JP3557598B2 - Snow removal equipment with casters for work vehicles - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a snow removal device with casters for a work vehicle.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A typical example of a snow removal device mounted on the front end of a working vehicle such as a truck, a wheel loader, and a tractor is, for example, a snow plow. The work vehicle equipped with the snow plow is made to travel forward, and the snow accumulated on the road is shaved and pushed away by the front surface of the snow plow to perform snow removal. A ski device formed to slide on a running road surface is provided below the snow plow. By this ski device, the height from the road surface to the snow plow is maintained, the snow plow is prevented from entering the road surface, and the snow removal is performed evenly. A typical example of a ski device is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-162295, and an improved example thereof is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-32031.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The conventional ski apparatus of the above-described embodiment has the following problems to be solved in snow removal work. That is,
(1) Since the ski device slides on the road surface, the portion that comes into contact with the road surface is likely to be worn early.
(2) The ski rides on obstacles such as manholes and protrusions on the road surface, preventing even snow removal.
(3) Since the ski device is made of steel in terms of strength and wear resistance, it is easy to damage the road surface and road signs on the road surface.
(4) Noise occurs due to contact between the ski and the road surface.
(5) When the snow removing device lifted by the mounting means of the work vehicle (for example, a lift arm of a wheel loader) is dropped on the road surface, the ski device or the snow removing device itself is easily damaged by an impact with the road surface.
[0004]
The present invention has been made in view of the above facts, and a technical problem thereof is that in a snow removal device having a ski device mounted on a work vehicle, early wear of the ski, uneven snow removal, road surface damage, contact with the road surface. An object of the present invention is to provide a snow removal device for a work vehicle that can solve the above-mentioned problems such as noise and damage to collision with a road surface.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to the present invention, as a snow removal device for a work vehicle that solves the above technical problem, in a snow removal device attached to a front portion of a work vehicle in a traveling direction, the snow removal device rolls on a road surface and a rolling direction. There casters provided we are having a rotatable elastic wheels to follow the direction of travel of the working vehicle, the caster comprises a support bracket attached to該除snow device, the upward and the axis in the vertical direction to the support bracket A caster shaft attached to the work vehicle at an angle to the rear in the traveling direction, and a caster arm having one end attached to the caster shaft and the other end rotatably attached to the elastic wheel. The present invention provides a snow removal device with casters for a work vehicle.
[0006]
Therefore, by providing the casters with the rotatable elastic wheels, the snow removing device is maintained at a set height from the road surface, and the conventional problems of early ski wear, uneven snow removal, road surface damage, road surface This eliminates problems such as noise caused by contact with the road, and damage caused by collision with the road surface.
[0008]
Further , the elastic wheels always follow the traveling direction of the work vehicle due to the caster shaft inclined toward the work vehicle and the caster arms attached to the caster shaft.
[0009]
The support bracket includes those with該除snow device Rutotomoni, by swinging of the support bracket pivotably attached to the front-rear direction of the該除snow device upper around the lower part lower side of the caster axis is mounted A buffer member is interposed at the contact portion.
[0010]
Therefore, the impact on the elastic wheel from the road surface is transmitted to the caster arm, the caster shaft, and the support bracket, and the support bracket swings and abuts on the cushioning member provided between the snow removal device and the support bracket, The shock is further damped in addition to damping by the elastic wheels.
[0013]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a snow removing device with casters for a work vehicle configured according to the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0014]
Referring to FIG. 5, a wheel loader, which is a work vehicle generally designated by reference numeral 2, includes a snow plow 4 as a snow removal device in the front of the wheel loader 2 in the traveling direction (leftward in FIG. 5). It is attached to the tip of a lift arm 2a that can swing vertically. The snow plow 4 has a snow removal blade 4a formed on its front surface in an arc shape when viewed from the side of the wheel loader 2 (the state shown in FIG. 5), and is interposed between the snow removal blade 4a and the lift arm 2a to remove snow. It has a support 4b that supports the blade 4a, and a cutting edge 4c that is a cutting blade attached to the lower end of the snow removal blade 4a. The snow removing blade 4a and the cutting edge 4c are provided in the vehicle width direction of the wheel loader 2 (a direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 5) with a width exceeding the outer width of the left and right wheels. A caster 10 having rotatable elastic wheels 8 that rolls on a road surface 6 and whose rolling direction follows the traveling direction of the wheel loader 2 is provided below the left and right ends of the snow plow 4 in the width direction.
