JPWO2005075746A1 - snowblower - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a lightweight snow remover capable of processing a hard snow plow exceeding 50 cm and easy for the elderly and women to use.
An auger (41) for upcutting snow on the front end side of the frame (10) of the snow remover, an operation handle (11, 12) on the rear end side, and an arcuate slide or wheel in the middle part The snow moving means (40) is attached, and the frame is configured as an integral lever having the mounting portion of the snow moving means (40) as a fulcrum (16), and the auger (11) is operated by the operation handle (11, 12). The frame (10) is provided with a drive means (30) for the auger (41) while allowing the frame (10) to move up and down and forward and backward. In this case, it is desirable that the handles (11, 12) are attached to the frame (10) in upper and lower two stages. Further, in the above-mentioned invention, it is preferable that the snow throwing device (50) is fixed to the auger cover and is installed on an inclination adjusting table which can be tilted with respect to the frame by a link mechanism.

Description

  BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a snow remover, and more particularly to a manually operated small and light snow remover.

  Road snow removal is popular in snowy countries, and when there is snow, a large snow plow removes the snow accumulated on the roadway to the side of the road. During this process of snow removal, the snow that is pushed to the side of the road is compressed and hardened, and sometimes it becomes a bank-shaped snow mass with a height of more than 50 cm (hereinafter simply referred to as "snow mass"), which is It will block the front. Therefore, the residents are forced to manually remove the snow-removed lumps with a scoop or snow dump (both push scoops) in order to secure a passage for their own business and life. This work belongs to heavy-duty labor, but due to the so-called nuclear family and aging in recent years, the number of young people has decreased, and the elderly and weak women are obliged to carry out snowbreaking work. Therefore, there is a demand for a small snow blower that is light and easy to use for elderly people and women.

  Currently, small snow blowers in practical use in Japan drive a ribbon-shaped screw called an auger that collects snow by scraping it and an impeller that blows snow called a blower with an engine, and the direction is determined by a cylinder called a shooter. Many types of snow are used. Further, most of them have a structure in which they are moved forward and backward by a crower (also known as a caterpillar) driven by an engine. Further, in these small snow blowers, as shown in Patent Documents 1 and 2, the auger can be moved up and down by a driving source such as hydraulic pressure, pneumatic pressure, or a gas spring, and as a result, a snow plow having a height of 50 cm. Can be processed. However, as described in Non-Patent Document 1, the above-mentioned small snow remover has a mass of 100 kg or more even if it is relatively small, and cannot be easily handled by an elderly person or a woman. Furthermore, it is difficult to supply at a low price due to its structure, and there is room for improvement in simplification of driving operation and noise reduction, and it has not spread to general households.

  As a lighter and cheaper snow remover, for example, Patent Document 3 discloses a snow remover that is movable by hand using a slide plate (sledge) for a traveling mechanism while driving an auger and a blower with an engine as described above. Proposed. This snow remover has a mass of about 20 kg and is easy to operate, but there is a problem that when cutting hard snow, the snow remover itself is raised above the snow removing mass and the cutting speed of the auger cannot be increased. is there. Further, since this snow remover does not have a mechanism for moving the auger up and down, there is a problem that when the height of the snow remover becomes large, the operator must lift the entire snow remover and place it on the snow remover. .. Therefore, this snow remover limits the height of snow plows that can be processed by ordinary workers to approximately 25 cm or less. Further, in this proposal, no particular measure for reducing engine noise is taken, and therefore, it has been marketed as a practical machine but has not yet spread.

  In order to reduce the weight and reduce the noise, a small snow remover using an electric motor as a power source has been developed and marketed by TORO Corporation (see Non-Patent Document 2). This small snow blower weighs less than 15 kg and is equipped with lightweight wheels for moving back and forth, making it easy for the elderly and women to use. However, this snow remover does not have an auger up-and-down mechanism, which limits the height of snow plows that can be processed to approximately 25 cm or less. In addition, the light blade used here cannot scrape the above hard snow plows.

