1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a snow-plowing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional snow-plowing apparatus, 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 (refer to Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2005-226336 for example).
In this conventional snow-plowing apparatus, very 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. And, cost is caused because a high-power engine is necessary. Further, this snow-plowing apparatus is exclusively for snow-plowing and the apparatus including the engine can not be utilized in other seasons than winter.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a snow-plowing apparatus which can plow the snow without high stress on the engine, and by use of a machine for other purposes than snow-plowing.
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, rotational driving force of the engine 6 is transmitted to an end 5a of a holding rod 5 extended from the engine 6 forward and downward, and a rotation transmitting portion 9, to which a mowing blade is detachably attached, is provided. The rotation transmitting portion 9 has a gear case 18 disposed 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 is protruding from an attachment disc portion 17 of the gear case 18. And, a mark 42 represents a spherical blade height adjuster attached to the middle of the holding rod 5 to keep a certain height of the mowing blade.
In case that the apparatus is used as the hand-pushed mower 40 for mowing grass, a rotational axis of the rotation shaft portion 19 is directed approximately vertical and the mowing blade is attached (not shown in Figures).
Next, the snow-removing member 4 is described. The snow-removing member 4 is provided with a shaft member 2 attached to the rotation shaft portion 19 of the rotation transmitting portion 9 to rotate around the horizontal axis L, a snowplow rotating body 1 rotated around the horizontal axis L through the rotation transmitting portion 9 (mounted onto the shaft member 2) to plow the snow, and a housing member 3 attached to the end 5a of the holding rod 5 and disposed near the snowplow rotating body 1 on the rear side to guide the plowed snow as to be thrown away upward.
In
In
Each of the short rotating bodies 10 has disc portions 14 disposed parallel with a predetermined interval and having insertion holes 12 in the center, short cylinder portions 13 of equilateral hexagonal cylinder bent inward from the insertion holes 12 of the disc portions 14, and four snow-plowing blades 11 unitedly formed with inner faces 14a of the pair of disc portions 14 and disposed in a peripheral direction X with a predetermined pitch. The insertion hole 12 is formed into an equilateral hexagon as to be mounted to the shaft member 2 without gaps. A center angle θ11 of equal distribution of the snow-plowing blades 11, 60° in Figures, and a replacement pitch angle θ12 of insertion of the shaft member 2 into the insertion hole 12 of the short rotating body 10, 90° in Figures, are set to be different and be in mutual relationship of multiplication by integer.
Each snow-plowing blade 11 has an L-shaped cross-sectional configuration made by bending a band plate and composed of a (front) band plate portion 15 on the front side in the rotating direction 50 and another (rear) band plate portion 16 on the rear side distinguished by the bend. The band plate portion 15 is shorter than the band plate portion 16, and the band plate portions 15 and 16 are disposed as to open toward a radius direction R. And, an end edge portion 15a of the band plate portion 15 is apart from a peripheral edge of the disc portion 14 with a predetermined interval, and another end edge portion 16a of the band plate portion 16 is extended as to contact the peripheral edge of the disc portion 14. With this construction, the band plate portion 16 on the rear side plows the snow S (refer to
Then, the three short rotating bodies 10 are mounted to the shaft member 2 as the disc portions 14 are tightly fit each other, and the positions of the snow-plowing blades 11 of the three short rotating bodies 10 are dislocated for 120° in the peripheral direction X one another (refer to
Next, as shown in
And, the snow-shoveling portion 33 has a shoveling portion 33b of band plate protruding forward unitedly with a lower end edge 32 of the snow-shooting wall portion 31, and a bottom portion 33a of band plate formed horizontal unitedly with a front end edge of the shoveling portion 33b by bending backward. The shoveling portion 33b and the front end edge of the bottom portion 33a form a shoveling edge portion 37 of acute angle in cross section. And, plural reinforcing ribs 34 of thin wall, connecting an upper face of the bottom portion 33a, a rear face of the shoveling portion 33b, and a lower face of the snow-shooting wall portion 31 unitedly, are disposed with a predetermined pitch in lateral direction to make the snow-shoveling portion 33 firm. And, a front side portion of each of the side wall portions 35 is formed vertical in an upper part and formed inclined backward and downward in a lower part (refer to
The housing member 3 shown in
Next, in
And, in
And, in case that the hand-pushed mower 40 is used for mowing grass in
Next, in case that the mower 40 is used for snow-plowing, the guard member 43 and the mowing blade 44 are removed from the holding rod 5 and the rotation transmitting portion 9 (refer to arrows 51), the rotation shaft portion of the rotation transmitting portion 9 is directed horizontal, and the fixing rod portion 26 and the snow-removing member 4 are attached to the rotation transmitting portion 9 (refer to arrows 52).