[0015]
The caster 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 show the caster 10 on one side (left side) of the snow plow 4, and the exact same caster 10 is mounted on the opposite side (right side) of the snow plow 4. The caster 10 is attached to the support bracket 12 attached to the snow plow 4, and the axis 14 a is inclined to the support bracket 12 in the up-down direction and upward (to the right in FIG. 1) in the traveling direction of the wheel loader 2. The vehicle includes a caster shaft 14 and a caster arm 16 having one end attached to the caster shaft 14 and the other end rotatably attached with an elastic wheel 8.
[0016]
The support bracket 12 is formed integrally by welding various steel members to each other. The support bracket 12 is formed in a substantially rectangular shape with a thick steel plate, and is attached to the back surface of the snow removal blade 4a of the snow plow 4 in a vertical direction (up and down direction in FIG. 1). A lower plate 12b erected below the main plate 12a, and an upper plate 12c formed in a shape similar to the lower plate 12b and larger than the lower plate 12b and erected above the main plate 12a in parallel with the lower plate 12b. A round boss 12d provided on a chevron top of the lower plate 12b remote from the main plate 12a; a round boss 12e provided on a chevron top of the upper plate 12c remote from the main plate 12a; a lower plate 12b and an upper plate 12c, and a lower plate below the main plate 12a. A pair of bearing plates 12g, 12g are provided on the opposite side of the bracket 12b at intervals in the left-right direction (the direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 1) (one of them is shown in FIG. 1). Is visible).
[0017]
In each of the lower plate 12b and the round boss 12d, and the upper plate 12c and the round boss 12e, a bearing hole 12h and a bearing hole 12j penetrating through the same axis 14a are provided, and the upper plate 12c side has a snow removing blade at an inclination angle α from the main plate 12a. 4a are provided inclining in a direction away from the rear surface (rearward in the traveling direction of the wheel loader 2). The upper bearing hole 12j has a larger diameter than the lower bearing hole 12h. This inclination angle α is conveniently in the range of 7 ° to 15 °. Each of the pair of bearing plates 12g, 12g is provided with a bearing hole 12k penetrating through the same axis in the left-right direction of the snow plow 4 (the direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 1).
[0018]
A caster shaft 14 is rotatably inserted into the bearing holes 12h and 12j of the support bracket 12. The caster shaft 14 is made of a high-strength alloy steel, and has a bearing portion formed at both ends to fit into the bearing holes 12h and 12j of the support bracket 12. A male screw 14b to which a caster arm 16 (the caster arm 16 will be described later in detail) is formed between the two bearing portions. At the upper end of the caster shaft 14, a handle 14c for manually rotating the caster shaft 14 about an axis 14a is attached. The both ends of the caster shaft 14 are provided with washers 15a and 15b respectively contacting the round boss 12d and the round boss 12e of the support bracket 12. The washer 15a and the washer 15b are fixed to the caster shaft 14 by an appropriate means, for example, by passing a pin through a hole penetrated by the caster shaft 14 and the washer 15a or a hole penetrated by the caster shaft 14 and the washer 15b. Thus, the caster shaft 14 does not move in the direction of the axis 14a when attached to the support bracket 12.
[0019]
The caster arm 16 will be described with reference to FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. The caster arm 16 is formed of a steel cylindrical boss 16a formed with a female screw to be screwed to the male screw 14b of the caster shaft 14, and a boomerang-shaped cutout of a thick steel plate. Has an arm 16b which is welded so as to hang downward. At the other end of the arm 16b, an axle hole 16c for attaching the elastic wheel 8 is provided through the arm 16b in the thickness direction.
