JP2002363940A - Small-sized snowplow - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve efficiency of snow clearing work by solving burdens of operation force and problems in position fixing methods in manual operation methods in height adjustment to a snow plowing part in a small-sized snowplow for enabling it to be safely and easily operated even by the aged or females. SOLUTION: Constitution of an upper frame installing main functions for plowing snow such as a snow plowing part, a motor, an operation panel, an operation handle, etc., is rotatably journalled and connected to part of constitution of a lower frame installing a traveling part comprising wheels and crawlers. The upper frame is manually rotated using a connection part as a support shaft. As an operation assisting means to adjust a height position of the snow plowing part, links related to rotation are journalled and connected to part of the upper frame and part of the lower frame. A cylinder type expansion device is installed to part of the link for either of them, and part o the upper frame or part of the lower frame.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention mainly relates to an auger 1a.
(A device that collects snow by scraping or shaving snow), a blower 1b (a device that discharges snow) and a shooter 1c (a device that determines the discharge direction). The present invention relates to an improvement in work efficiency and an improvement in operability related to the method of adjusting the height of the snow removing section.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When adjusting the height of a snow removing section in order to determine the snow removing height of a snow removing operation, when lowering the snow removing section below a running surface (downward), or when raising the snow removing section for movement, Usually, large machines are operated using hydraulic cylinders or electric cylinders. On the other hand, in the case of small aircraft, several methods have been devised so that they can be easily operated manually even with the aim of reducing the price and weight, but a typical example is a traveling unit. A support shaft (for example, a front wheel axle) is provided at a front portion of the vehicle to enable a turning operation so that a height of a snow removing portion can be adjusted. There is also a rear axle support type (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-186312), which is used when the machine is close to a medium-sized machine. Because it is common, the front axle support method is the mainstream. Conventionally, although it is a small-sized machine, it is impossible to manually lift and lower a machine of 100 kgw or more, and thus there is a problem of an operation force burden and operability. In addition, even though the height was manually adjusted, the height was mechanically fixed (grooves, cutouts, biting teeth), and the number of positions was limited to four or five. In the early days, there is a type in which the weight is balanced before and after the rotation support shaft so that the rotation can be easily performed manually. (For example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 57-12022,
However, it cannot be said that these methods have sufficiently solved the problems of the operability and the burden of the operating force. One of the recent solutions to this problem is to mount a power assist mechanism (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-29914) or to raise and lower the position. Adjustable steplessly to improve operability (JP-A-2000-29095)
1) and so on.

[0003]

However, in the former case, although the weight balance, the repulsive force and the urging force of the coil spring are skillfully combined, the turning operability of the snow removal height adjustment lever is improved, but the speed is almost 90%. ° It is impossible to assist the entire area of the lever that rotates close to with a coil spring.
As a result, the side that pulls the lever, that is, the side that receives the body weight with the spring repulsion force when raising the snow removal part, has priority,
The biasing force of the spring when the lever is pushed down, that is, when the snow removing part is lowered, has little effect. The lever operating force in this method is 120 at maximum on the pulling side.
N (12Kgf), 180N (18Kg
f), and it cannot be said that the operability is sufficiently improved. From a structural point of view, it is necessary to increase the free length of the spring, which causes new problems such as biting and pinching.In addition, since the sliding part of the sliding part is used extensively, it tends to wear out and easily break down. ing. On the other hand, in the latter case, the snow removal height can be adjusted steplessly, but the turning operation for raising and lowering is a conventional one in which both left and right handles are firmly grasped with both hands and only human power is used. It is impossible to manually operate a heavy object that is originally difficult to operate by hand only by balancing the weight. Since the hand load increases in proportion to the magnitude of the rotational displacement, the operation is dangerous for elderly people, girls, and the like who have no power. The aim of this method is to keep the weight of the machine with both hands and the body is the only one who can adjust it while snow removal work is very limited.There is no effect of bringing the tilt lever to the handle position. . In the first place, the deadman clutch type for small machines was adopted in consideration of safety so that anyone can use it safely, and it was adopted to concentrate on snow removal work so that other operations can not be performed during snow removal work, and it also goes against safety I do.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem in the manual operation method of adjusting the height of a snow removing section of a small snow removing machine, to improve the snow removing work efficiency by enabling the elderly and girls to operate safely and easily. And

