CA2239744A1 - Snowblower - Google Patents
Snowblower Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- CA2239744A1 CA2239744A1 CA 2239744 CA2239744A CA2239744A1 CA 2239744 A1 CA2239744 A1 CA 2239744A1 CA 2239744 CA2239744 CA 2239744 CA 2239744 A CA2239744 A CA 2239744A CA 2239744 A1 CA2239744 A1 CA 2239744A1
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- snowblower
- header
- tractor
- snow
- frame
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
Links
Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B62—LAND VEHICLES FOR TRAVELLING OTHERWISE THAN ON RAILS
- B62D—MOTOR VEHICLES; TRAILERS
- B62D49/00—Tractors
- B62D49/06—Tractors adapted for multi-purpose use
-
- E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
- E01—CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS, RAILWAYS, OR BRIDGES
- E01H—STREET CLEANING; CLEANING OF PERMANENT WAYS; CLEANING BEACHES; DISPERSING OR PREVENTING FOG IN GENERAL CLEANING STREET OR RAILWAY FURNITURE OR TUNNEL WALLS
- E01H5/00—Removing snow or ice from roads or like surfaces; Grading or roughening snow or ice
- E01H5/04—Apparatus propelled by animal or engine power; Apparatus propelled by hand with driven dislodging or conveying levelling elements, conveying pneumatically for the dislodged material
- E01H5/08—Apparatus propelled by animal or engine power; Apparatus propelled by hand with driven dislodging or conveying levelling elements, conveying pneumatically for the dislodged material dislodging essentially by driven elements
- E01H5/09—Apparatus propelled by animal or engine power; Apparatus propelled by hand with driven dislodging or conveying levelling elements, conveying pneumatically for the dislodged material dislodging essentially by driven elements the elements being rotary or moving along a closed circular path, e.g. rotary cutter, digging wheels
- E01H5/098—Apparatus propelled by animal or engine power; Apparatus propelled by hand with driven dislodging or conveying levelling elements, conveying pneumatically for the dislodged material dislodging essentially by driven elements the elements being rotary or moving along a closed circular path, e.g. rotary cutter, digging wheels about horizontal or substantially horizontal axises perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the direction of clearing
Abstract
A snowblower mounts on a swather tractor in place of the swather header: The snowblower has a frame fitted with two mounting brackets that are engagable with the respective header arms. An upper coupling connects the header to the upper mounting point or points of the tractor. Two blower housings are mounted side by side on the frame. Each has an auger, an impeller and a discharge spout for discharging snow collected by the blower. The spouts are connected to rotate together to adjust the direction of discharge.
Description
SNOWBLOWER
The present invention relates to snowblowers, and more particularly to a snowblower for use with a swather tractor.
Snowblowers used on farms are often mounted on the back of general purpose tractors, using the tractor's three point hitch. To use this type of snowblower, the tractor is backed into the body of snow to be removed. This can be awkward for the operator. On many modern farms, small, general purpose tractors are not used.
Multiple use tractors may be very large, high draft machines used for pulling large seeding and cultivating implements. These are not often equipped with three point hitches and are generally too large to be used with a normal snowblower.
The present invention relates to a snowblower that mounts in a place of the header on a swather tractor. This allows the operator to drive the tractor forwardly when removing snow and makes use of a common type of tractor that is available on many farms where small multi-purpose tractors are not in use.
According to the present invention there is provided a snowblower for mounting on a swather tractor having a power takeoff and a header mounting system including a pair of header arms spaced apart laterally across a front end of the tractor and at least one header link above the header arms, the snowblower comprising:
a frame;
two mounting brackets mounted on the frame and engagable with the respective header arms;
upper coupling means for connection to the header link of the tractor;
a blower housing mounted on the frame;
a discharge spout mounted on the housing;
snow removal means mounted in the housing for picking up snow from in front of the housing and blowing the snow through the discharge spout; and a drive linkage for connecting the snow removal means to the power takeoff of the tractor to be driven thereby.
