WO2005040507A1

WO2005040507A1 - Blade implement and method of use

Info

Publication number: WO2005040507A1
Application number: PCT/US2004/028480
Authority: WO
Inventors: Richard Panozzo
Original assignee: Dick's Asphalt Services Of Kankakee, Inc.
Priority date: 2003-10-10
Filing date: 2004-09-01
Publication date: 2005-05-06
Also published as: US20050079014A1

Abstract

A blade implement (10) includes a support structure (40) and a blade (42) attached to a utility bucket (30). The blade (42) is substantially beneath the utility bucket (30). A method of using the blade implement (10) including positioning the blade against a road surface and the step of moving the blade across the road surface for road treatment.

Description

TITLE: BLADE IMPLEMENT AND METHOD OF USE

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to road surface treatment, in particular, to apparatus and methods for treating road surfaces with a blade implement. Road surfaces typically need to be treated for a number of different reasons. Specifically, roads may need to have snow removed, material backfilled into a ditch beside the road, new shoulders cut into existing roadways, the gravel base of existing roadways widened, the entire roadway sub-grade cut out, or generally material displaced from the road. These tasks are achieved in the prior art by specialty equipment. However, it is desirable to be able to modify existing equipment such that they achieve the above results. Accordingly, a primary objective of the present invention is the provision of a blade implement adapted to be attached to a utility bucket. The specialty equipment of the prior art often is incorrectly sized for use upon narrow roadways, residential driveways, shoulders of existing roadways, or other narrow areas. Accordingly, another objective of the present invention is the provision of a blade implement with a narrow blade cutting surface that has the ability of treating surfaces narrower than that which specialty equipment may efficiently treat. Specialty equipment by their nature is not adapted for more than one use.

Accordingly, a further objective of the present invention is the provision of providing a grading feature to a general utility industrial tractor such as a scoop tractor and to provide the option of the user using the scoop tractor for surface treatment. A further objective of the present invention is the provision of a blade implement

which permits adjustable angle of the blade. A still further objective of the present invention is the provision of a blade

implement having a swivel which permits the blade to rotate 360°. In the prior art, the

attachments do not allow a variety of different surface treatments including front treatment

and then rear treatment of the road surfaces.

A still further objective of the present invention is the provision of a blade

implement which is economical to manufacture and durable in use.

These and other objectives will become apparent from the following description of

the invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The blade implement of the present invention includes a utility bucket adapted to be

attached to an industrial vehicle that has an open front, a closed back, and a closed

underside. The blade implement also has a support structure attached to the underside of

the utility bucket and a blade attached to the support structure that is substantially beneath

the utility bucket. The blade implement of the present invention also includes a method of

using the blade implement comprising providing an industrial vehicle having a utility

bucket with a blade attached to the underside and substantially beneath the utility bucket.

The method also has the step of positioning the blade against a road surface and the step of

moving the blade across the road surface for road treatment. The blade implement of the

present invention also includes a blade implement with a mounting plate adapted to be

attached to an industrial vehicle, a swivel moveably attached to the mounting plate, and a

blade attached to the swivel radially moveable beneath the mounting plate. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a front perspective view of the blade implement attached to the utility

bucket of an industrial vehicle.

Figure 2 is a rear view of the mounting plate, swivel, and blade. Figure 3 is a bottom view of the mounting plate, swivel with locking bar detail and

blade.

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional exploded view through the middle of the mounting

plate, guide ring, swivel plate, retainer ring, and blade components.

Figure 5 is a front perspective view of a blade implement upon a skid steer fastened

with bolts. Figure 6 is a front perspective view of a blade implement upon a heavy load tractor

and attached by bolts.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The blade implement of the present invention is generally designated in the

drawings by the reference numeral 10.

As seen in Figure 1, the blade implement 10 is located on an industrial vehicle 12.

