Abstract:
A lightweight, adjustable snowplow, able to be lifted, carried, and manipulated by one person, adult or teenager, of normal strength, designed to remove new-fallen or otherwise soft snow or slush. It has a minimum number of parts. A plurality of struts attaches the plow to any kind of towing vehicle, providing horizontal and vertical stability. No brackets, hitches, or lifting devices are needed on the towing vehicle.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     Disclosure Document 514892 covering this invention was received by the PTO on Jul. 15, 2002. This invention is related to, but different from, application Ser. No. 10/230,446, filed Aug. 30, 2002 (published on Mar. 4, 2004 as Application 20040040184) by the present inventor, Customer 3571. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     a. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The invention relates to devices for removing snow from driveways; from streets, roads, highways, etc. (hereinafter for simplicity called “roadways”); from all or parts of parking lots; from biking-hiking trails; and from sidewalks and other walkways.  
         [0004]     b. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0005]     Most plows for the removal of snow are mounted on the front of a vehicle. However, snowplows made for attachment to the front of vehicles are very heavy and require much bracket hardware and other complex hardware for controlling and stabilizing purposes. Their weight and rigidity often cause damage to roadway surfaces, curbs, and imbedded reflectors in fog-prone areas. Such snowplows are also very expensive, bulky, and heavy—too much so for the individual householder, the small-business person, the entrepreneur offering light-duty snow removal service, or the teenager seeking after-school or weekend jobs. Such snowplows are difficult to assemble, difficult to attach to vehicles, and, when not needed out of season, difficult to detach and to store. Further, such snowplows are not suited for attaching to ordinary automobiles or other relatively lightweight vehicles, and require instead some kind of heavy-duty truck.  
         [0006]     Modern vehicles are able to travel without difficulty over new-fallen snow, otherwise still-soft snow, or slush several inches deep, even those without such enhancing equipment as all-weather tires, four-wheel drive, limited-slip differential, etc. Therefore, a towed snowplow is practicable for the removal of snow to prevent a surface from turning into a path of slick ice and icy ruts and bumps.  
         [0007]     A number of snowplows have been designed for attaching to the rear of vehicles or other means of propulsion. However, they suffer many limitations and disadvantages.  
         [0008]     Two of these devices, for example, under U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,447 to Harvey and U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,357 to Lilienthal are designed not for general removal of snow from a path, but merely to pull snow from close to a wall or garage door where it will be accessible to the front-mounted plow of the user&#39;s pick-up truck  
         [0009]     In another example, a grading device under U.S. Pat. No. 6,070,343, to Sheldon, intended for grading or snow removal, is to be attached to a towing hitch. Most vehicles are not equipped with or suited for towing hitches. Further, among other disadvantages, the device has no provision for lateral stability in relation to the rear of the vehicle. Differential resistance of snow or some small object encountered on the left side of the device, looking forward, would cause the chain on the right side to collapse and destroy the plow&#39;s ability to properly deposit the snow.  
         [0010]     Still other devices, intended for attachment to pick-up trucks, such as those under U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,403,432 and 5,595,007 to Biance, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,930,922 and 6,151,809 to Altheide require a hitch or other special connective hardware on the vehicle, and much hardware to control the lifting and aiming of their devices. Such devices are very heavy, they probably require handling by more than one person, they are difficult and time-consuming to assemble and disassemble, and they are difficult and time-consuming to attach to and detach from a vehicle. They incur great expense, and they require a large space for storage.  
         [0011]     Some snow clearing devices designed to be drawn purport to be snowplows, but are really devices that could be better defined as “scoops” or “gatherers.” For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 79,913 to Lewis, for a vee-shaped device intended to clear snow from skating ponds and ice-lakes, whose inventor claims his device is a novel combination of parts (none of which parts is new). Snow is repeatedly gathered inside the vee of the device and hauled to the side of the pond or lake and dumped. Another example occurs in U.S. Pat. No. 235,201 to Bond, whose snow scraping device also is intended to gather snow inside the vee of the device and remove it “from the surface of ice ponds and rivers where ice is to be cut and gathered.” 
