Lifting and excavating apparatus

Claim 1

In an excavating bucket comprising: a first bucket section having two sides, a bottom, and a top including a junction member, said junction member being adapted for connection to the arm of a vehicle for pivotal movement relative to said arm about a first axis, a second bucket section having two sides and a bottom mounted for pivotal movement relative to said first bucket section about a second axis; and, a hydraulic actuator attached to both of said sections and operable for pivoting said sections relative to each other, each of said sections being substantially open on the side thereof facing the other of said sections, and said actuator being operable for pivoting said sections relative to each other between a first closed position and a second open position, that improvement wherein: said actuator is mounted within said sections between said second axis and the bottom of said bucket and includes a hydraulic cylinder and piston rod, one of said cylinder and said piston rod being attached to said first section and the other of said cylinder and said piston rod being attached to said second section such that said rod is withdrawn into said cylinder when said sections are pivoted toward each other, said bottoms of said sections overlap when said sections are in said closed position, the sides of one of said sectionS overlap the sides of the other of said sections when said sections are in said closed position, and, each side of each of said sections defines a surface facing towards the other of said sections and the portion of each of said surfaces extending from adjacent the bottom edge of the respective section to approximately midway the height thereof is concave, said concave surfaces of one of said sections being spaced away from said concave surfaces of the other of said sections when the adjacent edges of the bottoms of said sections are in substantial juxtaposition.