Position adjustable grapple attachment

摘要

An attachment that is configured for attachment to an arm of a piece of construction equipment. The attachment includes a pair of grapple mechanisms mounted on a main beam. Each grapple mechanism includes opposing grab arms mounted to a grab arm housing. The grab arm housings of the grapple mechanisms are each individually adjustable separate from one another relative to the main beam in one or more directions generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the main beam. The attachment can fine adjust the positions of the pipe ends relative to one another until the ends align with each other, at which point the pipe ends can be welded or otherwise secured to each other while being held in position by the grapple mechanisms.

主权项

1. A method of performing a processing operation on one or more ends of first and second pipes to be joined together, comprising:
a) attaching a grapple attachment to an arm of construction equipment, the grapple attachment is configured to simultaneously grab the first and second pipes, and the grapple attachment includes a mount bracket having an arm attachment side that is detachably mounted to the arm and a lower head assembly attachment side that is rotatably connected to a lower head assembly; b) simultaneously grabbing the first and second pipes using the grapple attachment and positioning the ends of the first and second pipes adjacent to one another using the grapple attachment; c) using at least one laser mounted on a portion of the grapple attachment other than the mount bracket to direct a beam of light from the at least one laser onto at least one of the pipe ends to determine the position of the pipe ends relative to one another, the at least one laser is mounted at a location so that the beam of light from the at least one laser can be directed onto the at least one pipe end, wherein the at least one laser is mounted so that the at least one laser is movable relative to the lower head assembly and relative to the pipe ends in a direction that is parallel to the first and second pipes; d) using the determined position to adjust at least one of the first pipe and the second pipe using the grapple attachment; e) repeating steps c) and d) if necessary until the end of the first pipe is aligned with the end of the second pipe; and f) once the ends are aligned, using a pipe processing tool to perform the processing operation on at least one of the ends of the first and second pipes.