The present invention relates generally to a material spreader mountable to a vehicle for conveying and spreading material.
Material spreaders are commonly used for carrying and spreading materials, such as salt or sand, on surfaces such as sidewalks, parking lots, driveways, roadways and the like. Material spreaders typically include a hopper for storing the material, a frame for supporting the hopper and attaching it to the rear of a vehicle, and a spreading mechanism for distributing the material.
Material spreaders can be attached to a vehicle in a variety of ways. For example, the material spreader can be attached to a rear portion of a vehicle by coupling the frame to a trailer hitch on the vehicle. Alternatively, the vehicle may be modified by attaching mounting brackets to the rear bumper for example, by drilling holes in the bumper and attaching the mounting brackets by bolts. The material spreader can include corresponding mounting brackets for mating with the mounting brackets on the bumper to connect the material spreader to the vehicle.
The present invention provides a material spreader that is attached to the vehicle by connecting it to a vehicle hitch such that a hopper rests on top of a rear bumper of the vehicle. A tie down on the material spreader provides a clamping action between the hopper and the vehicle hitch to hold the material spreader on the rear bumper of the vehicle with a clamping force. The material spreader can be easily attached to and removed from a vehicle without the need for extensive and/or permanent vehicle modifications.
More particularly, the material spreader is mountable to a rearwardly projecting bumper of a vehicle for conveying and spreading material. The material spreader includes a hopper for holding material to be spread and a frame that supports the hopper and has a forwardly projecting hitch mount configured for coupling to a rearwardly projecting hitch receiver on the vehicle. A support has an underside for resting atop a top surface of the bumper and the support is movable vertically relative to the frame. A tie down is connected between the support and the frame for urging the support and the hitch mount towards one another to effect a clamping action on the receiver and the bumper. In a preferred embodiment, the support is unitary with the hopper.
The material spreader also provides a unique pivoting connection for a hopper lid that enables/facilitates the loading of the hopper from different sides of the vehicle.
More particularly, the material spreader includes a hopper for holding material to be spread and a lid for closing an open top of the hopper. The hopper has first and second sides and first and second sets of laterally spaced apart hopper hinge elements. The lid has first and second sets of laterally spaced apart lid hinge elements respectively configured for connection to corresponding first and second sets of hopper hinge elements. The hinge elements of a first one of the corresponding sets are releasable to allow the lid to pivot upwardly to a first open position about the hinge elements of a second one of the corresponding sets. The hinge elements of the second one of the corresponding sets are releasable to allow the lid to pivot upwardly to a second open position about the hinge elements of the first one of the corresponding sets. In a preferred embodiment, one set of hinge elements for each corresponding set of hinge elements are laterally deflectable to release the corresponding set of hinge elements.
According to another aspect, the material spreader includes a spinner, an auger for feeding material from the hopper on to the spinner, and a drive assembly for driving the auger and the spinner. The drive assembly includes a motor, a drive shaft connected at opposite ends to a motor and a spinner whereby the spinner operates at the same rotational speed as the motor, and a gear reduction assembly connected between the auger and the drive shaft for driving the auger at a slower rotational speed that the spreader.
Further features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the drawings.
Referring to
With additional reference to
The frame 20 includes a horizontal crossbar 26 connected to the hitch mount 22, for example, at a top surface of the hitch mount. The connection between the hitch mount and the crossbar can be reinforced with a gusset 28. Connected to the crossbar, such as a top surface of the cross bar, is a pair of rearwardly extending bars 30. The connection between the crossbar and the rearwardly extending bars also can be reinforced by gussets 32. The rear end portions of the rearwardly extending bars are each connected to a pair of vertical support members 34 such as brackets.
The brackets 34 support a hopper 36. For example, the brackets can be coupled to the hopper by a connecting element 28, for example, a bolt, rivet, screw, etc. Although shown as vertically extending brackets in the exemplary embodiment of
The brackets 34 provide macroscopic (e.g., large scale) adjustments to the height of the hopper 36 relative to the frame 20, thereby facilitating the mounting of the material spreader 10 onto the vehicle 12. The brackets 34 can include a plurality bores 38 at different vertical heights for connecting the frame 20 to the hopper 36 at a variety of different heights relative to the frame. The brackets therefore allow the material spreader 10 to be vertically adjusted for mounting to vehicles having different vertical distances between the bumper 14 and the hitch receiver 16. For example, in the exemplary embodiment of
The brackets 34 are rearwardly located on the frame relative to a pair of laterally extending bars 40 configured for connection to respective tie downs 42, which are located on the front portion of the frame. The laterally extending arms are supported by gussets 43. In the illustrated embodiment the bars are spaced apart from one another, however, other arrangements also are possible. For example, in an alternative embodiment, the bars can be configured as a unitary piece (e.g., only a single bar may be utilized and the bars need not be straight.
