Ground Following Snow Plow Attachment

This application is a continuation application that relates to and claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/778,794, filed Feb. 1, 2021, entitled GROUND FOLLOWING SNOW PLOW ATTACHMENT, published Dec. 29, 2022 under Publication No. US20220412026 A1, which claims priority from U.S. provisional patent application No. 62/968,519 filed Jan. 31, 2020, entitled GROUND FOLLOWING SNOW PLOW ATTACHMENT, these specifications are hereby incorporated herein by reference in its their entireties.

The present invention generally relates to blades for snow plows, and more particularly relates to snow plow blades assemblies and attachment assemblies for snow plow blades that comprise mechanisms capable to adapt to the unevenness of the ground.

Snow plows are both well-known and each has a relatively long snow plow blade assembly which extends generally laterally of the surface being worked on. Some of them comprise sidewalls that retain the snow sideways, allowing to controllably displace more snow before having an overflow flowing out sideways of the snow plow blade assembly.

Further, the ground the snow plow tries to clean is by nature not always even. In order to optimize the process of grading the ground with the snow plow, the snow plow blade should be able to adapt to the changes of slope of the ground, not only in the direction of the grading but also transversally to the grading.

There is therefore a need for a solution for the snow plow blade assembly to automatically adapt to the unevenness of the ground while maintaining the main characteristics of the snow plow comprising the capacity to lift the snow plow blade assembly, the stability of the snow plow blade assembly both in grading operation and when lifted above the ground, and the other controls regarding the snow plow blade assembly,

There is further a need for a solution for the snow blade assembly to decrease the impact resulting from hitting an obstacle, more specifically undergone by the snow plow blade assembly itself and by the vehicle on which is mounted the snow plow blade assembly, thereby decreasing premature wear that may result from these impacts.

Therefore, there is a need for an improved mechanism for snow plow blade assemblies that better respond to these objectives.

According to an embodiment, there is provided an attachment assembly for attaching a snow plow blade to a vehicle, comprising: an interface bracket adapted for releasable connection with the vehicle; an intermediate structure mounted to the interface bracket; and a trigger assembly comprising: a static member comprising a pivoting attachment point, a top attachment point and a bottom attachment point, the pivoting attachment point for pivoting attachment to the snow plow blade, and the top and bottom attachment points for releasable attachment to the intermediate structure; a pin assembly; and a biasing means attached, at one end, to the pin assembly and attached, at an other end, to the static member such that the trigger assembly is biased toward a default position in which the pin member and the static member are at their closest, wherein when applying a torque on the snow plow blade above a trigger threshold, the snow plow blade rotates from the default position to a triggered position.

According to an aspect, the static member comprises a bottom end area and a top end area distal from the bottom end area, wherein the top attachment point is in the top end area and the bottom attachment point and the pivoting attachment point are in the bottom end area.

According to an aspect, the static member comprises an anchoring point in the bottom end area and to which the other end of the biasing means is attached.

According to an aspect, the one end of the biasing means is attached to the pin assembly forward of and above the bottom attachment point.

According to an aspect, the pin assembly comprises a pin member and a sleeve in which the pin member is releasably secured.

According to an aspect, the pin assembly further comprises an eyebolt to which the one end of the biasing means is attached.

According to an aspect, the eyebolt is adjustable in length relative to the pin member and thereby adjusts a force exerted by the biasing means.

According to an aspect, the intermediate structure comprising an articulated assembly.

According to an aspect, the static member has a distal end distant from the pivoting attachment, wherein the articulated assembly comprises a rear longitudinal blade, a front longitudinal blade pivotably mounted to the rear longitudinal blade, and a top link arm, and further wherein the front longitudinal blade is releasably attached to the pivoting attachment, the rear longitudinal blade is mounted to the interface bracket and the top link arm is releasably attached to the distal end of the static member and pivotably mounted to the interface bracket.

According to an aspect, the top link arm is located above the front longitudinal blade.

According to an embodiment, there is provided a trigger assembly for connecting a snow plow blade to an interface bracket, via an intermediate structure, the interface bracket for releasable connection to a vehicle, the trigger assembly comprising: a static member comprising a pivoting attachment point, a top attachment point and a bottom attachment point, the pivoting attachment point for pivoting attachment to the snow plow blade, and the top and bottom attachment points for releasable attachment to the intermediate structure; a pin assembly; and a biasing means attached, at one end, to the pin assembly and attached, at an other end, to the static member such that the trigger assembly is biased toward a default position in which the pin member and the static member are at their closest, wherein when applying a torque on the snow plow blade above a trigger threshold, the snow plow blade rotates from the default position to a triggered position.

