Directional control mechanism for surface working machine

A surface working machine, comprising a frame having a hub, at least one rotor means carried by the frame and including a rotatable vertical shaft, surface working means operably connected to said shaft and including a plurality of radially extending blades, each blade being mounted for tilting movement about a horizontal axis, a pressure member extending laterally from each blade, first operating means for simultaneously exerting a downward force against said pressure members to simultaneously tilt said blades about the respective horizontal axis and effect pitch control for the blades, and second operating means for sequentially exerting a downward force on said pressure members as said rotor rotates to individually tilt said blades about said axes and effect directional control of the machine, while the rotor is maintained in a vertical orientation.

A surface working machine, comprising a frame, at least one rotor mounted on the frame and including a rotatable shaft, surface working means operably connected to said shaft and including a plurality of radially extending blade means disposed to contact a surface to be worked as said rotor rotates, each blade means being mounted for tilting movement about a horizontal axis to vary the pitch of said blade means, and means for individually varying the pitch of each blade means as said rotor rotates to thereby vary the downward pressure applied by each blade means against said surface and achieve directional control for said machine, while the rotor is maintained in a vertical orientation.

A surface working machine, comprising a frame, a pair of rotors mounted on the frame and each rotor including a rotatable shaft, surface working means operably connected to said shaft and including a plurality of radially extending blades disposesd to contact a surface to be worked as said rotor rotates, means for mounting each blade for tilting movement about a horizontal axis to vary the pitch of said blade relative to said surface, and means for individually varying the pitch of each blade as each rotor rotates to thereby vary the downward pressure applied by each blade against said surface, the selective individual variation of pitch of said blades of each rotor causing directional change of said machine, while each of the rotors are maintained in a vertical orientation.