[0005]

The technical measures taken in the present invention to solve the above problems include a snow removing section, a motor,
The upper frame structure that mounts the main snow removal function, such as the operation panel and operation handle, is pivotally connected to a part of the lower frame structure that mounts the running parts such as wheels and crawlers. In a small snow blower in which the height position of the snow removing section is adjusted by manually rotating the frame, a link mechanism related to the rotation is provided in a part of the upper frame structure and a part of the lower frame structure. A pivoted connection, a lever for raising and lowering the snow removing part is fixed to any one part of the link or a part of one of the links extended, and a part or any one of the links One end of a cylinder type telescopic device that can be fixed at any position without any steps is pivotally supported on a part of one extended link, and the other end of the telescopic device is part of the upper frame configuration or the lower frame configuration. It is that where the structure is pivotally supported on parts. Further, an operation of fixing an arbitrary position can be performed on the elevating operation lever, and a gas spring mixed with gas and oil is used for the cylinder type expansion and contraction device.

[0006]

As a result, the operation force for raising and lowering the snow removing section can be greatly reduced, and the conventional method results in a sudden load of rotation, and the handles and levers can be gripped. There is no lifting by force at all, and anyone (even elderly and girls) can operate safely and easily. At the same time, the height of the snow removing part can be freely adjusted and fixed in a stepless manner, so that the height of the snow removing part can be finely controlled according to the snow removing load, the degree of freedom in snow removing work is improved, and the snow removing workability is significantly improved. Became. Furthermore, this configuration makes it possible to design the operating force only by selecting a part of the link length and the gas spring, eliminating the need to consider the weight balance, and designing a weight balance pursuing the original performance of the snow blower. It became so. The problem of operability design and the performance of the snow blower, which had been issues mainly with the front wheel spindle type, was solved, and the original performance of the snow blower was also improved.

[0007]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 and 2 show this embodiment. FIG. 1 is a side view of a small snow blower according to the present embodiment. The left handle on the near side has been removed for illustration. FIG. 2 is a view of the small snow blower according to the present embodiment as viewed from the rear, that is, from the operation handle side. FIG.
2 is schematically illustrated or omitted except for this configuration in FIG. (Engine, transmission, battery, operation panel, shift lever, traveling clutch, work clutch, etc.)

An engine 4 which is a prime mover of a snow blower is mounted on an upper frame 2, and a snow remover 1 comprising an auger 1a, a blower 1b and a shooter 1c is mounted at the end of the frame. A snow removal machine operation handle 6 is fixedly provided at a frame end facing the snow removal section mounting side, and an operation panel 6a of the snow removal machine is fixedly provided at the operation handle 6. The operation handle 6 is symmetrical with respect to the upper frame 2. FIG.
In the figure, the signs of the symmetric parts are distinguished. (That is, the right part-R, the left part-L) The snowplow collects the snow by scraping or shaving the snow with the auger 1a driven by the engine 4, discharges the snow with the blower 1b, and discharges the snow with the shooter 1c. Snow is thrown in the direction that the pilot operates. The operator grips the operation handle 6-6 to turn on and off the running clutch and the auger 1a. The snow removal work clutch is provided on the operation panel 6a. The lifting lever 7 for adjusting the height of the snow removal part according to the present invention is provided. Snow removal can be performed while operating levers.

On the other hand, the lower frame 3 mainly includes front wheels (drive wheels) 3a, rear wheels (driven wheels) 3b,
The crawler 3c and the crawler 3c constitute a traveling unit, and the upper frame 2
And are rotatably connected by a front wheel shaft. The snow removing unit 1 can rotate up and down around the front wheel shaft.

