JP4092663B2 - snowblower - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a snowplow, and more particularly to a small and lightweight snowplow that is manually operated.

  In snowy countries, road snow removal is widespread, and when there is snow, a large snowplow removes snow from the side of the road. During this snow removal process, the snow on the side of the road is compressed and hardened, and sometimes becomes a dam-shaped snow removal mass (hereinafter simply referred to as “snow removal mass”) with a height of more than 50 cm. It will close the front. For this reason, residents are forced to remove this snow lump manually with a scoop or snow dumper (two-handed scoop) in order to secure a passage for their own business and life. This work belongs to heavy labor, but due to the so-called nuclear family and aging in recent years, the number of young people has decreased, and elderly people and weak women have to carry out snow removal work. Therefore, there is a demand for a light and easy-to-use small snowplow that can be easily handled by elderly people and women.

  Currently, small snowplows that are in practical use in Japan are driven by an engine driven by a ribbon-shaped screw called an auger, which collects and sharpens snow and a blower called a blower, and the direction is determined by a cylinder called a shooter. Many types of snow are used. Many of them have a structure that travels back and forth by a crawler (also known as a caterpillar) driven by an engine. In addition, as shown in Patent Documents 1 and 2, these small snowplows can move the auger up and down by a driving source such as hydraulic pressure, pneumatic pressure, or a gas spring, whereby a snow removal mass having a height of 50 cm. Can be processed. However, as described in Non-Patent Document 1, the small snowplow has a mass of 100 kg or more even if it is relatively small, and cannot be handled easily by elderly people and women. Furthermore, in addition to being difficult to supply at a low price due to the structure, there is still room for improvement in simplification of driving operations and noise reduction, and the spread to general households has not progressed.

  As a lighter and cheaper snowplow, for example, Patent Document 3 discloses a snowplow that can be moved manually by using a sliding plate (橇) while driving an auger and a blower with an engine in the same manner as described above. Proposed. This snowplow has a mass of about 20kg and is easy to operate. However, when cutting hard snow, the snowplow itself is lifted over the snowplow and the auger cutting speed cannot be increased. is there. In addition, since this snow remover is not provided with a mechanism for raising and lowering the auger, there is a problem that when the height of the snow removal block becomes large, an operator must lift the entire snow removal device and place it on the snow removal block. . Therefore, this snow remover limits the height of snow removal blocks that can be handled by normal workers to about 25 cm or less. In addition, this proposal does not particularly take measures for reducing engine noise, and as a result, it has been marketed as a practical machine but has not yet spread.

  In order to reduce weight and reduce noise, a small snowplow using an electric motor as power is developed and marketed by the US company TORO (see Non-Patent Document 2). This small snowblower has a mass of 15 kg or less and is equipped with lightweight wheels for back and forth movement, making it easy for elderly people and women to use. However, this snow remover does not have an auger up-and-down mechanism, so that the snow removal mass that can be processed is limited to about 25 cm or less in height. Also, the light blade used here cannot cut the hard snow removal mass.

  Patent Document 4 proposes a small snow remover in which a pair of wheels for advancing and retreating are installed at the rear part of a frame, and a snow removal blade is attached to the front of the frame and driven to scatter snow backward. Yes. However, the device according to this proposal does not have an auger up-and-down mechanism, so that there is a problem that the snow removal mass that can be processed is limited to about 25 cm or less in height.

JP 2000-290951 A JP 2002-363940 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-259041 Registered utility model No. 3043945 Catalog of Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. “Snowmate” 2003 US Toro catalog “Electric Snowthrower” 2003

  An object of the present invention is to provide a small and light snowplow that can process a hard snow removal block exceeding 50 cm and is easy to use for elderly people and women.

The snow remover of the present invention has a blade along the spiral curve group on the front end side of the frame, and is provided on the rear surface side of the main auger that rotates in the up-cut direction and cuts the snow. A snow collecting auger having blades made of a spiral curve group having the same pitch as the auger, combined so that the cutting edge enters the rotation surface of the main auger, and rotating in a direction opposite to the main auger, An operating handle is attached to the rear end side, and a moving means on snow consisting of a sliding body or a wheel having an arcuate bottom surface is attached to the middle part.

