Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01G—HORTICULTURE; CULTIVATION OF VEGETABLES, FLOWERS, RICE, FRUIT, VINES, HOPS OR SEAWEED; FORESTRY; WATERING
  • A01G20/00—Cultivation of turf, lawn or the like; Apparatus or methods therefor
  • A01G20/40—Apparatus for cleaning the lawn or grass surface
  • A01G20/43—Apparatus for cleaning the lawn or grass surface for sweeping, collecting or disintegrating lawn debris

Definitions

• This invention relates to a roller cleaning assembly which is suitable for, but not limited to, use with rollers for rolling the turf of grass surfaces such as bowling greens, golfing greens and tennis courts formed from grass.
• grass or turf also includes artificial greens or turf surfaces.
• grass processing apparatus shall include, but not be limited, grass- or lawn mowers; grass or turf rollers; mower- and roller combinations; roller- and spiker combinations; and like grass or turf preparation and/or maintenance equipment.
• cleaning brushes have often been mounted on a roller attached to a lawn mower frame, and were used to clean grass clippings and debris from an external surface of a drive roller used in conjunction with rotary cutting blades in the form of a reel also attached to the lawn mower frame.
• the brush roller was also driven by drive means such as a drive gear assembly powered by a motor mounted to the frame.
• the drive gear assembly included a drive gear driven by the motor of a driven gear fixed with the brush roller and an smoothing gear for transmitting rotational motion from the drive gear to the driven gear.
• the roller cleaning assembly of the invention includes at least one brush or cleaning member which is in contact with an adjacent roller of a grass processing apparatus in use which includes a frictional-drive wheel or roller mounted to the brush which wheel or roller causes rotation of the brush upon contact with an external surface of the adjacent roller which is already undergoing rotary motion in use.
• The, or each, brush may have fibres formed of natural or synthetic materials; while the, or each, flexible wiper blade may be formed, e.g. by extrusion, from elastomeric materials, such as natural rubber, synthetic rubber, plastic-material or the like, which may incorporate reinforcing cords or fibres.
• the brush or cleaning member may be at least one spiral brush, or at least one flexible wiper blade, mounted on a support roller; or may be at least one elongate brush, or at least one flexible wiper blade, having a support axle extending therethrough; which is preferably mounted in a brush housing which, in turn, is releasably attachable to the grass processing apparatus.
• the brush housing may be provided with suitable bearings at each end to facilitate rotation of the at least one brush or the at least one flexible wiper blade.
• each brush or flexible wiper blade may project through a respective elongate slot located in the brush housing.
• a collector section to receive the clippings, is provided adjacent each brush or flexible wiper blade, or between an adjacent pair of the brushes or flexible wiper blades.
• the brush housing may be mountable in the grass processing apparatus in any suitable manner.
• the brush housing may be inserted through an adjacent aperture of a smoothing head or undercarriage which may have a plurality of smoothing rollers used for rolling a grass surface.
• the rollers may be unevenly spaced, as described in US 5,468,267 (Dufty). However, it will also be appreciated that the rollers may be evenly spaced.
• the smoothing head as described in US 5,468,267 has an end plate which is modified with an access aperture for insertion of the brush housing.
• the access aperture may have a peripheral shape that is complementary to a side plate of the brush housing and the brush housing may be releasably retained within the undercarriage in any suitable manner such as by the use of suitable fasteners engaging with corresponding aligned apertures provided on both the brush housing and the smoothing head.
• the grass processing apparatus to which the roller cleaning assembly of the invention may be applied includes lawn mowers, lawn rollers, lawn slicers; and the rollers being cleaned by the roller cleaning assembly of the invention may be drive rollers or idler or smoothing rollers as the case may be.
• FIG 1 is an "exploded" perspective of the roller cleaning assembly fitted to a smoothing head of a grass processing apparatus of the type disclosed in US 5,468,267;
• FIG 2 is a similar view to FIG 1 , but where each brush roller is retained in the brush roller housing;
• FIG 3 is a perspective view of an assembled brush roller.
• the roller cleaning assembly 10 of the invention includes a smoothing head (or undercarriage) 11 , as disclosed in US 5,468,267, which has a steering link 12 for attachment to a steering mechanism (101) of the turf roller of US 5,468,267 (100) (see FIG 2); a spigot 13 for pivotal attachment of the smoothing head 11 to the frame (102) of the turf roller (100) ; and idler or smoothing rollers 14, 15 and 16, which are rotatably journalled on opposed end plates 18 and 19 by fasteners 7, 8 and 9 engaging respective longitudinal stub axles 36 (to be hereinafter described) for each of the idler or smoothing rollers 14, 15 and 16.
• Suitable bearings 38 (to be hereinafter described) are attached to the end plates 18 and 19 to facilitate rotation of the idler or smoothing rollers 14, 15 and 16 when they contact the grass or turf to be rolled.