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

JP, 2000-290951, A JP, 2002-363940, A JP-A-7-259041 Registered utility model No. 3043945 Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. Catalog "Snowmate" 2003 Toro Catalog "Electric Snow thrower" 2003

  An object of the present invention is to provide a small and lightweight snow remover capable of treating a hard snow plow having a size of more than 50 cm and easy for an elderly person and a woman to use.

  The snow blower of the present invention is provided with an auger for cutting snow on the front end side of the frame, an operation handle on the rear end side, and an on-snow moving means consisting of an arcuate sliding body or wheels in the middle portion, and The frame is configured as an integral lever having a mounting point of the snow moving means as a fulcrum to enable the auger to move up and down and forward and backward by the operation handle, and the frame is provided with a driving means for the auger. It is preferable that the auger that cuts the snow here can cut the snow upcut.

  Further, the snow remover of the present invention includes a main auger that cuts snow on the front end side of the frame of the snow remover and a snow collecting auger that is provided on the rear surface side of the main auger and that rotates in the opposite direction to the main auger. The operation handle is attached to the middle part, and the snow moving means consisting of an arcuate sliding body or wheels is attached to the middle part, and the frame is constructed as an integral lever with the mounting portion of the snow moving means as a fulcrum. The auger can be moved up and down and forward and backward by an operating handle, and the frame can be provided with driving means for the main auger and the snow collecting auger. It is preferable that the main auger that cuts the snow here can cut the snow upcut.

  In each of these inventions, the operation handle can be attached to the frame in upper and lower two stages. Further, in the above-mentioned invention, it is preferable that the snow throwing device is fixed to the auger cover and is installed on an inclination adjusting table which can be tilted with respect to the frame by a link mechanism.

  The small snow blower of the present invention can be manufactured to be lightweight and small, and can lift the auger with respect to the snow removing mass, so that even elderly people and women can hard snow with a height of 50 cm or more, especially snow removing mass. It can be easily processed. In particular, when the auger is configured to rotate up-cut, there is an advantage that the feeling of cutting can be felt and the operation is easy. As a result, the snow remover of the present invention has an excellent effect of solving the difficulty of removing snow in an aged/nuclear family in a snow country.

  1 is a side view of a snow blower according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a front view thereof. Moreover, FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory view showing an operating mechanism of the snow blower shown in FIG. 1. 5 to 7 are side views of snow removing machines according to second to fourth embodiments of the present invention, respectively.

  As shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, a snow removal machine according to the present invention is a snow removal lump cutting section 40 including a frame 10 which is a main part of a skeleton thereof, and an auger 41 attached to a front end thereof. It comprises a snow throwing mechanism 50 provided on the back surface of the snow removing lump cutting portion, a snow removing lump cutting portion 40, a driving means 30 for the snow throwing mechanism 50, and a snow moving means 20 attached to an intermediate portion of the frame 10. In addition, although forming a part of the frame 10, a rear end side of the frame 10 is an operation portion 11.

  As schematically shown in FIG. 4, in the snow blower of the present invention, the frame 10 has a shape capable of acting as a lever as a whole, and is rotatable about a fulcrum 16. An arc-shaped sled 21 is attached so that the fulcrum 16 becomes the center of the arc. Further, the front end side of the frame 10 is an attachment part of the snow removal block cutting part 40 including the auger 41, and the rear end side is an operation part including the upper handle 12 and the lower handle 13. Therefore, the operator can move the snow blower forward and backward manually, and can easily lift the auger 41 above the snow removing mass S by pushing down the handle (the upper handle 12 or the lower handle 13). Also, for example, when there is only one handle, the processing height of the snow removal block may be limited due to the limitation of the ergonomic pressing range, but the upper handle 12 and the lower handle 13 should be provided as shown in the figure. Thus, when the lower position of the lower handle is below the knee height of the operator, if the operator switches from the handle 13 to the upper handle 12, it is possible to process a high snow plow.

  In this way, with the snow blower of the present invention, it is possible to process high snow plows, but as shown below, by rotating the auger that cuts snow in the upcut method, the operator can control extremely. It is easy. This point will be described below.