In the hand-pushed mower 40 in
Then, when the engine 6 of the hand-pushed mower 40 is started in
And, as described above, the three short rotating bodies 10 forming the snowplow rotating body 1 unitedly rotate keeping the state that the snow-plowing blades 11 of each short rotating body 10 are dislocated for 120° in the peripheral direction X each other (refer to
And, being different from an electric snowplow, plowing work is possible in a place where an electric cord is not available. Further, the snow-removing member 4 does not need a gearbox and number of parts is reduced because rotation number of the snowplow rotating body 1 can be changed by changing the rotation speed of the engine.
And, the snow S, shoveled by the snow-plowing blade 11, is held on the snow-plowing blade 11 by the curved plate portion 31a when the snow-plowing blade 11 is on a position corresponding to the curved plate portion 31a of the snow-shooting wall portion 31 of the housing member 3, and the snow S, sliding along the front face of the flat plate portion 31b of the snow-shooting wall portion 31, is thrown in the forward-and-upward-inclined direction when the snow-plowing blade 11 reaches near a top portion (refer to an arrow 28 in
The snow-removing member 4, although attached to be directed slightly to the left side in
And, the snowplow rotating body 1, although composed of three short rotating bodies 10 in the present invention, may be composed 4 or more short rotating bodies 10 as to correspond to the length of the snowplow rotating body 1.
And, although the mowing blade of the hand-pushed mower 40 is replaced with the snow-removing member 4 in the present invention, a hand-pushed snowplow having the snow-removing member 4 as in the present invention may be produced. That is to say, in this snowplow, the engine 6 and the wheel 7 are attached to the frame 8, and the snow-removing member 4 is attached to the end 5a of the holding rod 5 extended from the engine 6 in a forward-and-downward-inclining direction
And, in
As described above, one unit of the hand-pushed mower 40 can be used for grass mowing in summer and for snow plowing in winter by replacement of the mowing blade attached to the rotation transmitting portion 9 with the snow-removing member 4, and the hand-pushed machine having the engine 6 and the wheel 7 is effectively used for many purposes because the snow-plowing apparatus relating to the present invention has a construction in which the snow-removing member 4, detachably attached to the end 5a of the holding rod 5, extended in forward-and-downward-inclined direction, of the hand-pushed mower 40 having the engine 6, the wheel 7 attached to the frame 8, and the detachable rotation transmitting portion 9 to which rotational driving force of the engine 6′ is transmitted and the mowing blade is detachably attached, is provided, and the snow-removing member 4 is provided with the snowplow rotating body 1 rotated around the horizontal axis L by the rotation transmitting portion 9 for plowing and throwing snow. And, changing work is convenient without much labor because the purpose is changed only by attachment and removal of the mowing blade and the snow-removing member 4 on the rotation transmitting portion 9. And, purchasing cost can be reduced because machines specialized in mowing and snowplow are not necessary to buy.