[0020]
The axle 17 is made of a high-strength alloy steel, and is mounted so as to protrude from both sides of the axle hole 16 c of the caster arm 16. The axle 17 is fixed with two nuts 17a with the arm 16b of the caster arm 16 interposed therebetween. In the present embodiment, two elastic wheels 8 are attached to each protrusion of the axle 17, one each. The elastic wheel 8 has a pneumatic rubber tire 8a, and a mounting boss 8b of the pneumatic rubber tire 8a is rotatably mounted on the axle 17 by tapered roller bearings 17b and 17c and a nut 17d.
[0021]
With reference to FIGS. 1 and 4, mainly FIG. 4, the support bracket 12 mounting portion of the angling plow 4 will be described. In the lower part of the back surface of the snow removal blade 4a of the angling plow 4, four bearing plates 4e for mounting the bearing plates 12g, 12g of the support bracket 12 are positioned so that one bearing plate 12g is sandwiched by two bearing plates 4e. It is erected. Each of the bearing plates 4e is provided with a bearing hole 4f penetrating in the horizontal direction (the left-right direction in FIG. 4) along the same axis. Above the bearing plate 4e on the back surface of the angling plow 4, two buffer pads 5 serving as buffer members are horizontally arranged and attached by bolts 5c. The shock-absorbing pad 5 is formed by baking a rectangular parallelepiped synthetic rubber pad 5b on a rectangular steel plate 5a, providing a bolt hole for a mounting bolt 5c at the center of the steel plate 5a, and a bolt escape hole on the rubber pad 5b. As the buffer pad 5, other appropriate shapes, for example, a columnar shape, or an appropriate material, for example, a synthetic resin can be used. The mounting position of the buffer pad 5 is determined such that the upper end of the main plate 12a of the support bracket 12 contacts the buffer pad 5. An angle plate 4d having an L-shaped cross section is mounted horizontally above the buffer pad 5 on the back surface of the angling plow 4. The angle plate 4 d is attached so as to sandwich the upper end of the main plate 12 a of the support bracket 12 and the buffer pad 5 by a channel shape formed by the L-shaped cross section and the back surface of the angling plow 4.
[0022]
The attachment of the casters 10 to the angling plow 4 will be described with reference to FIG. First, the upper end of the main plate 12a of the support bracket 12 is inserted between the buffer pad 5 and the angle plate 4d. Next, the center of the bearing hole 12k of the bearing plate 12g of the support bracket 12 and the center of the bearing hole 4f of the bearing plate 4e of the angling plow 4 are aligned, and the pin 13 is inserted. The pin 13 is fixed to the bearing plate 4e by attaching a bolt 13a to a screw hole provided in the bearing plate 4e. Thus, the support bracket 12 has the upper portion between the cushion pad 5 and the angle plate 4 d in the front-rear direction of the snow removing device 4 with the lower end of the caster shaft 14 attached to the lower center, that is, the center of the pin 13. It is attached so that it can swing freely.
[0023]
The operation of the snow removal device with casters as described above will be described with reference to FIGS.
[0024]
(1) The height H (see FIG. 5) of the cutting edge 4c of the snow plow 4 from the traveling road surface 6 of the wheel loader 2 is adjusted to a desired height. This height H can be easily adjusted by turning the handle 14c of the caster shaft 14 (see FIG. 1) by hand and moving the position of the caster arm 16 to which the elastic wheel 8a is attached by moving the boss 16a of the caster arm 16 up and down. It is adjusted to. As can be easily understood from FIG. 5, as the height H decreases, the amount of snow remaining on the road surface 6 after removing snow decreases.
