Abstract:
A blade implement includes a support structure and a blade attached to a utility bucket. The blade is substantially beneath the utility bucket. A method of using the blade implement including positioning the blade against a road surface and the step of moving the blade across the road surface for road treatment.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates generally to road surface treatment, in particular, to apparatus and methods for treating road surfaces with a blade implement.  
         [0002]     Road surfaces typically need to be treated for a number of different reasons. Specifically, roads may need to have snow removed, material backfilled into a ditch beside the road, new shoulders cut into existing roadways, the gravel base of existing roadways widened, the entire roadway sub-grade cut out, or generally material displaced from the road. These tasks are achieved in the prior art by specialty equipment. However, it is desirable to be able to quickly and easily modify existing equipment such that they achieve the above results.  
         [0003]     Accordingly, a primary objective of the present invention is the provision of a blade implement adapted to be attached to a utility loader bucket.  
         [0004]     The specialty equipment of the prior art often is incorrectly sized for use upon narrow roadways, residential driveways, shoulders of existing roadways, or other narrow areas. Accordingly, another objective of the present invention is the provision of a blade implement with a narrow blade cutting surface that has the ability of treating surfaces narrower than that which specialty equipment may efficiently treat.  
         [0005]     Specialty equipment by their nature is not adapted for more than one use. Accordingly, a further objective of the present invention is the provision of providing a grading feature to a general utility industrial tractor such as a scoop tractor and to provide the option of the user using the scoop tractor for surface treatment.  
         [0006]     A further objective of the present invention is the provision of a blade implement which permits adjustable angle of the blade thereby allowing materials to be transferally.  
         [0007]     A still further objective of the present invention is the provision of a blade implement having a swivel which permits the blade to rotate 360°. In the prior art, the attachments do not allow a variety of different surface treatments including front treatment and then rear treatment of the road surfaces. As the loader unit travels in reverse, deep cutting action can be achieved by use of the dump or cupping control of the loader unit while traveling forward or backwards.  
         [0008]     A still further objective of the present invention is the provision of a blade implement which is economical to manufacture and durable in use.  
         [0009]     These and other objectives will become apparent from the following description of the invention.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0010]     The blade implement of the present invention includes a utility bucket adapted to be attached to an industrial vehicle that has an open front, a closed back, and a closed underside. The blade implement also has a support structure attached to the underside of the utility bucket and a blade attached to the support structure that is substantially beneath the utility bucket. The blade implement of the present invention also includes a method of using the blade implement comprising providing an industrial vehicle having a utility bucket with a blade attached to the underside and substantially beneath the utility bucket. The method also has the step of positioning the blade against a road surface and the step of moving the blade across the road surface for road treatment. The blade implement of the present invention also includes a blade implement with a mounting plate adapted to be attached to an industrial vehicle, a swivel moveably attached to the mounting plate, and a blade attached to the swivel radially moveable beneath the mounting plate. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]      FIG. 1  is a front perspective view of the blade implement attached to the utility bucket of an industrial vehicle.  
         [0012]      FIG. 2  is a rear view of the mounting plate, swivel, and blade.  
         [0013]      FIG. 3  is a bottom view of the mounting plate, swivel with locking bar detail and blade.  
         [0014]      FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional side view through the middle of the mounting plate, guide ring, swivel plate, retainer ring, and blade components.  
         [0015]      FIG. 5  is a front perspective view of a blade implement upon a skid steer fastened with bolts.  
         [0016]      FIG. 6  is a front perspective view of a blade implement upon a heavy loader tractor and attached by bolts. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0017]     The blade implement of the present invention is generally designated in the drawings by the reference numeral  10 .  
         [0018]     As seen in  FIG. 1 , the blade implement  10  is located on an industrial vehicle  12 . The industrial vehicle  12  generally has wheels  14 , a vehicle body  16 , and a forward facing cab  18  upon the vehicle body  16 . Attached to the vehicle body  16  is also a lift system  20  designed to manipulate implements in front of the cab. Typically, the industrial vehicle  12  has hydraulic cylinders  22 , coupled with physical joint and pivot points  24  to transmit force from the hydraulic cylinders  22  to the implement  10 . The implement  10  is attached to the hydraulic system  20  by bucket pivots (not shown). The implement  10  such as a utility bucket, may be raised or lowered using the lift system  20  and may also be tilted forward or back by a bucket hydraulic system  28  (as shown in  FIG. 6 ).  
         [0019]     Implements that might be attached to the industrial vehicle include a utility bucket  30 . The utility bucket  30  is common because it is very versatile and often is the only device used upon the industrial vehicle  12 . The bucket  30  versatility stems from its familiar use to the operator, the forward location upon vehicle  12 , and the vehicle&#39;s  12  ability to transmit force from the lift system  20  to the bucket  30 .  
         [0020]     The blade implement  10 , as illustrated in  FIG. 1 , is attached to the utility bucket  30 . The utility bucket  30  has an open front  32 , a closed back  34  and a closed underside  36 . The bucket  30  has a width “W” and a length “L”.  
         [0021]     A support structure  40  is attached to the underside  36  of the bucket  30 . A blade  42  is attached to the support structure  40 .  
