Snow removing machine

Details Snow removing machine Snow removing machine

2001-06-28

2002-12-31

Will, Thomas B. (Department: 3671)

Excavating

Snow or ice removing or grooming by portable device

Snow or ice surface groomer

C037S234000, C037S266000, C180S019300, C074S525000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06499236

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement in a snow removing machine comprising a body which includes a front portion with a snow removing section mounted thereto and a rear portion with an operating handle mounted thereto and having left and right grip portions to be gripped by an operator.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, walking type snow removing machines having snow removing plates, which are propelled by means of crawler belts, have been widely used to reduce snow removing labor. One of such snow removing machines is arranged to enable snow removal work with the snow removing plate while adjusting the height of the snow removing plate by gripping grip portions of an operating handle with operator's hands and by shifting the operating handle upward or downward.
FIG. 14
hereof shows such an operating handle of a prior art snow removing machine with a snow removing plate. The known snow removing machine
200
with the snow removing plate includes left and right operating handles
201
,
201
, which are spaced from one another. The left and right operating hands
201
,
201
have respective left and right grip portions
202
,
204
. A clutch lever
203
is located in the vicinity of the left grip portion
202
. An operation box
205
is mounted between the left and right handles
201
,
201
. The operation box
205
includes a shift lever
207
for changing over a forward and aft drive as well as a vehicle speed, and a governor control lever
208
located in the vicinity of the shift lever
207
for adjusting an engine speed.
During snow removing work using the snow removing machine having the snow removing plate, the engine is first operated and, then, the respective left and right grip portions
202
,
204
are gripped with the operator's left and right hands to thereby operate the snow removing plate via the operating handle
201
.
During the snow removing work, the changeover between the forward and aft drive and the control of the vehicle speed are carried out by manipulating the clutch lever
203
with his left hand gripping the left grip portion
202
and, under such a condition, by manipulating the shift lever
207
with his right hand released from the right grip portion
204
.
Further, upon adjustment of the engine speed, the governor control lever
208
is manipulated with the right hand released from the right grip portion
204
.
When manipulating the clutch lever
207
and the governor control lever
208
with the right hand released from the right grip portion
204
during the snow removing work, it is required for the operator to manipulate the operating handle
201
by a single hand operation gripping only the left grip portion
202
. This results in an increased load for the operator's hands or arms.
When manipulating the operating hand
201
in the single hand operation, the operator encounters difficulty in determining the traveling direction of the snow removing machine
200
. Especially in cases where there exists relatively large irregular road surfaces or in cases where snow contains a large amount of water, the snow removing plate is exerted with an increased load, thereby making the manipulation difficult to achieve with a single hand. Thus, the snow removing work should be inevitably interrupted once, thereby disturbing the improvement in the snow removing work efficiency.
A snow removing machine, which includes a rotary snow removing unit mounted to a front part of its body and crawls over snow through crawler belts to remove the snow, is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. SHO-61-23059. The snow removing machine includes a height adjustment mechanism having indispensable components such as a cylinder, a piston and a piston rod for adjusting the height of the rotary snow removing unit, and an operation lever located in the vicinity of the grip portion for manipulating the height adjustment mechanism. The snow removing machine is arranged so as to adjust the height of the rotary snow removing unit by maintaining the height adjustment mechanism in a free condition under a gripped state of the operation lever and by moving the grip portion upward or downward. In such a snow removing machine, adjusting the height of the rotary snow removing unit enables the rotary snow removing unit to perform the snow removing work in dependence on irregular profiles or undulations of the snow surface.
However, in order to adjust the height of the rotary snow removing unit so as to meet the irregular profiles or the undulations, which consecutively extend, of the snow surface, the operator needs to implement two different operations involving one step of gripping the operation lever and the other step of moving the grip portion upward or downward, with a relatively increased load to be exerted to the operator. In addition, the upward or downward movement of the grip portion while gripping the operation lever causes difficulty to the operator in concentrating the upward or downward movement of the grip portion, thereby disturbing the improvement in the snow removing work efficiency.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a snow removing machine which effectively reduces a load on an operator's snow removing work to provide improved snow removing work efficiency.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a snow removing machine which comprises a vehicle body having a body frame, a snow removing section mounted to a front portion of the body frame for removing snow, an operating handle mounted to a rear portion of the body frame for performing operation, left and right grip portions mounted to the operating handle to be gripped by an operator, a forward and aft drive changeover switch mounted on one of the left and right grip portions for changing over a traveling direction of the vehicle body, a height control operation lever for adjusting a height of the snow removing section and a speed control operation lever mounted to the other one of the left and right grip portions for adjusting a traveling speed of the vehicle body.
In the thus-arranged snow removing machine, the forward and aft drive changeover switch and the height control operation lever, which adjusts the height of the snow removing section, are mounted on one of the grip portions, and the speed control operation lever is mounted on the other one of the grip portions. Under a circumstance wherein the respective grip portions are kept in a grip condition being gripped with operator's both hands, as the operator uses his one hand to manipulate the forward and aft drive switch and the height control operation lever, it is possible for his other hand to manipulate the speed control operation lever. Consequently, the operator is enabled to use his both hands to operate the operating handle without carrying out a single hand operation.
Desirably, the snow removing machine further comprises a traveling frame for supporting drive wheels and idling wheels, between which crawler belts are stretched, by means of vehicular shafts, a height adjustment mechanism mounted between the traveling frame and the vehicle body to allow the height of the snow removing section to be adjusted when the height control operation lever is gripped to be brought into a free condition to enable tilting of the vehicle body and is subsequently released to be brought into a lock position, and a lever lock mechanism mounted to the operating handle having the one of the grip portion for allowing the height control operation lever to be locked for preventing the height control operation lever from returning from a position in a gripped state of the height control operation lever.
Thus, the presence of the lever lock mechanism mounted to the operating handle and enabled to allow the height control operation lever to be locked with the lever lock mechanism in a position gripped by the operator does not need to perform two different operations a

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