In preferred embodiments, the snowblower is a composite unit in which two snowblowers are mounted side-by-side with coupled drives.
In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an exemplary embodiment of the present invention:
Figure 1 is a side view of a snowblower mounted on a swather;
Figure 2 is a front elevation of the snowblower;
Figure 3 is a cross section along line 3 - 3 of Figure 1;
Figure 4 is a top view; and Figure 5 is a top of the spout rotating system.
Referring to the accompanying drawings, there is illustrated a snowblower 10 mounted on a swather tractor 12. The tractor is of a conventional type, with large drive wheels 13 at the front end and castor wheels (not shown) at the back end. The tractor is equipped with a header suspension and lift assembly 14.
This includes two spaced apart, L-shaped arms 16 that engage in mating L-shaped mounting brackets on the header. The header is also held in place by one or more upper links. In the illustrated swather, a cross member 18 joins the arms 16 and provides a central upper mounting point 20 (Figure 4).
The snowblower 10 includes two snowblower units 22 arranged side-by-side and mounted on a mounting frame 24. They are driven by a drive assembly 26, also carried by the mounting frame.
Each of the snowblower units includes a housing 28 with a top panel 30, side panels 32 and 34, a back panel 36 and a bottom panel 38. An auger 40 extends along the housing between the side panels 32 and 34. At one end of the housing, inside the side panel 34, the auger carries a sprocket 42 driven by a chain 44. In the center of the back panel 36 is an outlet 46 leading to an impeller 48 housed in a chamber 50 on the back of the housing. A snow discharge opening 52 is formed in the top of the impeller chamber. This includes a spout 54 with a cylindrical base 56 and an upwardly extending chute 58. The chute has an upper end section 60 that is pivotally mounted on a lateral pin for adjustment of its orientation to direct snow flowing along the chute onto a selected trajectory. The adjustment is controlled using an adjustable linkage 62 on the back of the chute.
The snow discharges are rotatable on the blower housings to direct the flow of snow in whatever direction the chutes are aimed. An adjustment mechanism for simultaneously rotating both discharges is illustrated in Figure 5. As shown, the mechanism includes a bracket 64 mounted on the frame 24. An arcuate channel 66 is mounted rotatably on one end of the bracket by two radial arms 67 and an upright shaft 68. A crank arm 70 projects radially from the shaft and is fixed to the assembly of the channel 66 and the radial arms 67. An hydraulic cylinder 72 has its cylinder end pivotally mounted on the bracket 64 at the end opposite shaft 68. The rod end of the cylinder is connected to the crank arm 70 so that extension and retraction of the cylinder will rotate the channel 66. A cable 74 is wrapped around the bases 56 of the discharges 54 and held in position by a guide block 75 (Figure 4) between the discharges. The two ends of the cable lead to opposite ends of the channel 66.
As the channel rotates, it pulls on one end or the other of the cable to rotate the discharges 54. The cylinder 72 is operated from the tractor hydraulic system allowing the operator to adjust the direction of discharge from within the cab.
The drive mechanism for the blower is illustrated most specifically in Figures 3 and 4. A gear box 76 is mounted on the back of each impeller chamber 50.
An output shaft 78 of the gear box is connected directly to the impeller 48. A
second output shaft 80 extends to the side panel 34 of the housing, where it is mounted in a bearing 81 mounted on a rearwards extension 82 of the side panel. Inside the side panel, the shaft 80 carries a sprocket 84 that engages and drives the auger drive chain 44. The gear box 76 has an input shaft 86 carrying a drive pulley 88.
The frame 24 of the snowblower has a main cross beam 90. It carries a centre upright 92 with a rearwardly extending beam 94 at the top end.
