Abstract:
A hinged snow plow for an off-road vehicle is provided wherein a cowling is pivotally secured to the free end of an adapter. The adapter attaches to a tubular mounting means of a universal nature. The tubular mounting means which is modified, depending upon the off-road vehicle to which the snow plow is to be mounted. The combination of the adapter and tubular frame make the snow plow mountable to almost any off-road vehicle.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to snow plows. More particularly, the invention relates to a hinged snow plow for use on off-road vehicles. The snow plow is designed so that an adapter bracket is easily mounted to a tubular frame which is made in many variations so that the snow plow of the present invention can be mounted to practically any off-road vehicle. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Hinged snow plows have been known in the art for many years in relationship to the mounting of various types of snow plows on pickup trucks for use on commercial settings. One such snow plow that is known is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,519, issued on Apr. 21, 1987, to Phillip J. Quenzi. This patent discloses a hinged snow plow wherein a cowling is pivotally secured to the free end of a support frame which attaches to a vehicle in a manner such that the cowling pivots in a generally vertical plane about the free end of the frame. The blades of the snow plow are hinged to the cowling. However, this snow plow has a first and second stop means which are undesirable for use in off-road vehicles. Off-road vehicles generally lack adequate traction and are underpowered for moving and clearing areas of snow on a commercial basis or for expanded personal use. The provision of the stop means on the Quenzi snow plow under certain conditions requires additional power which the off-road vehicle simply does not have. Also, the hydraulic adjustment means are impractical for use on off-road vehicles since a source of hydraulic power is just not available. The U.S. Pat. No. 3,307,275, issued on Mar. 7, 1967 to E. A. Simi, and the U.S. Pat. No. 3,706,144, issued Dec. 19, 1972 to Miceli, also suffer from one or more of these problems. Thus, those skilled in the snow plow art have continued to search for solutions to these problems. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     To solve the problems in the prior art, a hinged snow plow is provided wherein a cowling is pivotally secured to the free end of an adapter. The adapter, which may be of a multi-piece construction, attaches to a tubular mounting means of a universal nature which is modified in a manner depending upon the vehicle the off-road snow plow is to be mounted to. The combination of the adapter and the tubular frame make the snow plow of the present invention mountable to almost any off-road vehicle. The cowling is mounted to a pivot means which allows it to pivot in a generally vertical plane about the adapter and is free to rotate virtually 360 degrees about said vertical plane to prevent any artificial stop means from acting during the operation of the snow plow. The blades of the hinged snow plow are hinged to the cowling, and a manual adjustment means is provided for positioning the blades so that a hydraulic source of power is not needed on the off-road vehicle. 
     Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved hinged snow plow usable on an off-road vehicle. 
     A further object of the present invention is to be provide a hinged off-road vehicle snow plow without artificial stop means to limit the tilting of the blades. 
     A still further object of the present invention is to provide a hinged snow plow for use on off-road vehicles having a manual adjustment means. 
     A still further object of the present invention is to provide a hinged off-road vehicle snow plow which does not require a source of hydraulic power for adjustment. 
     A still further object of the present invention is to provide an off-road vehicle snow plow which is easily mountable to a wide variety of off-road vehicles. 
     Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and depended claims, reference being made to the accompanying drawings forming a part of the Specification, wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the snow plow of the present invention mounted to the front of an off-road vehicle. 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a portion of the snow plow of the present invention showing a tubular mounting frame, an adapter mounted to the end of the tubular mounting frame, and a cowling adapted to rotate 360 degrees in a vertical plane about the adapter. 
     FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the snow plow of the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 is a partial elevational view of the snow plow of the present invention showing an embodiment of the manual adjustment means. 
     It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments, and is capable of being practiced or carried out in various ways within the scope of the claims. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown an off-road vehicle, generally designated by the numeral  20 , supported by one or more ground engaging tires  21 . Mounted to the midpoint of the offroad vehicle frame or the forward end of A Lawn Tractor vehicle  20  is the snow plow of the present invention, generally designated by the numeral  25 . The snow plow includes a pair of plow blades  26  which are hinged together at the hinge  27  provided on the cowling  28 . Cowling  28  is mounted on the free end of multi-piece adapter  30 . The plow blades  26  may be of a standard rectilinear shape well known in the art. Each blade hinge  27  includes a plurality of hinge collars  33 , some of which are formed, welded or otherwise attached to the blade  26 , and some of which are formed, welded or otherwise attached to the cowling  28 . Vertically aligning the hinge collars  33  on the blades  26  with the hinge collars  33  on the cowling  28 , and inserting the hinge pin  31  through the aligned openings formed thereby, hingedly attaches blades  26  to the cowling  28  and allows them to freely rotate about the pin  31 , unless restrained by another means. 
