Snow Thrower

Abstract

This snow thrower includes a chute deflector which may be selectively rotated and locked by a rack and pinion mechanism operated by a remotely controlled crank shaft. The rack and pinion mechanism includes a rack quadrant attached to one side of an inclined deflector and rotatable about an axis coincident with the axis of rotation of the deflector. The pinion is mounted at one end of the crank shaft and the rack is provided by an arcuate row of equally spaced apertures on the quadrant which are engageable by the pinion to rotate the deflector. Selected rack apertures are elongated to receive the pinion whereby to lock the deflector in position. The crank shaft is lengthwise spring-loaded to urge the pinion into the lock position.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to a snow disposal device having a chute deflector and particularly to a deflector provided with an angling and locking device.

Snow throwers of the type which employ a discharge nozzle frequently include some means of directional adjustment for the nozzle such as a rotatable deflector. Rack and pinion devices are known by which deflectors are rotated and typical of such devices is one which provides a circular toothed collar which is attached to an upright portion of the deflector, and is engaged by a rotating, cooperating pinion attached to the base on which the deflector is journal mounted. In some instances the pinion is rotated remotely by an elongate handle and in others the deflector is locked in place by a separate latch control engageable with the pinion to preclude rotation thereof.

None of the angling deflectors which are known in the prior art combine a remote angling means with a remote locking means.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This snow thrower is provided with a nozzle deflector which may be angled and locked in a desired position. The angling and locking mechanisms are combined and may both be operated by means of a shaft controlled at a point remote from the deflector.

The combined angling and locking mechanism is simple in construction, relatively inexpensive to manufacture and easy to operate even by inexperienced users.

The snow thrower includes base means and deflector means rotatively mounted to the base means for discharging snow from the deflector nozzle in a selected direction. The rotating mechanism includes rack means attached to the deflector means and pinion means carried by the base means. The pinion means is engageable with the rack means to rotate and lock the deflector means.

The rack means includes a first engagement means disposed about the center of rotation of the deflector means and a second engagement means inwardly disposed of said first engagement means. Pinion engagement with the first engagement means permits rotation of the rack means and pinion engagement with the second engagement means precludes rotation of the rack means.

The rack means includes a quadrant bracket having a plurality of arcuately disposed apertures engageable by the pinion teeth and providing the first engagement means. Selected apertures are elongated inwardly to provide a stop means engageable by the pinion teeth, adjacent material providing the second engagement means precluding rotation of the rack means. The pinion means includes a bracket pivotally connected to the quadrant bracket. The pinion means includes a pinion, journal mounted to the pinion bracket by means of an elongate shaft having a cranked end. The shaft is movable along its own longitudinal axis to move the pinion between the rotating and locking positions engaging the first and second engagement means respectively. Resilient means in the form of a compression spring disposed about the shaft between the pinion bracket and the pinion urges the pinion into engagement with the ends of the elongated slots thereby locking the pinion until the cranked shaft is pulled outwardly into a position engaging the arcuate row of equally spaced apertures to permit rotation of the pinion and the deflector.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a snow thrower embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view illustrating the rack and pinion assembly;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the slotted rack quadrant; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary developed view of the rack and pinion.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now by characters of reference to the drawing and first to FIG. 1 it will be understood that the snow thrower includes a chassis generally indicated by numeral 10 and providing a support for a motor 11, which drives a rear wheel assembly 12 and an auger assembly 13. The chassis is provided with a rearwardly inclined pusher handle generally indicated by numeral 14.

The auger assembly 13 includes a horizontal, transversely disposed auger 15 mounted within an auger housing 16. Front wheels 17 mounted to the auger housing cooperate with snow skids 18 to stabilize the snow thrower during operation. The auger assembly 13 also includes an upright discharge chute generally indicated by numeral 20 in FIGS. 1 and 2. The discharge chute 20 includes a lower base portion 21, communicating with the auger housing 16, and an upper deflector body portion 22. It will be understood that the base 21 is, in effect, fixed to the chassis 10 and thereby provides a base means for the relatively rotatable deflector body 22. As clearly indicated in FIG. 2 the deflector body is rotatable about an axis 23 and a rack and pinion mechanism generally indicated by numeral 24 provides a means of rotating said deflector body by remote control.

