Patent ID: 7347013

Claim:
A snow thrower comprising: a chassis; wheels supporting the chassis; a prime mover supported on the chassis; means for creating a flow of snow to be thrown by the snow thrower under the influence of the prime mover; an operator zone including controls for operating the snow thrower; a chute rotatable about a substantially vertical axis to modify a direction in which the flow of snow is thrown; a chute handle in the operator zone and movable in first and second opposite directions; a chute locking mechanism biased into engagement with the chute to prevent rotational movement of the chute with respect to the chassis, and movable out of engagement with the chute to permit rotational movement of the chute with respect to the chassis, the chute locking mechanism not moving out of engagement with the chute by mere application of torque to the chute; a chute unlocking mechanism moving the locking mechanism out of engagement with the chute in response to initial movement of the chute handle in either of the first and second directions; and a chute rotating mechanism rotating the chute in response to continued movement of the chute handle in the same direction as the initial movement.