• the smoothing head 11 has a body 20, which includes a top plate 21 ; and a pair of side plates 23, each having a downwardly extending flange 24 and bevelled portion 24A.
• the end plate 19 incorporates an aperture 25, which is complementary in shape to an end plate 26 of the brush roller housing 27, so arranged that the brush roller housing 27 may be inserted into a hollow cavity 28 in smoothing head 11 , as shown in FIGS 1 & 2.
• the brush roller housing 27 includes a pair of elongate slots 29 and 30, which each may accommodate a downwardly extending part of respective brush rollers 31 and 32.
• An intermediate collector section 33 is interposed intermediate the slots 29 and 30 and also between opposed side collector sections 33A and 33B.
• Each brush roller 31 and 32 has a spiral brush 34 attached to an elongate support axle 35, where the spiral brush 34 has substantially tangentially-extending fibres of "tough" plastics-material.
• Each support axle 35 has an outwardly projecting stub axle 36.
• Each brush roller 31 and 32 also has an annular end part 37.
• each of sections 33, 33A and 33B collect debris from brush 34 after contact with smoothing rollers 14, 15 and 16.
• a cover or housing 38, and associated bearing 39, is provided at each end of the brush rollers 31 and 32.
• Friction rollers 41 are mounted on the stub axles 36 of each of the rollers brush 31 and 32. The friction rollers 41 engage a pin 37 inserted in a hole through the stub axles 36.
• each of friction rollers 41 engages with an adjoining external surface of the odler or smoothing rollers 14, 15 and 16; and the rotation of the idler or smoothing rollers 14, 15 and 16, via the friction drive arrangement, causes the brush rollers 31 and 32 to rotate and drive each spiral brush 34, where the contact between the spiral brushes and the external surfaces of the idler or smoothing rollers 14, 15 and 16 will result in dirt, grass clippings, grub-or moth larvae and/or eggs being cleaned there- from and collected in the collector sections 33, 33A and 33B.
• Each of the bearing housings 38 is releasably engageable in a respective adjacent retaining aperture or recess 42 in the end plates 26.
• Attachment apertures 43 are provided for the location of appropriate fasteners (not shown) for retention of the brush roller housing 27 within the hollow cavity 28 of the smoothing head 11.
• FIG 2 shows each brush roller 31 and 32 located in their associated mounting slots 29 and 30.
• brush roller 31 may be located in the recess or valley 44 between adjacent idler or smoothing rollers 15 and 16 and thus be in contact either, or both, of these rollers.
• brush roller 32 located in the recess 45, only contacts idler or smoothing roller 14. As the idler or smoothing rollers 14, 15 and 16 are unevenly spaced, the gap between adjacent idler or smoothing rollers 14 and 15 is greater the corresponding gap between the idler or smoothing rollers 15 and 16.
• the brush rollers 31 or 32 may contact only an adjacent idler or smoothing roller 14, 15 or 16; or an adjacent pair of the idler or smoothing rollers 14, 15 and 16; as will be required.
• cleaning as used herein also includes within its scope any appropriate cleaning member that may be used to clean an external surface of a roller such as a layer of felt, fabric or other suitable cleaning implement.
• spiral brushes 34 may be substituted by flexible spiral wiper blades 134, as shown in FIG 3.
• the spiral wiper blades 134 are preferably formed, e.g. by extrusion, from natural rubber, synthetic rubber, or "tough" plastics- or other elastomeric materials; and may incorporate reinforcing cords or fibres (e.g. of nylon, rayon, carbon or "Kevlar” (Registered Trade Mark)).
• brush rollers 31 and 32 may be provided with a spiral wiper blade 134 interposed with the spiral brush 34; or be provided with two or more interposed spiral brushes 34 and 34A or two or more interposed spiral wiper blades 34 and 134A.
• roller cleaning assembly 10 enables the efficient collection of grass clippings as well as moth- or grub larvae or eggs, which if left on the grass or turf, can cause disease;

Landscapes

• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Environmental Sciences (AREA)
• Brushes (AREA)
• Cleaning In General (AREA)
• Harvester Elements (AREA)
• Soil Working Implements (AREA)

Priority Applications (7)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Related Child Applications (1)

Publications (1)

Family

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Family Applications (1)

Country Status (8)

Cited By (1)

Families Citing this family (6)

Citations (5)

Family Cites Families (22)

• 2010
  • 2010-09-21 WO PCT/AU2010/001237 patent/WO2011044610A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 2010-09-21 EP EP10822885A patent/EP2488008A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2010-09-21 AU AU2010306062A patent/AU2010306062B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2010-09-21 CN CN201080058325.5A patent/CN102858149B/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2010-09-21 JP JP2012533433A patent/JP5726196B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2010-09-21 CA CA2777557A patent/CA2777557A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2010-09-21 NZ NZ599834A patent/NZ599834A/xx not_active IP Right Cessation
• 2012
  • 2012-04-16 US US13/447,882 patent/US8499849B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related

Patent Citations (5)

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