Adjustable snow plow

Nov. 5, 1957

Η. V. CORK, JR

2,811,792

ADJUSTABLE SNOW PLOW

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Η. V. CORK, JR

ADJUSTABLE SNOW PLOW

Nov. 5, 1957

Filed July 30, 1954

2,811,792

Sheets-Sheet 2

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United States Patent Office

2,811,792

Patented Noy. 5, 1957

2,811,792

ADJUSTABLE SNOW PLOW

Herbert V. Cork, Jr., Chicago, Hl., assignor of one-third to Herbert V. Cork, Sr., and one-third to Solomon Penrod, both of Chicago, Ill.

Application July 30,1954, Serial No. 446,883

Claims. (CI. 37—53)

This invention relates in general to plows, and more particularly to those having wheels or other ground-engaging means and a single blade member supported thereby.

A principal object of the invention is to simplify, and materially reduce the work necessary to, the tasks of clearing snow from walks, moving loose grain, spreading wet concrete, clearing railroad cars, or the like.

This objecet is attained in part by providing novel means for mounting a scraper type of blade member as a pusher plow on wheels, or other ground-engaging means, to eliminate lifting of the snow or other material to be moved as well as lifting and supporting of a shovel or similar tool, and in part by providing for selective angular adjustment of the blade member relative to the groundengaging means, so that the manner and direction of deposit of the snow or other material moved by the plow may readily be varied to best cope with the particular circumstances of any given situation.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a plow having an angularly adjustable blade which is cheap and easy to manufacture and is particularly adapted for knockdown shipment and simple assembly by the user with a minimum of effort.

A further object is the provision of a manually operable pusher type of plow which will adapt itself to operators of different heights.

Another object is to provide such a plow which will take up a minimum amount of storage space and may readily be hung up on a wall, or the like, when not in use.

In the present embodiment of the invention, these several objects are attained by the provision in a plow having an axle, or other transversely extending supporting means, of a novel mounting bracket for a blade member in the form of a substantially U-shaped channel secured at its base to the blade member and having multipart slots in its rearwardly extending arms for slidably receiving the transverse means or axle, with each part of each such slot interconnected at its rear end with each other part of that slot and terminating in a forward end spaced longitudinally from the forward end of each other part of the same multi-part slot, whereby selective movements of the axle into the forward ends of different parts of such slots will effect multiple angular adjustments between the blade member and the axle. Mounted on the transversely extending supporting means or axle is the lower portion of a handle which terminates in forwardly extending means or end portions that are disposed between inwardly extending top and bottom flanges on the U-shaped channel for raising and lowering the blade member relative to the axle regardless of its angularly adjusted position relative thereto. By providing for disengagement of the forward ends of the handle from the channel, movement of the handle relative to the blade member between extreme opposite parking and storage or plow-hanging positions is permitted.

Numerous other objects and advantages of the inven65 tion will be apparent as it is better understood from the following description, which, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, discloses a preferred embodiment thereof.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a snow plow embodying the features of the invention with the blade member shown in full and broken lines, respectively, in extreme angularly adjusted positions relative to the transverse supporting means or axle;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the plow of Fig. 1, with different adjustable positions of the handle shown in broken lines;

Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view showing one arm of the blade-supporting bracket mounted on the axle, with the latter engaged in a rearward adjusted position in the forward end of the rear part of the multi-part slot in the bracket;

Fig. 4 is a detail vertical section taken substantially on the line 4—4 of Fig. 5, showing the axle in a forward adjusted position in the forward end of the front part of the multi-part slot in the supporting bracket;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view, as seen from above, showing the blade member in an intermediate position parallel to the axle, with the latter in its rearward adjusted position at both sides; and

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 with the blade member in its left-hand angular position, as seen in full lines in Fig· 1.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1 of the drawings, the adjustable snow plow therein illustrated comprises laterally spaced ground-engaging means or wheels 11 supporting and removably rotatably mounted in any suitable manner on a transverse supporting means or axle 12, a blade member 13, a mounting bracket 14 interconnecting the blade and the axle, and handle means 15 mounted intermediate its ends on the axle. The blade member 13 preferably is made from a flat piece of steel curved forwardly at its lower edge (as best seen in Fig. 2), and provided with suitable cam lugs or lifters 16 (Fig. 4) secured by welding, or the like, to its bottom corners to protect the blade and guide it over sidewalk cracks and other irregularities in the surface being plowed.

