Snow trail grooming accessory and method

• US 6,698,111 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2001
• Issued: 03/02/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Gary J. Lela
• Original Assignee: Gary J. Lela
• Inventors: Lela, Gary J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Will, Thomas B.
• Assistant Examiner(s): PETRAVICK, MEREDITH C
• Application Number:
  US09/963,052
• Publication Number:
  US 20030056402A1
• Time in Patent Office: 889 Days
• Field of Search: 372/19, 372/23, 372/24, 372/31, 172/799.5
• US Class Current: 37/219
• CPC Class Codes: A63C 19/10 Ice-skating or roller-skating rinks; Slopes or trails for skiing, ski-jumping or tobogganing chutes A63G21/00; ski-lifts B61B11/00; making or maintaining surfaces of snow or ice suitable for traffic or sporting purposes E01H4/00; removing snow or ice E01H5/00; production of ice or snow F25C3/00
• CPC Class Codes: E01H 4/02 for sporting purposes, e.g. preparation of ski trails; Construction of artificial surfacings for snow or ice sports construction of ice skating rinks E01C13/102; Trails specially adapted for on-the-snow vehicles, e.g. devices adapted for ski-trails production of snow or ice for winter sports or similar recreational purposes F25C3/00

Abstract

The invention concerns a snow trail grooming accessory and method for use with an operating snowmobile to groom a snow trail during operation of the snowmobile. The accessory includes at least one mounting arm, the mounting arm being mountable directly to a track suspension of the snowmobile; and a snow collector/leveler secured to the mounting arm wherein when the mounting arm is mounted to the operating snowmobile the mounting arm and the snow collector/leveler are pulled behind the snowmobile with the snow collector/leveler substantially skimming over a level portion of the snow trail and the snow collector/leveler impacting at least a portion of a snow mound, a snow mogul or a snow displacement in the snow trail.

Claims

1. A snow trail grooming accessory in combination with an operating centrally located track driven personal recreational snowmobile to groom a snow trail during operation of the operating centrally located track driven personal recreational snowmobile, comprising:

the snowmobile and at least one mounting arm, the mounting arm being mounted directly to a track suspension of the operating centrally located track driven personal recreational snowmobile; and

a snow collector/leveler secured to the mounting arm wherein the mounting arm is mounted to the operating centrally located track driven personal recreational snowmobile such that the mounting arm and the snow collector/leveler are pulled behind the operating centrally located track driven personal recreational snowmobile with the snow collector/leveler substantially skimming over a level portion of the snow trail and the snow collector/leveler impacting at least a portion of a snow mound, a snow mogul or a snow displacement in the snow trail during operation of the operating centrally located track driven personal recreational snowmobile as at least one of the snow mound, the snow mogul or the snow displacement is formed.

2. The accessory of claim 1 wherein the mounting arm is mountable to a track slide rail of the track suspension.

3. The accessory of claim 1 wherein the mounting comprises a pair of mounting arms, the pair of mounting arms being mountable directly to opposite sides of the track suspension.

4. The accessory of claim 3 wherein each of the pair of mounting arms has a first end portion and a second end portion and the snow collector/leveler is securable to the first end portion and the second end portion is mountable to the track suspension.

5. The accessory of claim 4 further comprising a cross member positioned between the second end portion of each of the pair of mounting arms.

6. The accessory of claim 5 wherein the snow collector/leveler is securable to the cross member and is located in an offset position relative to the cross member.

7. The accessory of claim 5 wherein the snow collector/leveler is securable to the cross member and the snow collector/leveler has a flexible/resilient characteristic which allows a portion of the snow collector/leveler to pivot relative to the cross member.

8. The accessory of claim 1 wherein when the snow collector/leveler is mounted behind the snow mobile there is a space completely separating the snow collector/leveler from a back end of the snowmobile.

9. The accessory of claim 8 wherein the snow collector/leveler is configured to temporarily retain at least a portion of a snow spray produced by the operating snowmobile at a first time and then release at least the portion of the snow spray out at least one opening of the snow collector/leveler at a subsequent time during operation of the snowmobile.

10. A snow trail grooming accessory in combination with an operating snowmobile to groom a snow trail during operation of the snowmobile, comprising:

the snowmobile and at least one mounting arm, the mounting arm being mounted directly to a track suspension of the snowmobile and being substantially fixed in position relative to the track suspension when mounted thereto; and

a snow collector/leveler secured to the mounting arm wherein the mounting arm is mounted to the operating snowmobile such that the mounting arm and the snow collector/leveler are pulled behind the snowmobile with the snow collector/leveler substantially skimming over a level portion of the snow trail and the snow collector/leveler impacts at least a portion of a snow mound, a snow mogul or a snow displacement in the snow trail.

