Patent ID: 7698837

Claim:
An ice resurfacing machine for use in resurfacing ice of the flat surface of an ice skating rink, which machine comprises (a) a vehicle having a motor, wheels driven by the motor, a steering mechanism for steering the wheels, and a hitch receiver; (b) a resurfacing attachment having (i) a snow box support frame; (ii) entirely an open-bottomed snow box attached to the frame, which snow box has a rear wall, side walls, and a top wall, with the rear and side walls terminating in bottom edges which define the bottom edges of the snow box; (iii) a blade mounting member within the snow box; (iv) an ice scraping blade secured to the blade mounting member so that the blade extends across the width of and is surrounded by the snow box; which blade and mounting member (1) are spaced from rear wall and top wall, respectively, so as to be located in the forward, lower portion of the snow box; (2) define with the top wall of the snow box, above the blade and mounting member, an open and unobstructed snow passage having a transverse cross sectional area which constitutes a major portion of the transverse cross sectional area of the interior of the snow box; and (3) define with the rear wall of the snow box, behind the blade and mounting member, and communicating with the snow passage, a snow storage chamber constituting a major portion of the internal volume of the snow box; (v) a water distributor mounted at the rear of the snow box; and (vi) a removable water spreader towel mounted at the rear of the snow box; and (c) a lifting and leveling assembly between, and connecting, the vehicle and the resurfacing attachment; whereby, when the machine is driven across the surface of the ice, with the blade on the surface at an angle to the surface and with the bottom edges of the snow box adjacent the surface, the blade scrapes the surface of the ice to remove a thin top layer of ice and thereby produce snow; most of the snow so produced is propelled upward and away from the blade and, as viewed relative to the snow box, passes freely over the blade, through the passage, and into the snow storage chamber, where that snow is collected and carried by the snow box in such a manner that the collected snow slides along the surface of the ice and is deposited into ruts in the surface of the ice; water is applied to the surface of the ice by the water distributor and is added to the ruts; and the water towel wipes the surface of the ice, spreading the water and leaving the ruts filled with water.