Bulk materials transport containers

Abstract

A bulldozer blade comprising a generally upright horizontally elongate blade wall. The blade wall is vertically curved and has a lowermost working edge for scraping material The bulldozer blade further comprises a coupling rearwardly of the blade wall for coupling the blade to a bulldozer vehicle. A lowermost one third of a front surface of the blade wall has one or more wear plates fastened thereto. The one or more wear plates comprise a mild steel backing with an exposed hard facing layer. The hard facing layer has a hardness of at least 500 brinell. The wear plates provide a substantially continuous and smooth hard faced sliding surface that facilitates the smooth flow of materials over the surface of the blade.

1 . A bulldozer blade comprising a generally upright horizontally elongate blade wall, the blade wall being vertically curved and having a working edge for scraping material provided at a lowermost portion of the wall, the bulldozer blade further comprising a coupling means rearwardly of the blade wall for coupling the blade to a bulldozer vehicle, a lowermost one third of a front surface of the blade wall having one or more wear plates fastened thereto, the one or more wear plate comprising a mild steel backing with an exposed hard facing layer, the hard facing layer having a hardness of at least 500 brinell, the wear plate providing a substantially continuous and smooth hard faced sliding surface.  
   
   
       2 . The bulldozer blade of  claim 1  wherein two or more elongate wear plates are provided each being aligned transverse to the principal direction of materials movement.  
   
   
       3 . The bulldozer blade of  claim 2  wherein the two or more wear plates are spaced aparts to provide a gap therebetween.  
   
   
       4 . The bulldozer blade of  claim 3  wherein the gap is no more than about 20% of a width of the wear plates  
   
   
       5 . The bulldozer blade of  claim 3  wherein the gap no more than about 10% of a width of the wear plates  
   
   
       6 . The bulldozer blade of  claim 3  wherein the two or more wear plates are between 100-500 mm wide  
   
   
       7 . The bulldozer blade of  claim 3  wherein the two or more wear plates are about 350 mm wide  
   
   
       8 . The bulldozer blade of  claim 6  wherein the gap is between 15 and 25 mm wide.  
   
   
       9 . The bulldozer blade of  claim 2  wherein the wear plates are welded to the front surface of the blade wall.  
   
   
       10 . The bulldozer blade of  claim 2  wherein the thickness of the alloy is between about 6 and 12 mm.  
   
   
       11 . The bulldozer blade of  claim 10  wherein the thickness of the backing is between about 5 and 11 mm thick.  
   
   
       12 . The bulldozer blade of  claim 2  wherein an entire front face of the blade wall is covered by the one or more wear plates.