         [0022]     As seen in  FIG. 2 , the support structure has a mounting plate  50 . Metal tabs  52  secure the mounting plate  50  to the closed rear side of the bucket  30 . Also, as seen in  FIG. 1  on the front side of the utility bucket, the mounting plate  50  has an engaging slot  53  attached to the mounting plate  50 .  
         [0023]     The mounting plate  50  is designed to be a quick attachment to the utility bucket. Attached to the mounting plate  50  as seen in  FIG. 2  is a swivel  54 . As seen in  FIG. 2 , the swivel  54  has a guide ring  56  attached to the mounting plate  50  and a swivel plate  58  marked in dash lines  57  which rotates within the guide ring  56  and a retainer ring  60  which fits over the guide ring  56  and swivel plate  58  holding the swivel plate  58  in place and providing a place for the swivel plate  58  to be locked in place. Extending from the swivel plate  58  are moldboard supports  62 . Two moldboard supports  62  are positioned against the swivel plate  58 . The support  62  is welded to the swivel plate  58 .  
         [0024]     Attached to the moldboard support  62  is a cross beam  68  which extends between and outward a first and second moldboard supports  62 . The moldboard  70  fits against the moldboard support  62  and the cross beam  68  such that force striking against the moldboard  70  is transmitted to the moldboard support  62  and the cross beam  68  and into the industrial vehicle  12 .  
         [0025]     A cutting edge  72  is attached to the moldboard  70  by attachment  74 . The attachment is commonly a bolt and nut combination. Alternatively, the cutting edge  72  may be welded to the moldboard  70 . Preferably, the cutting edge  72  is detachable from the moldboard  70  so that replacement cutting edge  72  may be supplied as the cutting edge  72  will wear at a rate faster than the moldboard  70 .  
         [0026]     Preferably, if the attachment  74  is a bolt, the bolt is flush mounted to join the cutting edge  72  to the moldboard  74  such that particulates traveling along the cutting edge  72  and moldboard  70  are not interfered with the attachment  74 .  
         [0027]      FIG. 3  illustrates the bottom view of the swivel. Preferably the retaining ring  60  has locking notches  80  around the circumference. A locking bar  82  is moveable between the locking notch  80  and an open position by pulling upon handle  84 . When the handle  84  is pulled it moves a locking bar  82  away from the locking notch  80 . Preferably a spring  86  is provided which biases the locking bar  82  towards a seated position in the locking notch  80 . Alternatively, the locking notches  80  may be on the swivel and the locking bar  82  extend from the retaining ring  60 .  
         [0028]     An alternate locking system (not shown) is the reverse of the system in  FIG. 3 . In this alternate system, the swivel has locking notches  80  around the circumference. A locking bar  82  is attached to the retaining ring and is moveable between the locking notch  80  and an open position by pulling upon handle  84 . When the handle  84  is pulled it moves a locking bar  82  away from the locking notch  80  upon the swivel.  
         [0029]      FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional side view provided to show the orientation of the moldboard along a center line of the swivel plate  54 .  
         [0030]      FIG. 5  is provided showing the industrial vehicle  12  as a skid steer with a support structure  40  that does not use a swivel. Instead, the support structure is made up of a T-bar  90  being bolted to the underside  36  of the bucket  30  at a plurality of locations  92  and also bolted to the moldboard  70  with cutting edge  72  at location  94 . The embodiment is much simpler than the swivel plate  54  and provides a similar action across a road surface but requires more extensive manipulation by user to adjust the angle of the cutting edge  72 .  
         [0031]      FIG. 6  illustrates a blade attached to a large loader bucket tractor  12  without a swivel  54 . In this embodiment, the blade only takes up a portion of the loader bucket  30 .  
         [0032]     In use, the user positions the blade  42  against a road surface and moves the blade  42  across the road surface such that the cutting edge  72  and moldboard  70  contact the surface. The material is moved off to the side if it is angled or pushed forward if it is in a perpendicular position. In further use, the user may angle the blade to permit more specific clearing of the material from the side of the blade. Preferably, the blade  42  is angled such that the material is swept away from the user&#39;s front tire  14 .  
         [0033]     The user may adjust the pressure of the moldboard  70  and cutting edge  72  against the roadside by tilting the utility bucket  30  forward. The user may also manipulate the cutting edge  72  to dig a deep furrow and gouge the roadside. This gouging action is effective for placing conduit underneath a roadway or creating depth for curbing or simply widening an existing roadbed. Finally, the user may move the blade  42  from center of the bucket  30  to the side of the bucket  30 , especially when used with heavy industrial vehicles  12 . This provides a controlled area of the road being acted upon and also provides a much narrower area to be worked on.  
         [0034]     Finally, the user may adjust the blade  42  so that the user may move the industrial vehicle  12  in a backwards direction. This direction provides the user with a more controlled action as the blade  42  can be observed from the cab  18  of the vehicle  12 .  
         [0035]     The invention has been shown and described above with the preferred embodiments, and it is understood that many modifications, substitutions, and additions may be made which are within the intended spirit and scope of the invention. From the foregoing, it can be seen that the present invention accomplishes at least all of the stated objectives.