The structure of the snow removal section lifting operation mechanism according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. A mounting bar 10 for mounting the component is mounted on the operation handle 6-6 horizontally and horizontally, and two mounting brackets 10a and 10b are mounted on the bar.
And a support shaft 10c is fixed substantially horizontally on the brackets 10a and 10b. The lifting lever 7 of the present invention and a normal shift lever are mounted on the support shaft 10c, but the latter is omitted in the figure. An arm 7a having the lifting lever 7 fixed to the support shaft 10c and an arm 7c rotatably supporting the tip of the support rod 9 extending from below by a ball joint 9a or the like are fixed to a collar 7b which is free to rotate. It is pivoted on. Arms 7a and 7c and collar 7b
Can rotate around the support shaft 10c integrally with the operation of the lifting lever 7. One end of a later-described cylinder-type telescopic device 8 is rotatably supported and connected to an end facing the elevating lever 7 with the support shaft 10c on the arm 7a interposed therebetween. The other end of the telescopic device 8 is a bracket 6a fixed to the operation handle 6-R.
Similarly, it is rotatably supported and connected. Support rod 9
At the other end, a bracket 9b is fixedly mounted substantially at the center of a bracket 3d rotatably and rotatably supported by a rear wheel axle 3c.

In the above configuration, the support rod 9, the arm 7c and the link between the axes of the front wheel 3a and the rear wheel 3b are used as one link.
And a crossing four-link configuration in which another link (not shown) connecting the support shaft 10c and the axis of the front wheel 3a is used as a link. The length of the arm 7c and the support rod 9 is set appropriately according to the size, weight, operation specifications (rotation angle, specification of the lifting lever 7), etc. of the body, except for two of the four links. The vertical position of the mounting bar 10 is also determined. The lifting and lowering of the snow removing section 1 is performed by rotating the arm 7c integral with the lifting and lowering lever 7 to rotate the locus of the support shaft 10c about the wheel axis of the front wheel 3a. The vertical operation of the hand by the conventional operation handle 6-6 can be converted to the forward / backward operation by the easy-to-operate lifting / lowering lever 7, and the cylinder-type telescopic device 8 for assisting the operation can be mounted in the optimal use state. In this embodiment, a gas-oil hybrid gas spring with a free lock mechanism is used for the expansion and contraction device 8.

The structure of the gas spring (expansion / contraction device) 8 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the external configuration, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the internal configuration. Mainly cylinder 8a, piston 8
m, a piston rod 8b. A shaft connecting bracket 8c for mounting is fixed to the protruding end of the cylinder 8a, and a shaft connecting bracket 8d for mounting is mounted on the opposing protruding end of the piston rod 8b by sandwiching the wire cable mounting bracket 8e with a nut. Fixed. (Fig. 3) Spool valve 8k is attached to piston 8m
The orifice 8n normally receives the pressure in the gas chamber 8h via the free piston 8i and the hydraulic chamber 8j.
And the piston 8m is locked at that position. When the push rod 8g is pressed and the valve 8k is opened, the hydraulic chambers 8j and 8o communicate with each other through the orifice 8n, and the piston 8m can move. Due to the difference in the cross-sectional area of each hydraulic chamber of the piston 8m, the piston 8m always has a piston rod 8b.
A flat thrust is generated over the entire stroke in the direction in which the piston rod 8b extends, but when a force that pushes against the piston rod 8b is applied, the piston rod 8b contracts. The expansion and contraction operation is performed extremely smoothly by the damper effect of the orifice 8n.
As soon as the pushing force of the push rod 8g is released, the spool valve 8k is closed and the piston 8m and the piston rod 8 are closed.
b is locked in that position. (FIG. 4) The wire cable 7f normally attached to the wire bracket 8e
Push lever 8f that pulls the inner wire and is axially supported
Push rod 8g
push. (Fig. 3)

There are other gas springs with a free lock mechanism only in the gas chamber, which are more common (lift chairs, lift beds, opening and closing of trunks, etc.). It is excellent and more functional because it has a substantially flat and large damping force, restraining force and elongation force over the entire stroke area, and there is no restriction on the mounting direction. (Heavy door, lifting table, lifting desk, hydropneumatic suspension, etc.)

An operation method of the snow removing section elevating operation mechanism will be described with reference to FIGS. The lifting lever 7 is provided with a wire lever 7d for pulling a wire in the wire cable 7e. When the wire lever 7d is grasped, the wire in the wire cable 7f is pulled, the push lever 8f of the gas spring 8 is pulled, and the push rod 8g is pushed (FIG. 3). Lifting lever 7 while holding wire lever 7d
(The front / rear operation on the operation panel 6b), that is, the raising / lowering operation of the snow removing unit 1, and the release of the grip of the wire lever 7d locks the expansion / contraction position of the gas spring 8 at that position. The height of the snow removing section 1 is fixed at that position.

