Brushing – scrubbing – and general cleaning – Machines – With air blast or suction
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-23
2003-09-16
Snider, Theresa T. (Department: 1744)
Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning
Machines
With air blast or suction
C015S319000, C015S368000, C015S383000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06618897
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to systems and methods for using brooms and blowers to remove debris from various surfaces. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for controlling an integrated broom and blower system which can be applied to road surfaces, such as an airport runway, to remove snow and other debris which may accumulate thereon.
2. History of Related Art
Truck-mounted systems for removing snow and debris from various road surfaces, such as airport runways, typically include a front-mounted broom and a rear-mounted air blast system, or blower system. Turning now to prior art
FIG. 1
, it can be seen that as the truck
20
moves over the road surface
10
, the rotating broom
40
on the front of the truck
20
contacts the snow or debris
15
on the road surface
10
and brushes the snow or debris
15
to the front and to one side of truck
20
. The air blast system or blower system
30
on the truck
20
then blows the snow or debris
15
which has been swept to one side away from the truck
20
and across the road surface
10
.
As can be more easily seen in prior art
FIG. 2
, when it is desired to push the snow or debris
15
to one side of a runway
12
, for example the left side
13
, the truck
20
moves along the right side
14
of the runway
12
until it reaches the end
70
. Upon reaching the end
70
of the runway
12
, the operator must re-configure the sweeping and blowing apparatus on the truck
20
by repositioning the broom
40
and redirecting the air blast
50
from the left side of the blower system
30
(as the truck moves toward the end
70
of the runway
12
) to the right side of the blower system
30
(as the truck moves away from the end
70
of the runway
12
). Note that in the truck
20
moving up the path
60
along the right side
14
of the runway
12
, the broom
40
is positioned so that the near end
42
is closest to the left or driver side of the truck
20
, at a positive angle &PHgr;. When the truck
20
turns around
80
at the upper end
70
of the runway
12
, the angular orientation &PHgr; of the broom
40
with respect to the truck
20
must be changed, and the direction of the air blast
50
from the blower switched from the left side to the right side (i.e., to the direction of air blast
90
). This is accomplished by picking up the broom
40
so that the broom bristles are out of contact with the ground and then causing the entire broom head to change its angular orientation with respect to the truck
20
, so that the broom
40
′ is properly re-oriented. Typically the angular orientation &PHgr; is preset to about ±35°, however in special situations, a smaller angle may be used. For the purposes of this document, it will be assumed that a positive angle &PHgr; refers to a “left” broom
40
direction (i.e. the near end
42
of the broom is closest to the driver/left side of the truck, as viewed from a person seated inside the driver's compartment of the truck), and that a negative angle &PHgr; refers to a “right” broom
40
′ direction (i.e., the far end
41
of the broom is closer to the passenger/right side of the truck, as viewed by someone seated inside the driver's compartment of the truck). Similarly, it will be assumed that “blowing left”
50
means blowing toward the driver/left side of the truck, and that “blowing right”
90
means blowing toward the passenger/right side of the truck.
While the truck-mounted snow brooms and air blast systems found in the prior art and described above have received wide acceptance, they are not without their problems. As described above, changing the direction of the blower system
30
and the angular orientation of the broom
40
,
40
′ keeps the snow or debris
15
moving from the right side
14
of the runway
12
to the left side
13
of the runway
12
. Typically, the direction of the air blast from the blower system
30
is controlled by the use of two curved nozzles
32
,
34
mounted on either side of the truck
20
(i.e., one nozzle
34
on the left side of the truck
20
, and the other nozzle
32
on the right side of the truck
20
). Thus, after turning the truck
20
around
80
, when it is desired to push the snow or debris
15
to the right side of the truck
20
, the nozzle
34
on the left side of the truck
20
is deployed, the right nozzle
32
is stowed, and the blower system
30
causes high velocity air to pass from the left side to the right side of the truck
20
to blow the snow or debris
15
in the same direction that it is pushed by the broom
40
.
When the truck
20
comes to the end
70
of the runway
12
, the orientation of the broom
40
and the direction of the blower system
30
are both reconfigured for another pass in the opposite direction down the runway
12
(i.e. as the truck
20
changes direction to follow path
100
after following path
60
). In prior art systems, the reconfiguration of the truck
20
for the second pass
100
down the runway
12
begins by first changing the nozzles
32
,
34
in the blower system
30
on the truck from one side to the other. Following the repositioning of the blower system nozzles
32
,
34
, the broom
40
in the front of the truck
20
is repositioned. In the prior art, the broom
40
and the nozzles
32
,
34
are hydraulically controlled by operating a plurality of hydraulic sequence valves controlled by electric relays.
It is usually up to the operator to match the configuration angle of the broom
40
and the direction of operation for the blower system
30
. Using a prior art operator's console, a joy stick is typically used to change the angular orientation &PHgr; of the broom
40
. If a broom position is selected other than travel to a full-stop limit, a “cancel” button must be pressed to terminate broom movement as the broom arrives at the selected intermediate position.
In prior art systems, the vertical position of the broom
40
(which determines the amount of contact between the broom bristles and the runway surface
12
) is regulated using a mechanical stop located underneath the truck
20
. When the operator wants to change the vertical position of the broom
40
with respect to the surface of the runway
12
, it is necessary for the operator to crawl under the truck in the snow and debris
15
and physically adjust the position of the mechanical stop. Therefore, about every six hours or so, the bristles wear down and the operator must exit the cab of the truck
20
to reconfigure the broom
40
.
Thus, what is needed is a vehicle, apparatus, and method for controlling a broom and blower system which obviates the need for the system operator to closely monitor the state of the broom and blower system, and acts in at least a semi-automatic fashion to reconfigure the broom and blower system after each pass down a road surface, such as a runway. Equally beneficial would be a vehicle, apparatus, and method for controlling a broom and blower system which provide the capability to override automatic reconfiguration under special circumstances, such as for blowing snow off of runway lights, wherein the blower direction does not necessarily correspond to that of the broom head. Such an apparatus and method would save a substantial amount of time, speeding up debris/snow clearance operations significantly. This is especially important when airplanes, potentially low on fuel, are waiting to land on the runway surface. The foregoing and other problems have been addressed by the vehicle, apparatus, and method for controlling a truck-mounted snow broom and blower system of the present invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The apparatus of the invention for controlling a broom and blower system typically includes several interconnected modules (which may be physically realized using software, hardware, or a combination of these) which interact to process command inputs. For example, the operator will typically be able to enter commands to turn the broom on/off (broom state)
Lewis Scott
Noah Greg
Weege Mike
Jenkens & Gilchrist PC
S & S Trust
Snider Theresa T.
LandOfFree
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