US2638691A

US2638691A - Rotary plow for the removal of snow

Info

Publication number: US2638691A
Application number: US166834A
Authority: US
Inventors: Wallack Franz Ferdinand
Original assignee: GROSSGLOCKNER HOCHALPENSTRASSE
Current assignee: GROSSGLOCKNER HOCHALPENSTRASSE; GROSSGLOCKNER-HOCHALPENSTRASSEN AG
Priority date: 1947-09-13
Filing date: 1950-06-08
Publication date: 1953-05-19
Anticipated expiration: 1970-05-19

Description

y 19, 1953 F. F. WALLACK 2,638,691

ROTARY PLOW FOR THE REMOVAL OF SNOW Filed June 8, 1950 2 Sheeis-Sheet 1 Fig-3 A/wrmfy M 9, 1953 F. F. WALLACK 2,638,691

ROTARY PLOW FOR THE REMOVAL OF SNOW Filed June 8, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet :2

INVEN TOR.

Patented May 19, 1953 Franz Ferdinand Wallack, Bruck an der Giockners'trasse, Austria, assignor to Grossglockner Ho'chalpenstrasscn" Aktiengcselischaft, burg, Austria, a corporation of Austria Apiplieation June 8, 1950, Serial No. 166,834

In Austria September 13, 1947 8 Claims. (01. 37 -43) The present invention relates toia' rotary snow plow or the kind having snow-cutting device's arranged in front of a throw wheel designed for discharging the snow from the areato be cleared. A. Show blow of this kind is particularly "suitable for the removal of old snow, for. example hard of substantial thickness and delivering such cutoff laminarbodies of snow to the throw wheel in such manner as to avoid packing, sudden impacts and abrupt changes'i'n the direction of movement of the snow. The efiiciency and reliability of operation of the snow plow are thereby materially increased.

Another object of the invention is to provide a rotary snow plowof theikind indicated which will make ossible the removal or a mass of snow having a height greater than the diameter of the snow-relnoval cylinder with which the plow is provided.

A further object of the invention is to provide a snow plow having a snow-removal cylinder that is readily adaptable to different operating conditionsso as to provide maximum ehiciency of operation under all conditions.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description and claims in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: i i

l. is a side elevation, partly in longitudinal section, of a snow'plow in accordance with the invention mounted on-a-self-propelled vehicle.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the snow plomwith portions removed in order to illustrate the construction more clearly. v

3 is an enlarged cross sectional view of one of the snow-romoval cylinders.

4 is a cross section on a still larger scale of a guide blade of thesnow-removal cylinder embodying a preferred construction.

= of longitudinally extending radial projections to blades have convex snow engaging surfaces, be-

Figs. 6 and 7 are diagrammatic cross sections of the snow-removal cylinder illustrating its milliseconds at a iotary speed t me revolutions per minute.

Figs. 10 and 11 are diagrammatic cross sections showing modified embodiments of the snow plow in which the snow removal cylinder is rotated in the opposite direction.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, the snow plow is mounted on the frame i of a track-type vehicle having tracks 2 driven by a motor 3 through gearing I. It 'will be understood, however, that the snow plow may, instead, be mounted on a wheeled vehicle or locomotive.

A shaft 5 leads from the gearing 4 to a transmission 6 which has a driving shaft 1 for driving through beveled gearing 8 the two shafts 9 of two snow-removal cylinders H arranged symmetrisally with respect to the central plane of the snow plow. The shafts 9 extend transversely to the direction ofmov'ement of the snow plow and are carried by the plow frame l0. Each. of the snow-removal cylinders comprises a pair of spaced discs 18 which are carried, and. rotate with, the shaft 9 and a plurality of cutting blades l2 extending betweenethe discs 18 and disposed at the peripheries of said discs. It is preferable that the number of cutting blades be small. three blades being illustrated in the drawings. The snow-removal cylinder also comprises a corresponding number of guide blades I3 having inner edges M pivotally' connected to a rotary core member I5, the pivotal connections being indicated at Hi. The core portion 15 has a plurality which the guide blades 13 are pivotally connested. Between these projections, there are troughs having concavely curved bottomsthat lie as close as ossible to the shaft 9. The guide ing of somewhat airfoil cross section. The convex surfaces of thesuide blades merge smoothly into the concavely curved bottoms of the troughs of the core member Is to provide a smoothh curved surface extending. continuously from the outer edge of one guide blade to that of the next.