The principle of the operation mechanism for raising and lowering the snow removing section will be described with reference to FIGS. The turning operation of the upper frame with the axle of the front wheel 3a as a support shaft is the above-mentioned four-link structure, and the turning operation of the operation handle 6 is changed to the turning operation of the lifting / lowering lever 7 to change the apparent turning operation. The length of the arm involved can be lengthened (leverage), which has the effect of reducing the burden of hand load. In the present embodiment, an effect about four times is obtained. On the other hand, the rotation angle is increased by that much, and the lever rotation angle is about 80 ° with respect to the handle rotation angle of about 20 °. On the contrary, the height adjustment of the snow removing section 1 can be made finer. However, in most of the small machines, the problem of the operation force burden is not enough by itself, and in this embodiment, a part of the arm 7a which is an extension of the one arm 7c of the link and the operation handle 6 which is one of the upper frame configurations. A gas spring 8 with a free lock is pivotally mounted on a part of the spring. With this configuration, the rotation of one arm 7c of the link can be controlled. The simple rotation with the front wheel 3a as the support shaft is broken down into the rotation of three of the links with the front wheel 3a and the rear wheel 3b as the support shaft and the rotation of the link itself. It can be controlled and restricted only by the rotation of one arm 7c. For this purpose, one end of the gas spring 8 can be brought to the upper frame side. Since the rotation of the upper frame is controlled with respect to the lower frame, it is natural that one end of the gas spring 8 is originally attached to the lower frame (although it is of course possible to do so). It is the result of development.

With this configuration, the gas spring 8
There are a number of excellent effects, such as easy installation of a small space, low gas pressure, easy adjustment of the operating force of the lifting lever 7, and the length of the arms 7a and 7c. As described above, the lifting lever 7 is pulled toward the front while the wire lever 7b is gripped, and on the side where the snow removing unit 1 is raised, a part of the load of the upper frame 2 is received by the gas pressure of the gas spring 8 and, conversely, the snow removing unit 1 is pushed forward. On the lower side, it is urged by the thrust of the piston 8m of the gas spring 8 (FIG. 4). When the grip of the wire lever 7d is released, the snow removing unit 1 is immediately fixed at that position. Seemingly upper frame 2
Although it appears to be an unreasonable configuration to receive the load by itself, the two links extending from the respective axles of the wheels 3a and 3b to the upper frame 2 receive the lower frame 3.

As a result, the operating force of the lifting lever 7 can be reduced to 40 to 80 N (≒ 4 to 8 kgf) on both the pulling side and the pushing side, and the level becomes comparable to the electric operation or hydraulic operation of a large machine. However, the height adjustment of the snow removal section 1 (even for the elderly and girls) has become easier. Further, since the height of the snow removing section 1 can be fixed to an arbitrary position in a stepless manner, the snow removing height can be freely adjusted according to the snow removing load, and the snow removing ability in practical use has been improved.

FIG. 7 shows a case where the present embodiment is actually operated to push down the elevating lever 7 all the way forward and fix the snow removing section 1 at the lowermost position. FIG. The positional relationship of the lever 7, handle 6, support bar 9, gas spring 8 and the like when fixed at the uppermost position is shown. In FIG. 7, the gas cylinder 8 is extended, and in FIG. 8, it is contracted. FIG. 1 showing the configuration of this embodiment is in the middle, and shows the attitude of the body during normal snow removal work. The attitude of the machine body in FIG. 7 is at the time of so-called down snow removal in which the lowermost surface of the snow removing section 1 is set to be equal to or less than the running surface A. In the conventional method, the resistance of the snow surface, especially in the tight snow cover in the early spring, makes it difficult for ordinary male workers or the operating handle 6 or the lifting lever without power assist because of the resistance of the snow surface. Conversely, even when operated by a strong and strong male worker, power is wasted in the direction of lifting the entire snow removing machine with the snow removing section as a fulcrum, and it is difficult to take this machine posture. The body posture of FIG. 8 is when the snowplow is moved. In the conventional method, it is difficult for even a normal male worker to take this body posture under the maximum load of the upper body at the lowest position of the operation handle 6. With this configuration, anyone (even an elderly person or a girl) can safely and easily adjust the height of the snowplow of a small snowplow, which has been extremely difficult in the past, and can be used by anyone. Became.

