Excavating – Snow or ice removing or grooming by portable device – Snow or ice surface groomer
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-05
2001-03-20
Will, Thomas B. (Department: 3671)
Excavating
Snow or ice removing or grooming by portable device
Snow or ice surface groomer
C037S219000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06202327
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to ice scraping tools or bits of the type mounted on ice/snow removal vehicles, and to an ice-cutting method.
It is common to utilize vehicles to scrape ice from roadways by means of tools mounted on the vehicles. As depicted in
FIG. 5
, it is conventional to employ pointed tools
2
rotatably mounted in a carrier
3
that is welded on a vehicle-mounted board or blade
4
, e.g., the board may be situated between the front and rear wheels F, W of the vehicle (see FIG.
8
). The tools
2
project forwardly and downwardly at such an inclination that a hard pointed cutting tip
5
of the tool (e.g., a carbide tip) cuts at a negative rake angle A with reference to a normal N to the road surface (see Bergqvist et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,517). Although such tools have been successfully used, they may, due to the negative characteristic of the rake angle, tend to pull themselves downwardly into the ice (i.e., they tend to be self-feeding) which can result in damage to the road surface beneath the ice.
As depicted in
FIGS. 6 and 7
, it has also been proposed to employ rotatable ice-scraping tools
6
each having a blunt circular scraping surface
8
which scrapes at a positive rake angle &dgr;. While avoiding the self-feeding problem discussed above with reference to
FIG. 5
, such tools exhibit various shortcomings which are also characteristic of the
FIG. 5
tool. A first of those shortcomings involves the fact that the tool shanks are inclined in an upward and rearward direction, whereby the tools tend not to ride over obstructions such as road unevenness, but rather tend to plow through the obstructions, causing damage to the tools and/or the road.
A second shortcoming stems from the fact that the hard cutting tips
9
of such tools are typically spaced apart in a direction transverse to the direction of vehicle travel D (see
FIG. 6
) and thereby cut spaced-apart grooves in the ice. The grooves serve an important function when used in conjunction with vehicles that disperse highway salt, because the grooves retain the salt, sheltering the salt against air currents caused by wind or passing traffic which could otherwise blow the salt off the ice. However, the salt deposited onto the areas of the ice surface situated between the grooves will not be sheltered and instead will be susceptible to being blown away.
A third shortcoming results from the use of cutting tips formed of a hard wear-resistant material, such as carbide (e.g., see also Meyers U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,299 disclosing carbide inserts on earth-working tools). A forwardly facing surface of the carbide insert is typically exposed and, due to the brittleness of the carbide material, is susceptible to being chipped in response to striking obstacles or uneven parts of the road surface.
It would be desirable to minimize or obviate problems of the above-described type.
For instance, it would be desirable to provide an ice-cutting tool which resists self-feeding, minimizes a tendency for deposited salt or sand to be blown from an ice surface, and exhibits a long life with minimal tendency for hard cutting tips to become chipped.
It would also be desirable to prove an ice-cutting mechanism and method in which the cutting tools tend to ride over obstructions such as road unevenness.
It would further be desirable to minimize the downward pressure needed to be applied to the ice-cutting tools.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One aspect of the present invention relates to a vehicle which includes an ice-scraping mechanism adapted to scrape ice from a roadway as the vehicle travels in a forward direction. The ice-scraping mechanism comprises a tool carrier mounted on the vehicle, and a plurality of ice-scraping tools mounted on the tool carrier and depending downwardly therefrom. Each tool is non-rotatable relative to the tool carrier and includes a shank mounting the tool to the tool carrier, and a cutting head depending downwardly from the shank. The cutting head includes a forwardly facing rake face having a cutting edge extending along a lower end thereof. The rake face extends upwardly from the cutting edge in a forwardly inclined direction to define a positive rake angle. The cutting edges of adjacent tools extend in a direction transversely of the forward direction of travel. The cutting edges are aligned in the transverse direction and are spaced apart by a distance less than a width of each cutting edge measured in the transverse direction.
The invention also pertains to an ice-scraping tool which comprises a shank adapted to mount the tool in a carrier, and a cutting head disposed at a lower end of the shank. The cutting head includes a rake face, a cutting edge extending along a lower end of the rake face, and a clearance face extending from the cutting edge in a direction extending away from the rake face and inclined upwardly toward the shank. The cutting head is formed by a main body and a hard insert mounted in the main body. The main body includes a forwardly facing front surface and a bottom surface extending rearwardly therefrom. The insert includes a forwardly facing front surface oriented parallel to, and spaced from, the front surface of the main body. The insert also includes a bottom surface extending rearwardly from the front surface of the insert. The insert is formed of a harder material than that of the main body. The main body is wearable relative to the insert during a wear-in period, whereby the front and bottom surfaces of the main body initially form the rake face and clearance face, respectively of the tool, and after the wear-in period the front and bottom surfaces of the insert form the rake face and the clearance face, respectively.
A further aspect of the invention relates to the fact that the tool shanks as well as the tool rake faces are inclined upwardly and forwardly to further tend to cause the tools to ride up and over obstructions.
Another aspect of the invention relates to an ice-scraping mechanism adapted to be mounted on a vehicle to scrape ice as the vehicle travels in a forward direction. The ice-scraping mechanism comprises a board having a plurality of cylindrical bores arranged in a line, and a plurality of ice-scraping tools mounted on the board. Each tool includes a cylindrical shank mounted in a respective one of the bores and defining an axis. Each tool further includes a cutting head rigid with the shank and disposed beneath the board. The cutting heads are arranged side-by-side so closely together that abutment of adjacent heads against one another constitutes a sole means of restraining the tools against rotation about the shank axes.
Yet another aspect of the invention relates to the cutting of ice wherein the tool shanks and tool rake faces are inclined forwardly and upwardly, whereby the tools tend to ride up and over obstructions.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2892270 (1959-06-01), Sharp
patent: 3529677 (1970-09-01), Stephenson
patent: 3934654 (1976-01-01), Stephenson et al.
patent: 4140888 (1979-02-01), Baron et al.
patent: 4753299 (1988-06-01), Meyers
patent: 4784517 (1988-11-01), Bergqvist et al.
patent: 4883129 (1989-11-01), Lonn et al.
patent: 5054217 (1991-10-01), Nilsson et al.
patent: 5778572 (1998-07-01), Lukavich et al.
patent: 5813474 (1998-09-01), Manway
patent: 53-16209 (1978-02-01), None
Disinger Roland Thomas
Fuller Gary A.
McSweeney Larry J.
Burns Doane , Swecker, Mathis LLP
Eimco LLC
Petravick Meredith C.
Will Thomas B.
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