Patent Application
20130074376
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a snow-plowing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a snow-plowing apparatus, in which a housing opening forward for snow shooting is attached to a front part of a body on which an engine is mounted, an auger for gathering snow rotated around a horizontal axis by rotational driving force of the engine is disposed in front of the housing as to be surrounded, and a blower to blow away the snow gathered on a center portion by the rotation of the auger through a chute is provided, is widely known.
However, in the conventional snow-plowing apparatus, high torque is loaded to a shaft connected to the engine, very high stress is loaded onto the engine, and defects tend to be generated because the gathering work of the snow on the center portion by the auger and the snow shooting work by the blower are simultaneously conducted by rotating both of the auger and the blower by the driving force of one engine.
So the inventor of the present invention proposed a snow-plowing apparatus which conducts snow-plowing work without loading stress on the engine (refer to Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2007-309050).
The snow-plowing apparatus of Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2007-309050 can easily shoot the snow upward and has very good snow removal effect when applied to newly lain snow.
However, when the snow becomes sherbet-like after a period of time, excessive stress is loaded to the engine because large amount of snow is gathered on the rotation member within a short period of time and the snow becomes stuck to gaps and firm. When the rotation of the rotation member is hindered, snow-plowing can't be conducted smoothly, snow-plowing work is necessarily interrupted or stopped, and working efficiency may be reduced thereby.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a snow-plowing apparatus with which snow-plowing work can be smoothly conducted when applied to sherbet-like snow.
The present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As shown in
In the hand-pushed mower 40, an engine 6 and a wheel 7 are attached to a frame 8 having a handle 41, a rotation transmitting portion 9 to which rotation driving force of the engine 6 is transmitted is placed on an end 5a of a holding rod 5 extending from the engine 6 forward and downward, and the snow-removing member 4 is attached to the end 5a of the holding rod 5 through the rotation transmitting portion 9. The rotation transmitting portion 9 is provided with a gear case 18 on the end 5a of the holding rod 5, a gear in the gear case 18 is connected to the engine 6 with a driving shaft disposed within the holding rod 5 as to freely rotate, and a rotation shaft portion 19 protruding from the gear case 18 is made rotate around a horizontal axis L.
As shown in
The rotating member 1 is penetrated by a shaft member 2, to which the rotation driving force of the engine 6 is transmitted through the rotation transmitting portion 9, and driven to rotate around the horizontal axis L. The shaft member 2 is composed of a metal pipe formed to have polygonal cross section, and an end of the shaft member 2 is fit to a rotation shaft portion 19 of the rotation transmitting portion 9. Further, a housing member 3 is disposed near the rotating member 1 on a rear side. In other words, in
The rotating direction X of the rotating member 1 and the shaft member 2 is a direction of forward rotation in
As shown in
Each of the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 is respectively disposed as to neighbor the water wheel type rotating body 10 on the left side and the right side. It is preferable to make the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 with metal or synthetic resin composed of polyethylene. In each of the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12, a pair of disc portions 24 are disposed parallel on the left and right end portions and connected by the cylindrical connecting portion 23. A polygonal insertion hole portion 25, opening on the disc portions 24 and fit to the shaft member 2 without gaps, penetrates the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12, and the shaft member 2 is removably inserted to the insertion hole portion 25 like a skewer.
In the screw type rotating body 11, a screw blade 11a to move the snow S from left to right (from the left outer side to the right inner side) in the horizontal axis L direction is formed on a peripheral face 23a of the connecting portion 23. On the other hand, in the screw type rotating body 12, a screw blade 12a to move the snow S from right to left (from the right outer side to the left inner side) in the horizontal axis L direction is formed on the peripheral face 23a of the connecting portion 23. That is to say, the pair of screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 is constructed as that the screw blades 11a and 12a, forming mutually opposite spirals, are provided, the snow S is moved from the outer side to the inner side along the horizontal axis L direction and transferred to the central position C where the water wheel type rotating body 10 is disposed.
Therefore, the rotating member 1 is constructed as that the snow S is plowed in the horizontal axis L direction and sent to the central position C by the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12, and the snow S gathered on the central position C is plowed upward by the water wheel type rotating body 10.
Next, as shown in
The bearing member 46 has a (radial) bearing 47 having an inner ring to which another end of the shaft member 2, of which one end is fit to the rotation shaft portion 19, is attached, and a bearing main body 48 having a hole portion 48a to which an outer ring of the bearing 47 is attached. The bearing main body 48 is fixed to the inner face of the side wall portion 35B with bolts. The bearing member 46 holds the shaft member 2 as to smoothly rotate without staggering the horizontal axis L.
In the housing member 3, the shaft member 2 bridges between the side wall portions 35A and 35B to support the rotating member 1 as the curved plate portion 31a of the snow-shooting wall portion 31 becomes proximate to the peripheral face of the disc portion 14 with a gap g of a predetermined dimension. The gap g is sufficiently narrow as the snow S, plowed and transferred to the central position C by the screw blades 11a and 12a, does not rushingly concentrate on the water wheel type rotating body 10.
And, in
The engine 6 preferably has the maximum rotation output of 5000 to 10000 rotations per minute (rpm). In this case, the rotation transmitting portion 9 is constructed as to reduce the rotation of the engine 6 and make the rotation shaft portion 19 rotate at 2500 to 5000 rotations per minute (rpm).
The method of use (function) of the above-described snow-plowing apparatus of the present invention is now explained.
