Excavating vehicle

Claim 1

An excavating vehicle including a hydraulic actuator and a control system for producing a swivel motion of a swivel base which comprises: means for moving said vehicle from place-to-place, a swivel base on said means for moving said vehicle, an excavating apparatus on said swivel base, a hydraulic system for operating said actuator drive, said hydraulic system including, a control valve for adjusting a flow rate and direction of flow of a hydraulic fluid supplied to said actuator, a motor-pump for pumping said hydraulic fluid to said control value, swivel base position determining means for setting a predetermined stopping position of said swivel base, detector means for detecting positions of said swivel base, operator position setting means for setting a direction and speed of movement of said swivel base relative to a neutral position, and control means for controlling fluid flow through said control valve, said control means adapted to receive control signals from said operator means, said position setting means and said position detector means which determines a swivel speed of said swivel base and a deceleration timing signal from said operator position setting means which signals are evaluated in said control means and result in an output signal for controlling said control valve, whereby said output signal to said control valve controls the fluid flow rate through said control valve thereby reducing the flow rate in a timed relationship in accordance with swivel speed to slowly stop said swivel base at a desired stop position, the faster the swivel speed, the earlier the output signal is directed to said control valve.