"The outer edges of the guide blades are shown as carrying metal strips I! which maybe moved outwardly or inwardly to adapt the guide blades 13 to the setting of the cutting blades 42.

The core member I5 is rotatably supported by the shaft 9. series of holes [9 (Fig. 3) are provided in. theside discs ii of the snow rernoval cylinders l l at the ends of the core member and bolts can be stuck through these holes and into alignedholes in the projecting portions of i the core memberjto adjust the angular position of the'core member i l5 relative to the side discs b8 and thus relative to the cutter blades iii. The side discs l5 'arealso provided with series of 3 holes 2ll-at a greater distance from the axis of the cylinder-and bolts may be stuck through the latter holes to alter the position of the guide blades I3 relativeto the side discs I8 and the core member 'l2 and secure the. guide blades in selected position.

In the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 9, the snowremoval cylinders are intended to rotate in the direction of the arrow 2| so that the cutting blades I2 cut into the snow durin their downward movement. The cutting edges of the blades I2 are shown as being straight and approximately parallel to the axis of rotation of the snow-removal cylinders. The radius m (Fig. 3) of the outermost edges of the guide blades I3 is smaller than the radius 1'1 of the cylinder defined by the cutting edges of the blades I2as the cylinder revolvesso that the snow engages the guide blades only after it has been cut off by the cutting blades. I

' Directly behind the snow-removal cylinders I I, there are provided throw wheels having their axes approximately parallel to the direction of movement of the snow plow and hence approximately perpendicular to the axis of the snow-removal cylinders. The sum of the diameters of the throw wheels is approximately equal to the combined lengths of the snow-removal cylinders, so that the snow delivered to the throw wheels by the snow-removal cylinders is not crowded together and compacted-as occurs with helical or screwtype snow-removal devices-and hence moves freely without clogging,

While the throw wheels may, if desired, be driven from the same motor 3 through suitable gearing, it has been preferable to provide a separate motor for this purpose. The embodiment illustrated in the drawings is accordingly shown as having an additional motor 22 which drives the throw wheels through a shaft 23, bevel gearing 24, shafts 25 and two bevel gear assemblies 26.

A shaft 21 extends from. each of the bevel gear assemblies 26 to a transmission 28 driving the shaft 29 of the respective throw wheels. cal hub 30 is mounted on the shaft 29 and carries a plurality of throw blades 3|. Each throw wheel has a casing 32 with an inlet opening 33 and discharge passage 34.

The mode of operation of the snow plow will now be described. When the snow-removal cylinder II is rotated in the direction of the arrow 2| (Fig. 3), a laminar body of snow 4| is cut oh? by each cutting blade I2. The cutting action occurs in the sector a in Fig. 8. The laminar body of snow that has been severed enters the interior of the snow-removal cylinder I I where, being left to itself, it curls in as a result of the influence of gravity and the velocity imparted to it by the cutting blade I2. This curling in process is theoretically illustrated in successive phases in Fig. 9. The numberof the cutting blades I2 and their inclination a. to the tangent of the circumference of the side discs I8 are so chosen that,

in the spaces 42 between successive guide blades I3, the cut-off laminar bodes of snow 4| will lag behind the cutting edges of the blades I2 and the outside surface of the curled in body encloses the smallest possible volume. As the cylinder I continues to turn, the curled in laminar body 4| of snow meets a guide blade I3 in the closest proximity to the shaft 9'. For this purpose, the cutting blades are disposed closer to the guide blades in front of them than to the guide blades behind them, so that the laminar portions of snow cut off by the cutting blades curl in toward the center A coni- 4 of the snow-removal cylinder before being engaged by the guide blades I3. Owing to the special shape of the guide blades I3, the integrity of the curled in laminar bodies 4| of snow is preserved'as far as possible.- the laminar bodies 4| of snow bein received by the guide blades I3 as gently as possible without impact and Without abrupt change in the direction of movement of the snow. By thus avoiding impact of the guide blades I3 with the laminar bodies of snow, it is possible to avoid objectionable packing of the snow. Moreover, the amount of power required for driving the snow-removal cylinders is thereby appreciably decreased with corresponding increase in efficiency of operation. The bottoms of the troughs formed in the core member of the snow-removal cylinder are arranged as close as possible to the axis of the cylinder and for this purpose the shaft 9 is preferably made as small as permitted by structural requirements. The laminar body. of snow is now contained in the space or chamber 42 formed by the guide blades I 3 and by an imaginary surface connecting the outer most edges of successive guide blades. The guide blades I3 receive the snow close to the shaft 9 and convey it at increased velocity toward the circumference of the snow-removal cylinder (sector b in Fig. 8) and thence into the inlet opening 33 of the throw wheel 3|], 3| (sector 0 in Fig. 8). During the succeeding sector (1 in Fig. 8, the cutting blades and guide blades are idle, whereupon they again reach sector a and the cycle is repeated. The snow delivered into the