         [0012]     Features that permit a snowplow to be lifted, manipulated, and carried by one person—light weight, compactness, and handhold devices—are of great importance in a light-duty vehicle-drawn snowplow. Several snowplow devices are purported to have parts that are of lightweight material, but their entire assemblage is not light in weight; for example, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,880 to Boneta (which happens to be for a front-loaded device), whose device is composed of many parts, most of them of heavy steel. In some cases, even if the device has some lightweight elements, the entire assemblage is both heavy and composed of multiple units impossible to lift and handle together; for example, see U.S. Pat. No. 1,393,724 to Lackie).  
         [0013]     The blades of some snowplows have been fitted with replaceable wear strips, designed to prolong the life of the blades used for heavy-duty service. Examples are the snowplow under U.S. Pat. No. 1,811,436 to Luyster, which has steel wear strips fitted to wooden blades, and the moldboard for a front-loaded snowplow under U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,149 to Wagner, which has very hard polyurethane rubber, on the order of 85 Durometer (that is, somewhere between the hardness of shoe heels and bowling balls). While these very hard, inflexible wear strips may serve their purpose to prolong blade life, they fail to address the problem of providing a cleaner removal of snow from surfaces that are uneven.  
         [0014]     A snowplow must be stored and often must be transported for plowing in more than one location. For such a snowplow to be handled by one person, such a snowplow must be either a single-blade or a multi-blade plow that has a small number of parts, that is light in weight, that can be quickly and easily disassembled for storage or, if necessary for further plowing at a different location, quickly and easily disassembled and reassembled. An example of a snowplow that does not meet these criteria is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,811,436 to Luyster, which call for the manufacture and assembling of a complex multiplicity of parts. Still another example of a snowplow that fails to meet these criteria is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,393,724 to Lackie, a device having a hinge that is undoubtedly of the conventional kind having two plates with several knuckles, which requires two hands to exactly line up and hold the knuckles in place, and requires a third hand to insert a pin through the knuckles.  
         [0015]     What is needed and not provided in the prior art is an effective snowplow: 
    with a minimum number of parts;     that does not require attaching to a trailer hitch or other special hardware on the towing vehicle;     that is simple and inexpensive to manufacture and sell;     that is compact for shipping, transporting, and storing;     that is lightweight and compact enough to be handled by one person, adult or teenager;     that either does not require assembling and disassembling, or that can be easily and quickly assembled and disassembled by one person;     that can be easily and quickly attached to and detached from a vehicle;     that does not require cumbersome and unsightly hardware on the towing vehicle;     that is simple and efficient to operate;     that is horizontally and vertically stable in use;     that can easily be adjusted to deposit snow on either side of the path being plowed;     that has provision for cleaning uneven surfaces;     that requires very little propulsive power;     that can overcome unusual or unexpected minor obstructions in the path being plowed;     that is durable; and     that will rarely, if ever, need repair.    
 
         [0032]     The present invention addresses all of the limitations and problems found in the prior art, and it is designed to fulfill all of the criteria listed in the preceding paragraph. Further, the unique combination, construction, and particular configuration of the present invention is clearly distinguishable from the prior art.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0033]     The present invention is a device for the removal of new-fallen snow, otherwise still-soft snow, or slush from driveways, roadways, all or parts of parking lots, biking-hiking trails, and from sidewalks and other walkways. (Since the object of plowing is to remove snow as soon as possible, virtually all snow to be removed is new-fallen or, at least, still soft.) This invention has a minimum number of parts; is effective, simple, inexpensive and lightweight; requires no assembly and disassembly, except in unusual circumstances when a change in width of path or direction of snow deposit (left or right side) is desired; is quickly and easily adjustable for a change in width of path or direction of snow deposit (right or left side); is easily and quickly attached to and detached from any kind of vehicle (with no cumbersome or unsightly hardware on the vehicle); is compact; is operable with very little propulsive power; and is not defeated by minor obstructions in the path being plowed.  
