DESC:FORM 2

THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENT RULES, 2003

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See Section 10 and Rule 13)

Title of invention:
A DRIVE MECHANISM FOR BLADE OF A MOTOR GRADER

Applicant:
BEML Limited
A company Incorporated in India under the Companies Act, 1956
Having address:
BEML Soudha, 23/1, 4th Main,
Sampangirama Nagar, Bengaluru - 560 027,
Karnataka, India

The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS AND PRIORITY
[001] This patent application claims priority from Indian Provisional Application 202041003105 filed on January 23, 2020.

TECHNICAL FIELD
[002] The present subject matter described herein, in general, relates to a motor grader and more specifically relates to a drive mechanism for blade of a motor grader.
BACKGROUND
[003] Motor Grader is one of the work vehicles used for various construction and mining operations. With a powerful engine and transmission it is used for shaping the soil bed, building embankments, grading slopes, trough shaped channels, trenches for roads, clearing snow on highways, etc. It is also used for moving earth and road building materials. The high powered Motor Grader is mostly used for heavy duty road construction / maintenance jobs at mining yards and haul roads maintenance at Mines which will ease the movement of mining equipment like Dump trucks, Cranes, etc. A blade is attached to the vehicle between front axle and rear axle. The blade is configured to for lateral, vertical, angular or rotary movements. In an aspect, a circle drive assembly is configured for rotary drive of the blade during the operation. Rotary drive in the circle drive assembly of the conventional motor graders fails due to the complexity in construction and manufacturing limitation resulting in poor quality of the product and takes considerable time to service the faulty or replace new one on the vehicle.
[004] The present subject matter discloses a rotary mechanism for blade of the motor grader configured to overcome the limitations stated above.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
[005] An object of the present invention is to enable replacement of individual component in case of failure instead of replacing whole assembly of the motor grader.
[006] Another object of the present invention is to significantly improve serviceability.
[007] Another object of the present invention is to reduce overall weight of the arrangement.
[008] A yet another object of the present invention is to stop the hose twisting, to limit stress and to increase life span of plurality of hoses.
[009] A yet another object of the present invention is to enable leakage proof movement of plurality of hoses during lateral, vertical or rotary drive of the blade.
SUMMARY
[0010] Before the present system and method are described, it is to be understood that this application is not limited to the particular machine or an apparatus, and methodologies described, as there can be multiple possible embodiments that are not expressly illustrated in the present disclosures. It is also to be understood that the terminology used in the description is for the purpose of describing the particular versions or embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present application. This summary is provided to introduce aspects related to a drive mechanism for blade of a motor grader, and the aspects are further elaborated below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify essential features of the proposed subject matter nor is it intended for use in determining or limiting the scope of the proposed subject matter.
[0011] The present subject matter discloses a drive mechanism for blade of a motor grader. The drive mechanism comprises a plurality of elements, a plurality of hoses and a plurality of couplers. The plurality of elements are configured to form a hydraulic circuit of the motor grader. The plurality of hoses are configured for fluidic connection between the plurality of elements. The plurality of couplers are configured to secure the plurality of hoses with the plurality of elements. In an aspect of the present subject matter, the plurality of couplers are configured to provide rotary movement of the plurality of connected hoses during lateral, vertical or rotary drive of the blade.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of embodiments, is better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawing. For the purpose of illustrating the disclosure, there is shown in the present document example constructions of the disclosure, however, the disclosure is not limited to the specific methods and apparatus disclosed in the document and the drawing:
[0013] The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying figure. In the figure, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the drawing to refer like features and components.
[0014] Figure 1 illustrates a drive mechanism for a blade of a motor grader, in accordance with one embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0015] Figure 2 illustrates an assembly of couplers, in accordance with one embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0016] Figure 3 illustrates a view of the motor grader, in accordance with one embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0017] Figure 4 illustrates another view of the motor grader, in accordance with one embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0018] The figure depicts various embodiments of the present disclosure for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0019] Some embodiments of this disclosure, illustrating all its features, will now be discussed in detail. The words "comprising", “having”, and "including," and other forms thereof, are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items, or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items. Although any systems and methods similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of embodiments of the present disclosure, the exemplary, systems and methods are now described. The disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the disclosure, which may be embodied in various forms.
[0020] Various modifications to the embodiment will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art and the generic principles herein may be applied to other embodiments. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments illustrated, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features described herein.
[0021] Referring to figure 1, in one aspect of the invention, a drive mechanism 100 for blade 30 of a motor grader 10 is illustrated. The drive mechanism 100 comprises a plurality of elements, a plurality of hoses and a plurality of couplers. The plurality of elements are configured to form a hydraulic circuit of the motor grader. The plurality of hoses are configured for fluidic connection between the plurality of elements. The plurality of couplers are configured to secure the plurality of hoses with the plurality of elements. The plurality of elements are a manifold block 110, a control valve 40 and a hydraulic cylinder 160. The manifold block 110 is configured to be mounted on a mold board 20 of the motor grader and the hydraulic cylinder 160 is configured to be mounted on the blade 30.
[0022] In an embodiment, the plurality of hoses are a first pair of hoses 130, a second pair of hoses 140 and a pair of tube assemblies 150. The first pair of hoses 130 is configured for fluidic connection between the manifold block 110 and the control valve 40. The second pair of hoses 140 is configured to be fluidically coupled with the manifold block 110. The pair of tube assemblies 150 is configured to be fluidically coupled with the hydraulic cylinder 160. Further the second pair of hoses 140 and the pair of tube assemblies 150 are configured to form the fluidic connection between the manifold block 110 and the hydraulic cylinder 160. Further the pair of tube assemblies 150 and the second pair of hoses 140 are fluidically coupled to each other to form fluidic connection between the hydraulic cylinder 160 and the manifold block 110.
[0023] In an embodiment, the plurality of couplers are a first pair of couplers 120, a second pair of couplers 170, and a third pair of couplers 180. The first pair of couplers 120 is configured to secure the first pair of hoses 130 with the manifold block 110. The second pair of couplers 170 is configured to secure the tube assemblies 150 with the hydraulic cylinder 160. The third pair of couplers 180, forming an assembly with the second pair of couplers 170, is configured to rotatably secure the second pair of hoses 140 with the manifold block 110.
[0024] In a preferred embodiment, the plurality of couplers are configured to provide rotary movement of the plurality of connected hoses during lateral, vertical or rotary drive of the blade 30.
[0025] In an embodiment of the present subject matter, the first pair of couplers 120 are configured to be plane adaptors provided for securing the first pair of hoses 130 with the manifold block 110. Further the second pair of couplers 170 are configured to be rotary joints provided for securing the pair of tube assemblies 150 with the hydraulic cylinder 160. Furthermore the third pair of couplers 180 are configured to be elbow adaptors such that an assembly of the second pair of couplers 170 and the third pair of couplers 180 is configured to secure the second pair of hoses 140 with the manifold block 110.
[0026] Now referring to figure 2, an assembly of the plurality of couplers is illustrated. The first pair of couplers 120 are mounted on one side of the manifold block 110 and the second pair of couplers 170 are mounted in other side of the manifold block 110. The third pair of couplers 180 are coupled with the second pair of couplers 180.
[0027] Now referring to figure 3, a view of the motor grader 10 with the manifold block 110 is illustrated. The manifold block 110 is mounted on the mold board 20. The first pair of couplers 120 are mounted on one side of the manifold block 110. Further figure 4 illustrates another view of the motor grader 10. The assembly of the second pair of couplers 170 and the third pair of couplers 180 is mounted on other side of the manifold block 110.
[0028] In one aspect of the present subject matter, the plurality of couplers are configured to prevent twisting of the plurality of hoses and take up the torsional loads due to lateral, vertical or rotary movement of the blade 30. More specifically, during circle reverse gear the drive mechanism 100 enables rotary motion of the blade 30 along with the hydraulic cylinder 160 ensuring uninterrupted fluid flow at any angle of rotation.
[0029] Exemplary embodiments discussed above may provide certain advantages. Though not required to practice aspects of the disclosure, these advantages may include those provided by the following features.
[0030] Some embodiments of the subject matter enable replacement of individual component in case of failure instead of replacing whole assembly of the motor grader.
[0031] Some embodiments of the subject matter enable to significantly improve serviceability of the motor grader.
[0032] Some embodiments of the subject matter enable to reduce overall weight of the drive mechanism for blade of the motor grader.
[0033] Some embodiments of the subject matter enable to avoid the hose twisting, to limit stress and to increase life span of the plurality of hoses.
[0034] Some embodiments of the subject matter enable leakage proof movement of plurality of hoses during lateral, vertical or rotary drive of the blade.
[0035] Although implementations for the drive mechanism 100 have been described in language specific to structural features and/or methods, it is to be understood that the appended claims are not necessarily limited to the specific features described. Rather, the specific features are disclosed as examples of implementation for the drive mechanism 100.