throw wheel

30, 3| is discharged a greater or lesser distance, as may be required by the nature of the area being cleared. In Figs. 7, l0 and 11, the throw wheel 3t, 3| is shown only diagrammatically,

' The position of the metal strips I! (Fig. 4) o the outer edges of the guide blades I3 can be ad* justed according to the setting of the cutting blades I2. It is thereby possible to prevent portions of the laminar body 4| from one cutting blade from entering a subsequent chamber 42 where they would interfere with the movement of the laminar body of snow contained therein. These metal strips II are adjusted according to the thickness of the laminar body 4| of snow so that the portion of the guide surface alon which said laminar body travels always has the largest effective surface for the deflection of the body of snow toward the throw wheel.

The snow plow in accordance with the invention may also be adapted to varying conditions of operation, such as variations in the condition of the snow and/or in the working speed, by altering the angular relationship between the cutting edges of the cutting blades I2 and the innermost portions of the troughs formed between the guide blades I3. It is also possible to adjust the angle a at which the cutting blades I2 are set to a plane tangential to the side discs I8 and to adjust the guide blades I3 and the movable corernember I5 in order to adjust the form of the guide surfaces to the particular snow conditions that are encountered.

In the rotary plow according to the present invention, the snow is always deflected in such a manner that the cut off laminar body 4| of snow is discharged in its entirety in a substantially frictionless movement of the snow-removal cylinder.

Because the laminar body of snow can follow its natural curling tendency with perfect freedom and without any interference, any clogging of passages is reliably prevented. Moreover, the

' either by sliding or folding.

in providing a guide surface that is adapted to receive a laminar body of snow cut off by a cutting member after said laminar body has been allowed to curl in without any interference may be utilized for various types of snow removal devices. A snow plow in accordance with the invention may "comprise one or more snow-removal cylinders rotating in any desired direction and one or more 'throw wheels and may, if desired, be combined 'with other removal elements which are known per se.

As far as the basic idea of the invention is concerned, it makes no difference whether the snow is cut oil from top to bottom or from bottom to top. The latter embodiment, however, has special advantages because the snow, while being conveyed from the snow-removal cylinder to the throw wheel casing is subject only to its own gravity and requires no additional lifting force for its conveyance. In this embodiment, the

throw wheel casing may be located at a greater height above the roadbed, so that it cannot be blocked by snow. This embodiment also exeludes any clogging of the passage between the snow-removal drum and the throw wheel, particularly because the movement of the snow into i the throw wheel is assisted by its own gravity.

Figs. and 11 show arrangements in which the snow-removal cylinder H rotates in the opposite direction from that of the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 to 9, so thatin the free space 43 adjacent to the upper portion of the snowremoval cylinder, the movement of the snow is subject to the influence of gravity so that the snowremoval cylinder 1 l is emptied from top to bottom. When the snow-removal cylinder is rotated in the direction of the arrow in Figs. 10 and 11," anupwardly projectingguide surface 35 is preferably provided at the front edge of the casing 32 that encloses thethrow wheel and the rearward portion of the snow-removal cylinder.

In order to prevent the discharge of snow dust which would blur the view of the operator and to permit the discharge of hard bodies, a cover member 36 (Fig. 11) may be provided over the front portion of the circumference of the snow-removal cylinder. This cover member 36 can be moved back in the direction of rotation, In this case, the guide surface 35 is attached to the front edge of the movable cover 36 and may, if desired, be made resilient. I i

Fig. 10 shows that the axis of the

throw wheel

38, 3| may be higher than the axis of the snowremoval cylinder by a distance Bl. It is thereby possible to provide greater clearance between the casing 32 of the throw wheeland the. road.

