Motorised trench digger, e.g. for laying cables or pipes

摘要

The trench digger has a tracked vehicle (1) with a chassis (2) and a frame (4) supporting an engine and a cab. A digging unit (5) is towed by the vehicle and connected to it by a coupling system (6). The vehicle has an alignment mechanism (8) which turns the vehicle frame to one side if the digger unit moves to one side of the vehicle. The alignment mechanism maintains the centre of gravity of the vehicle in line with its lengthwise median plane. The alignment mechanism has a toothed wheel (9) meshing with the pinion (11) of a reduction gear unit. A second pivoting member (13) is situated between the chassis and frame to turn the frame relative to the chassis. The second pivoting mechanism incorporates a crown wheel linked to the frame and chassis through bearings and operated by power cylinders.