In addition, the frame is configured as an integrated insulator having a mounting portion of the snow moving means as a fulcrum, and an operation handle is attached to the frame in two upper and lower stages, and the main auger is moved by the operation handle. The frame can be moved up and down and forward and backward together with the snow collecting auger, and the auger driving means is provided on the frame.

In the snowplow having the above-described configuration, it is preferable that the snow throwing device is installed on an inclination adjustment stand that is fixed to the auger cover and can be tilted with respect to the frame by a link mechanism.

  The small snowplow of the present invention can be manufactured to be light and small, and since the auger can be lifted with respect to the snow removal block, even elderly people and women can remove hard snow of 50 cm or higher, especially snow removal blocks. It can be handled easily. In particular, when the auger is configured to rotate up-cut, there is an advantage that the user can feel the cutting feeling and is easy to operate. As a result, the snow removal machine of the present invention has an excellent effect that it can solve the difficulty of snow removal in an elderly / nuclear family in a snowy country.

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a basic configuration of a snowplow according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a front view thereof. FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory view showing an operation mechanism of the snowplow having the basic configuration shown in FIG. 5-7 is a side view which shows embodiment of the snow remover based on this invention .

  As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, a snow remover according to the present invention includes a frame 10 that forms a main part of the housing, and a snow lump cutting portion 40 including an auger 41 attached to the front end thereof, A snow throwing mechanism 50 provided on the back surface of the snow removal lump cutting unit, a snow removal lump cutting unit 40, a drive means 30 for the snow throwing mechanism 50, and a snow moving means 20 attached to an intermediate portion of the frame 10 are configured. Note that although it forms a part of the frame 10, the rear end side of the frame 10 is an operation unit 11.

  As schematically shown in FIG. 4, in the snowplow of the present invention, the frame 10 has a shape that can act as a lever as a whole, and can rotate around a fulcrum 16. An arcuate rod 21 is attached so that the fulcrum 16 is the center of the arc. Further, the front end side of the frame 10 is an attachment portion for the snow lump cutting portion 40 including the auger 41, and the rear end side is an operation portion including the upper handle 12 and the lower handle 13. Therefore, the operator can move the snowplow forward and backward manually, and can easily lift the auger 41 above the snow removal mass S by pushing down the handle (the upper handle 12 or the lower handle 13). In addition, for example, when there is only one handle, the processing height of the snow removal block may be limited due to the ergonomic limitation of the push-down range, but an upper handle 12 and a lower handle 13 are provided as shown. Thus, when the lower handle is depressed below the knee height of the operator, if the operator changes the handle 13 from the handle 13 to the upper handle 12, a high snow removal mass can be processed.

  Thus, in the snow remover of the present invention, a high snow removal mass can be processed. However, as shown below, by rotating the auger that cuts the snow in the up cut method, the operator can control extremely. It is easy. This will be described below.

  First, as shown in FIG. 4, when the lower handle is pushed forward by the operator, the entire snow removal machine slides on the snow by the eaves 21 and moves toward the snow removal mass S. In this state, the auger 41 is rotated in the upcut direction by driving means (not shown in FIG. 4). Thereby, cutting of the snow removal block S starts. The cut snow is blown upward or backward by an auger 41 that rotates in the upcut direction, and is processed by a snow throwing mechanism that will be described later. When the lower handle 13 is pushed down by the operator as the cutting progresses, the frame 10 rotates around the fulcrum 16, and as a result, the auger 41 is lifted along the side surface of the snow removal mass S, and the snow removal on the upper surface thereof. The lump S is cut and processed. The snow removal mass is processed over its entire height by the advance of the snow remover by the handle operation of the operator and the lifting of the auger.

  In this way, in the snow removal machine of the present invention, the auger can be lifted along the snow removal mass by the principle of the lever, thereby enabling processing of a high snow removal mass. In addition to this, when the rotation direction of the auger is the so-called up-cut direction in the snow remover of the present invention, the force F3 when the lower handle 13 is pushed down is in a state that can be very easily controlled by the operator. .