The tie downs 42 are connected to the frame 20, for example, at the ends of the laterally extending bars 40. As shown best in
The material spreader 10 includes a support 60 having an underside for resting atop a top surface 61 of the bumper 14. The support 60 may be a generally planar surface. In a preferred embodiment, the support 60 is formed by and is thereby unitary with the hopper 36. For example, the support can be a bottom surface of the hopper, such as a laterally extending shoulder on the bottom of the hopper that rests atop the rear bumper. Additionally or alternatively, the support can include a portion of the frame, for example, a laterally extending generally planar surface for resting on top of the bumper. Although different configurations are possible, the description herein will primarily refer to the support as a bottom surface of the hopper, however, it will be appreciated that the principles described herein are equally applicable to other support configurations.
The support 60 (e.g., the bottom surface of the hopper) is vertically movable relative to the frame 20. For example, as described above, large scale adjustments to the height of the hopper 36 can be effected by connecting the hopper to different bores 28 in the vertical support members 34 to thereby raise/lower the hopper. Small scale adjustments (e.g., fine tuning) of the height of the hopper relative to the frame can be effected through the tie downs 42 connected to the support and the frame 20, and the tie downs are configured to urge the support 60 and the hitch mount 22 towards one another to effect a clamping action on the bumper 14 and the hitch receiver 16.
An enlarged view of an exemplary tie down 42 is shown in
The clamping action between the bumper 14 and the hitch receiver 16 holds the material spreader 10 on the bumper by applying an upward force on the hitch receiver with the hitch mount 22 and by applying a downward force on the bumper 14 with the support 60. The magnitude of the clamping force can be adjusted by adjusting the tension in the tie downs 42, for example, by tightening/drawing down the bolt or loosening the bolt 62. The weight of the hopper can be supported at least partially by the hitch receiver and the bumper when the material spreader is mounted to the vehicle.
As mentioned above, the support 60 of the material spreader 10 rests atop the bumper 14 and the material spreader is mounted to the bumper with a clamping force. The material spreader therefore does not require or cause permanent modifications to the truck to effect a secure attachment thereto. Additionally, removal of the material spreader can be accomplished by loosening the lock member to thereby relieve the clamping force on the bumper by the hopper, allowing the hopper to be slid off of the bumper after disengaging the hitch receiver from the hitch mount on the frame.
Additional features of the material spreader 10 are shown in
With additional reference to
As shown best in
The material spreader includes two sets of hinges located on different sides of the material spreader for opening the lid. As shown in the illustrated embodiment, one hinge 102 is located on a frontward side of the material spreader 10 and a second hinge 104 is located on a rearward side of the material spreader, however, the hinges can be located on adjacent sides of the material spreader (e.g., perpendicular to one another) or on the left and right sides of the hopper. Additionally, the hinges can be configured for connection to different shaped lids, for example, as may be used circular, rectangular, or other shaped hoppers. The hinges 102 and 104 include both hopper hinge elements and lid hinge elements.
The hopper 36 has a first set of laterally spaced apart hopper hinge elements 106 on one side (e.g., the front side of the hopper) and a second set of laterally spaced apart hopper hinge elements 108 on a different side (e.g., the rear side of the hopper). Likewise, the lid has respective sides with corresponding first and second sets of laterally spaced apart lid hinge elements 110 and 112 configured for releasable connection to corresponding first and second sets of hopper hinge elements 106 and 108. The lateral spacing between the hinge elements is best shown in
In the illustrated embodiment, the hopper hinge elements 106 and 108 are hinge bodies and the lid hinge elements 110 and 112 are hinge pins, however, it will be appreciated that other configurations are possible, for example, the hopper hinge elements can be configured as hinge pins and the lid hinge elements can be configured as hinge bodies, or the hopper and lid may include a combination of hinge bodies and hinge pins.
When the lid 100 is in a closed position (e.g., as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The corresponding sets of hinge elements can be releasable by laterally deflecting one of the sets of hinge elements relative to the other. For example, the hinge bodies 108 on the hopper can be resiliently laterally deflected to release the corresponding hinge pins 112 on the lid. The hinge bodies can be laterally deflected by applying a lateral force to the hinge body, thereby causing the hinge body to deflect laterally to disengage and release the hinge pin, thereby to allow the lid to pivot on the other corresponding set of hinge elements.