And, the apparatus composed of the engine 6 and the wheel T can be multi-purpose and effectively used for grass mowing in summer and for snow plowing in winter by replacement of the mowing blade attached to the rotation transmitting portion 9 with the snow-removing member 4 because the snow-plowing apparatus relating to the present invention has a construction in which the engine 6 and the wheel 7 are attached to the frame 8, the snow-removing member 4, detachably attached to the end 5a of the holding rod 5 extended from the engine 6 in forward-and-downward-inclined direction, and the snow-removing member 4 is provided with the snowplow rotating body 1 rotated around the horizontal axis L for plowing and throwing snow by the rotation transmitting portion 9, disposed on the end 5a of the holding rod 5, to which rotational driving force of the engine 6 is transmitted. And, changing work is convenient without much labor because the purpose is changed only by attachment and removal of the mowing blade and the snow-removing member 4 on the rotation transmitting portion 9. And, purchasing cost can be reduced because machines specialized in mowing and snowplow are not necessary to buy.
And, all of the snow-plowing blades 11 of the short rotating bodies 10 do not simultaneously plow the snow S for the difference of timing that the snow-plowing blades 11 of the short rotating bodies 10 approach the snow S because the snow-removing member 4 is provided with the shaft member 2 attached to the rotation transmitting portion 9 and rotated around the horizontal axis L, and the housing member 3 attached to the end 5a of the holding rod 5 and disposed near the rear side of the snowplow rotating body 1 to lead the snow plowed by the snowplow rotating body 1 upward, the snowplow rotating body 1 is composed of plural short rotating bodies 10 having the insertion hole 12 to mount to the shaft member 2 and unitedly rotated around the horizontal axis L, and each of the short rotating bodies 10 has the plural snow-plowing blades 11 disposed with a predetermined pitch in the peripheral direction X, and the plural short rotating bodies 10 are mounted to the shaft member 2 to compose the snowplow rotating body 1 as the plural snow-plowing blades 11 are dislocated each other in the peripheral direction X. Therefore, when the short rotating body 10 is divided into three units, for example, the torque which the rotation transmitting portion 9 receives when the snow S is plowed is about ⅓ of a case in which the snow-plowing blades 11 plow the snow S simultaneously with the whole length in the axis direction, and stress on the engine 6 is greatly reduced. Consequently, the snowplow rotating body 1 rotates smoothly, the snow plowing is efficiently conducted, and defects of the engine 6 are reduced.
To make the whole snowplow rotating body 1 as one unit, the mold causes high cost and it is quite difficult to make the mold with high accuracy. The cost of the mold is greatly reduced with high accuracy by dividing the snowplow rotating body 1 into the plural short rotating bodies 10.
And, snow plowing is smoothly conducted because the snow shoveled by the snow-plowing blades 11 is guided forward and upward and thrown away.
The plural short rotating bodies 10 having the same configuration (provided with the snow-plowing blades 11 with the same distribution) can be mounted on the shaft member 2 as phase of the snow-plowing blades 11 of each short rotating body 10 dislocate in the peripheral direction X because the shaft member 2 has the peripheral face 20 of equilateral hexagon in cross section, and the insertion hole 12 of the short rotating body 10 is formed to be equilateral hexagon to be mounted to the shaft member 2 without gaps. Therefore, for example, three short rotating bodies 10 can be mounted to the shaft member 2 to be dislocate phases each other for 120°. And, production cost can be reduced because a short rotating body 10 having different distribution of the snow-plowing blades 11 is not necessary.
When the mower 40 proceeds, the snow-shoveling portion 33 bites into the snow accumulated on the ground, and the snow is smoothly sent to the snowplow rotating body 1 to plow the snow efficiently because the housing member 3 has the snow-shooting wall portion 31 approximately upward-and-forward-inclined J-shaped in cross section to guide the snow upward, and the snow-shoveling portion 33 formed unitedly with the snow-shooting wall portion 31 along the lower end edge 32 of the snow-shooting wall portion 31.
The snow can be thrown away in the upward-and-forward-inclined direction to smoothly conduct the snow plowing because the snow shoveled by the snow-plowing blades 11 is guided along the front face of the snow-shooting wall portion 31 of the housing member 3 along with the rotation of the short rotating bodies 10.
And, the snow-shooting wall portion 31 and the snow-shoveling portion 33 unitedly formed within the housing member 3 do not cause much labor in comparison with a case that separated members are connected with bolts, and have a strong construction without separation by loosening of the bolts in use.
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.