  First, as shown in FIG. 4, when the lower handle is pushed forward by the operator, the entire snow removing machine slides on the snow by the sled 21 and moves toward the snow removing mass S. In that state, the auger 41 is rotated in the up-cut direction by a driving unit (not shown in FIG. 4). Due to this, the cutting of the snow removing mass S starts. The cut snow is blown upward or backward by the auger 41 rotating in the upcut direction, and processed by a snow throwing mechanism described later. Along with the progress of this cutting, when the lower handle 13 is pushed down by the operator, the frame 10 rotates about the fulcrum 16, and as a result, the auger 41 is lifted along the side surface of the snow removing mass S and the snow removing on the upper surface thereof is performed. The mass S is cut and processed. The snow removal lump is processed over its entire height by advancing the snow removing machine and lifting the auger by operating the handle of the operator.

  In this way, in the snow removing machine of the present invention, the auger can be lifted along the snow removing lump according to the principle of leverage, and thereby a high snow removing lump can be processed. In addition to this, in the snow blower of the present invention, when the rotation direction of the auger is the so-called up-cut direction, the force F3 when pushing down the lower handle 13 becomes extremely easy to control by the operator. ..

  That is, the force F3 when the operator pushes down 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 at the tip of the frame 10 and the snow removal block. In addition to the downward force F1 due to the weight (force due to gravity) of the cutting unit 40, the snow throwing mechanism 50, etc., the reaction force F2 due to the rotation 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 a reaction force F2, and proceed with the processing of the snow removing mass while always maintaining an appropriate cutting force for the snow removing mass of various hardness. be able to. In addition, the downward reaction force F2 from the auger 41 is effective in preventing the snow blower from floating during snow removal, thereby reducing the weight of the entire snow remover.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below.

  In the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, 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 upper frame 10A and the lower frame 10B are bolts or the like. They are connected by fastening means. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a pair of left and right frames 10 are provided, and these are integrally connected by an upper handle handle 14, a lower handle handle 15 and a connecting member 17 to form the body of the snow blower. . The frame 10 can be manufactured, for example, by pressing a steel plate, which can reduce the weight of the snow remover.

  A sled 21 having an arcuate bottom is attached to the front of the intermediate position of the frame 10 so as to be integrated with the frame 10 to form a snow moving means 20. The center of the arc of the sled 21 serves as a fulcrum 16 when the frame 10 acts as a lever.

  The tip 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 substantially the center of the side covers 43, and an auger 41 is rotatably supported on the side covers 43. On the other hand, the rear surface cover 43 substantially covers the upper surface and the rear surface side of the auger 41, and the rear surface side is an opening portion 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. The blower case 51 has a built-in blower 52, and an upper portion thereof is opened and connected to a shooter 53 and a shooter cap 54. Further, a drive means 30 such as an electric motor 31 and a speed reducer 32 is directly attached to the frame 10B on the back side of the blower case 51.

  The electric motor 31 and the speed reducer 32 are coaxially coupled to the worm speed reducer 34 of the auger 41 and the drive shaft (not shown) of the blower 52 by the drive shaft 33, and rotate the auger 41 in the up-cut direction or the down-cut direction. You can do it. 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 snow blower according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is configured as described above, when the switch 35A or 35B is operated to start the electric motor, the blower 52 starts to rotate together with the auger 41. The snow removing mass S is cut by the rotation of the auger 41, the cut flake-shaped snow is captured in the auger cover 42, and then is 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 blower can be operated as already described with reference to FIG. 4, whereby a snow plow having a large height can be easily treated.

  FIG. 5 is a side view of the snow blower according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, in addition to the main auger 46 that cuts snow, a snow collecting auger 47 that rotates in the opposite direction to the main auger 46 is provided on the rear surface side. These are rotated by a coaxial drive shaft 33. However, the direction of rotation is made different by the worm reducers 34 and 36 mounted on the bearings that support the rotating shaft of each auger. 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 pitch and in opposite directions at the same speed, so that both have an appropriate phase angle. Other configurations are basically the same as those of the snow blower of the first embodiment.