According to an aspect, the static member comprises a bottom end area and a top end area distal from the bottom end area, wherein the top attachment point is in the top end area and the bottom attachment point and the pivoting attachment point are in the bottom end area.

According to an aspect, the static member comprises an anchoring point in the bottom end area and to which the other end of the biasing means is attached.

According to an aspect, the one end of the biasing means is attached to the pin assembly forward of and above the bottom attachment point.

According to an aspect, the pin assembly comprises a pin member and a sleeve in which the pin member is releasably secured.

According to an aspect, the pin assembly further comprises an eyebolt to which the one end of the biasing means is attached.

According to an aspect, the eyebolt is adjustable in length relative to the pin member and thereby adjusts a force exerted by the biasing means.

According to an embodiment, there is provided an attachment assembly for attaching a snow plow blade to a vehicle, comprising: a pair of interface brackets adapted to be releasably secured to the vehicle; a pair of intermediate structures, wherein each one of the pair of intermediate structures comprises an articulated assembly comprising an axis in a transversal orientation, wherein the articulated assembly comprises a rear longitudinal blade, a front longitudinal blade pivotably mounted to the rear longitudinal blade about the axis, and a top link arm; and a transversal member joining the pair of intermediate structures in the transversal orientation.

According to an aspect, the top link arm comprises a top face having a downward curvature.

According to an aspect, the front longitudinal blade is releasably attached to the snow plow blade, the rear longitudinal blade is mounted to a respective one of the pair of interface brackets and the top link arm is releasably attached to snow plow blade and pivotably mounted to the rear longitudinal blade.

Furthermore, in some aspects, the description herein relates to a trigger assembly for attaching a snow plow blade having a ground-contacting edge to a vehicle, the trigger assembly including: a pivot axis located higher than the ground-contacting edge of the snow plow blade; a nesting arm adapted to be coupled to the vehicle, the nesting arm including a top extremity and a bottom extremity, the nesting arm being rotatably coupled to the pivot axis about its bottom extremity, the nesting arm including an extension plate extending about its bottom extremity farther to the top extremity than the pivot axis; a nested arm adapted to couple the snow plow blade thereto, the nested arm including a top extremity and a bottom extremity, the nested arm being rotatably coupled to the pivot axis about its bottom extremity, the nested arm being adapted to nest at least partially in the nesting arm, the nested arm including a pin member extending away to the nesting arm about its top extremity; and biasing means coupling the pin member to the extension plate, the biasing means being extendable between a short length and a long length, the biasing means being biased toward restoring to its short length, wherein, when the ground-contacting edge hits an obstacle, the obstacle generates a torque over the snow plow blade resulting in the nested arm rotating out of the nesting arm and the biasing means being extended.

Features and advantages of the subject matter hereof will become more apparent in light of the following detailed description of selected embodiments, as illustrated in the accompanying figures. As will be realized, the subject matter disclosed and claimed is capable of modifications in various respects, all without departing from the scope of the claims. Accordingly, the drawings and the description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive and the full scope of the subject matter is set forth in the claims.

It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like features are identified by like reference numerals.

The realizations will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying figures, in which realizations are illustrated. The foregoing may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the illustrated realizations set forth herein.

With respect to the present description, references to items in the singular should be understood to include items in the plural, and vice versa, unless explicitly stated otherwise or clear from the text. Grammatical conjunctions are intended to express any and all disjunctive and conjunctive combinations of conjoined clauses, sentences, words, and the like, unless otherwise stated or clear from the context. Thus, the term “or” should generally be understood to mean “and/or” and so forth.

Recitation of ranges of values and of values herein or on the drawings are not intended to be limiting, referring instead individually to any and all values falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value within such a range is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. The words “about”, “approximately”, or the like, when accompanying a numerical value, are to be construed as indicating a deviation as would be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art to operate satisfactorily for an intended purpose. Ranges of values and/or numeric values are provided herein as examples only, and do not constitute a limitation on the scope of the described realizations. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (“e.g.,” “such as”, or the like) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the exemplary realizations and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the realizations. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any unclaimed element as essential to the practice of the realizations. The use of the term “substantially” is intended to mean “for the most part” or “essentially” depending on the context. It is to be construed as indicating that some deviation from the word it qualifies is acceptable as would be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art to operate satisfactorily for the intended purpose.