,Figs. 1 and '7 illustrate that the snow-removal cylinders i 1, together with the throw wheels30, 3|, may be swingably suspended on the vehicle frame so as to swing about a transverse shaft 38. The shaft 38 may, for example, be the rear axle of the track drive. The raising and lowering of the snow-removal cylinders is effectedby means of hydraulic cylinders 39 which are operated by suitable means indicated schematically at. As the snow plow travels forwardly, the unit comprising the snow-removal cylinders and throw wheels, together with their respective casings, isswung up and down by means. of the hydraulic cylinders 39, so that it is possible to remove a mass of snow the height of which is larger than the diameter of the snow-removal cylinders. It is not necessary, however, that the throw wheels be arranged to swing together with the snow-removal cylinders since it is sufficient to raise and lower the snow-removal cylinders H alone. The swingable suspension isof special advantage when the snow is conveyed from bottom to top, as illustrated in Figs. 10 and 11, because, in that case, thesnow plow has no tendency to climb up on the snow.

What I claimis:

1. In a rotary snow plow; a rotatable throw wheel and a snow removal cylinder positioned to dischargesnow into said throw wheel, said snow removal cylinder comprising a rotatable shaft, a plurality of cutting blades carried by and revolving with said shaft, the cutting edges of said blades extending longitudinally of said cylinder and defining a cylindrical surface as the shaft revolves, a core portion rotatable with said shaft and having a plurality of longitudinally extending radial projections forming between them troughs having concavely curved bottoms close to said shaft, and guide blades projecting radially outwardly from said projections, the radius of said guide blades measured from the axis of said shaft being substantially less than that of the cutting edges of the cutting blades, said guide blades having convex snow-engaging surfaces merging smoothly into the concave surfaces of said trough of said core portion to provide a smoothly curved surface from the outer edge of one guide blade to the next and said cutting blades being disposed closer to the guide blades in front of them than to the guide blades behind them, so that snow cut off by said cutting blades curls inwardlytoward said shaft and'is directed to the throw wheel by said guide blades without abrupt change of direction;

2. In a rotary snow plow, a snow removal cyl- 'inder comprising a rotatable shaft, a plurality of spaced discs revolving with said shaft, a plurality of cutting blades extending between said discs and disposed at the peripheries of said discs, the cutting edges of said blades defining a cylindrical surface as the shaft revolves, a core portion rotatable with said shaft and disposed betweensaid discs, saidcore portion having a plurality of longitudinally extending radial projections forming between them troughs having concavely curved bottoms close to said shaft, and guide blades projecting radially outwardly from said projections, the radius of said guide blades measured from the axis of said shaft being substantially less than that of the cutting edges of the cutting blades, said guide blades having convex snow-engaging surfaces merging smoothly into the cancave trough surfaces of saidcore portion to provide a smoothly curved surface from the outer edge of one guide blade to the next and said cutting blades being disposed closer to the guide blades ahead of them than to the guide blades behind them so that snow cut off by said cutting blades curls inwardly to the bottoms of said troughs near said shaft and is then'directed rearwardly by said guideblades without abrupt 1 change of direction. i 1

3. In a rotary snow plow, a snow removal cylinder comprising a rotatable shaft; a plurality of'spaced discs revolving with said shaft, a plurality of cutting blades extending between said discs and disposed at the peripheries of said discs, the cutting edges of said blades defining a cylindrical surface as the shaft revolves, a core member rotatable withv said shaft and disposed be tween said discs, said core member having a plurality of longitudinally extending radial projections forming between them troughs having concavely curved bottoms close to said shaft, guide blades projecting radially outwardly from said projections and pivotally connected thereto so as to swing about their pivots to a plurality of different angular positions relative to said shaft and discs, and means for holding said guide blades in selected position, the radius of said blades measured from the axis of said shaft being substantially less than that of the cutting edges of the cutting blades, said guide blades having surfaces merging smoothly into the trough surfaces of said core member to provide a smoothly curved surface from the outer edge of one guide blade to the next.