         [0034]     Shortly after or during a snowstorm, people begin to remove snow with a shovel or a powered snow thrower, or engage vehicles with conventional plows to remove snow from driveways, roadways, parking lots, biking-hiking trails, and walkways.  
         [0035]     Shoveling snow is burdensome, time-consuming, and often dangerous to health and even life.  
         [0036]     As far as snow throwers are concerned,  Consumer Reports  magazine (October 1997, page 28) pointed out that “Though faster and less physically taxing than shoveling snow, using a snow thrower isn&#39;t effortless or without its annoyances. It demands some awkward maneuvering of a heavy machine. And a snow thrower is costly. Expect to pay $300 to well over $1000, along with the ongoing costs of fuel, oil, and servicing. You&#39;ll also need a sizable space in which to store it.” Further, snow throwers are not without their dangers; hospitals have reported quite a few cases each winter of fingers lost to snow throwers.  
         [0037]     Vehicles engaged to remove snow are heavyweight vehicles with heavy plows attached, they are expensive to hire, they often cause damage to surfaces being plowed, they require much fuel for their operation, and they cause much pollution of the air.  
         [0038]     An object of the present invention is to contribute to conservation of the environment by providing a plow that (1) uses a minimum of material, (2) is lightweight, requiring very little propulsive power, (3) uses very little fuel for vehicle operation, and (4) causes a minimum of air pollution.  
         [0039]     Another object of the present invention is to provide an effective, yet inexpensive way for users to remove large quantities of snow quickly, with very little physical effort, and with virtually no expense. Even if it were desirable to hire the removal of snow, engaging someone using a plow of the present design (possibly a teenager with a license to drive) would undoubtedly cost considerably less than engaging someone using a conventional heavy-duty plow.  
         [0040]     Another object of the present invention is saving the health and lives of many people each winter. Shoveling snow causes back strain in some people and heart strain in others. Still others suffer injuries from falling. Each year hospitals treat people who have had fingers cut off by snow throwers, as mentioned above. In spite of warnings, each winter many people attempt to clear snow from driveways and they die from the attempt, reportedly not only from the physical effort to push and lift snow, but also from breathing problems in the harsh weather conditions.  
         [0041]     Another object of the present invention is to reduce the amount of time the user needs for clearing snow, and to reduce the user&#39;s time of exposure to the elements.  
         [0042]     Another object of the present invention is to provide a means of removal of snow without resort to the use of salt, calcium chloride, or other substances that are expensive and that can be detrimental to the environment and harmful to automobile bodies.  
         [0043]     Still another object of the invention is to provide a safe, cleared path for walking between the house and the front of the property for, say, reaching a curbside mailbox, moving trash for curbside pickup, or any pedestrian or biking purpose.  
         [0044]     The present invention, after less than a minute to attach the lightweight plow to a vehicle, can clear great quantities of snow in a matter of seconds, without physical effort or breathing problems in cold and often windy conditions. The residence-size plow is light enough, under 20 pounds, that it can be easily handled by one adult or teenager. The larger sized plow of this invention, designed to clear even wider paths in one pass, is still light enough that it can handled by one adult of average strength. A small version of the plow is designed to clear long sidewalks and other walks, and it can be pulled easily by a farm tractor (or even by a lawn tractor or ride mower for snowfall up to about four inches, and higher levels of snow if the mower deck is removed for clearance). 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0045]      FIG. 1  is a top view of the snowplow set to deposit snow on the right side 1  of the path being plowed.    1  “Right side” and “left side,” as used herein, refer to the view looking forward toward the towing vehicle.    