FIG. 5 shows the layout of the operation devices provided on the operation panel 6b of this embodiment, and FIG. 6 shows the layout of the conventional lifting lever system. In this embodiment, the lever groove 6c for guiding the rotation operation of the lifting lever 7 is straight. (FIG. 5) In one of the conventional methods, this is cut out by a notch groove 6c.
c (FIG. 6), and a lever was inserted into the cutout groove to fix the height position of the snow removing portion. The difference in operability and fixed position adjustment performance is obvious. FIG. 5 shows another shift lever 6.
d, a cross switch 6e for controlling the direction of the shooter 1c by a motor, a light 6f, and an operation handle 6-6 equipped with a grip and a deadman clutch lever.

[0020]

According to the present invention, an upper frame structure for mounting a snow removing main function such as a snow removing section, a prime mover, an operation panel, and an operation handle of a small snow removing machine is provided, and a lower frame structure for mounting a traveling portion such as wheels and crawlers. In the small snow blower, the height position of the snow removing section is adjusted by rotating the upper frame manually with the connecting section as a support shaft by rotating the upper frame section freely. A part and a part of the lower frame structure are pivotally connected to the link mechanism relating to the rotation, and a part of any one of the links or a part obtained by extending any one of the links is used for raising and lowering the snow removing part. A lever is fixedly mounted, and one end of a cylinder type telescopic device that can be fixed at any position in a stepless manner is pivotally supported on any one part of the link or an extended part of any one link,
The following effects are obtained by having the other end of the telescopic device pivotally supported by a part of the upper frame configuration or a part of the lower frame configuration.

The height of the snow removing section can be easily and safely and easily adjusted by one hand operation with only one lever (even for the elderly and girls), so that the operability is dramatically improved and the snow removing workability is improved.

The need for a weight balance design in consideration of operability is eliminated, and the original performance of the snow blower is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a small snowplow showing main components such as a link, an operation lever, and a gas spring according to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 2 is a view of the small snowplow showing the main configuration of the embodiment of the present application as viewed from the rear, that is, from the operation handle side.

FIG. 3 is a view showing an outer shape of a gas spring used in the embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of a gas spring used in the embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an operation panel of the small snowplow according to the embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a case where the operation panel of the small snow blower according to the embodiment of the present application is replaced with a conventional system.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a case where the snow removing unit of the small snow removing machine according to the embodiment of the present application is fixed to a lowermost position.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a case where the snow removing section of the small snow removing machine of the embodiment of the present application is fixed at the uppermost position.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Snow removal part 2 Upper frame 3 Lower frame 4 Engine 5 Battery 6 Operation handle 7 Lifting lever 8 Gas spring 9 Support rod 10 Mounting bar

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A small snow blower capable of adjusting a height position of a snow removing section, wherein a link mechanism connected to the body, a lever fixed to a part of the link, and a part of the link and the body are connected. A small snowplow comprising a stepless position fixing device, wherein a height of a snowplow is adjusted by operating the lever. 2. The connection of the link includes a snow removal unit, a motor,
The upper frame configuration that mounts the main snow removal function, such as the operation panel and operation handle, and the lower frame configuration that mounts the running parts such as wheels and crawlers, are pivotably connected to each other. In a configuration in which the height position of the snow removing unit is adjusted by manually rotating, a part of the upper frame configuration and a part of the lower frame configuration are pivotally connected so as to be involved in the rotation. Item 2. A small snow blower according to Item 1. 3. The small snow removing device according to claim 1, wherein the lever is fixedly attached to a part of any one of the links or an extended part of any one of the links. Machine. 4. The connection of the stepless position fixing device, wherein one end is pivotally supported to one part of any one of the links or a part obtained by extending any one of the links, and the other end is constituted by an upper frame. The small snow blower according to any one of claims 1 to 3, which is pivotally supported on a part of a lower frame structure or a part of a lower frame configuration. 5. The small snow blower according to claim 1, wherein the pivot of the upper frame is a front wheel axle of a traveling portion. 6. The small snow blower according to claim 1, wherein the operation of fixing the stepless position can be performed on the lever. 7. The small snow blower according to claim 1, wherein a cylinder type telescopic device or a gas spring mixed with gas and oil is used as the stepless position fixing device. .