  In this configuration, the flake-like snow cut by the main auger 46 changes its traveling direction to the opposite direction by the integrated auger 47, is guided to the shooter 53 by the blower 52, and is thrown in the desired direction. .. With this configuration, it is possible to prevent the snow collecting efficiency of the snow near the ground surface from being lowered. The main auger 46, like the snow remover of the first embodiment, must have a function of cutting snow lumps. Therefore, the main auger 46 needs to have a cutting force according to the quality of snow. It suffices that the flake-shaped snow cut by the main auger 46 is collected in the central portion in the width direction and sent 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 foreign matter being caught can be mitigated. Even in this case, when the rotation direction of the main auger is set to the upcut direction, the operator can feel the cutting force of the auger 41 as the reaction force F2, and the snow removing blocks of various hardness can be obtained. On the other hand, it is possible to proceed with the processing of the snow removing mass while always maintaining an appropriate cutting force.

  FIG. 6 is a side view of the snow blower according to the third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the snow throwing mechanism 50 is installed on the tilt adjusting base 61, and the tilt adjusting base 61 is tiltable with respect to the frame 10 by the tilt adjusting mechanism 60.

  The tilt adjusting mechanism 60 typically has a structure shown in FIG. 6, in which a crank plate 63 is attached to the frame 10 by a fixed rotation pin 65, and a tilt adjusting table 61 is attached above the crank plate 16. Can be tilted by a rotating handle 68. Specifically, a long hole 62 is formed in the rear of the tilt adjustment base 63, and a rotary slide pin 64 provided at one end of the crank plate 63 is attached so as to slide in the long hole, and the crank plate 63 The other end is used as a thrust stop bearing 66, and a rod 68 with a screw, a fixed nut 69 (which is fixed to the frame 10), and a rotary handle 70 are provided here so that the rod 46 with a screw can extend and contract. Therefore, when the operator operates the rotating handle 70 to extend the threaded rod 68, the rotating slide pin 65 moves rearward in the slot 62 accordingly, and as a result, the tilt adjusting base 61 tilts forward and upward. Will be done.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the driving means 30 and the snow throwing mechanism 50 are loaded on the tilt adjusting table 61. In the snow removal machine of the first embodiment, the operator may be exposed to snow when the shooter 53 of the snow throwing mechanism leans toward the operator side and is projected according to the inclination of the frame 10 when processing a high snow removal lump. However, in the snow blower of the fourth embodiment including the inclination adjusting mechanism 60, the operator can arbitrarily change the snow projection direction, and thus such a fear can be avoided.

  FIG. 7 is a side view of the snow blower according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the snow moving means 20 shown in FIG. 1 is replaced with wheels 22 from sleds 21. Other points are basically the same as the case of FIG. In this embodiment, even if there is no snow on the road surface and it is difficult to move the snow remover due to the sled, the snow remover can be moved with respect to the snow removal mass to proceed with the snow removal work.

  In the snow blower of the first embodiment, the fulcrum 16 of the frame 10 is set to 213 mm on the ground, and the arc-shaped sled 21 having the same radius (213 mm) with this point as the center so that the frame 10 rotates about this fulcrum 16. Was established. Then, an auger having a diameter of 220 mm was placed at a position 410 mm forward of the fulcrum 16, and a handle 15 of the lower handle was placed at a position 1000 mm rearward. Further, the prospective angle from the fulcrum 16 to the handle 15 of the lower handle is set to 60°. From this, when the auger is on the ground, the handle 1 of the lower handle has a height of 1079 mm, which is approximately the height of a person's 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 comes to a height of 213 mm from the ground. At this time, the handle 14 of the upper handle comes to a position of 500 mm from the ground, that is, at the waist height of the operator. Therefore, the operator can change the lower handle to the upper handle to further remove snow.

  By the above-mentioned handle 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 at the beginning. As a result, the auger's upper end position was initially 220 mm, but was lifted to 615 mm, and as a result, it was possible to process snow debris with a height of 600 mm.

  On the other hand, the pushing down 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 weight is 56N (5.57kgf). When the handle 14 of the upper handle is operated, the above values are 120N (12.0kgf), 35N (3.5kgf), -1.5N (-0.15kgf), respectively. Here, the maximum cutting force was the maximum output of the motor was 2600 J/s (2600 W), and the normal cutting force was 30% of the maximum output based on experience. Note that the weight is the force to pull down the handle without cutting.When operating the handle 15 of the lower handle, the handle stands by its own weight, but when operating the handle 14 of the upper handle, the snow blower moves backward. You will fall. The cutting force is a value when the auger is rotated in the upcut direction.

