Snow shoveling machine

Details Snow shoveling machine Snow shoveling machine

2000-03-20

2001-12-11

Pezzuto, Robert E. (Department: 3671)

Excavating

Snow or ice removing or grooming by portable device

Motorized rotary excavating tool

C037S258000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06327798

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a snow shoveling machine and, more particularly, to a small-sized snow shoveling machine arranged such that when an engine is actuated to rotate an auger paddle accommodated in an auger housing, the auger paddle shovels or collects snow and throws the collected snow out from a shooter extending upwardly from the housing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various snow shoveling machines have been conventionally known. One example of such snow shoveling machines is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. SHO-62-63708.
The disclosed machine includes a housing in which an engine and an auger paddle are disposed. Actuation of the engine causes the auger paddle to rotate. The auger paddle has auger members provided on right and left sides thereof, and a paddle provided at a central part thereof. The paddle has a surface concavely extending from the right side through the central part to the left side. The central part of the auger paddle serves as a snow throwing portion for throwing collected snow upwardly. As the auger paddle is rotated by the engine, the auger members provided on the opposite sides of the auger paddle carry snow onto the throwing portion. The throwing portion then throws the snow upwardly with a centrifugal force thereof exerted to the snow. The thus-thrown snow exits the machine by passing through a snow throwing aperture formed in the housing and a shooter.
Some of snow thrown by the thrower fails to enter the snow throwing aperture. Such snow falls onto the auger paddle through snow dropping guides. The auger members then carry the snow to the thrower again. The guides are positioned above the auger paddle. In other words, the guides are provided at a lower part of the shooter.
The auger housing inevitably becomes not only large in size but also complicated in configuration because the housing is required to accommodate the engine and the auger paddle. For this reason, the housing is manufactured typically by press-forming a sheet of steel into halved members and then joining the halved members together by welding or the like.
However, in order to meet an increased demand for an easy-to-manufacture snow shoveling machine having reduced weight, it is desirable to form the auger housing with a resinous upper half forming the snow throwing aperture therein and a lower half made of a sheet of steel to provide sufficient rigidity to support the auger paddle. Also, these halves should be connected together. In addition, it is desirable for the snow dropping guides to be provided in the vicinity of the snow throwing aperture.
The paddle serving as the throwing portion provided at the central part of the auger paddle of the snow shoveling machine disclosed in the aformentioned Publication is difficult to manufacture because the paddle surface has a three-dimensional curved configuration.
In order to solve the above problem associated with the paddle, the present application have proposed a snow shoveling machine as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2,556,886.
The disclosed machine includes an auger paddle having valley formed centrally thereof. More specifically, the valley is formed by two flat inclined surfaces to thereby provide a snow throwing portion of V-shaped configuration. The snow throwing portion thus formed by the two inclined surfaces is simple in configuration. Therefore, not only can the auger paddle be produced easily, but snow collected by the auger paddle can be thrown further to thereby provide the machine with improved snow-removing performance.
Although the thus-constructed machine serves to collect snow at the snow throwing portion of substantially V-shaped configuration and to then throw the snow further throw in other snow throwing configurations, there is still room for improvement of the function of collecting and throwing snow.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A first object of the present invention is to provide a snow shoveling machine which is constructed such that a connecting member for connecting together upper and lower halves of an auger housing serves as a snow dropping guide to thereby reduce the number of parts for the machine, and which provides an improved function of removing snow.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a snow shoveling machine which has an easy-to-manufacture auger paddle of simple construction and which provides an improved function of collecting and throwing snow.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a snow shoveling machine comprising an auger housing, an auger paddle disposed within the auger housing, and a motive power source for rotating the auger paddle when actuated, wherein the auger paddle collects snow and throws the collected snow out from a snow throwing aperture formed in the auger housing, the auger housing including an upper half having the snow throwing aperture, a lower half for supporting the auger paddle, and a connecting member for connecting the upper half and the lower half together, the connecting member being disposed forwardly of the snow throwing aperture and serving as a snow dropping guide.
The connecting member thus connecting the upper and lower halves together serves as a reinforcing member for the auger housing, whereby the auger housing provides improved rigidity. The connecting member also serves as the snow dropping guide. This eliminates the need to provide a reinforcing member and a snow dropping member separately to thereby contribute to a reduction in the number of parts for the machine.
In a preferred form, the upper half is made of resin to thereby reduce the weight of the auger housing and also facilitate forming of the auger housing. The lower half is formed of a sheet of steel to provide rigidity required to support the auger paddle. The auger housing has the connecting member provided therein and extending along the width thereof. The connecting member thus serves as a beam, whereby the auger housing provides improved rigidity even when the upper half is made of resin.
Preferably, the connecting member is disposed forwardly of and above the auger paddle, the connecting member being spaced from the auger paddle by a predetermined distance, the connecting member extending forwardly from and downwardly from the upper half in such a manner as to continue to an inner peripheral surface of the upper half.
Thus, even when snow thrown upwardly by the auger paddle fails to enter the snow throwing aperture, the snow is allowed to fall by means of the connecting member thus arranged.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a snow shoveling machine for collecting thereat snow and throwing the snow out of a shooter, the machine comprising: an auger paddle rotated by a drive source when the drive source is actuated; an auger housing having the auger paddle rotatably accommodated therein and the shooter extending upwardly therefrom; the auger paddle having a pair of helical members disposed on opposite sides of a shaft of the auger paddle and a snow thrower disposed at a central portion of the auger paddle positioned between the helical members, wherein the helical members carry snow to the central portion of the auger paddle and the snow thrower throws the snow upwardly; and the snow thrower having a pocket portion formed thereat, the pocket portion having a predetermined depth extending opposite to a direction of rotation of the snow thrower, the pocket portion being opened outwardly and in the direction of rotation of the snow thrower.
By virtue of the pocket portion, the snow thrower can collect thereat snow in larger amounts and throw the same.
In a preferred form of the present invention, the pocket portion has a bottom portion inclined opposite to a direction of rotation of the auger paddle to thereby provide a lag angle. With this arrangement, the snow thrower rotates with the phase of the bottom portion shifted by the lag angle. Therefore, when the snow thrower throws snow, a centrifuga

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