The industrial vehicle 12 generally has wheels 14, a vehicle body 16, and a forward facing

cab 18 upon the vehicle body 16. Attached to the vehicle body 16 is also a lift system 20

designed to manipulate implements in front of the cab. Typically, the industrial vehicle 12

has hydraulic cylinders 22, coupled with physical joint and pivot points 24 to translate

force from the hydraulic cylinders 22 to the implement 10. The implement 10 is attached

to the hydraulic system 20 by bucket pivots (not shown). The implement 10 such as a utility bucket, may be raised or lowered using the lift system 20 and may also be tilted

forward or back by a bucket hydraulic system 28 (as shown in Figure 6). Implements that might be attached to the industrial vehicle include a utility bucket

30. The utility bucket 30 is common because it is very versatile and often is the only

device used upon the industrial vehicle 12. The bucket 30 versatility stems from its

familiar use to the operator, the forward location upon vehicles 12, and the vehicle's 12

ability to translate force from the lift system 20 to the bucket 30.

The blade implement 10, as illustrated in Figure 1, is attached to the utility bucket

30. The utility bucket 30 has an open front 32, a closed back 34 and a closed underside 36.

The bucket 30 has a width "W" and a length "L".

A support structure 40 is attached to the underside 36 of the bucket 30. A blade 42

is attached to the support structure 40.

As seen in Figure 2, the support structure has a mounting plate 50 attached to the

mounting plate 50 are metal tabs 52 for securing the mounting plate 50 to the bucket 30.

Alternatively, the mounting plate 50 may be welded to the utility bucket 30. Also, as seen

in Figure 1, on the front side of the utility bucket the mounting plate 50 has an engaging

slot 53 which may be attached to the mounting plate 50. The mounting plate 50 is designed

to be a quick attachment to the utility bucket. Alternatively, the mounting plate 50 may be

welded to the utility bucket 30. Attached to the utility bucket 30 as seen in Figure 2 is a swivel 54. As seen in

Figure 2, the swivel 54 has a guide ring 56 attached to the mounting plate 40 and a swivel

plate 58 marked in dash lines 57 which rotates within the guide ring 56 and a retainer ring

60 which fits over the guide ring 56 and swivel plate 58 holding the swivel plate 58 in

place and providing a place for the swivel plate 58 to be locked in place. Extending from the swivel plate 58 are moldboard supports 62. Two moldboard supports 62 are positioned

against the swivel plate 58. The support 62 is fastened to the swivel plate 58 by a flat face

bolt 64 and nut 66. Attached to the moldboard support 62 is a cross beam 68 which extends a first and

second moldboard support 62. The moldboard fits against the moldboard support 62 and

the cross beam 68 such that force striking against the moldboard is translated to the

moldboard support 62 and the cross beam 68 and into the industrial vehicle 12.

A cutting edge 72 is attached to the moldboard 70 by attachment 74. The

attachment is commonly a bolt and nut combination. Alternatively, the cutting edge 72

may be welded to the moldboard 70. Preferably, the cutting edge 72 is detachable from the

moldboard 70 so that replacement cutting edge 72 may be supplied as the cutting edge 72

will wear at a rate faster than the moldboard 70.

Preferably, if the attachment 74 is a bolt, the bolt is flush mounted to join the

cutting edge 72 to the moldboard 74 such that particulates traveling along the cutting edge

72 and moldboard 70 are not interfered with the attachment 74.

Figure 3 illustrates the bottom view of the swivel. Preferably the retaining ring 60

has locking notches 80 around the circumference. A locking bar 82 is moveable between

the locking notch 80 and an open position by pulling upon handle 84. When the handle 84

is pulled it moves a locking bar 82 away from the locking notch 80. Preferably a spring 86

is provided which biases the locking bar 82 towards a seated position in the locking notch

80. Figure 4 is a cross-sectional exploded view provided to show the orientation of the

moldboard along a center line of the swivel plate 54. Figure 5 is provided showing the industrial vehicle 12 as a skid steer with a support

structure 40 that does not use a swivel. Instead, the support structure is made up of a T-bar

90 being bolted to the underside 36 of the bucket 30 at a plurality of locations 92 and also

bolted to the moldboard 70 with cutting edge 72 at location 94. The embodiment is much

simpler than the swivel plate 54 and provides a similar action across a road surface but

requires more extensive manipulation by user to adjust the angle of the cutting edge 72.