11. The accessory of claim 10 wherein the mounting arm comprises a pair of mounting arms, the pair of mounting arms being mountable directly to opposite sides of the track suspension.

12. The accessory of claim 11 wherein the pair of mounting arms are mountable to a rear idler wheel of the track suspension at an end portion of each of the pair of mounting arms.

13. The accessory of claim 12 wherein the pair of mounting arms are mountable to a track slide rail of the track suspension at a distal end portion of each of the pair of mounting arms and where the end portion and the distal end portion are spaced apart and thereby the pair of mounting arms are fixedly mountable relative to the track suspension.

14. The accessory of claim 10 wherein the mounting arm has a tubular cross-sectional dimension or a flat cross-sectional dimension.

15. The accessory of claim 10 wherein the snow collector/leveler has a flexible/resilient characteristic which allows a portion of the snow collector/leveler to pivot relative to a longitudinal axis of the mounting arm.

16. The accessory of claim 15 wherein the snow collector/leveler can pivot between a home position and a deflected position relative to a horizontal plane defined by a bottom surface of a track of the snowmobile.

17. The accessory of claim 16 wherein the snow collector/leveler has a memory characteristic which maintains the snow collector/leveler in the home position when the snow collector/leveler is not impacting at least the portion of the snow mound, the snow mogul or the snow displacement in the snow trail.

18. The accessory of claim 16 wherein the snow collector/leveler comprises an at least partially downward force when the snow collector/leveler is in the home position and when the snow collector/leveler is in the deflected position.

19. The accessory of claim 10 wherein the mounting arm is removably mounted to the track assembly.

20. A snow trail grooming accessory for use with an operating snowmobile to groom a snow trail during operation of the snowmobile, comprising:

a snow collector/leveler mountable to the snowmobile, the snow collector/leveler comprising a tubular shell defining a temporary retention chamber therein which is adapted to receive snow from the operating snowmobile or the snow trail through at least one opening in communication with the temporary retention chamber and wherein the tubular shell is fixedly mounted for no axial rotation; and

,

the temporary retention chamber comprising a portion that is substantially bounded by a circumference of the tubular shell and the temporary retention chamber having a longitudinal axis wherein the temporary retention chamber is oriented in a non-parallel direction as defined by the longitudinal axis relative to a longitudinal axis of the snowmobile.

21. The accessory of claim 20 wherein the at least one opening is located in a front portion of the tubular shell opposing a track of the snowmobile when the snow collector/leveler is mounted to the snowmobile.

22. The accessory of claim 21 wherein the opening is located in an end of the tubular shell.

23. The accessory of claim 21 wherein the tubular shell comprises at least a second opening in communication with the temporary retention chamber and the second opening is located in an end of the tubular shell.

24. The accessory of claim 20 wherein the at least one opening is located in a front portion of the tubular shell opposing a track of the snowmobile when the snow collector/leveler is mounted to the snowmobile and the tubular shell has opposite open ends also in communication with the temporary retention chamber.

25. The accessory of claim 20 wherein the at least one opening has a lower edge which terminates before or after a tangent line formed relative to the tubular shell and the snow trail.

26. The accessory of claim 20 wherein the tubular shell comprises a closed surface located at a back portion of the tubular shell.

27. The accessory of claim 23 wherein the tubular shell comprises a closed surface located at a back portion of the tubular shell.

28. The accessory of claim 24 wherein the tubular shell comprises a closed surface located at a back portion of the tubular shell.

29. The accessory of claim 20 wherein the temporary retention chamber is oriented in a substantially perpendicular direction as defined by the longitudinal axis relative to the longitudinal axis of the snowmobile.

30. The accessory of claim 20 wherein the snow collector/leveler is mountable directly to a track suspension of the snowmobile wherein when the snow collector/leveler is mounted to the operating snowmobile the snow collector/leveler substantially skims over a level portion of the snow trail and the snow collector/leveler impacts at least a portion of a snow mound, a snow mogul or a snow displacement in the snow trail.

31. The accessory of claim 30 further comprising a pair of mounting arms and each of the pair of mounting arms having a first end portion and a second end portion wherein the snow collector/leveler is secured to the first end portion and the second end portion is mountable to the track suspension.

32. The accessory of claim 31 further comprising a cross member positioned between the second end portion of each of the pair of mounting arms and the snow collector/leveler is secured to the cross member.