The mounting bracket 14 is substantially U-shaped in plan and comprises a base portion 17 removably secured to the rear surface of the blade member 13 (Fig. 4) and a pair of rearwardly extending arms 18 spaced laterally from each other (Fig. 5). The bracket 14 preferably is formed as a unitary channel to provide vertically spaced and inwardly extending top and bottom flanges 19, for a purpose to be later explained, or such flanges may be formed by horizontal plates secured to the main body of the supporting bracket if desired. The vertical or main body portion of each arm 18 is provided with a multi-part slot (Figs. 3 and 4) which, in the embodiment herein illustrated, comprises a relatively short upper or rear part 20 and a longer lower or front part 21 interconnected at their rear ends and each terminating in a forward end spaced longitudinally of the arm from each other. As will be appreciated from the following description, each multi-part slot may be formed of more than two such parts, if desired, so long as the several parts interconnect with each other and each terminates in a separate forward end, since those forward ends comprise selectively adjustable positioning means for determining the angular relationship betwen the blade member 13 and the axle 12. Regardless of the particular conformation and disposition selected for the two multi-part slots 20, 21, it is preferred that they be the same in each arm 18 and of a uniform width, just slightly greater than the diameter of the axle or transverse supporting means 12, so as to slidably engage the latter, which thus extends

2,811,792 transversely through the arms 18. Means may be provided for retaining the axle 12 in adjusted engagement with the selected forward ends of the slots 20, 21, and stich arneans;, is showm in Figs.· 1, 5, and 6 as: qompris-. ing_; a. coil· spring. 22 interconnected between, the. central 5 portions,of the axle 12 and the bottom flange 19..·

The handle means IS is secured to the axle 12 to facilitate the application of plow-moving force thereto in a. direction perpendicular to the axle. In, the preferred embodiment best illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the handle. 10 15 is substantially U-shaped in plan, although any other suitable shape may be employed; is curved forwardly adjacent its lower ends, and is of tubular construction with a· convenient transverse grip 23 secured in any desired manner to its upper end. The side members or legs of the 15 handle 15 preferably converge adjacent their forwardly curved portions and the latter diverge and terminate in forwardly extending, and. laterally spaced means or ends 24 which normally are disposed between the top.and bottom flanges 19 of the bracket 14. Adjacent the narrow- ²θ est part of the handle 15, its side members are suitably apertured to receive the transverse means or axle 12, and these apertured portions of the handle may be flattened laterally, if desired, for vertical strengthening and to facilitate such monnting on the axle. In order to further 25 strengthen this connection between the handle and the axle, they may be welded together as shown at 25 in Fig. 5, or retaining washers 26 may be welded or otherwise secured to the axle 12 as shown in Fig. 6 to limit outward lateral movements of the handle legs on the axle ³θ while permitting inward movement thereof toward each other and against their normal tendency to spring apart.