Extending forwardly from the bottom of the cross beam 90 are two pairs of mounting channels 96. Each pair connects to opposite sides of a respective one of the impeller housings 50. Directly behind each impeller housing, the cross beam carries an upright member 98. The top of each upright member is connected to the top of the respective impeller housing by a plate 100. In combination with the channels 96, this mounts the housings 28 on the cross beam 90.
A drive support column 102 is mounted on the cross beam 90. A beam 104 extends rearwardly from the top of the column. This beam carries a shaft supported in a pillow block 108 at the front and driven by a gear box 110 at the rear.
The gear box is driven by a power take off shaft 111. At the front of the column 102, the shaft 106 carries two pulleys 112 engaging belts 114 and 116 respectively for driving pulleys 88. The belts 114 and 116 are tensioned using idler pulleys 118 and 120 respectively. These pulleys are mounted on the frame 24 by swing arms 121 and 122 and are biased against the belts by springs 123 and 124.
The frame 24 is mounted on the swather using L-shaped brackets 126 projecting to the rear of the frame to receive the swather arms 16. A link 128 is pinned to two lugs 130 on the rear of the beam 96 on centre upright 94 and to the mounting point 20 on the tractor to hold the snowblower in place.
In use of the snowblower, the tractor is driven forwards giving the operator a comfortable driving position and a good view of the path to be cleared.
The snowblower mounts directly onto the swather tractor with no modifications, using the existing mounting and drive systems. With any tractor that does not have suitable hydraulics for the chute rotation system, an electrically operated system can be employed for adjusting the chute orientation.
While one embodiment of the present invention has been described in the foregoing, it is to be understood that other embodiments are possible within the scope of the invention. The invention is to be considered limited solely by the scope of the appended claims.
The present invention relates to snowblowers, and more particularly to a snowblower for use with a swather tractor.
Snowblowers used on farms are often mounted on the back of general purpose tractors, using the tractor's three point hitch. To use this type of snowblower, the tractor is backed into the body of snow to be removed. This can be awkward for the operator. On many modern farms, small, general purpose tractors are not used.
Multiple use tractors may be very large, high draft machines used for pulling large seeding and cultivating implements. These are not often equipped with three point hitches and are generally too large to be used with a normal snowblower.
The present invention relates to a snowblower that mounts in a place of the header on a swather tractor. This allows the operator to drive the tractor forwardly when removing snow and makes use of a common type of tractor that is available on many farms where small multi-purpose tractors are not in use.
According to the present invention there is provided a snowblower for mounting on a swather tractor having a power takeoff and a header mounting system including a pair of header arms spaced apart laterally across a front end of the tractor and at least one header link above the header arms, the snowblower comprising:
a frame;
two mounting brackets mounted on the frame and engagable with the respective header arms;
upper coupling means for connection to the header link of the tractor;
a blower housing mounted on the frame;
a discharge spout mounted on the housing;
snow removal means mounted in the housing for picking up snow from in front of the housing and blowing the snow through the discharge spout; and a drive linkage for connecting the snow removal means to the power takeoff of the tractor to be driven thereby.
In preferred embodiments, the snowblower is a composite unit in which two snowblowers are mounted side-by-side with coupled drives.
In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an exemplary embodiment of the present invention:
Figure 1 is a side view of a snowblower mounted on a swather;
Figure 2 is a front elevation of the snowblower;
Figure 3 is a cross section along line 3 - 3 of Figure 1;
Figure 4 is a top view; and Figure 5 is a top of the spout rotating system.
Referring to the accompanying drawings, there is illustrated a snowblower 10 mounted on a swather tractor 12. The tractor is of a conventional type, with large drive wheels 13 at the front end and castor wheels (not shown) at the back end. The tractor is equipped with a header suspension and lift assembly 14.
This includes two spaced apart, L-shaped arms 16 that engage in mating L-shaped mounting brackets on the header. The header is also held in place by one or more upper links. In the illustrated swather, a cross member 18 joins the arms 16 and provides a central upper mounting point 20 (Figure 4).