Each hinge body (e.g., hopper hinge elements 106 and 108 in
The deflection in the hinge bodies 106 and 108 may be facilitated by forming the hinge bodies with a resiliently flexible material, for example, a thermoplastic elastomer. Additionally or alternatively, one set of hinge elements can be resiliently mounted for deflection, for example, by coupling the hinge elements to a resilient member such as a spring mount. The hinge pins also may include spring-loaded axially extending pins that can be pressed laterally inwardly to disengage the hinge pin from the hinge body. In a preferred embodiment, the force required to deflect the hinge elements laterally to release the corresponding set of hinge elements is about 10-15 pounds of force.
The hinge pins 110 and 112 may be unitary with the lid, for example, by a molding process. Likewise, the hinge bodies 106 and 108 may be unitary with the hopper and formed by a molding process. Alternatively, the hinge pins and hinge bodies can be connected to the lid and hopper, for example, by mounting the hinge elements to the hopper and lid with brackets or another connecting mechanism. In the exemplary embodiment of
The hinge pins 110 and 112 can be inserted into the hinge bodies 106 and 108 by laterally flexing the hinge bodies 106 and 108 apart from one another and sliding each hinge pin through the bore in each corresponding hinge body. For example, the deflected position of the hinge is illustrated by the dashed lines of
As shown best in
As shown best in
Referring now to
The auger 156 can be a helical rotating member for feeding the material from the hopper 36 through a trough 160 located below the hopper. The material is transported from the trough to a chute 162 where the material is deposited onto a spinner 164. The spinner rotates to distribute the material, for example, by outwardly scattering or spraying the material.
The auger and the spinner are driven in a synchronous relationship by a drive assembly 166, which shown in
The drive assembly 166 includes an electric motor 168 that is coupled by a wire harness 170 to a power supply, for example, the battery of the truck. The electric motor supplies power to a motor shaft 172 that is coupled to a drive shaft 174 in a gear box case 176. The drive shaft 174 is connected at one end by a coupling 178 to the motor shaft 172. The opposite end 178 of the drive shaft 174 is configured for connection to the spinner 164, whereby the spinner operates at the same rotational speed as the motor. The gear box case 176 also includes a pair of bearings 182 and 184 that surround the drive shaft 174.
The gear box case 176 also includes a gear reduction assembly connected between the auger and the drive shaft for driving the auger at a slower rotational speed that the spinner. The gear reduction assembly includes a small gear 186 on the drive shaft 174 in mesh with a large gear 188 on a second drive shaft 190. The gear box case also includes bearings 192 and 194, which surround the second drive shaft 190 to facilitate rotation thereof. The second drive shaft has an end 196 configured for connection to the auger 156.
The gear reduction assembly and the direct connection of the drive shaft to the spinner provides a drive assembly that is free from chains, belts and pulleys, which are subject to substantial wear and tear, and which break down over time, and which frequently need to be serviced and replaced. In contrast, the drive assembly drive disclosed herein has relatively few parts requiring service and therefore is less likely to break down than conventional chain/belt/pulley arrangements.
Although the invention has been shown and described with respect to a certain preferred embodiment or embodiments, it is obvious that equivalent alterations and modifications will occur to others skilled in the art upon the reading and understanding of this specification and the annexed drawings. In particular regard to the various functions performed by the above described elements (components, assemblies, devices, compositions, etc.), the terms (including a reference to a “means”) used to describe such elements are intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated, to any element which performs the specified function of the described element (i.e., that is functionally equivalent), even though not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure which performs the function in the herein illustrated exemplary embodiment or embodiments of the invention. In addition, while a particular feature of the invention may have been described above with respect to only one or more of several illustrated embodiments, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of the other embodiments, as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application. Furthermore, directional modifiers (e.g., front, back, upper, top, lower, bottom, above, below, left-hand, right-hand, etc.) are used only for ease in explanation in connection with the illustrated orientation and do not, unless otherwise indicated, limit the elements to any specific orientation.
This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/533,719 filed on Nov. 5, 2014, which is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/043,951 filed on Mar. 9, 2011, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/312,206 filed Mar. 9, 2010, all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61312206 | Mar 2010 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 14533719 | Nov 2014 | US |
Child | 15726479 | US | |
Parent | 13043951 | Mar 2011 | US |
Child | 14533719 | US |