,CLAIMS:
1. A drive mechanism (100) for blade (30) of a motor grader (10), wherein the drive mechanism (100) comprises;
a plurality of elements configured to form a hydraulic circuit of the motor grader (10);
a plurality of hoses configured for fluidic connection between the plurality of elements and
a plurality of couplers configured to secure the plurality of hoses with the plurality of elements;
wherein the plurality of couplers are configured to provide rotary movement of the plurality of connected hoses during lateral, vertical or rotary drive of the blade (30).

2. The drive mechanism (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of elements are a manifold block (110) mounted on a mold board (20) of the motor grader (10), a control valve (40) and a hydraulic cylinder (160) mounted on the blade (30).

3. The drive mechanism (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of hoses are a first pair of hoses (130), a second pair of hoses (140) and a pair of tube assemblies (150).

4. The drive mechanism (100) as claimed in claims 1, wherein
the first pair of hoses (130) is configured for fluidic connection between the manifold block (110) and the control valve (40);
the second pair of hoses (140) is configured to be fluidically coupled with the manifold block (110); and
the pair of tube assemblies (150) is configured to be fluidically coupled with the hydraulic cylinder (160);
wherein the second pair of hoses (140) and the pair of tube assemblies (150) are configured to form the fluidic connection between the manifold block (110) and the hydraulic cylinder (160).

5. The drive mechanism (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of couplers are:
a first pair of couplers (120) configured to secure the first pair of hoses (130) with the manifold block (110);
a second pair of couplers (170) configured to secure the tube assemblies (150) with the hydraulic cylinder (160); and
a third pair of couplers (180), forming an assembly with the second pair of couplers (170), is configured to rotatably secure the second pair of hoses (140) with the manifold block (110).

6. The drive mechanism (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first pair of couplers (120) is configured to be a plane adaptor.
7. The drive mechanism (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second pair of couplers (170) is configured to be a rotary joint.
8. The drive mechanism (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the third pair of couplers (180) is configured to be an elbow adaptor.