The snowblower 10 includes two snowblower units 22 arranged side-by-side and mounted on a mounting frame 24. They are driven by a drive assembly 26, also carried by the mounting frame.
Each of the snowblower units includes a housing 28 with a top panel 30, side panels 32 and 34, a back panel 36 and a bottom panel 38. An auger 40 extends along the housing between the side panels 32 and 34. At one end of the housing, inside the side panel 34, the auger carries a sprocket 42 driven by a chain 44. In the center of the back panel 36 is an outlet 46 leading to an impeller 48 housed in a chamber 50 on the back of the housing. A snow discharge opening 52 is formed in the top of the impeller chamber. This includes a spout 54 with a cylindrical base 56 and an upwardly extending chute 58. The chute has an upper end section 60 that is pivotally mounted on a lateral pin for adjustment of its orientation to direct snow flowing along the chute onto a selected trajectory. The adjustment is controlled using an adjustable linkage 62 on the back of the chute.
The snow discharges are rotatable on the blower housings to direct the flow of snow in whatever direction the chutes are aimed. An adjustment mechanism for simultaneously rotating both discharges is illustrated in Figure 5. As shown, the mechanism includes a bracket 64 mounted on the frame 24. An arcuate channel 66 is mounted rotatably on one end of the bracket by two radial arms 67 and an upright shaft 68. A crank arm 70 projects radially from the shaft and is fixed to the assembly of the channel 66 and the radial arms 67. An hydraulic cylinder 72 has its cylinder end pivotally mounted on the bracket 64 at the end opposite shaft 68. The rod end of the cylinder is connected to the crank arm 70 so that extension and retraction of the cylinder will rotate the channel 66. A cable 74 is wrapped around the bases 56 of the discharges 54 and held in position by a guide block 75 (Figure 4) between the discharges. The two ends of the cable lead to opposite ends of the channel 66.
As the channel rotates, it pulls on one end or the other of the cable to rotate the discharges 54. The cylinder 72 is operated from the tractor hydraulic system allowing the operator to adjust the direction of discharge from within the cab.
The drive mechanism for the blower is illustrated most specifically in Figures 3 and 4. A gear box 76 is mounted on the back of each impeller chamber 50.
An output shaft 78 of the gear box is connected directly to the impeller 48. A
second output shaft 80 extends to the side panel 34 of the housing, where it is mounted in a bearing 81 mounted on a rearwards extension 82 of the side panel. Inside the side panel, the shaft 80 carries a sprocket 84 that engages and drives the auger drive chain 44. The gear box 76 has an input shaft 86 carrying a drive pulley 88.
The frame 24 of the snowblower has a main cross beam 90. It carries a centre upright 92 with a rearwardly extending beam 94 at the top end.
Extending forwardly from the bottom of the cross beam 90 are two pairs of mounting channels 96. Each pair connects to opposite sides of a respective one of the impeller housings 50. Directly behind each impeller housing, the cross beam carries an upright member 98. The top of each upright member is connected to the top of the respective impeller housing by a plate 100. In combination with the channels 96, this mounts the housings 28 on the cross beam 90.
A drive support column 102 is mounted on the cross beam 90. A beam 104 extends rearwardly from the top of the column. This beam carries a shaft supported in a pillow block 108 at the front and driven by a gear box 110 at the rear.
The gear box is driven by a power take off shaft 111. At the front of the column 102, the shaft 106 carries two pulleys 112 engaging belts 114 and 116 respectively for driving pulleys 88. The belts 114 and 116 are tensioned using idler pulleys 118 and 120 respectively. These pulleys are mounted on the frame 24 by swing arms 121 and 122 and are biased against the belts by springs 123 and 124.
The frame 24 is mounted on the swather using L-shaped brackets 126 projecting to the rear of the frame to receive the swather arms 16. A link 128 is pinned to two lugs 130 on the rear of the beam 96 on centre upright 94 and to the mounting point 20 on the tractor to hold the snowblower in place.
