Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
_ _ _ _ . _
(a) Field o~ the Invention
The present invention relates to a snow plow
attachment for a vehicle and more particularly, but no~
exclusively, to an attachment for a front plow and wing
plow combination and wherein most of the plow support
frame is quickly attached and detached from the vehicle
and displaceable to permit a forwardly hinged hood of a
vehicle to be opened.
(b) Description of Prior Art
Various types of snow plow attachments to
detachably secure snow plows to a vehicle are known.
However, these have various disadvantages such as requir-
ing a bul~y attachment frame to be permanently secured
to the vehicle thus creating encumberance to the vehicle
when the snow plow is not attached thereto and adding
to the weight of the vehicle thereby increasing its fuel
consumption. Further, damage is caused to such frames
due to its permanent attachment to the vehicle. Another
disadvantage of such permanently attached support frames
is that often these require to be dismantled in part when
certain repairs are required to the vehicle front end
and in many cases require partial dismantling when it
is necessary to lift the hood of the vehicle which is
of common occurrence. A still further disadvantage of
snow plow attachment frames heretofore known is that it
is time consuming to attach the snow plow thereto and
normally requires the assistance of at least two men to
perform the installation. Also, often the installation
requires the assistance of other vehicles such as fork-
lift trucks whereby to lift the support frame to couple
it to the vehicle and often such coupling must be done
indoors.
- 2 -
s~
Because of the difficulty in attaching and
detaching snow plows to vehicle support frames, often
these snow plows, or at least the wing plows, will remain
attached to the vehicle throughout the winter months.
As stated hereinabove, this adds to the weight of the
vehicle and thus makes it more expensive to operate
due to the added fuel consumption. Usually a front plow
will weigh approximately 2,500 pounds and a wing plow
1,200 pounds, thus adding considerably to the weight of
the vehicle. Another disadvantage in leaving the plows
attached to the vehicle is that fewer vehicles can be
stored indoors as they occupy more space. A still
further disadvantage in leaving plow attachment frames
and the plows attached to the vehicle is that such frames
usually impairs t'ne vision of the operator thus making
the vehicle less safe on the road. A reason for maintain-
ing the snow plows attached to vehlcles is that severity
of snow storms are often unpredictable and due to the
time consuming task of installing these plows it would
be very difficult to equip a large fleet of trucks with
plows on short notice. It often takes half an hour for
two men to lnstall a front plow and an additional twenty
minutes to install a wing plow. Thus, it could take an
entire day for two men to install plows on a fleet of ten
trucks.
SUMMARY OF INVENTIO~
It is a feature of the present invention to
provide a snow plow attachment which suhstantially over-
comes all of the above-mentioned disadvantages.
Another feature of the present invention is
to provide a snow plow attachment for a vehicle wherein
the majority of the snow plow support frame remains at-tached
to the snow plow and is detachably securable to the vehicle
in a very short time with the help of a single person.
Another feature of the present invention is to
provide a snow plow attachment for a vehicle wherein much of
the framework is detached from the vehicle and when secured
thereto is hingeable forwardly whereby to permit a forwardly
hinged hood of a vehicle to be opened for access to the engine
area under the hood.
Another feature of the present invention is to
provide a snow plow attachment for detachably securing a front
plow and a wing plow to a vehicle and wherein the plow
combination and support frame is easily and quickly de-tachable
from the vehicle.
According to the above features, from a broad
aspect, the present invention provides a wing plow attachment
for a vehicle. The attachment comprises a wing plow with a
forward hinge connection securing a front end of the wing plow
to a forward side of the vehicle. Coupling rods is secured
to the wing plow adjacent a rear end thereof. A coupler is
secured to a free end of the coupling rods. A wing plow
attachment member is secured to the vehicle and has a hooking
arm for engagement of the coupler member to locate same in
the attachment member at a predetermined position for positive
engagement therewith.
