Scraper bowl with cutting edge crowd

Abstract

A scraper bowl for attachment to the frame of an earth scraper is disclosed. The scraper bowl includes a pair of spaced apart side walls, with each of the side walls being adapted for pivotable attachment to the scraper frame, a back wall, and a floor. The floor includes a fixed section and a moveable section, with the moveable section including a forward edge defining a cutting blade. Accordingly, the sidewalls, the back wall and the floor cooperate to contain material scraped from a support surface as the scraper bowl proceeds along a path.

1 . A scraper bowl for use with a scraper having a frame, the scraper bowl comprising: 
 a pair of spaced apart side walls, each of the side walls being adapted for pivotable attachment to the scraper frame;    a back wall; and    a floor, the floor including a fixed section and a moveable section, the moveable section including a forward edge defining a cutting blade;    whereby the sidewalls, the back wall and the floor cooperate to contain material scraped from a support surface as the scraper bowl proceeds along a path.    
     
     
         2 . The scraper bowl of  claim 1 , including a plurality of rollers operatively engaging the sidewalls and the moveable section, the plurality of rollers being arranged to permit the moveable to move between a rearward position in which the moveable section is disposed generally below the fixed section and a forward position in which the forward edge of the moveable section is disposed forwardly of the fixed section.  
     
     
         3 . The scraper bowl of  claim 2 , including an actuator engaging the moveable section for moving the moveable section between the rearward position and the forward position.  
     
     
         4 . The scraper bowl of  claim 1 , wherein the moveable section is shiftably mounted to a track defined in part by the pair of side walls.  
     
     
         5 . The scraper bowl of  claim 1 , including an ejector plate, the ejector plate being moveable relative to the sidewalls between an initial position and a discharge position.  
     
     
         6 . The scraper bowl of  claim 5 , including a plurality of ejector tracks defined in part by the pair of side walls for guiding the ejector plate between the initial position and the discharge position.  
     
     
         7 . The scraper bowl of  claim 6 , wherein the plurality of ejector tracks include an upper ejector track defined in part by an upper section of the pair of sidewalls.  
     
     
         8 . The scraper bowl of  claim 6 , wherein the plurality of ejector tracks include a lower ejector track defined in part by a lower section of the pair of sidewalls.  
     
     
         9 . The scraper bowl of  claim 5 , wherein the ejector plate includes a plurality of rollers, at least some of the plurality of rollers slidably engaging the pair of side walls.  
     
     
         10 . The scraper bowl of  claim 9 , wherein the plurality of rollers includes an upper set of rollers slidably engaging an upper section of the pair of side walls.  
     
     
         11 . The scraper bowl of  claim 9 , wherein the plurality of rollers includes a lower set of rollers slidably engaging a lower section of the pair of side walls.  
     
     
         12 . The scraper bowl of  claim 5 , including an ejector actuator for moving the ejector plate.  
     
     
         13 . The scraper bowl of  claim 1 , wherein each of the pair of sidewalls includes a front portion, and including an apron mounted adjacent the front portion of each of the pair of sidewalls and spanning the distance therebetween, the apron being moveable between a first position and a second position to thereby change the size of a gap defined between the apron and the floor.  
     
     
         14 . The scraper bowl of  claim 13 , including an ejector plate extending between the pair of sidewalls and being moveable between an initial position and a discharge position, the ejector plate and the apron cooperating to unload material from the scraper bowl.  
     
     
         15 . The scraper bowl of  claim 1 , wherein each of the pair of sidewalls includes a front edge, and wherein at least a portion of the front edge of each of the sidewalls includes a side cutting blade.  
     
     
         16 . The scraper bowl of  claim 1 , including an ejector plate extending between the pair of sidewalls and being moveable between an initial position and a discharge position, the ejector plate and the moveable section cooperating to unload material from the scraper bowl.  
     
     
         17 . A scraper bowl for use in a scraper having a frame, the scraper bowl comprising: 
 a pair of spaced apart side walls, each of the side walls being adapted for pivotable attachment to the scraper frame;    a fixed floor;    a moveable floor, the moveable floor being mounted for sliding movement between a rearward position in which the moveable floor is disposed generally below the fixed floor and a forward position in which a front edge of the moveable floor is spaced forwardly of the fixed floor, the forward edge including a cutting blade;    a moveable ejector blade, the ejector blade being moveable relative to the sidewalls and the fixed floor along a generally horizontal path between an initial position and a discharge position;    an apron mounted adjacent a front portion of each of the pair of sidewalls and spanning the distance therebetween, the apron being moveable between a first position and a second position to thereby change the size of a gap defined between the apron and the floor.    
     
     
         18 . A scraper for scraping material from a support surface as the scraper proceeds along a path, the scraper comprising: 
 a frame;    a scraper bowl having a forward portion and a rearward portion, the scraper bowl being pivotally mounted to the frame and including a pair of spaced apart side walls, a back wall, and a floor; and    means engaging a portion of the floor for loading the material into a rearward portion of the scraper bowl prior to loading the material into a forward portion of the scraper bowl as the scraper proceeds along the path.    
     
     
         19 . The scraper of  claim 18 , wherein the scraper bowl is pivotally mounted to the frame by a central pivot, the rearward portion being disposed behind the central pivot and the forward portion being disposed in front of the central pivot.  
     
     
         20 . The scraper of  claim 18 , wherein each of the sidewalls includes a pivot, and wherein the rearward portion is disposed behind the pivots and the forward portion is disposed in front of the pivots.  
     
     
         21 . A scraper for scraping material from a support surface as the scraper proceeds along a path, the scraper comprising: 
 a frame;    a scraper bowl having a forward portion and a rearward portion, the scraper bowl being pivotally mounted to the frame and including a pair of spaced apart side walls, a back wall, and a floor; and    the floor including a fixed section and a moveable section, wherein the moveable section operates to load material into a rearward portion of the scraper bowl prior to loading the material into a forward portion of the scraper bowl as the scraper proceeds along the path.