In use of the snowblower, the tractor is driven forwards giving the operator a comfortable driving position and a good view of the path to be cleared.
The snowblower mounts directly onto the swather tractor with no modifications, using the existing mounting and drive systems. With any tractor that does not have suitable hydraulics for the chute rotation system, an electrically operated system can be employed for adjusting the chute orientation.
While one embodiment of the present invention has been described in the foregoing, it is to be understood that other embodiments are possible within the scope of the invention. The invention is to be considered limited solely by the scope of the appended claims.
Claims (8)
1. A snowblower for mounting on a swather tractor having a power takeoff and a header mounting linkage including a pair of header arms spaced apart laterally across a front end of the tractor and at least one header link above the header arms, the snowblower comprising:
a frame;
two mounting brackets mounted on the frame and engagable with the respective header arms;
upper coupling means for connection to the header link of the tractor;
a blower housing mounted on the frame;
a discharge spout mounted on the housing;
snow removal means mounted in the housing for picking up snow from in front of the housing and blowing the snow through the discharge spout; and a drive linkage for connecting the snow removal means to the power takeoff of the tractor to be driven thereby.
a frame;
two mounting brackets mounted on the frame and engagable with the respective header arms;
upper coupling means for connection to the header link of the tractor;
a blower housing mounted on the frame;
a discharge spout mounted on the housing;
snow removal means mounted in the housing for picking up snow from in front of the housing and blowing the snow through the discharge spout; and a drive linkage for connecting the snow removal means to the power takeoff of the tractor to be driven thereby.
2. A snowblower according to Claim 1 wherein the mounting brackets are L-shaped channels with back and bottom arms open to the back and to the bottom respectively.
3. A snowblower according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein the frame comprises a cross beam extending between and secured to the mounting brackets.
4. A snowblower according to Claim 3 wherein the upper link comprises an upright mounted on the cross beam.
5. A snowblower according to any preceding claim wherein the blower housing comprises two blower housings mounted side-by-side across the frame and including two discharge spouts mounted on the respective lower housings and two snow removal means mounted in respective ones of the housings.
6. A snowblower according to Claim 5 wherein the drive linkage includes two belt drives driving the respective snow removal means.
7. A snowblower according to any preceding claim wherein the snow removal means comprise an auger for moving snow along the associated housing to an outlet and an impeller at the outlet for blowing snow through the respective discharge spout.
8. A snowblower according to Claim 7 wherein the drive linkage includes a gearbox with two outputs, the outputs being connected to the auger and the impeller respectively.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2239744 CA2239744A1 (en) | 1998-06-05 | 1998-06-05 | Snowblower |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2239744 CA2239744A1 (en) | 1998-06-05 | 1998-06-05 | Snowblower |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2239744A1 true CA2239744A1 (en) | 1999-12-05 |
Family
ID=29275841
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2239744 Abandoned CA2239744A1 (en) | 1998-06-05 | 1998-06-05 | Snowblower |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2239744A1 (en) |
Cited By (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US9624632B2 (en) | 2014-03-06 | 2017-04-18 | Immeubles Mfp 1006 Inc. | Snowblower impeller |
| US10400403B2 (en) | 2017-07-19 | 2019-09-03 | Les Machineries Pronovost Inc. | Deflector for a snow blower |
-
1998
- 1998-06-05 CA CA 2239744 patent/CA2239744A1/en not_active Abandoned
Cited By (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US9624632B2 (en) | 2014-03-06 | 2017-04-18 | Immeubles Mfp 1006 Inc. | Snowblower impeller |
| US9708782B2 (en) | 2014-03-06 | 2017-07-18 | Immeubles Mfp 1006 Inc. | Snowblower auger |
| US10400403B2 (en) | 2017-07-19 | 2019-09-03 | Les Machineries Pronovost Inc. | Deflector for a snow blower |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| FZDE | Dead |