Figure 6 illustrates a blade attached to a large loader bucket tractor 12 without a

swivel 54. In this embodiment, the blade only takes up a portion of the loader bucket 30.

In use, the user positions the blade 42 against a road surface and moves the blade 42

across the road surface such that the cutting edge 72 and moldboard 70 contact the surface.

The material is moved off to the side if it is angled or pushed forward if it is in a

perpendicular position. In further use, the user may angle the blade to permit more specific

clearing of the material from the side of the blade. Preferably, the blade 42 is angled such

that the material is swept away from the user's front tire 14. The user may adjust the pressure of the moldboard 70 and cutting edge 72 against

the roadside by tilting the utility bucket 30 forward. The user may also manipulate the

cutting edge 72 to dig a deep furrow and gouge the roadside. This gouging action is

effective for placing conduit underneath a roadway. Finally, the user may move the blade

42 from center of the bucket 30 to the side of the bucket 30, especially when used with

heavy industrial vehicles 12. This provides a controlled area of the road being acted upon

and also provides a much narrower area to be worked on.

Finally, the user may adjust the blade 42 so that the user may move the industrial

vehicle 12 in a backwards direction. This direction provides the user with a more

controlled action as the blade 42 can be observed from the cab 18 of the vehicle 12. The invention has been shown and described above with the preferred embodiments, and it is understood that many modifications, substitutions, and additions may be made which are within the intended spirit and scope of the invention. From the

foregoing, it can be seen that the present invention accomplishes at least all of the stated objectives.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A blade implement comprising: a utility bucket adapted to be attached to an

industrial vehicle, the utility bucket having an open front, a closed back, a closed

underside, a length, and a width, a support structure attached to the underside of the utility

bucket; and a blade attached to the support structure and substantially beneath the utility

bucket.

2. The blade implement of claim 1 wherein the support structure comprises a

mounting plate approximately covering the underside of the utility bucket and permitting

easy removal from the utility bucket.

3. The blade implement of claim 1 wherein the support structure comprises a swivel

permitting radial movement of the blade.

4. The blade implement of claim 3 wherein the support structure further comprises a

locking member for engaging the swivel and preventing radial movement of the blade.

5. The blade implement of claim 4 wherein the support structure further comprises a

retainer ring adjacent the swivel for engaging the locking member and preventing radial

movement of the blade.

6. The blade implement of claim 3 wherein the blade is permitted 360 degrees of

movement.

7. The blade implement of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of predesignated

blade positions for defining a blade angle.

8. The blade implement of claim 1 wherein the blade is approximately equal to the

length of the utility bucket.

9. The blade implement of claim 1 wherein the blade is only a portion of the length of

the utility bucket.

10. The blade implement of claim 9 wherein the blade is positioned off-center the

utility bucket.

11. The blade implement of claim 1 wherein the industrial vehicle is a skid steer.

12. The blade implement of claim 1 wherein the industrial vehicle is an industrial

loader.

13. A method of using a blade implement comprising: providing an industrial vehicle

having a utility bucket with a closed underside and a blade attached to the underside and

substantially beneath the utility bucket; positioning the blade against a road surface; and

moving the blade across the road surface for road treatment.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising angling the blade relative industrial

vehicle movement to permit clearing of material from the blade.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising tilting the utility bucket forward to

gouge a furrow.

16. The method of claim 13 further comprising off-setting the blade relative a

centerline of the bucket.

17. A blade implement comprising: a mounting plate adapted to be attached to an

industrial vehicle; a swivel moveably attached to the mounting plate; and

a blade attached to the swivel radially moveable beneath the mounting plate.

18. The blade implement of claim 17 further comprising a locking member attached to

the swivel for engaging the mounting plate and setting a blade angle.

19. The blade implement of claim 18 further comprising a retainer ring attached to the

mounting plate, the retainer ring defining locking notches for receiving the locking

member.

20. The blade implement of claim 17 wherein the blade is permitted 360 degrees of

movement.