[0025]
(2) The wheel loader 2 is moved forward, and the snow on the front surface of the snow plow 4 is shaved by the cutting edge 4c and pushed by the snow removing blade 4a to remove snow. At this time, the lift arm 2a on which the snow plow 4 is mounted is in a so-called floating state in which the swing in the vertical direction is not restricted, so that the snow plow 4 is connected to the road surface 6 by the elastic wheels 8 of the casters 10. Height H is maintained. For example, when the snow loader 2 does not carry out the snow removal operation by the snow plow 4, the lift arm 2 a is swung upward to lift the snow plow 4 and the elastic wheel 8 is separated from the road surface 6.
[0026]
(3) As described above, since the snow plow 4 is supported by the rotatable elastic wheels 8, even if the elastic wheels 8 come into contact with a road sign on the road surface 6 or a protrusion such as a manhole cover, the impact is not affected. It is cushioned by the elastic wheels 8.
[0027]
(4) The elastic wheel 8 is rotatably attached to the caster arm 16 of the caster shaft 14 inclined rearward at the inclination angle α, and the caster shaft 14 is further attached to the upper plate 12 c and the lower plate 12 b of the support bracket 12. The elastic wheel 8 easily follows a change in the traveling direction of the wheel loader 2 such as straight traveling, right and left turning, and the like. Even when the snow removal blade 4a of the snow plow 4 is tilted forward (to be tilted in the direction shown by the arrow 2b in FIG. 5) in order to change the cutting angle of the cutting edge 4c with respect to snow, etc. Thereby, the elastic wheel 8 easily follows the traveling direction.
[0028]
(5) The support bracket 12 is attached to be swingable in the front-rear direction around the lower part thereof, and the upper end thereof is provided with the buffer pad 5 between the snow plow 4 and the upper end thereof. When the wheel 8 is pushed up, the shock is absorbed by the cushion pad 5 in addition to the elastic wheel 8.
[0029]
As described above, the present invention has been described in detail based on the embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be variously modified or modified within the scope of the present invention. For example,
(1) In the present embodiment, the snow plow 4 is employed as a snow removing device. However, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to other snow removing devices, for example, a rotary snow removing device that blows off snow with a blower or the like.
(2) In the present embodiment, two elastic wheels 8 are attached to the casters 10, but the number of elastic wheels 8 may be one depending on the size, weight, etc. of the snow removing device. Not something.
[0030]
【The invention's effect】
According to the snow removal device with casters for a work vehicle configured according to the present invention, the elastic wheels are provided so as to be freely adjustable in height and swingable about an inclined caster shaft, and further, a support bracket for mounting the caster shaft. Since the cushioning member is provided between the snow ski and the snow removing device, problems such as abrasion, snow removal problem, road surface damage, contact noise with the road surface, and collision damage with the road surface, which are problems of the conventional ski device, are eliminated. I will
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a side view of a snow removing device with casters of a work vehicle configured according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a top view of FIG. 1 as viewed in the direction of arrows AA.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the elastic wheel mounting portion as viewed in the direction of arrows BB in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a caster mounting portion as viewed in the direction of arrows CC in FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is a side view of a work vehicle equipped with a snow removing device with casters configured according to the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
2: Wheel loader (work vehicle)
4: Snow plow (snow removal equipment)
5: buffer pad (buffer member)
6: Road surface 8: Elastic wheel 10: Caster 12: Support bracket 14: Caster shaft 16: Caster arm

Claims (2)

In the snow removal device attached to the front of the working vehicle in the traveling direction,
The snow removing device is provided with casters having rotatable elastic wheels that roll on a road surface and the rolling direction follows the traveling direction of the work vehicle ,
The caster includes a support bracket attached to the snow removal device, a caster shaft attached to the support bracket with an axis extending vertically and upwardly inclined rearward in the traveling direction of the work vehicle, and one end connected to the caster shaft. And a caster arm having the elastic wheel rotatably mounted at the other end of the work vehicle. The support bracket includes those with該除snow device Rutotomoni, by swinging of the support bracket pivotably attached to the front-rear direction of the該除snow device upper around the lower part lower side of the caster axis is mounted the contact portion cushioning member is interposed, casters snow removing device for a work vehicle according to claim 1.

Images