Material moving blade

A material moving blade adapted to be mounted on a vehicle to push material forward and to back drag material comprising:

• a moldboard assembly having a lower moldboard portion and an upper moldboard portion;
• a lower cutting bar with a lower bar working edge clamped to the lower moldboard portion adjacent to a bottom edge of the lower moldboard portion;
• an upper cutting bar with an upper bar working edge clamped to the upper moldboard portion adjacent to a top edge of the upper moldboard portion;
• a hinge assembly fixed to an upper moldboard lower edge and fixed to a lower moldboard upper edge and having a horizontal hinge axis that is adjacent to the upper moldboard lower edge and to the lower moldboard upper edge;
• an upper moldboard support fixed to the lower moldboard portion and having a support free end that is spaced from the horizontal hinge axis and contacts the upper moldboard portion to limit pivotal movement of the upper moldboard portion about the horizontal hinge axis in one direction;
• an actuator assembly including a first link pivotally connected to the upper moldboard portion, a second link pivotally connected to the lower moldboard portion, a connector link pivotally connected to the first link and to the second link, and a linear actuator pivotally connected to the lower moldboard portion and fixed to the connector link and wherein extension of the linear actuator pivots the upper moldboard portion into a forward material pushing position and into contact with the support free end of the upper moldboard support and wherein retraction of the linear actuator pivots the upper moldboard portion into a back dragging position in which the upper bar working edge on the upper cutting bar is below the lower cutting bar;
• and
• an attachment assembly on the lower moldboard portion for attaching the moldboard assembly to a plow support.

A method of conveying material with a material moving blade having a moldboard assembly with a lower moldboard portion and upper moldboard portion pivotally attached to the lower moldboard portion for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis and having a lower cutting bar on a bottom edge of the lower moldboard portion and an upper cutting bar on a top edge of the upper moldboard portion comprising:

• pivoting the upper moldboard portion about the horizontal axis to a position in which the upper cutting bar is above the lower moldboard portion;
• moving the material moving blade forward to scrape up material and move material forward;
• pivoting the upper moldboard portion about the horizontal axis to move the upper bar working edge of the upper cutting bar to a position below the lower cutting bar and to move a material contacting surface of the upper moldboard portion from a forward facing position to a rearward facing position;
• and
• moving the material moving blade to the rear to scrape up material with the upper cutting bar and convey material to the rear.