In the following description, it is understood that terms such as “first”, “second”, “top”, “bottom”, “above”, “below”, and the like, are words of convenience and are not to be construed as limiting terms.

The terms “top”, “up”, “upper”, “bottom”, “lower”, “down”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, “interior” and “exterior” and the like are intended to be construed in their normal meaning in relation with normal installation of the product, with indication of “front” referring to the extremity of the vehicle on which the snow plow blade assembly is mounted to, “longitudinal” to the general orientation rear-front of the vehicle, and “transversal” to the orientation perpendicular to longitudinal along an horizontal plane. indication of “down” refers to the direction toward the ground.

It should further be noted that for purposes of this disclosure, the term “coupled” means the joining of two members directly or indirectly to one another. Such joining may be stationary in nature or movable in nature and/or such joining may allow for the flow of fluids, electricity, electrical signals, or other types of signals or communication between two members. Such joining may be achieved with the two members or the two members and any additional intermediate members being integrally formed as a single unitary body with one another or with the two members or the two members and any additional intermediate members being attached to one another. Such joining may be permanent in nature or alternatively may be removable or releasable in nature.

In realizations, there are disclosed components of a snow plow and more particularly of a snow plow blade assembly, aka blade assembly.

It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like features are identified by like reference numerals.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to, a snow plow blade assemblyis adapted to be mounted to a snow plow (not depicted) of the type of a skid steer loader(see) or another vehicle of similar attachment configuration.

The configuration of the skid steer loaderis adapted for the operator to pass in front and between the forks/hydraulic arms to enter the driving cabin. Further, the skid steer loaderis a polyvalent vehicle that must be able to perform multiple operations, and thus be able to operate with a variety of tools, including a snow plow blade assembly. Thus, the present snow plow blade assemblymust both be able to be easily mounted to and dismounted from the skid steer loaderand further must provide the clearance for the operator of the skid steer loaderto relatively easily enter and exit the cabinwithout having to dismount the snow plow blade assemblyfrom the skid steer loader.

The snow plow blade assemblycomprises on its rear walla pair of holder assembliesadapted for the attachment of the bladeto the attachment assemblyitself mounted to the skid steer loader.

The snow plow blade assemblycomprises a central sectionand, on each side, a sidewallmounted to the central section.

The snow plow blade assemblyfurther comprises one or more hydraulic jacksthat may be adapted to control configurations of snow plow bade assembly, such as the width of the snow plow blade assembly, the position of the sidewallsrelative to the central section, etc., with the hydraulic jacksbeing connected to the hydraulic power of the skid steer loader.

Referring particularly to, the attachment assemblycomprises a pair of interface bracketsadapted to interface with the fork interfacesof the skid steer loader. The interface bracketscomprise on their rear faceinterfacing wallscontacting the fork interfacessuch as the interface bracketsand the fork interfacesare secured to each other, allowing to operate the snow plow blade assembly, which comprises pushing, pulling, lifting and lowering the snow plow blade assemblywithout the interface between the skid steer loaderand the snow plow blade assemblybeing released.

The interface bracketscomprise an interface walland a side wallextending rearward from the interface walls, wherein the interface wallsdefine an interface plane limited transversally by the side walls. The interface bracketsalso comprise a top wallextending rearward from the interface wall.

The attachment assemblyconsists of a single rigid structure adapted to interface with the skid steer loaderthat remains whole when either or both of a) the attachment assemblyis dismounted from the skid steer loaderor b) no snow plow bladeis mounted to the attachment assembly.

The attachment assemblycomprises, on each side, mounted to the front faceof the respective interface bracket, an intermediate structure. In the described realization, both intermediate structurescomprise an articulated assembly.

The attachment assemblycomprises a first transversal memberjoining the intermediate structuresabout the interface brackets. According to the depicted realization, the first transversal memberis also mounted to the interface bracketsfor increased rigidity.

The first transversal memberis typically made of a hollow beam providing a channel for hydraulic hoses (seefor example) to travel therethrough.

The two articulated assembliesare further joined by a second transversal memberproviding the desired rigidity to the attachment assembly.