4. In a rotary snow plow, a snow removal cylinder comprising a rotatable shaft, a plurality of cutting blades carried by and revolving with said shaft, the cutting edges of said blades extending longitudinally of said cylinder and defining a. cylindrical surface as the shaft revolves, a core portion rotatable with said shaft and having a plurality of longitudinally extending radial projections forming between them troughs having concavely curved bottoms close to said shaft, guide blades projecting radially outwardly from said projections and having surfaces merging smoothly into the trough surfaces of said core portion to provide a smoothly curved surface from the outer edge of one guide blade to the next, the radius of said guide blades measured from the axis of said shaft being substantially less than that of the cutting edges of the cutting blades, movable metal strips extending along the outermost edges of the guide blades, said strips being movable radially ofthe guide blades and means for securing said strips in selected position relative to the guide blades.

i 5. In a rotary snow plow, a snow removal cylinder comprising a rotatable shaft, three cutting blades carried by and revolving with said shaft, the cutting edges of said blades extending longitudinally of said cylinder and defining a cylindrical surface as the shaft revolves, a core portion rotatable with said shaft and having three longitudinally extending radial projections forming between them troughs having concavely curved bottoms close to said shaft, guide blades projecting radially outwardly from said projections, the radius of said blades measured from the axis of said shaft being less than that of the.

cutting edges of the cutting blades, said guide blades being disposed between successive ones of said cutting blades and having convex snowengaging surfaces merging smoothly into the trough surfaces of said core portion and to provide a smoothly curved surface from the outer edge of one guide blade to the next and said cutting blades being disposed at least 60 ahead of the guide blades behind them so that laminar portions of snow cut off by said cutting blades curl inwardly to the bottoms of said troughs and are directed rearwardly by said guide blades without abrupt change of direction. I 6. In a rotary snow plow, a snow-removal cyl inder comprising a rotatable shaft, a plurality of to said shaft and discs, said core member having a plurality of longitudinally extending radial projections forming between them troughs having concavely curved bottoms close to said shaft and guide blades projecting radially outwardly from said projections, the radius of said guide blades measured from the axis of said shaft being substantially less than that of the cutting edges of the cutting blades, said guide blades having surfaces merging smoothly into the trough surfaces of said core member to provide a smoothly curved surface from the outer edge of one guide blade to the next.

7. In a rotary snow plow, a snow-removal cylinder comprising a rotatable shaft, a plurality of spaced discs revolving with said shaft, a plurality of cutting blades extending between said discs and disposed at the peripheries of said discs, the cutting edges of said blades defining a cylindrical surface as the shaft and discs revolve, a

core member rotatable relative to said discs and disposed between said discs, means for holding said core member in selected angular position relative to said discs, said core member having a plurality of longitudinally extending radial projections forming between them troughs having concavely curved bottoms close to said shaft, guide blades projecting radially outwardly from said projections and pivotally connected thereto so as to swing about their pivots to a plurality of different angular positions relative to said discs, and means for holding said guide blades in selected position, the radius of said blades measured from the axis of said shaft being substantially less than that of the cutting edges of the cutting blades, said guide blades having surfaces merging smoothly into the trough surfaces of said core member to provide a smoothly curved surface from the outer edge of one guide blade to the next.

8. In a rotary snow plow, a rotatable throw wheel having its axis approximately parallel to the direction of movement of the snow plow and a snow-removal cylinder positioned in front of said throw wheel, said snow-removal cylinder comprising a rotatable shaft substantially perpendicular to the axis of said throw wheel, a plurality of spaced discs carried by and rotating with said shaft, a plurality of cutting blades extending between said discs and disposed at the peripheries of said discs, said blades having straight cutting edges substantially parallel to said shaft, a core portion rotatable with said shaft and disposed between said discs, said core portion having a plurality of longitudinally extending radial projections forming between them troughs having concavely curved bottoms close to said shaft, and straight guide blades projecting radially outwardly from said projections, the outer edges of said guide blades being substantially parallel to said shaft and nearer said shaft than said cutting edges, said guide blades having smooth surfaces that merge smoothly into the concave trough surfaces of said core to provide a smoothly curved surface from the outer edge of one guide blade to the next, and said cutting blades being disposed closer to the guide blades in front of them than to the guide blades behind them, so that snow cut off by said cutting blades curls inwardly toward said shaft and is directed rearwardly to the throw wheel by said guide 5 blades without abrupt change of direction and without compacting, said snow-removal cylinder being rotated in a direction such that the cutting blades out in an upward direction.

FRANZ FERDINAND WALLACK. 10

References Cited in the file Of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Number Number Name Date Gehl Aug, 8, 1939 Voorderman Apr. 23, 1940 Jensen Dec. 17, 1940 Venable Oct. 23, 1945 Wandscheer Oct. 30, 1945 Eliot Apr. 22, 1947 Inksetter Aug. 26, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Austria Nov. 10, 1937 Switzerland July 1, 1947