         [0046]      FIG. 2  is a top view of the snowplow with different-length struts, which change the width of the path being plowed. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0047]     The present invention is a snowplow whose blade is made of lightweight material such as, but not limited to 2 , plastic (PVC, vinyl, acrylic, etc.), fiberglass, composite material (such as carbon fiber reinforced plastic, which is one of thousands of available kinds of composites), aluminum, or other lightweight metal. Under ordinary use, this blade will leave little snow after plowing, and will be very durable. However, for even cleaner snow removal, an optional strip of tough, but flexible, material (not illustrated in the drawings) is attached to the blade&#39;s lower, or contact, edge, which meets the surface being plowed. In very-frequent-use situations, optional metal or other hard, inflexible strips may be attached to the lower, or contact, edge of the plow&#39;s blade to extend blade life.    2  When the term “such as” is used hereinafter, it will mean “such as, but not limited to,” since it will mean that the means referred to is only an example; it is used to facilitate understanding of the description, but it is not to be taken as limiting.    
         [0048]     The plow consists of a blade that can be attached to a towing vehicle by means of rigid members (hereinafter called “struts”) in less than one minute. It can be detached in like time.  
         [0049]      FIG. 1  is a top view of the snowplow showing a short strut  1   a  and a long strut  2   a . These struts are attached by means of attachment  4  on one end of each strut to means of connection  5  at the top of the snowplow blade  7 . A third strut  3 , in the center position, is attached by another means of attachment  4  on one end of the strut to another means of connection  8  at the bottom of the concave face  6  of the snowplow blade  7 .  
         [0050]     The other ends, or loose ends, of the three struts  1   a ,  2   a , and  3  are attached by means of attachment  9  on the loose ends of the struts to means, or points, of connection  10 , such as small drilled holes or small eye-bolts, on the towing vehicle&#39;s bumper or bumper cover  11  (hereinafter for simplicity called “bumper”), or other convenient locations on the vehicle. By locating the means of connection of struts  1   a  and  2   a  on the top of the blade and strut  3  on the bottom of the blade, vertical stability is provided to the snowplow.  
         [0051]     In this embodiment, strut la is shorter than strut  2   a , in order to position the blade  7  at an angle in relation to the towing vehicle and its forward motion. This positioning of the blade  7 , with short strut la attached to the left side and long strut  2   a  attached to the right side of the blade  7 , is designed to deposit snow on the right side of the path being plowed. The struts are rigid in order to stabilize the snowplow horizontally, not allowing it to sway to one side or the other when subjected to differential resistance on the right side or left side of the plow blade  7 —unlike earlier versions of plows attached to a towing vehicle at one point (such as a trailer hitch) or connected to the towing vehicle by a flexible and/or collapsible means (such as a chain or rope).  
         [0052]     The ends of the blade  7  are beveled at the bottom  12 , the purpose of which, along with other elements, is to help the plow rise over any small obstruction that may be in its path.  
         [0053]     The top corners  15  of the blade are rounded to prevent an accidental contact with the user&#39;s body from being painful or injurious.  
         [0054]     The front face  6  of the plow blade  7  is concave (and the rear face  13  is, of course, convex). The blade is tilted backward so that the top of the blade is farther from the towing vehicle than the bottom of the blade; this causes the snow to press down on its way to disposal, which helps to keep the plow hugging the surface of the path being plowed, and uniquely avoids the necessity to use heavy materials.  
         [0055]     Convenient handhold means  14  are provided in or on the blade to ease lifting, carrying, and manipulating the entire snowplow.  
         [0056]      FIG. 2  is a top view of the snowplow in a second embodiment, showing the snowplow with an orientation designed to plow a narrower path. This is accomplished by the substitution of a shorter strut  1   b  and a longer strut  2   b  for struts  1   a  and  2   a , respectively, in the first embodiment. (The center strut  3  is kept in the same position.)  
