Material pusher with control system
First Claim
1. A material pushing apparatus, comprising:
- an upstanding central blade, including a longitudinal edge along a bottom side of said blade, and at least one removable side plate attached to an end of the central blade near and extending generally forward from the central blade;
a scraping edge flexibly attached to the central blade along the bottom longitudinal edge; and
a position sensor for monitoring relative position between the scraping edge and central blade, and producing a position signal representing the relative position.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A material pushing apparatus is disclosed that has a central blade, at least one removable side plate attached to the central blade and a segmented scraping edge flexibly attached to the central blade along the bottom longitudinal edge of the blade. A position sensor is attached between the blade and the scraping edge and produces a position signal that is displayed to indicate the relative position between the blade and edge in order to characterize the amount of downward pressure applied to the scraping edge. Other aspects and features of the disclosed apparatus include a tilt sensor and display, and an improved coupler having shock-absorbing features and a cam-type clamping arrangement.
156 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A material pushing apparatus, comprising:
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an upstanding central blade, including a longitudinal edge along a bottom side of said blade, and at least one removable side plate attached to an end of the central blade near and extending generally forward from the central blade; a scraping edge flexibly attached to the central blade along the bottom longitudinal edge; and a position sensor for monitoring relative position between the scraping edge and central blade, and producing a position signal representing the relative position. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for operating a material pushing apparatus, said apparatus comprising a material pushing apparatus, including an upstanding central blade, having a longitudinal edge along a bottom side of said blade, and at least one removable side plate attached to and extending generally forward from the central blade near an end thereof;
- a scraping edge flexibly attached to the central blade along the bottom longitudinal edge;
a position sensor for monitoring relative position between the scraping edge and central blade, and producing a position signal representing the relative position;
a tilt sensor for monitoring relative tilt angle of the central blade, and producing a tilt signal representing the relative tilt angle;
a visual indicator; and
a processor;said processor operating in accordance with a program stored in memory associated with said processor, to periodically receive at least one of the position signal and the tilt signal as inputs and to update at least one output signal in response thereto, where a representation of the output signal is displayed on the visual indicator. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
- a scraping edge flexibly attached to the central blade along the bottom longitudinal edge;
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19. A material pushing apparatus, comprising:
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an upstanding central blade, including a longitudinal edge along the bottom side of said blade, and left and right vertical side plates attached to and extending generally forward from or near each of the ends of the central blade, said side plates being bolted on and detachable from the blade, and including a flexible skirting on the bottom thereof, said skirting being inwardly biased and held at the bottom edge of the side plates; a plurality of scraping edge segments flexibly attached to the central blade along the bottom longitudinal edge, where the scraping edge segments include both forward facing and rearward facing components that are angularly oriented and ends thereof are spaced apart; a coupler flexibly attached to the rear of the blade for attaching the pushing apparatus to a bucket of a vehicle for moving the pushing apparatus, said coupler including a plurality of C-shaped receivers, at least one of said receivers including opposed upper and lower arms extending rearward relative to the central blade and forming a slot therebetween for receiving an edge of the bucket, wherein at least one of said arms further includes a pivotable cam having a high friction surface thereon for contacting a surface of the bucket when the bucket is placed in the slot, the cam thereby affixing the bucket to the coupler; a sensor for monitoring the relative position between the scraping edge and blade, and including a visual indicator to reflect change in the relative position; and a pivotable wear shoe attached to and behind the central blade to provide a further ground contact surface behind the apparatus when in operation.
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Specification