  That is, the force F3 when the operator depresses the lower handle 13 is transmitted to the auger side at the tip of the frame 10 by acting as a lever of the frame 10, and conversely from the auger side, the driving means 30 and the snow removal block at the tip of the frame 10 In addition to the downward force F1 due to the weight (force due to gravity) of the cutting unit 40 and the snow throwing mechanism 50, the reaction force F2 due to the rotating action of the auger 41 in the upcut direction is transmitted to the lower handle side. Therefore, the operator can feel the cutting force of the auger 41 as the reaction force F2, and proceed with the processing of the snow removal block while always maintaining an appropriate cutting force for the snow removal block of various hardness. be able to. Further, the downward reaction force F2 from the auger 41 is effective in preventing the snowplow from being lifted during snow removal, thereby reducing the weight of the entire snowplow.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the snowplow according to the present invention, in its basic configuration, the frame 10 is divided into an upper frame 10A including an upper handle 12 and a lower handle 13, and a lower frame 10B. And the lower frame 10B are coupled to each other by fastening means such as bolts. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the frame 10 is provided in a pair of left and right, and these are integrally connected by an upper handle handle 14, a lower handle handle 15, and a connecting member 17 to form a housing of a snowplow. . The frame 10 can be manufactured, for example, by pressing a steel plate, thereby reducing the weight of the snowplow.

  Slightly forward from the intermediate position of the frame 10, a trough 21 whose bottom portion forms an arc shape is attached so as to be integrated with the frame 10, and serves as a snow moving means 20. The center of the arc of the flange 21 is a fulcrum 16 when the frame 10 is used as a lever.

  The front end of the frame 10 is connected to the auger cover 42. The auger cover 42 includes a side cover 43 and a back cover 44. A pair of left and right side covers 43 are provided, and a bearing (not shown) and a worm speed reducer 36 are attached to a substantially central portion thereof, and an auger 41 is rotatably supported on the side cover 43. On the other hand, the back cover 43 substantially covers the upper surface and the back surface side of the auger 41, and the back surface side is an opening to the blower case 51 of the snow throwing mechanism 50.

  A blower case 51 is directly attached to the frame 10 on the back side of the auger cover 42. A blower 52 is built in the blower case 51, and an upper portion thereof is opened and connected to a shooter 53 and a shooter cap 54. Further, on the back side of the blower case 51, driving means 30 such as an electric motor 31, a speed reducer 32, and the like are directly attached to the frame 10B.

  The electric motor 31 and the speed reducer 32 are coaxially coupled by the worm speed reducer 34 of the auger 41 and the drive shaft (not shown) of the blower 52 and the drive shaft 33, and rotate the auger 41 in the up cut direction or the down cut direction. It can be done. The electric motor 31 is connected to an appropriate power source, and its switches 35A and 35B are installed on the upper handle 12 and the lower handle 13, respectively.

Since the snowplow of the present invention has such a basic configuration, when the motor is started by operating the switch 35A or 35B, the blower 52 starts rotating together with the auger 41. The snow lump S is cut by the rotation of the auger 41, and the cut flake-shaped snow is captured in the auger cover 42, and then sucked into the blower case 51 by the rotation of the blower 52, from the shooter 53 and the shooter cap 54. Snow is thrown in the desired direction. At this time, the snow remover can be operated as already described with reference to FIG. 4, whereby a large snow removal block can be easily processed.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing the first embodiment of the snowplow according to the present invention. As shown in the first embodiment , the snow remover of the present invention is provided with a snow collecting auger 47 that rotates in the opposite direction to the main auger 46 on the rear surface side in addition to the main auger 46 that cuts snow. These are rotated by a coaxial drive shaft 33. However, the direction of rotation differs depending on the worm speed reducers 34 and 36 attached to the bearings that support the rotating shafts of the augers. Further, the main auger 46 and the snow collecting auger 47 are provided with blades made of spiral curve groups that rotate at the same speed in the opposite direction at the same pitch, and have an appropriate phase angle. Other configurations are basically the same as those of the basic configuration .

