US 5,465,510 AGranted

Roof rake

OwnerScott E. Goodnough, Thomas F. Moreninventors

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Abstract

A roof rake includes a generally planar snow moving surface and a handle assembly for manipulating the snow moving surface on the roof. The handle assembly may be gripped by a user who is not located on the roof to pull the snow moving surface from a position on the interior of the roof towards the eaves of the roof to remove a swath of snow. To prevent damage to the roof during this snow removal operation, the lower edge of the snow moving surface is spaced above the surface of the roof by a plurality of rotatable wheels carried on the snow moving surface. One wheel is adjacent each side of the snow moving surface. A plurality of plastic tabs are carried on the lower edge of the snow moving surface. If one of the wheels falls off an edge of the roof, one or more of the plastic tabs will engage the roof to keep the lower edge of the snow moving surface spaced above the surface of the roof.

Claims22

Dependent claims

A roof rake for moving snow from roofs, which comprises:

(a) a snow moving member having a snow moving surface that extends upwardly from the roof when the snow moving member is placed on the roof with the snow moving surface being effective for moving a swath of snow off the roof when the snow moving member is moved forwardly from a first position on the roof inwardly of the eaves of the roof towards the eaves of the roof;
(b) a handle assembly affixed to the snow moving member and being sufficiently long to extend outwardly past the eaves of the roof when the snow moving member is placed on the roof in the first position to allow a user who is not located on the roof to pull the snow moving member towards the eaves of the roof;
(c) a pair of wheels rotatably carried on the snow moving member and situated thereon for spacing a lower edge of the snow moving surface above the surface of the roof during forward motion of the snow moving member when the wheels are in engagement with the surface of the roof to prevent the lower edge of the snow moving surface from scraping over the surface of the roof, wherein the wheels are spaced apart relative to one another along the lower edge of the snow moving member;
and
(d) at least one passive spacer member made of a low friction material fixed to the lower edge of the snow moving surface and having a portion beneath the lower edge of the snow moving surface for contacting the surface of the roof.

2 more elements

A roof rake for moving snow from roofs, which comprises:

(a) a snow moving member having a generally planar snow moving surface that extends vertically upwardly from the roof when the snow moving member is placed on the roof with such surface being effective for moving a swath of snow off the roof when the snow moving member is moved forwardly from a first position on the roof inwardly of the eaves of the roof towards the eaves of the roof, the snow moving surface having a predetermined width extending between spaced side edges thereof and including a lower edge proximate to the surface of the roof;
(b) a handle assembly affixed to the snow moving member and being sufficiently long to extend outwardly past the eaves of the roof when the snow moving member is placed on the roof in its first position to allow a user who is not located on the roof to pull the snow moving member towards the eaves of the roof in a snow removal operation;
(c) a plurality of wheels rotatably carried on the snow moving member for spacing the lower edge of the snow moving surface above the surface of the roof during forward motion of the snow moving member to prevent scraping the lower edge of the snow moving surface over the surface of the roof and to facilitate forward motion of the snow moving member, wherein one wheel is located adjacent each side edge of the snow moving member;
and
(d) passive spacer means carried on the lower edge of the snow moving surface, wherein the spacer means extends beneath the lower edge of the snow moving surface but also terminates above a plane extending through a bottom surface of each wheel such that the spacer means is normally positioned above the surface of the roof when both wheels are in engagement with the surface of the roof, whereby the spacer means will engage the surface of the roof when either one of the wheels passes over an edge of the roof and the other wheel remains on the roof such that the snow moving surface tips downwardly towards the wheel which has passed off the roof.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.