         [0057]     If it is desired to deposit the snow on the left side of the path, instead of the right side, the user simply transposes the short and long struts, putting the short strut on the right side and the long strut on the left side of the blade  7 , which would orient the blade&#39;s angle in relation to the towing vehicle in a manner to deposit the snow on the left side of the path. (The center strut  3  is kept in the same position.)  
         [0058]     In other embodiments, instead of substituting fixed-length struts of different sizes to change the width of the path, or transposing the struts to reorient the deposit of snow to the right or left, the same effects are accomplished by the use of optional, but more expensive, telescoping struts to change the lengths of the struts. (The telescoping strut used in this invention is a device composed of two submembers, one sliding within the other, which has aligning holes at suitable intervals to receive a spring-activated stub, which automatically locks the two submembers into any one of several fixed lengths.)  
         [0059]     The unique combination of parts, as described above, provides an effective, yet inexpensive plow for the removal of vast quantities of snow in a very short time.  
         [0060]     In operation, with the particular struts desired pre-attached to the blade  7 , the user, in a matter of a few seconds, attaches the loose ends of the struts ( 1   a ,  2   a , and  3 , for example, for a wide path oriented to deposit snow to the right) to the means, or points, of connection on the towing vehicle&#39;s bumper  11 , as described above under  FIG. 1 , or other convenient locations. (When not in use, these bumper means of connection do not leave unsightly hardware equipment on the vehicle to impair its attractiveness, as in the prior art in many instances.)  
         [0061]     After attaching the snowplow to the towing vehicle, the vehicle slowly advances over the path to be cleared. A one-hundred-foot-long driveway, for example, is cleared of virtually all snow in about fifteen seconds; longer and shorter driveways in corresponding times. It&#39;s that quick and easy. Sometimes, depending on the kind of snowfall, a small amount of surface snow (no more than the amount left by conventional plowing equipment), and the narrow tracks of the tires are all that may remain in the path plowed. Any such residue is usually eliminated soon by melting, evaporation, or sublimation between storms, but in any event, no difficulty remains for the passage of vehicles over the plowed path.  
         [0062]     In the case of multiple plowings, such as when snow drifts, or when a blizzard of, say, fifteen or twenty inches of snow is predicted, or in an area of frequent snow storms, the user may wish to plow a wide path the first time, say seven feet wide in a driveway. For a second pass, after another accumulation of snow, a six-foot path could be plowed within the first seven-foot path. In areas of very frequent or very heavy snowfall, the user could make the initial plowing very wide by making two passes over the path or by using the larger snowplow instead of the residence-size snowplow. Since automobiles and station wagons in general need only a five-foot track width (pick-up trucks and some sport utility vehicles slightly more), this example gives ample opportunity to keep a drive path clear of snow for passing through. In most areas, normal sunshine and warm periods of the day will serve to eliminate or lessen the accumulation of snow between storms.  
         [0063]     Because of the snowplow&#39;s light weight, the angle at which the blade moves forward, the ends of the blade beveled at the bottom edge where the blade meets the surface (as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 ), and the small amount of play in the attachments, the plow will not cause damage to surfaces plowed or to curbing, and it will easily rise over any small bumps or minor obstructions in its path, such as the reflectors imbedded in many roads in fog-prone areas—without damage to the objects or the plow. (Such reflectors, in this example, are often damaged or dislodged by conventional plows, requiring labor to collect damaged or dislodged reflectors and to install displaced, new, or repaired reflectors.)  
         [0064]     To aid in the dispersal of snow, the blade of the snowplow may be coated with a lubricant such as silicone spray, but this is not really necessary.  
         [0065]     If the user wishes to transport the snowplow to another location some distance away, the user will detach the snowplow from the vehicle in a few seconds, place it into the trunk or other space in the vehicle, secure it with a bungee cord or other device, if necessary, and attach a red flag to any protruding part.  
         [0066]     Upon completion of plowing, the user disconnects the plow from the vehicle and stores it horizontally or vertically in a small space.