33. The accessory of claim 20 wherein the snow collector/leveler is mountable directly to a track suspension of the snowmobile and the snow collector/leveler is substantially fixed in position relative to the track suspension when mounted thereto and wherein when the snow collector/leveler is so mounted the operating snowmobile pulls the snow collector/leveler to substantially skim over a level portion of the snow trail and to impact at least a portion of a snow mound, a snow mogul or a snow displacement in the snow trail.

34. The accessory of claim 33 further comprising a pair of mounting arms, the pair of mounting arms being mountable directly to opposite sides of the track suspension at an end portion of each of the pair of mounting arms and wherein the pair of mounting arms are mountable to a track slide rail of the track suspension at a distal end portion of each of the pair of mounting arms with the end portion and the distal end portion being spaced apart and thereby the pair of mounting arms being fixedly mountable relative to the track suspension.

35. The accessory of claim 34 wherein the snow collector/leveler can pivot between a home position and a deflected position relative to a horizontal plane defined by a bottom surface of a track of the snowmobile.

36. The accessory of claim 35 wherein the snow collector/leveler has a memory characteristic which maintains the snow collector/leveler in the home position when the snow collector/leveler is not impacting at least the portion of the snow mound, the snow mogul or the snow displacement in the snow trail.

37. The accessory of claim 20 further comprising:

at least one mounting arm mountable directly to a track suspension of the snowmobile wherein when the mounting arm is so mounted the operating snowmobile pulls the snow collector/leveler over a level portion of the snow trail and the snow collector/leveler impacts at least a portion of a snow mound, a snow mogul or a snow displacement in the snow trail; and

the mounting arm has a first end portion and a second end portion, the snow collector/leveler being securable to the first end portion and the second end portion being mountable to the track suspension.

38. The accessory of claim 37 further comprising a cross member located at the second end portion of the mounting arm and the snow collector/leveler is secured to the cross member.

39. The accessory of claim 37 further comprising a cross member located at the first end portion of the at least one mounting arm and the snow collector/leveler is securable to the cross member wherein the mounting arm and the snow collector/leveler are substantially fixed relative to the track suspension except for pivoting of the collector/leveler relative to the track suspension.

40. The accessory of claim 37 wherein the snow collector/leveler can pivot between a home position and a deflected position relative to a horizontal plane defined by a bottom surface of a track of the snowmobile and snow collector/leveler has a memory characteristic which maintains the snow collector/leveler in the home position when the snow collector/leveler is not impacting at least the portion of the snow mound, the snow mogul or the snow displacement in the snow trail.

41. A method for grooming a snow trail with an operating snowmobile, comprising:

mounting a snow trail grooming accessory directly to a track suspension of the snowmobile; and

pulling the snow trail grooming accessory behind the operating snowmobile wherein the snow trail grooming accessory substantially skims over a level portion of the snow trail and the snow trail grooming accessory impacts at least a portion of a snow mound, a snow mogul or a snow displacement in the snow trail.

42. The method of claim 41 further comprising maintaining the snow trail grooming accessory in a substantially fixed position relative to the track suspension.

43. The method of claim 41 wherein mounting comprises mounting a pair of mounting arms to opposite sides of the track suspension.

44. The method of claim 43 wherein mounting comprises securing a snow collector/leveler to the mounting arms.

45. The method of claim 44 wherein mounting comprises positioning a cross member between the mounting arms and securing the snow collector/leveler to the cross member.

46. The method of claim 44 further comprising maintaining the snow trail grooming accessory in a substantially fixed position relative to the track suspension and maintaining a space completely between the snow collector/leveler and a back end of the snowmobile.

47. The method of claim 44 further comprising temporarily retaining at least a portion of a snow spray produced by the operating snowmobile at a first time and then releasing at least the portion of the snow spray out at least one opening of the snow collector/leveler at a subsequent time during operation of the snowmobile.

48. The method of claim 44 further comprising pivoting the snow collector/leveler between a home position and a deflected position relative to a horizontal plane defined by a bottom surface of a track of the snowmobile.

49. The method of claim 41 further comprising operating the snowmobile in a forward or a reverse direction without having to adjust or remove the snow trail grooming accessory from its mounting to the track suspension.

50. A snow trail grooming accessory in combination with an operating snowmobile, comprising:

the snowmobile and means for mounting the snow trail grooming accessory directly to a track suspension of the snowmobile, wherein the means for mounting is mounted directly to the track suspension; and

means for grooming a snow trail during operation of the snowmobile wherein the means for grooming is secured to the means for mounting and the means for grooming is fixedly mounted for no axial rotation during snow trail grooming.

51. The accessory of claim 50 wherein the grooming accessory is substantially fixed in position relative to the track suspension when mounted thereto.