The deflector body 22 is inclined and terminates in a nozzle 25 which, by means of the rack and pinion mechanism 24, may be directed to selected locations. The rack and pinion mechanism is lockable so that the nozzle 25 may be maintained in a desired location.

The rack and pinion mechanism includes a substantially horizontal quadrant bracket 26 constituting rack means, which is attached to the deflector body 22 as by riveting. The quadrant bracket 26 is shown in enlarged detail in FIG. 3 and is provided with a row of equally spaced apertures disposed about a pivot center 30 having an axis substantially coincident with the axis of rotation 23 of the deflector portion 22. The row of apertures provides a plurality of circular apertures 31 and a plurality of slotted apertures 32 arranged in pairs having axes substantially parallel with a bisecting radius. As shown clearly in FIG. 3 the circular apertures 31 and the slotted apertures 32 provide an arcuate row of pairs of side margin portions 33 providing side abutments disposed on a circular arc indicated by numeral 35 and constituting a first engagement means. The slotted apertures 32 provide, in addition, a plurality of end margin portions 34 providing end stop abutments. The plate material 37 on the circular arc 36 and said end margins constitute a second engagement means.

The row of margin portions 33 is engageable in a first position by a pinion indicated in FIG. 2 by numeral 40, which is journal mounted to the upper portion 42 of a bracket 41. The pinion 40 is translationally movable along its axis of rotation and as shown in FIG. 4 the material 37 adjacent the intermittent row of slotted apertures 32 is selectively engageable by the teeth 39 of said pinion 40 in the second position to provide a locking means precluding rotation of said pinion and thereby locking the pinion 40 and holding the upper deflector nozzle 25 in a selected position. The generally upright support bracket 41 includes a horizontal portion 43, which is pivotally connected by means of a pin 44 to the substantially horizontal deflector bracket 26. The pinion 40 is fixedly attached to the end of an elongate shaft 45 which is journal mounted to the upper portion 42 of the upright bracket 41. The elongate shaft 45 is supported at its other end by a journal mounting 46 attached to the snow thrower pusher handle 13 and is rotated by means of a crank handle 47. A compression spring 48 constituting a resilient means is disposed between the pinion 40 and the upper portion 42 of the bracket 41. Unless opposite pressure is applied by an operator the compression spring 48 urges the pinion 40 into engagement with the end margins of the slots 32 thereby locking the deflector body 22 in one of five selected positions 45.degree. apart on the quadrant bracket 26. The pinion 40 can be drawn rearwardly out of engagement with slots 32 and into engagement with the continuous row of margin portions 33 by pulling outwardly on the crank handle 47. Rotation of said crank handle rotates the shaft 45 and the pinion 40 which induces angular motion into the quadrant bracket 26 and hence the deflector body 22. The deflector body 22 may be again locked in place by releasing the elongate shaft 45 at an appropriate position when the lower teeth of the pinion 40 are disposed adjacent to and are therefore receivable within another set of associated slots 32.

It is thought that the structural features and functional advantages of this device have become fully apparent from the foregoing description of parts but for completeness of disclosure the operation will be briefly summarized.

