Ice Breaker Attachment For Road Maintenance Vehicles

Abstract

An ice breaker attachment for road maintenance vehicles comprises a main frame having a front rail round in cross section, means on the main frame for connecting the attachment to a road machine, a plurality of sub-frames each comprising a sleeve form front member pivotally mounted on the front rail of the main frame for rocking movement thereon, a pair of spaced apart parallel side arms connected to the front member of the sub-frame, and a spring supporting cross piece connected to the rear ends of said pair of side arms, a roller provided with annular radially extending fins rotatably mounted on and between the arms of a pair, and a coiled spring bearing on the cross piece and on the rear of the main frame. The sub-frames are independent of each other and the bearing stresses imparted to each roller when performing its intended function are uniformly distributed to the sub-frame in which the roller is mounted.

Description

This invention relates to an ice breaker attachement for road maintenance vehicles such as road graders, scarifiers, patrols and the like, designed to break ice on roadways preparatory to removal by scrapers mounted on the vehicles.

The main object of the invention is to provide an ice breaker attachment which is characterized by exceedingly simple construction and minimum number of parts, as well as superior efficiency, compared to prior art ice breakers, of which U.S. Pat. No. 2211,277 to R. LaMere is an example. This patent discloses a series of nine pairs of rotary ice breakers mounted axially transversely of the machine, each pair of the rotary ice breakers being connected to a longitudinally extending arm, thus requiring nine arms and nine bearing heads journaled on a long pivot pin. This prior art construction is cumbersome and costly compared to the much simpler highly efficient ice breaker attachment of this invention.

Another object of the invention is the provision of easily operable means for mounting the ice breaker attachment on a conventional road maintenance machine.

Another advantage of the invention is the provision of a plurality of ice breaking annular fins extending radially from each of a plurality of rollers. In the embodiment shown, each of three rollers has three ice contacting fins extending radially from the roller. This arrangement has the advantage of requiring mounting means for only three rollers instead of providing mounting means for nine separate ice breakers.

Another feature of improvement over the prior art is the provision of one sub-frame or pivotal mounting means for each roller and its three or more ice breaking fins. Each roller is mounted between the two arms of a sub-frame which are parts of each pivotal mounting, and each roller is independent of the other rollers and their mounting means.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of the ice breaker attachment embodying my invention.

FIG. 2 is an elevational end view of the same.

FIG. 3 is an elevational front view of the attachment.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the same.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings, the ice breaker attachment for road maintenance vehicles comprises a main frame 10 generally rectangular in shape, having a front frame member or rail 11 round in cross section, which may be a length of pipe cut away at opposite ends 12 for connection to two end bars 13, 14, joined at their rear ends to the rear frame member 15 which is parallel to the front frame 11. A center bar 16 is parallel to the end bars 13, 14, and is fastened to the frame members 11 and 15.

A plurality of sub-frames 20, three in this embodiment of the invention, each consists of a tubular front member 21 larger in cross section than the front main frame rail 11, on which it is sleeved for pivotal rocking movement thereon. Two side arms 22 are rigidly connected at their forward ends to the pivotal member 21. The rearward ends 23 of the arms 22 of a pair are connected by a spring supporting cross piece 24 on which a coiled spring 25 is mounted. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the tubular member of the center sub-frame 20 is divided into two sleeve-like parts 21' to accommodate the center bar 16 of the main frame, but otherwise is similar to the members 21 of the sub-frames 20.

A retaining rod 26 is fastened at its lower end to the cross piece 24 and extends upwardly in the spring 25 toward the main frame rear member 15. The three sub-frames 20 are the mounting means for the rollers described hereinafter, and each is provided with a spring 25 between the cross piece 24 and the main frame for exerting yielding pressure on the rearward ends of the arms 22 of the sub-frames.

A roller 30 is rotatably mounted by means 31 in the arms 22 of a pair in each sub-frame 20. Each roller is provided with three annular fins or flanges 32 extending radially from the roller adjacent opposite ends of the roller and midway between the ends. The flanges 32 have beveled edges as indicated at 33. The rollers are mounted on the arms 22 between their ends, near to the rear ends of the arms.

The number of sub-frames 20 and rollers 30 mounted thereon may vary, and the number of radially extending fins 32 on each roller may vary.

The attachment described may be mounted on a road vehicle (not shown) by any suitable means. The attachment means shown herein comprises hitch devices 35 which are posts provided with teeth 36 near their upper ends. The hitch posts 35 are mounted at their lower ends in bearings which include any suitable means that permit vertical adjustment of the posts. The forward central post 35 is mounted in bearing 37 on the center bar 16 of the main frame of the attachment. The two rearward posts 35 are mounted in bearings 38 on the rear member 15 of the attachment main frame. The location and form of the hitch posts 35 are designed to cooperate with existing road maintenance vehicles but may be modified as required.

Each roller and its sub-frame mounting on the main frame front rail 11 is independent of the other rollers and their mountings. The roller fins 32 are yieldingly urged into ice breaking contact with the roadway by the springs 25 bearing on the cross pieces 24 between the pairs of arms 22. The degree of rocking motion imparted to each sub-frame 20 varies according to the surfaces encountered by the fins on each roller 30. Due to the mounting of each roller on and between two arms 22 connected to a pivotally movable sleeve 21 of the sub-frame 20, the bearing stress is evenly distributed to the sub-frame as a whole and is not borne by a single arm 22.

Claims

I claim:

1. An ice breaker attachment for road maintenance vehicles comprising

a. a main frame having a front rail,

b. a plurality of sub-frames each having a tubular front member pivotally mounted on the front rail of the main frame for rocking movement thereon, a pair of spaced apart parallel side arms connected to the tubular front member, and a cross piece connecting the rear ends of the arms,

c. a roller provided with annular radially extending fins, said roller being rotatably mounted on and between the side arms of a pair, and

d. resilient means between the rear end of the sub-frame and the main frame exerting pressure on the sub-frame and roller mounted thereon.

2. The attachment defined by claim 1, in which the front rail of the main frame is round in cross section.

3. The attachment defined by claim 1, in which the resilient means is a coiled spring which has its lower end mounted on the cross piece between the arms of a sub-frame, and has its upper end bearing against the main frame.

4. The attachment defined by claim 1, which includes means for attaching the main frame to a vehicle.

5. The attachment defined by claim 4, in which the means for attaching the main frame to a vehicle is a plurality of vertically adjustable hitch posts rising from the main frame.

6. The attachment defined by claim 5, in which the hitch posts have horizontally extending teeth on their upper end portions.

7. The attachment defined by claim 1, in which the fins on each roller are beveled adjacent their ice contacting edges.

8. The attachment defined by claim 1, in which each roller has a fin adjacent each of its ends and a fin midway between said ends.