Reconfigurable box blade
AssigneeRose Welding & Crane Service, Inc.
InventorHank Rose
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A reconfigurable box blade includes a box frame that includes a left sidewall, a right sidewall, and a scraping blade that spans laterally between the left sidewall and the right sidewall. The reconfigurable box blade also includes a means for attaching the box frame to a vehicle. The reconfigurable box blade has a first configuration and a second configuration. The first configuration includes the scraping blade being in contact with a ground surface, and, a longest dimension of the box blade oriented substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the vehicle. The second configuration includes the scraping blade being out of contact with the ground surface and the longest dimension of the box frame being substantially aligned with the longitudinal axis of the vehicle.
Claims30
A reconfigurable box blade comprising:
- a box frame comprising
- a left sidewall,
- a right sidewall, and
- a scraping blade that spans laterally between the left sidewall and the right sidewall and
- a connecting structure configured to attach the box frame to a vehicle,
- the reconfigurable box blade having a deployed configuration and a stowed configuration,
- wherein the deployed configuration comprises
- a first dimension of the box frame oriented substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the vehicle, and
- wherein the stowed configuration comprises
- the first dimension of the box frame being substantially aligned with the longitudinal axis of the vehicle.
A method of reconfiguring a box blade attached to a vehicle, comprising:
- from a first configuration, raising, relative to the ground surface, a box frame of the reconfigurable box blade, the box frame comprising a left sidewall, a right sidewall, and a scraping blade that spans laterally between the left sidewall and the right sidewall, wherein the first configuration comprises a first dimension of the box frame being oriented substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the vehicle;
- and
- rotating the box frame about a rotation axis oriented perpendicular to the ground surface into a second configuration, the second configuration comprising the first dimension of the box frame being substantially aligned along the longitudinal axis of the vehicle.
A reconfigurable box blade comprising:
- a box frame comprising
- a left sidewall,
- a right sidewall having at least one length equivalent to at least one length of the left sidewall, and
- a scraping blade that spans laterally between the left sidewall and the right sidewall;
- one or more wheels, wherein the one or more wheels are above a ground surface when the reconfigurable box blade is in a stowed configuration, and wherein the one or more wheels are in contact the with the ground surface when the reconfigurable box blade is in a deployed configuration;
- a connecting structure configured to attach the box frame to a vehicle;
- and
- a stopping component mounted to the connecting structure, the stopping component configured to secure the box blade in the stowed configuration, the stopping component comprising a latch configured to be secured over a portion of the box frame;
- wherein a first dimension of the box frame is oriented substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the vehicle when the reconfigurable box blade is in the deployed configuration,
- wherein the first dimension of the box frame is substantially aligned with the longitudinal axis of the vehicle when the reconfigurable box blade is in the stowed configuration, and
- wherein the box frame is rotated beyond 90 degrees about a rotation axis oriented parallel to the ground surface and rotated about a rotation axis perpendicular to the ground surface to move the box frame from the deployed configuration to the stowed configuration.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.