Patent ID: 7540102

Claim:
A walk-behind snow blower apparatus, comprising: (a) a chassis; (b) an axle assembly communicating with said chassis; (c) a hydrostatic drive assembly drivingly communicating with said axle assembly; (d) a control handle, movement of said walk-behind snow blower apparatus being controlled by an operator through said handle; and (e) a user input device controllingly attached to said hydrostatic drive assembly, and said user input device being a handle which effects control movements by pivoting said handle about an axis of pivotation, said walk-behind snow blower apparatus being movable in a first, forward direction of travel, or in a second, opposite and reverse direction of travel, at speeds which are continuously variable between a first relatively slower speed of travel and a second substantially faster speed of travel, and multiple intermediate speeds between the first and second speeds, said user input device and said hydrostatic drive assembly, in combination, being adapted and configured to adaptively control said walk-behind snow blower apparatus based on a user input applied to said user input device which continuously variably and adaptively influences and/or controls the real time speed of travel of said walk-behind snow blower apparatus.