Excavating – Snow or ice removing or grooming by portable device – Scraper blade
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-22
2001-12-04
Will, Thomas B. (Department: 3671)
Excavating
Snow or ice removing or grooming by portable device
Scraper blade
C172S781000, C172S795000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06324775
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to plowing equipment. More particularly, it relates to a support system for a mid-chassis, underbody plow or scrapper system that controls the deployment of a blade and its storage beneath the vehicle for deployment. The invention is suited especially for installation on the underbody of trucks for use as snow plows.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
Mid-chassis or underbody plows and scrappers are well known vis. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,031,966; 4,337,832. Such plows have been designed to fold upwardly for storage, c.f. U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,966 depicting rearward folding.
In designing an underbody plow or scrapper with a folding blade it is desirable to provide adjustability to raise or lower the blade, and to tilt the blade, raising its outer ends up and down about a horizontal axis that is generally pointed outwardly from the blade surface. Blades are often required to be angled to the left and right about a vertical axis. It is also desirable when the plow blade is light, to provide a supplementary force-control mechanism that will apply a downward force to the plow blade to maintain it in contact with the surface being plowed with the appropriate level of pressure. It would be highly desirable to combine these features with an under body plow having a storage feature that would permit it to be raised above the road surface when not deployed.
These features of control should ideally be achievable, in whole or in part, at minimal cost and with a minimal addition of weight to the vehicle.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an underbody blade support system that has various combinations of the above features combined with simplicity and low cost.
The invention in its general form will first be described, and then its implementation in terms of specific embodiments will be detailed with reference to the drawings following hereafter. These embodiments are intended to demonstrate the principle of the invention, and the manner of its implementation. The invention in its broadest and more specific forms will then be further described, and defined, in each of the individual claims which conclude this Specification.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention employs a plow assembly incorporating an underbody plow blade or scrapper with a mold board and two outer ends, (hereafter referred to generally as a scrapper blade) which is mounted to extend generally transversely beneath the chassis of a vehicle. This scrapper blade is positioned between the forward and rearward sets of wheels on the vehicle and may be angled to be oriented to the left or right while still extending generally transversely beneath the vehicle.
A feature of the invention is that the blade may be folded, preferably forwardly, to raise it above the road surface in a stored position. In its folded orientation, the mold board of the plow is upwardly directed. Preferably, rotation of the mold board from its deployed position is effected about a hinge line that is rearwardly of and intermediate the top and bottom edges of the mold board. The top edge may, in being folded, retire from a first deployed rotational stop means to a second folded stop means against which the top edge may bear.
Preferably, the blade-folding system of the invention is carried by an elevating support to cause the folded blade to retire upwardly. Thus, in a preferred arrangement, the blade may be carried at the end of a pivot arm assembly in the form of two trailing arms that are mounted to the chassis so as to extend downwardly from a forwardly-mounted hinge mount. The upper edge of the mold board may nest in a recess formed in the pivot arms. The pivot arm assembly hinge mount allows rotation of the pivot arm assembly about an axis that is also generally transverse to the direction of motion of the vehicle. Other means of supporting and elevating the blade are, however, permissible, in order to provide this two-stage storage effect.
The scrapper blade is preferably tiltable in the sense that one of its two outer ends may be elevated vertically with respect to the other end. This may be effected in one preferred manner by providing a rotatable coupling between the vehicle chassis, e.g. within the pivot arm assembly, and the scrapper blade that allows the scrapper blade to rotate about a generally horizontal axis extending forwardly and rearwardly beneath the vehicle. Other means of providing for such freedom of motion may also be employed, including independently hinged pivot arms.
Preferably the scrapper blade with its scrapping edge is positioned against a road surface by two pressure actuators respectively located between the blade and the vehicle chassis at spaced locations on either side of the centerline of the vehicle. These pressure actuators may be in the form of pneumatic bladders to apply a resilient downward pressure on the scrapper blade through the elevating support. In the case of the use of a pivot arm assembly, the pressure actuators may be positioned between the chassis and the pivot arms.
As an optional feature, by independent control of the pressure actuators, differing vertical forces may be applied to the respective outer ends of the scrapper blade. Consequently a greater amount of contact pressure may be maintained between the scrapper blade and the surface being scrapped at one outer end of the blade than at the other outer end. This greatly facilitates the removal of snow, ice or other debris from a road surface when the level of material to be removed is higher on one side of the vehicle than on the other side of the vehicle.
The preferred type of pressure activator is a pneumatic bladder of the type generally employed in air springs. Their role is to press the blade edge resiliently against the road surface, lifting-off ice, snow and debris from that surface. Such devices are not only relatively inexpensive, but also provide a “spring” resilience that allows the scrapper to move vertically to accommodate vertical variation in the surface being scrapped.
To complement the folding action by which the scrapper blade is raised for storage above the road surface, the elevating support, e.g. the pivot arm assembly, may be provided with a blade folding actuator coupled between the pivot arm assembly and the vehicle chassis to serve as well as a lifting actuator. Action as a lifting actuator may be achieved in conjunction with the folding of the blade by providing a lifting link, such as a chain, that extends between a folding portion of the blade and the vehicle chassis.
The foregoing summarizes the principal features of the invention and some of its optional aspects. The invention may be further understood by the description of the preferred embodiments, in conjunction with the drawings, which now follow.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3086303 (1963-04-01), Weeks
patent: 4148365 (1979-04-01), Anderson
patent: 4161987 (1979-07-01), Tolmer
patent: 4304307 (1981-12-01), Anderson
patent: 4665636 (1987-05-01), Borras
patent: 5782016 (1998-07-01), Feller et al.
patent: 5813150 (1998-09-01), Feller et al.
patent: 6123156 (2000-09-01), Dufour et al.
patent: 6129156 (2000-10-01), Boast et al.
Harnois Normand
Houle Bertrand
Morin Yannick
177197 Canada Ltee
French David J.
Markovich Kristine
Will Thomas B.
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