The spring-loaded rotating pinion 40 is journaled mounted to the upright bracket 41 by means of the shaft 45 and hence has an axis of rotation which is fixed relative to the deflector base 21. The pinion bracket 41 is pivoted to the rack quadrant bracket 26, which is connected to the deflector body 22. Hence, the rack apertures 31 and 32 can be engaged by the pinion teeth and rack 26 angularly rotated about the center of rotation of said deflector body. The quadrant bracket 26 is attached to the deflector body 22 and hence rotation of said bracket 26 about the pivot point 30, which is coincident with the axis of rotation 23 of the inclined deflector body 26, rotates the deflector nozzle 25. The apertures and slots 31 and 32 provide an arcuate row of engagement margins 33 which are complementary to the teeth of the pinion 40 and are engageable by said pinion teeth. When the crank handle 47 is drawn toward the operator and cranked, the deflector body 22 is rotates. At specific points on the quadrant, 45.degree. apart in the preferred embodiment, slots 32 are provided which include forward portions capable of receiving the teeth of the pinion 40. The shaft 45 is spring-loaded to provide a force urging the pinion 40 forwardly unless an opposite force is applied by the operator. Thus, when two teeth 38 of the pinion 40 are aligned with the pairs of slots 32 as shown in FIG. 4 the pinion moves inwardly and locks the quadrant bracket 26 in position thereby precluding rotation of the deflector body 22 because the flanking teeth 39 engage material 37 adjacent the slots 32. It will be clear from a consideration of FIG. 1 that the operator can rotate the deflector nozzle 25 remotely with his left hand and that this operation can be carried out even when the snow thrower is in motion.

Claims

I claim as my invention:

1. In a snow thrower:

a. base means,

b. deflector means rotatively mounted to the base means,

c. rack means,

d. pinion means engageable with the rack means for relative rotation of the rack means, and

e. one of said latter two means including:

1. a rotational center coincident with the rotational center of the deflector means,

2. first engagement means engageable by the other of said means to rotate the deflector means, and

3. second engagement means spaced from the first engagement means and selectively engageable by the other of said means to lock the deflector means.

2. A snow thrower as defined in claim 1, in which:

f. resilient means controls the engagement of the pinion means with the rack means.

3. In a snow thrower:

a. base means,

b. deflector means rotatively mounted to the base means,

c. rack means fixedly attached to the deflector means and including:

1. first engagement means disposed about the center of rotation of the deflector means, and

2. second engagement means disposed about the center of rotation of the deflector means in spaced relation from said first engagement means, and

d. pinion means carried by the base means and including a pinion engageable with the first engagement means in a first position to rotate the deflector means and selectively movable to a second position engageable with the second engagement means to lock the deflector means.

4. A snow thrower as defined in claim 3, in which:

e. the pinion is shiftable about its axis of rotation for movement between the first and second positions.

5. A snow thrower as defined in claim 4, in which:

f. resilient means urges the pinion into the second position. RESILIENT MEANS URGES THE PINION INTO THE SECOND POSITION.

6. A snow thrower as defined in claim 3, in which:

e. the rack means includes a quadrant bracket, and

f. the first engagement means includes a row of substantially equally spaced pairs of side abutments arcuately disposed at substantially the same radius about the center of rotation of the deflector means and the second engagement means includes a plurality of plate portions engageable by the pinion means to preclude rotation thereof.

7. A snow thrower as defined in claim 3, in which:

e. the rack means includes a quadrant bracket, and

f. the first engagement means includes a row of substantially equally spaced pairs of aperture portions defining substantially equally spaced pairs of margins arcuately disposed at substantially the same radius from the center of rotation of the deflector means and the second engagement means includes a plurality of aperture portions communicating with and spaced inwardly of selected aperture portions of the first engagement means and defining end margins providing stop means for the pinion means and adjacent plate portions engageable by the pinion means to preclude rotation thereof.

8. A snow thrower as defined in claim 3, in which:

e. the rack means includes a bracket attached to the deflector means, and

f. the pinion means includes a bracket attached to the base means and pivotally connected to the rack bracket.

9. A snow thrower as defined in claim 8, in which:

h. the pinion means includes an elongate shaft having a cranked remote end for rotating the pinion.

10. A snow thrower as defined in claim 8, in which:

i. the pinion includes a compression spring coaxially disposed on said shaft between the pinion bracket and the pinion.