-- 4 --
Z
BRIEF_DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
A preferred embodiment of the present invention
will now be described with reference to the example
thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in
which:
FIGURE 1 is a side view of the front plow
support frame and the vehicle coupling mechanism for
attaching a front plow to a vehicle;
FIGURE 2 is a side view, the same as Figure 1,
but with the coupling mechanism connected to the front
plow support frame and showing its tilted position with
the hood of the vehicle open;
FIGIJRE 3 is a fragmented top view showing part
of the front plow support mechanism with a wing plow
secured thereto and additionally showing the wing plow
coupling to a vehicle,
FIGURE 4a is a front view of the pivot plate
of the coupling mechanism showing the locking mechanism,
FIGURE 4b is a rear view of the coupling
mechanism pivot plate showing a further locking mechanism,
FIGURE 5 is a fragmented perspective view of
the coupling securing the wing plow to a vehicle, and
FIGURE 6 is a side view of the wing plow
coupler member secured to the attachment member.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED E:MBODIME~TS
.. . . . _
Referring now to the drawings and more particu-
larly to Figures 1 and 2, there is shown the snow plow
attachment of the present invention whereby to secure
5~
a front plow 10 and a wing plow 11 to a vehicle 12~
The attachment comprises a coupling mechanism 13 which
is connected to a lower front frame 14 of the vehicle
12. The coupling mechanism has a plow engaginy displace-
able frame or pivot plate 15 and a stationary frame 16to which the displaceable frame 15 is hingedly connected
at a pivot connection 17 in its lower end. A piston 1~
constitutes a means to displace the displaceable frame 15
to swing outwardly downward as shown in Figure 1.
The displaceable frame 15 is constituted by a
pivot plate having a hook engaging means l9 in a top edge
thereof for engagement with a pair of coupling plates 20
extending rearwardly of a front plow support frame 21.
The coupling plates 20 are provided with a downwardly
extending hook groove 22 whereby the top edge 19 of the
pivot plate can be positioned therein and by retracting
the pivot plate rearwardly to a vertical position causing
the support frame 21 to lift upwardly and be engaged with
the coupling mechanism 13.
The engagement of the front plow support frame
21 is effected by a first locking means 23 and a second
locking means 24 as shown in Figures 4a and 4b, respect-
ively. Both of the locking means 23 and 24 are consti-
tuted by dual action piston cylinders 23' and 24' respect-
ively with the first piston cylinder 23' being secured
on the front wall 25 of the pivot plate 15. The cylinder
is provided with pistons ther*in to actuate opposed
locking piston rods 23" for displacement across opposed
lock holes 26 provided in a pair of locking flanges 27.
The coupling plates 20 are each positioned between a
respective pair of these coupling flanges wherein a
lock hole 28 provided in each coupling plates 20 are
positioned in alignment with the lock holes 26. By
actuating the locking piston rods 23" outwardly the
coupling plates are engaged to the pivot plate 15.
In order to immovably secure the pivot plate
15 to the stationary frame 16 it is firstly necessary
to retract the pivot plate 15 to its vertical position
and by doing so causing a pair of locking flanges 29
having a lock hole therein to locate themselves in
alignment with a lock hole 30 provided in a pair of
arms 16' of the stationary frame. By actuating the
locking bolt 24" of the cylinder 24' the flange 29 is
secured to the stationary arm 16' of the stationary
frame 16. Thus, the front plow support frame 21 is
immovably secured to the stationary frame of the vehicle
12.
As shown in Figure 1 the front plow support
frame 21 is supported on a ground surface 31 by support
means constituted by a pair of telescopic legs 32.
These legs are adjusted in height whereby the hook
groove 22 of the coupling plates 20 are maintained at
a desired height relative to the stationary frame 16
of a vehicle 12 associated with the support frame 21.
By providing adjustment via the telescopic legs 32 the
snow plow and its support frames are stored in readiness
to be engaged by a designated vehicle without the
requirement of manual labor or added vehicles to lift
the plow support frame for enyagement by the vehicle.
