The Single Pointed Ripper Bucket® (SPRB) is a new style ripper/bucket combination for excavators and backhoes that allows the operator to easily rip rock, coral shale, caliche, decomposed granite, limestone, sandstone, asphalt or frozen ground with the maximum breakout force, pry out and carry stumps or boulders, rip a clean narrow V trench for laying utilities, plus scoop and load material. The (SPRB) is a patent pending new design that allows the operator to own a relatively inexpensive Single Pointed Ripper (SPR) plus allows the operator to scoop and remove ripped debris without requiring the tool change or machine change to use another bucket. The sides are solid high strength HARDOX 400 steel slabs that are arranged in a V shape. These plates converge at the bottom and are connected to structural member that holds a single replaceable tooth. The tip radius is shorter than the standard bucket to keep the breakout forces high, but is long enough to form a V shape that is structurally sound for ripping and prying.
By ripping a narrow V shaped trench, a utility line or cable can be laid in the bottom of the trench thus minimizing the amount of rock to be ripped and the handling of a lot of backfill material. In locations where rock bedding is required, the quantity of the bedding material is reduced due to the very narrow trench bottom.
The SPRB facilitates prying of stumps, boulders and flat rock slab formations that can be pried with existing SPR’s, but can not be pried with any of the existing ripper/bucket combinations.
After the rock is ripped by the tooth, the sides are ripped flat by the following side leading edges of the SPRB. This cutting angle causes an upward displacement of the ripper material instead of binding the material by displacing the material side to side. With the SPRB, displacing the material upwards causes a smoother ripping effect. The curved side leading edges also help to allow the operator to cradle and carry large boulders and stumps.
The advantages of the SPRB are as follows:
- Inexpensive ripper/bucket combination: the operator can own an effective ripper/bucket combination that is considerably less expensive than any other combination product on the market. The price is only a small amount more, or comparable to that of a SPR.
- Allows the operator to scoop material: and most importantly, the operator can scoop and clean out the ripped rock debris because the bucket has some capacity.
- Effective Ripper: the operator will be achieving the full breakout force going through one tooth. This combined with the fact that the SPRB can be shorter than the standard SPR also allows the breakout force to be higher.
- Facilitates prying with a ripper/bucket combination: no other ripper/bucket combination on the market is shaped curved and narrow to facilitate prying.
- Reduces the necessary amount of rock ripped: for utility contractors laying cables or pipes in rock, the SPRB rips a minimum amount of rock by not ripping the bottom corners of the trench, as compared to ripping a square shaped trench bottom.