As shown in
The rotating member 1 plows, disperses, and shoots the snow S, coming in contact from the front side, upward on the central position C. The rotating member 1 rotating with high rotation pitch disperses newly lain snow S, and brakes even sherbet-like or frozen firm snow S lying for a period of time into fine grains.
As shown in
Then, the snow S, shot upward from the central position C of the rotating member 1, is guided by the flat plate portion 31b of the snow-shooting wall portion 31 to go in the forward and upward inclining direction. The housing member 3 prevents the snow S from being scattered in side directions with the side wall portions 35, and guides the snow S in a forward and upward inclining uniform direction to shoot.
As shown in
And, as another example of usage of the snow-plowing apparatus of the present invention, as shown in
In the present invention, modifiable in design, for example, through holes or notched portions may be formed on the disc portions 14 of the water wheel type rotating body and the disc portions 24 of the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 (not shown in Figures). With this construction, large amount of the snow S can be sent to the water wheel type rotating body 10 not only through the gap g formed between the disc portion 14 and the snow-shooting wall portion 31 but through the through holes or notched portions, and more smoothly transferred to the central position C.
As described above, the torque in the moment of plowing the snow S by the rotating member 1 is reduced and the stress loaded on the engine 6 is greatly decreased, the rotating member 1 can be always rotated smoothly, snow-plowing work can be efficiently conducted, and defects of the engine 6 can be restricted because the snow-plowing apparatus of the present invention has the construction in which the snowplow rotating member 1, having the water wheel type rotating body 10 disposed on the central position C and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 each of which is disposed as to neighbor the water wheel type rotating body 10 on left side and right side, is provided, the rotating member 1 is driven to rotate around the horizontal axis L and having the housing member 3 disposed to surround the near portion of the rotating member 1 on the rear side, and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 plow the snow S in the horizontal axis L direction and transfer the snow S to the central position C and the snow S gathered on the central position C is plowed upward by the water wheel type rotating body 10. The water wheel type rotating body 10 and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 can be simultaneously rotated, the snow S is gathered on the central position, and the gathered snow S can be certainly shot upward. And, although the production cost of mold becomes very expensive when the whole of the rotating member 1 is made as one unit, the production cost of mold is greatly reduced with high accuracy by making the wheel type rotating body 10 and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 separately. And, in need of repairing, the wheel type rotating body 10 and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 can be separately changed without changing the whole of the rotating member 1 as one unit.
And, the torque in the moment of plowing the snow S by the rotating member 1 is reduced and the stress loaded on the engine 6 is greatly decreased, the rotating member 1 can be always rotated smoothly, snow-plowing work can be efficiently conducted, and defects of the engine 6 can be restricted because the snow-plowing apparatus of the present invention has the construction in which the snowplow rotating member 1, having the water wheel type rotating body 10, disposed on the central position C and provided with plural plate blades 10a with a predetermined pitch in the peripheral direction R, and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12, which are disposed as to neighbor the water wheel type rotating body 10 on left side and right side and provided with the screw blades 11a and 12a forming mutually opposite spiral configurations, is provided, the shaft member 2, penetrating the rotating member 1 to driven the rotating member 1 to rotate around the horizontal axis L, is provided, the housing member 3, disposed to surround the near portion of the rotating member 1 on the rear side, is provided, and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 plow the snow S in the horizontal axis L direction and transfer the snow S to the central position C and the snow S gathered on the central position C is plowed upward by the water wheel type rotating body 10. The water wheel type rotating body 10 and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 penetrated by the shaft member 2 can be simultaneously rotated as one unit, the snow S is gathered on the central position, and the gathered snow S can be certainly shot upward. And, although the production cost of mold becomes very expensive when the whole of the rotating member 1 is made as one unit, the production cost of mold is greatly reduced with high accuracy by making the wheel type rotating body 10 and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 separately. And, in need of repairing, the wheel type rotating body 10 and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 can be separately changed by drawing out of the shaft member 2 without changing the whole of the rotating member 1 as one unit.
And, the snow S transferred inward in the horizontal axis L direction is transferred to the central position C little by little through the gap g between the disc portion 14 and the snow-shooting wall portion 31, and the snow S can be certainly plowed out by the wheel type rotating body 10 without sticking to the plate blade 10a because a pair of the disc portions 14 is disposed parallel on left and right side end portions of the water wheel type rotating body 10, the plural plate blades 10a are fixed to the peripheral face 13a of the cylindrical connecting portion 13 which connects the disc portions 14 and inner faces 14a of the disc portions 14, and the plate blade 10a is inclining forward with the inclination angle of 30° to 50° in the peripheral direction R. And, strength of the plate blade 10a can be improved to be certainly fixed. Further, the water wheel type rotating body 10, holding the snow S on the plate blades 10a, rotates and certainly plows the snow S.
And, the wheel type rotating body 10 and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 are disposed in the horizontal axis L direction as to be freely separated and connected to compose one unit of the rotating member 1 as on a skewer because the shaft member 2 has a polygonal cross sectional configuration, insertion hole portions 15 and 25 of polygonal configuration to which the shaft member 2 is inserted are formed through the water wheel type rotating body 10 and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12, and the shaft member 2 is detachably inserted to the insertion hole portions 15 and 25. That is to say, the snow S can be stably plowed by coaxially rotating the water wheel type rotating body 10 and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12. And, changing and repairing of the water wheel type rotating body 10 and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 can be very easily conducted.
While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in this specification, it is to be understood that the invention is illustrative and not restrictive, because various changes are possible within the spirit and indispensable features.
