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US 2007/0175070 A1Published application
Chute rotation and locking mechanism for snow thrower
AssigneeAriens Company
InventorsScott Deschler, Perry Prochnow, Thomas Banse
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A snow thrower having discharge chute locking and rotating mechanisms, both of which are actuated by a chute handle in the operator zone of the snow thrower. The chute locking mechanism disengages from the chute in response to initial movement of the chute handle in first or second directions, and the rotating mechanism rotates the discharge chute in response to continued movement of the chute handle in the same direction beyond the initial movement.
Claims10
A snow thrower comprising:
- a chassis;
- wheels supporting the chassis;
- a prime mover supported on the chassis;
- means for creating a flow of snow to be thrown by the snow thrower under the influence of the prime mover;
- an operator zone including controls for operating the snow thrower;
- a chute rotatable about a substantially vertical axis to modify a direction in which the flow of snow is thrown;
- a chute handle in the operator zone and movable in first and second opposite directions;
- a chute locking mechanism biased into engagement with the chute to prevent rotational movement of the chute with respect to the chassis, and movable out of engagement with the chute to permit rotational movement of the chute with respect to the chassis, the chute locking mechanism not moving out of engagement with the chute by mere application of torque to the chute;
- a chute unlocking mechanism moving the locking mechanism out of engagement with the chute in response to initial movement of the chute handle in either of the first and second directions;
- and
- a chute rotating mechanism rotating the chute in response to continued movement of the chute handle beyond the initial movement in either of the first and second directions.
8 more elements
A snow thrower comprising:
- a chute for directing a flow of snow in a snow-throwing direction;
- a chute handle rotatable in first and second directions to rotate the chute and change the snow-throwing direction;
- a chute locking mechanism movable into and out of engagement with the chute to prevent and permit, respectively, rotational movement of the chute;
- a tension-transferring mechanism interconnecting the chute handle and the locking mechanism and converting movement of the chute handle in the first and second directions into tension to move the locking mechanism out of engagement with the chute;
- a torque-transferring mechanism interconnecting the chute handle with the chute and transferring movement of the chute handle into torque to rotate the chute;
- and
- a lost motion mechanism between the chute handle and the torque-transferring mechanism, causing initial movement of the chute handle in either of the first and second directions to apply tension to the tension-transferring mechanism but not apply torque to the torque-transferring mechanism such that the locking mechanism is disengaged from the chute, and permitting continued movement of the chute handle beyond the initial movement to apply torque to the torque-transferring mechanism to cause rotation of the chute.
4 more elements
A snow thrower comprising:
- means for creating a flow of snow to be thrown by the snow thrower;
- a discharge chute movable between a plurality of positions for directing the flow of snow in a corresponding plurality of directions;
- a chute handle for moving the discharge chute into a selected one of the plurality of positions;
- a locking mechanism for holding the discharge chute in the selected position;
- and
- a lost motion mechanism operable to unlock the locking mechanism during initial chute handle movement to enable the discharge chute to rotate, and to rotate the discharge chute in response to continued chute handle movement in the same direction as the initial chute handle movement.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.