Sweeper bucket with rollers

Abstract

A loader bucket is adapted to mount a front rotary broom or brush, which is positioned ahead of a cutting edge of the bucket. The broom rotates to lift material over the broom and rearwardly to deposit material in the bucket. A pair of support rollers are mounted in recesses on the bottom wall of the bucket to support the front cutting edge of the bucket at a desired level relative to a supporting surface and prevent the edge from unintentionally engaging the surface. The rollers are made so that they will roll easily and slide on the surface and are positioned to permit tilting the bucket so that the front cutting edge of the bucket will engage the surface for scraping material from the surface, with the rollers remaining, if desired. The rollers are mounted in recessed chambers on the surface formed on the bottom side of the bottom wall by upwardly formed portions of the bottom wall of the bucket, the upwardly formed positions form a dam along and to the rear of the front cutting edge of the bucket.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A loader bucket for supporting a front mounted rotary sweeper, said bucket having an attachment member at the rear for attaching to a loader, the improvement comprising a bottom wall of the bucket having at least one raised section forming an upwardly extending wall portion adjacent a forward edge of the bucket, and a rearwardly tapering wall portion joining an upper edge of the upwardly tapering wall portion to form a recess on a bottom side of the bottom wall of the bucket.  
     
     
         2 . The loader bucket of  claim 1 , wherein said wall portions extend laterally across the width of the bucket.  
     
     
         3 . The loader bucket of  claim 1 , wherein said wall portions are secured to an end wall of the bucket.  
     
     
         4 . The loader bucket of  claim 1 , wherein there are at least two rollers mounted in the recess formed on the bottom side of the bottom wall of the bucket, the rollers being adjacent to opposite ends of the bucket and rotatably mounted thereon with a portion of the rollers extending below a working plane of the bucket.  
     
     
         5 . The loader bucket of  claim 4 , wherein said rollers have tapered ends.  
     
     
         6 . The loader bucket of  claim 3 , wherein end walls of the bucket form side walls of the chamber on the bottom side of the bottom wall of the bucket, and gusset walls in the chamber secured to the wall portions and parallel to the end walls and spaced therefrom a selected distance, the rollers being positioned between respective end walls and a respective adjacent gusset wall.  
     
     
         7 . A sweeper bucket adapted for use with a front mounted rotary broom, said loader bucket having a bottom wall with a forward edge, said rotary broom sweeping material from a surface into the bucket and mounted in a housing that overlies the broom, material swept moving rearwardly toward the bucket, said bucket having end walls, and a pair of rollers mounted below the bottom wall of the bucket and between the end walls, and having portions that extend below the forward edge of the bucket to support the forward edge at a height above the surface being swept.  
     
     
         8 . The sweeper bucket of  claim 7 , wherein the bucket bottom wall is formed to have at least one downwardly opening recess, said rollers being mounted at least partially in the recess.  
     
     
         9 . The sweeper bucket of  claim 8 , wherein the bottom wall is formed to have a raised laterally extending portion on an upper side and forming a downwardly opening recess extending transversely between the end walls of the bucket.  
     
     
         10 . The sweeper bucket of  claim 9 , wherein said bottom wall has a raised portion adjacent the forward edge thereof, and forming the downwardly facing recess for receiving the rollers, said raised portion extending laterally between the end walls, and the broom depositing materials to a rear side of the raised portion, the raised portion thereby acting as a dam to retain material in the bucket.  
     
     
         11 . The sweeper bucket of  claim 10 , wherein said raised portion comprises a generally planar upwardly inclined wall portion at a forward side of the raised portion, and a generally planar downwardly inclined and rearwardly extending portion joining the upwardly extending portion along a top edge of the raised portion.  
     
     
         12 . A loader bucket adapted for mounting a sweeper, the loader bucket having a bottom wall, a rear wall, a forward edge, and end walls forming a bucket interior space, a pair of rollers mounted below the bottom wall of the bucket, and the bottom wall of the bucket having a raised transversely extending portion on the interior space that forms a downwardly facing recess for mounting the rollers, said rollers being positioned to space the bottom wall of the bucket from a surface supporting the rollers.  
     
     
         13 . The loader bucket of  claim 12 , wherein said rollers are positioned more closely to the front edge than the rear wall.  
     
     
         14 . The loader bucket of  claim 13 , wherein said rollers are plastic rollers, and said rollers are mounted on shafts that are fixed relative to the bucket.  
     
     
         15 . The loader bucket of  claim 14 , wherein the rollers extend from the end walls a short distance, and gusset walls mounted on the bottom wall and forming end supports for the rollers.  
     
     
         16 . The loader bucket of  claim 13 , wherein the bucket is attached to a loader for movement about a horizontal axis, the bucket being tiltable about the rollers where the rollers are supported on a surface being swept so the front edge engages the surface being swept.  
     
     
         17 . The loader bucket of  claim 12 , wherein the bottom wall has front, rear and side edges defining a perimeter, and the rollers being entirely within the perimeter of the bottom wall.