With either such mounting of the handle 15 on the axle 12, the vertical spacing between the flanges 19 of the bracket 14 is sufficiently greater than the vertical di- ³⁵mension of the terminal ends 24 of the handle disposed therebetween that the handle may be moved between its upper full line position of Fig. 2 and its broken line position 15α therein without moving the blade member 13 relative to the axle 12, in order to accommodate, or 40 adapt the plow to, operators of different heights, regardless of which parts of the slots 20, 21 are engaging the axle 12. Likewise, further downward movement of the handle, as to its broken line position 155, will lift the blade member 13 off the ground or other surface sup- 45 porting the wheels 11 to its broken line position 13α of Fig. 2, except when the axle 12 is in its rearmost position in both of the slots 20, 21, as shown in Fig. 5. And in all positions of the axle, except that of Fig. 5, upward pressure against the grip portion 23 of the handle from ⁵⁰its full line position of Fig. 2 will press the blade member into close contact with the surface being cleaned to facilitate a scraping action. Also, by disengaging the forward ends 24 of handle 15 from the mounting bracket 14, as by moving both ends of axle 12 to their rearmost ⁵⁵position of Fig. 5 for example, the handle may be moved forwardly relative, to the blade member to a parking position shown in broken lines at 15c in Fig. 2, or dropped to a storage or plow-hanging position illustrated therein at 15d. As shown in Fig. 5, it is preferred that the lower ends 24 of handle 15 be so shaped and dimensioned that when the axle 12 is disposed in the forward ends of the rear parts 20 of the slots in both arms 18, as therein illustrated, the tips of those terminal ends of the handle will be free of the mounting bracket 14. Such arrange- ⁶⁵ment enables the aboye-described movements of the handle to its positions 15c or 15d of Fig. 2 whenever the axle 12 is in its rear position of Fig. 5 parallel with the blade 13, although the handle is welded to axle 12. With the modified mounting of handle 15 on the axle 12 ‘ shown in Fig. 6, the terminal ends 24 of the handle may be shaped and dimensioned to engage between the flanges 19 of the mounting bracket, if desired, even when the axle is in its rear parallel position of Fig. 5, and still enable or of Fig. 2. This is because the necessary disengagement of the* handle from the mounting bracket 14 then may be accomplished by squeezing the lower ends 24 toward each other sufficiently to clear the flanges 19 and moving them up or down relative thereto. It will be appreciated that when the handle is moved to its storage position 15d of Fig. 2, since the: grip portion 23 will be in the plane defined by the lower surfaces of the wheels 11 and blade member 13, the plow may be hung vertically by its grip : to take up a minimum of storage space.

During use, the present embodiment cf the invention may be employed with the blade member 13 disposed in any of three angularly adjusted operating positions, namely, that in which it is parallel to the axle 12, a lefthand position illustrated in Fig. 6 and: in full lines in Fig. 1, or a right-hand position as shown in broken lines in Fig. 1. Adjustment of the blade member 13 to any one of these several positions may be made merely by moving the. axle 12 or. the blade member 13 and its mounting bracket 14 relative to each other by sliding either or both ends of the axle in the multi-part slots 20, 21, between their positions of Figs. 3 and 4 against the action of the spring 22. This may be accomplished either manually, or by foot pressure against the rear ends of the lateral arms 18 of the mounting bracket 14 while holding the axle 12 immobile through the agency of the handle 15. When the axle 12 is thus disposed in either of the parts 20 or 21 of the two multi-part slots, the spring 22 will function to retain the same in the forward end portions thereof. If the axle is thus disposed in the upper parts 20 of the two slots 20, 21, or in both of the lower parts 21 thereof, the blade member 13 will be positioned parallel to the axle. If the axle is disposed in the lower part 21 of the slot in the left-hand arm 18 and in the upper part 20 of the slot in the right-hand arm 18; the blade member 13 will be resiliently retained in its left-hand position as illustrated in full lines in Fig. 1 and in Fig. 6. On the other hand, the blade member will be disposed in its right-hand broken line position of Fig. 1 when the axle 12 is engaged in the lower part 21 of the right-hand slot and in the upper part 20 of the slot in the left-hand arm 18. In any of these several positions of the blade member 13, except that of the modification of Fig. 5 when the axle 12 is in its rear position parallel to the blade member, the diverging forward ends 24 of the handle 15 normally will be disposed between the top and bottom flanges 19 of the channel bracket 14 to enable selective vertical movements of the blade member 13 relative to the axle 12 during movement of the plow, as previously described. Also, as previously mentioned, the multi-part slots 20, 21 may be so designed, if desired, as to comprise more than the two forward end portions in each herein illustrated, with such forward end portions spaced longitudinally from each other to provide additional selectively adjustable angular positions for the blade member 13 relative to the axle 12. And it also will be appreciated that the forward end portions of the multi-part slots preferably are arranged so that the axle 12 will be horizontal when in any of its several adjustable positions, whereby the full length of the lower edge of the blade member 13 and both wheels or groundengaging members 11 will rest evenly on the same supporting plane, when in use, regardless of the adjusted angular relationship between the axle and the blade member.

It is thought that the invention and many of its attendant advantages will be understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the form hereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.