  In this configuration, the flake-shaped snow generated by cutting by the main auger 46 changes the traveling direction to the reverse direction by the accumulation auger 47 and is guided to the shooter 53 by the blower 52 and is snowed in a desired direction. . And when this structure is used, the fall of the snow collecting efficiency of the snow near the ground surface can be especially prevented. Since the main auger 46 must have a function of cutting the snow removal lump as in the snow removal machine of the first embodiment, it is necessary to have a cutting force according to the snow quality. The flaky snow cut by the main auger 46 only needs to have a function of collecting the flaky snow at the center in the width direction and feeding it into the blower case 51, so that it can be made of a flexible material such as rubber. Thereby, for example, the impact of the auger due to the biting of foreign matter can be reduced. Even in this case, when the rotation direction of the main auger is the up-cut direction, the operator can feel the cutting force of the auger 41 as the reaction force F2, and the snow removal lumps of various hardness can be obtained. On the other hand, it is possible to proceed with the processing of the snow removal block while always maintaining an appropriate cutting force.

FIG. 6 is a side view of the snowplow according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the snow throwing mechanism 50 is installed on the tilt adjusting table 61, and the tilt adjusting table 61 can be tilted with respect to the frame 10 by the tilt adjusting mechanism 60.

  This tilt adjustment mechanism 60 is typically of the structure shown in FIG. 6, and a crank plate 63 is attached to the frame 10 by a fixed rotation pin 65, and an inclination adjustment base 61 is attached above the crank plate 16. Can be tilted by a rotating handle 68. Specifically, a long hole 62 is formed at the rear of the inclination adjusting base 63, and a rotary slide pin 64 provided at one end of the crank plate 63 is attached to slide in the long hole. The other end is a thrust stop bearing 66, and a threaded rod 68, a fixing nut 69 (which is fixed to the frame 10), and a rotary handle 70 are provided to make the threaded rod 46 extendable. Accordingly, when the operator operates the extending handle 68 to extend the threaded rod 68 by the rotary handle 70, the rotary slide pin 65 moves rearwardly in the slot 62, and as a result, the tilt adjusting base 61 tilts upward. Will do.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the driving means 30 and the snow throwing mechanism 50 are loaded on the inclination adjusting table 61. In the snow remover of the first embodiment, when processing a high snow lump, the operator may suffer from snow that is projected by the shooter 53 of the snow throwing mechanism tilting toward the operator according to the inclination of the frame 10. However, in the snow removal machine of Embodiment 4 provided with the inclination adjustment mechanism 60, since an operator can arbitrarily change the projection direction of snow, such a fear can be avoided.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the snowplow according to the third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the on-snow moving means 20 shown in FIG. The other points are basically the same as in FIG. In this embodiment, even when there is no snow on the road surface and it is difficult to move the snowplow with a kite, the snowplow can be advanced by moving the snowplow with respect to the snow removal block.

In the basic structure of the present invention, the fulcrum 16 of the frame 10 of the snowplow is 213 mm above the ground, and the frame 10 has an arc shape with the same radius (213 mm) around this point so that the frame 10 rotates around the fulcrum 16.橇 21 was provided. Then, an auger having a diameter of 220 mm was placed at a position 410 mm in front of the fulcrum 16, and a handle 15 of the lower handle was placed at a position 1000 mm behind. The expected angle from the fulcrum 16 to the handle 15 of the lower handle was 60 °. From this, when the auger is on the ground, the height of the handle 1 of the lower handle is 1079 mm, which is approximately the height of the human shoulder. When the handle 15 of the lower handle is pushed down from this state and the frame 10 is rotated by 60 °, the handle 15 of the lower handle is almost at a height of 213 mm from the ground. At this time, the handle 14 of the upper handle is located at a position of 500 mm from the ground, that is, approximately at the waist level of the operator. Therefore, the operator can further remove snow by moving the lower handle to the upper handle.

  By the steering operation, the axis connecting the center of the auger 41 and the fulcrum 16 changes from -15 ° (downward 15 °) to + 45 ° (upward 45 °) with respect to the horizontal plane. As a result, the upper end position of the auger, which was initially 220 mm, was raised to 615 mm, and as a result, it was possible to process a snow removal block with a height of 600 mm.