     The blades  26  may be held in several preset desired positions. They may be set in the shape of a forward V, a reverse V, or a straight line configuration. The straight line configuration may be transverse to the axis of the off-road vehicle, or set at a desired angle. An adjustment means may include a pair of brackets  36  to which are mounted a pair of restraining means, such as radius rods  38 , by means well known in the art. A plurality of holes  39  are provided proximate each end of the radius rods  38  for purposes to be described. The radius rods are passed between the upper portion  40  and the lower portion  41  of the cowling  28  and the desired pair of holes  39  are aligned. Pin means, to be described below, are used to hold the plow blades  26  in the desired position. A right angle portion  38 A provided on the end of each rod  38  prevents the rods from accidentally coming out of the cowling when the blades are adjusted. 
     Referring now to FIG. 4, it can be seen that the holes  39  in the radius rods  38  can be placed in vertical alignment with a hole  43  provided in the upper portion  40  of the cowling  28 , cowling bracket hole  44 , and lower cowling hole  46 . Passing through holes  43 ,  44 ,  39  and  46  is the spring loaded pin  42  which is maintained in a spring loaded condition by virtue of the spring  45  surrounding the spring loaded pin  42  and acting between the inner upper surface of the cowling bracket  48  and the washer  49 . The washer is pinned to the spring loaded pin  42  by the transverse pin  50  by means well known in the art. It can be seen that lifting the pin  42  such that its lower end disengages from the holes  39 , and the radius rods  38 , allows the plow blades to be set in any desired position. 
     To allow the plow blades to pivot when obstacles are encountered, the lower portion of the cowling  28  has pivot means provided therein in the form of an elongated bearing  52  into which the pivot pin  53  fits to provide for rotation of the cowling  28  and thereby of the plow blades  26 . Of importance to the present invention is the fact that the cowling, when the plow blades are unattached, can pivot 360 degrees between the arms  54  of the adapter  30 , restrained only by the vertical stop  75 . 
     In operation, however, the plow blades  26  will be attached to the cowling  28  by the hinge  27  to hold the plow blades  26  in a generally vertical position. A spring bracket  55  is provided on the upper portion  40  of the cowling  28  and spring mounting holes  56  are provided in the bracket  55  as well as in the tab portions  76  provided on arms  54  forming a portion of the adapter  30 . A stiffening plate  77 , secured between the ends of tubular frame  65 , is also considered part of the adaptor  30 . A pair of tension providing springs  58  are mounted in a parallel relationship in the holes  56  as illustrated in FIG.  3 . 
     As shown in FIG. 4, when the plow blades  26  hit an obstruction, the plow blades may tilt forward or rearward as needed to overcome the obstruction. Skids  60  of a type well known in the art may be provided to keep the plow blades  26  at a proper height above the surface being plowed. These skids may either be of a fixed or adjustable nature. Depending on the application to which the plow of the present invention is to be put, reinforcements  51  may be provided on the rear of the plow blades  26  if needed. These may be provided in combination with the brackets  36  if desired. 
     Referring now to FIG. 2, the universal nature of the improved snow plow of the present invention can be observed. It can be seen that the adapter  30  is mounted to the tubular frame  65  by any suitable means. The frame  65  may have suitable reinforcements  66 , and mounting means  67 , which may have mounting holes  68  provided therein. The mounting means  67  may take a wide variety of forms as needed to provide for the mounting of the tubular frame to the midpoint of the particular off-road vehicle or the front of lawn tractor being used. The mounting means should be understood broadly to include whatever attachments are needed to the tubular frame  65  to mount the improved snow plow to an off-road vehicle. 
     As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, a bracket  70  may also be mounted to the adapter  30 , and connected by a control rod  71 , to a bell crank  73  mounted to off road vehicle  20 . Bell crank  73  is connected, in turn, to operating lever  74  by second control rod  79 . Operating lever  74  can be operated, such that the off-road vehicle operator may raise and lower the snow plow as desired. 
     If a simplified construction of the snow plow blade positioning means is desired, instead of the spring loaded pin  42 , a non-spring loaded pin (not shown) may be provided. 
     Thus, by carefully studying the available prior art snow plows, and the capability of off-road vehicles, I have provided a novel off-road vehicle snow plow.