively high in rigidity because they are entirely formed of solid rubber as shown in the figure. When the vehicle turns, a large frictional resistance is generated in the long rubber lug 5, and particularly, a large distortion is generated at the tip of the long rubber lug 5. For this reason, the driving power must be made relatively large, and conversely, power loss has been caused. The distortion at the tip of the long rubber lug 5 may cause cracks or the like in this rubber lug. Further, even when riding on an obstacle or the like, the rigidity of the long rubber lug 5 is high, so that the impact at the time of riding is large, and it has been a source of vibration. As described above, in the conventional rubber crawler, since the long rubber lug 5 has relatively high rigidity, the influence of vibration and the like on the outside becomes large, and the long rubber lug 5 itself is unreasonable. There is a disadvantage that cracks and chipped rubber cannot be avoided in the tip region.

However, in the present invention shown in the left half of the figure, a groove 10 is formed on the top surface of the left and right end portions of the long rubber lug 5 in the longitudinal direction of the rubber crawler at an interval A. . The distance A from the tip of the groove 10 is 10 mm in this example, the width B of the groove 10 is 5 mm, and the depth D
Has a trapezoidal cross section of 10 mm.

That is, the tip 5a of the long rubber lug 5 is
0, the other parts 5 of the long rubber lug 5
It is easier to move independently than b. For this reason, the long rubber lug 5 is smoothly deformed by the presence of the groove 10 when the rubber crawler turns or climbs over an obstacle. For this reason, the turning resistance is reduced, and the occurrence of vibration due to this is also reduced.

In this example, the rubber lugs 5 and 6 are shown as being formed in a single character with respect to the rubber elastic body 1, but the present invention is not limited to this, and rubber lugs may be inclined. The grooves 10 are also generally formed in the longitudinal direction of the rubber elastic body 1, but may be arranged at an angle of about ± 10 degrees with respect to the longitudinal direction.

[0017]

According to the present invention, a groove is formed at the top of the rubber lug formed on the outer surface of the rubber crawler so that the top of the rubber lug is independent of other parts, thereby reducing the turning resistance and eliminating the pitching phenomenon. This not only improves the durability of the rubber crawler but also reduces vibration.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an outer surface side of a rubber track.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of an inner surface side of the rubber track shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the rubber track shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Endless rubber elastic body 2 Steel cord 3 Projection 4 Metal core 5 Long rubber lug 5 a Tip of long rubber lug 5 b Central part of long rubber lug 6 Short rubber lug 7 Sprocket engagement hole 10 Long rubber lug Groove formed in

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A rubber crawler comprising an endless rubber elastic body having a rubber lug extending in a width direction on an outer surface thereof,
A rubber crawler, wherein a groove for dividing a top surface portion of the rubber lug is formed slightly inward of a width direction end of the rubber lug. 2. The rubber track according to claim 1, wherein the groove is a groove extending in a longitudinal direction of the rubber track. 3. The rubber track according to claim 1, wherein the groove is formed at a distance of 10 to 20 mm from an end in the width direction of the rubber track. 4. The rubber track according to claim 1, wherein the groove is formed outside a width of the metal core in a rubber track width direction. 5. The rubber track according to claim 1, wherein the cross-sectional shape of the groove is any one of a square, a trapezoid, a triangle, and an ellipse.