Simply, the pivot plate 15 is hinged outwardly and the
vehicle is advanced until the top edge lg of the plate
engages the hook grooves 22 as aforementioned. Once the
frame is engaged the telescopic leg is retracted into
the support frame, as shown in Figure 2. Also, as shown
in Figure 2, in order to make clearance for the opening
of the hood 33 of the vehicle, it is necessary to
actuate the second piston cylinder 24 to unlock the pivot
plate 15 from the stationary frame 16 and then to actuate
the plate positioning piston 18 to cause the pivot plate
15 to tilt forwardly downward to displace the front plow
support frame 21. Thus there is sufficient clearance for
the hood 33 to hinge forwardly for access to the engine
area under the hood.
In order to permit this tilting,the front plow
support frame 21 is hingedly secured to a front plow frame
34 in any manner well known in the art and not shown
herein. Also, the manner in which the plow is lifted is
well known in the art and as herein shown a flexible
connection 35 is secured to the front plow thus permitting
the support frame 21 to be tilted forwardly as shown in
Figure 2 whilst also permitting the plow to be lifted off
the ground surface 31 by the actuation of a control piston
36 secured to a lever arm 37 supporting the flexible
coupling 35.
Referring now additionally to Figures 3, 5 and
6, it can be seen that a wing plow 11 may also be secured
to the front plow support frame. For this securement
there is provided a wing plow attachment boom 40 which is
connected at a side edge of the front plow support frame
21 and extending vertically thereto. The boom 40 is
-- 8 --
provided with a lifting cylinder 41 in a top portion
thereof with the front end of the wing plow ll having
a hinge coupling 43 which is secured to a piston rod 42
associated with the cylinder 41. By retracting this
piston rod 42 the front end of the wing plow 11 is
lifted off the ground.
As shown more clearly in Figures 3, 5 and
6, a pair of coupling rods 44 is secured in a parallel
spaced apart manner to a support bracket 45 secured
adjacent the rear end of the wing plow 11 via universal
joint couplings 46- The other ends of the coupling rod
44 are hingedly connected to a coupler member 47. The
hinge connection 48 connecting the coupler member to the
couping rods also permits horizontal and vertical displace-
ment of the rod with respect to the coupler member 47.
A wing plow attachment member 49 is secured to
the vehicle at a convenient location rearwardly of the
cabin area 50 thereof. The wing plow at-tachment member
is provided with a hooking arm 51 for engaging the coupler
member 47 to secure it into the attachment member 49
whereby to attach the rear end of the wing plow to the
vehicle.
The coupler member 47 is constituted by a pair
of spaced apart vertical plates 47' with a space defined
therebetween for the passage of the hooking arm 51. An
engaging pin 52 is secured transversely intermediate the
vertical plate 47' for engagement by the hook end 51' of
the hook arm 51. The attachment member 49 is provided
with a coupler member receiving slot 53 into which the
coupler member 47 is located by the actuation o~ the
;s~
hooking arm 51. A hook arm actuatiny piston 54 retracts
the hooking arm 51 into the slot 53 and precisely locates
a pair of holes 55 provided in the vertical plates 47' in
alignment with a pair of holes 56 located in the side
walls 57 of the attachment member 49~ Lock pins are then
inserted through the holes 56 and 55 to lock the coupler
member 47 to the attachment member 49. Figure 6 illustrates
the position of the coupler member when secured to the
attachMent member.
Although not shown in the drawings, hydraulic
connections are provided for the operation of all pistons
to displace the front plow 10, the wing plow 11 and other
pistons associated with the coupling mechanisms. These
hydraulic connections are conveniently located behind the
coupling mechanism connected to the lower front frame and the
attachment member for securing the end rear of the wing plow.
Other mechanical framework and couplings normally associated
with a front plow and wing plow, not forming part of this
invention, have not been disclosed but are obvious to
those skilled in the art. For example, the wing plow is
provided with a lifting cylinder 60 as shown in Figure 5
to lift the wing plow upwardly towards the vehicle, as
is well known in the art. It is, however, pointed out
that it is within the scope of the present invention to
cover any obvious modifications of the snow plow attach-
ments herein described provided such modifications fall
within the scope of the appended claims.
This is a divisional application of Canadian
patent application serial no. 413,172 filed October 8, 1982.
-- 10 --