  On the other hand, the pushing force required for the above handle operation is determined by the moment of gravity around the fulcrum 16 and the cutting force applied to the tip of the auger 41, but when operating the handle 15 of the lower handle, a maximum of 366 N (36.5kgf), usually 150N (14.8kgf), of which the own weight is 56N (5.57kgf). When operating the handle 14 of the upper handle, the above values are 120 N (12.0 kgf), 35 N (3.5 kgf), and -1.5 N (-0.15 kgf), respectively. Here, the maximum cutting force was 2600 J / s (2600 W), and the normal cutting force was 30% of the maximum output based on experience. Note that the above-mentioned weight is the force that pulls down the handle without cutting, and when the handle 15 of the lower handle is operated, the handle stands with its own weight, but when the handle 14 of the upper handle is operated, the snowplow is moved backward. It will fall. The cutting force is a value when the auger is rotated in the upcut direction.

Table 1 shows the characteristics when removing snow by rotating the auger in the up-cut direction using the snow remover having the above dimensions and having the basic configuration of the present invention, compared with a commercially available small snow remover. Is. The comparison target is the lightest of the small snowplows described in Non-Patent Document 1 that can process a snowplow with a height of 40 cm or more. The snowplow according to the present invention had an output of about 60% and a snowplowing capacity of about 27% compared to the comparative snowplow, but the weight of the snowplow was about 25% and the snowplow was clear. The lump processing height was greatly improved to 136%. Therefore, although the snow remover of the present invention takes a lot of snow removal time, it can easily process a high snow lump with a small amount of labor and is easier to handle for elderly people and women.

The snow remover according to the first embodiment of the present invention has a main auger diameter of 140 mm, a snow collecting auger diameter of 220 mm, and a distance between the main auger and the snow collecting auger between the axes of 130 mm. It was made into a curved line, and the set angles of both were determined so that both augers would not touch each other. As a result, snowfall about 10cm above the ground could be handled efficiently. The characteristics are indicated by the values in parentheses in Table 1. Other conditions are the same as in the first embodiment. In this case, compared with the case of Example 1, with the same motive power, the weight of the snowplow is increased and the snow throwing distance is shortened, but the snow collecting efficiency is improved and the snow removal capability is greatly improved. The rotation direction of the main auger is in the upcut direction.

It is a side view which shows the basic composition of the snow remover which concerns on this invention . It is a plan view of the snow removal machine according to Figure 1. It is a front view of the snow remover which concerns on FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the action | operation mechanism of the basic composition of the snow remover which concerns on this invention. 1 is a side view of a snowplow according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a side view of the snow remover which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a side view of the snow remover which concerns on 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10 frames
10A upper frame
10B Lower frame
11 Operation unit
12 Upper handle
13 Lower handle
14 Upper handle handle
15 Lower handle handle
16 fulcrum
17 Connecting member
20 Means for moving on snow
21 橇
22 wheels
30 Drive means
31 Electric motor
32 Reducer
33 Drive shaft
34 Worm reducer
35A, 35B switch
36 Worm reducer
40 Snow removal block cutting part
41 Auger
42 Auger cover
43 Side cover
44 Back cover
46 Main Auger
47 Snow auger
50 Snow throwing mechanism
51 Blower case
52 Blower
53 Shooter
54 Shooter Cap
60 Tilt adjustment mechanism
61 Tilt adjustment stand
62 Slotted hole
63 Crank plate
64 rotation slide pin
65 Fixed rotating pin
66 Rotating pin
67 Thrust stop bearing
68 Threaded rod
69 Fixing nut
68 Rotating handle
70 Rotating handle
S: Snow removal block

Claims (2)

A main auger that has a blade along the spiral curve group on the front end side of the frame of the snowplow, and that is provided on the rear surface side of the main auger that rotates in the upcut direction and cuts snow, and has the same pitch as the main auger And a snow collecting auger that is combined so that the cutting edge enters the rotation surface of the main auger and that rotates in a direction opposite to the main auger on the rear end side of the frame. The operation handle is attached to a snow moving means consisting of a sliding body or a wheel having an arc-shaped bottom surface in the middle part, and the frame is configured as an integral insulator having a mounting portion of the snow moving means as a fulcrum. At the same time, the operation handle is attached to the frame in two upper and lower stages, and the main auger is moved up and down and front and rear together with the snow collecting auger by the operation handle. While allowing, snowplow characterized by comprising providing the drive means of each auger is in said frame.     2. The snow removal machine according to claim 1, wherein a snow throwing device is installed on an inclination adjusting base fixed to the auger cover and capable of being inclined with respect to the frame by a link mechanism.

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