  Table 1 shows the characteristics when the snow remover of the first embodiment having the above dimensions is used to remove snow by rotating the auger in the upcut direction, in comparison with a commercially available small snow remover. The comparison target is the lightest of the small snow blowers described in Non-Patent Document 1 that can process a snow plow having a height of 40 cm or more. The snow blower according to the present invention has an output of about 60% and a snow removal capacity of about 27% as compared with a comparative snow remover, but the snow blower has a mass of about 25% and is lightweight, and snow removal is performed. The processing height of the lump was greatly improved to 136%. Therefore, although the snow remover of the present invention takes a long time to remove snow, it is possible to easily process a high snow-removed lump with a small amount of labor, and it is easier for elderly people and women to handle.

  The snow removing machine according to the second embodiment of the present invention has a main auger diameter of 140 mm, a snow collecting auger diameter of 220 mm, and an axial distance between the main auger and the snow collecting auger is 130 mm. Then, the set angles of both augers were set so that they would not come into contact with each other. As a result, snowfall of about 10 cm above the ground could be effectively treated. The properties are indicated by the values in parentheses in Table 1. Other conditions are the same as those in the first embodiment. In this case, compared to the case of the first embodiment, the weight of the snow remover is increased and the snow throwing distance is shortened by the same power, but the snow collecting efficiency is improved and the snow removing ability is significantly improved. The main auger rotates in the upcut direction.

It is a side view of the snow blower concerning a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view of the snow blower which concerns on FIG. It is a front view of the snow blower which concerns on FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the operating mechanism of the snow blower which concerns on this invention. It is a side view of the snow blower which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a side view of the snow blower which concerns on 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a side view of the snow blower concerning a 4th embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

10 frames
10A upper frame
10B lower frame
11 Operation part
12 upper handle
13 Lower handle
14 Upper handle handle
15 Lower handle handle
16 fulcrum
17 Connecting member
20 Snow transportation
21 sledge
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 section
41 Auger
42 auger cover
43 Side cover
44 back cover
46 Lord Auger
47 Snow Collection Auger
50 snow throwing mechanism
51 blower case
52 Blower
53 shooter
54 shooter cap
60 Tilt adjustment mechanism
61 Tilt adjustment stand
62 slot
63 crank plate
64 rotating slide pin
65 Fixed rotating pin
66 rotating pin
67 Thrust stop bearing
68 threaded rod
69 fixing nut
68 swivel handle
70 rotating handle
S: Snow lump

Claims (6)

  An auger for cutting snow on the front end side of the frame of the snow remover, an operation handle on the rear end side, and an on-snow moving means consisting of an arcuate sliding body or wheels in the middle part, and the frame It is configured as an integral lever with the mounting portion of the snow moving means as a fulcrum to enable the auger to move up and down and forward and backward by the operation handle, and the frame is provided with a driving means for the auger. A snow blower.   A main auger that cuts snow on the front end side of the frame of the snow remover and a snow collecting auger that is provided on the rear surface side of the main auger and rotates in the opposite direction to the main auger, an operation handle on the rear end side, and an intermediate portion. The snow moving means consisting of an arcuate sliding body or wheels is attached, and the frame is constructed as an integral lever having a mounting portion of the snow moving means as a fulcrum, and the auger is moved up and down and forward and backward by the operation handle. A snow blower which is capable of advancing and is provided with drive means for the main auger and the snow collecting auger on the frame.   The snow removal machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the operation handles are attached to the frame in two steps, upper and lower.   3. The snow blower according to claim 1, wherein the snow throwing device is installed on an inclination adjusting base that is fixed to the auger cover and is tiltable with respect to the frame by a link mechanism.   The snow removal machine according to claim 4, wherein the operation handles are attached to the frame in two steps, upper and lower. The snow blower according to claim 1 or 2, wherein an auger for cutting snow is rotated by an upcut method.

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