Hand-operated snow melting device

Abstract

The present invention provides a snow-melting device that can easily melt snow on road surfaces in areas where vehicle access is difficult, reducing worker fatigue and enabling efficient snow melting. [Solution] The device is configured as a push-type snow melting device (1) comprising a pushcart (2), a spray nozzle (3) provided on its frame (7), and a hot water supply pipe (4) connected to the spray nozzle (3). A manual shut-off valve (21) is interposed in the hot water supply pipe (4), and a connector (22) is provided at its end. A supply pipe (30) from an externally provided high-pressure hot water supply device (105) is connected to the connector (22), and when the manual shut-off valve (21) is opened, high-pressure hot water from the high-pressure hot water supply device (105) is sprayed from the spray nozzle (3), enabling snow melting.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a snow melting device for melting snow accumulated on a road surface, and more particularly, to a snow melting device suitable for melting snow accumulated on a sidewalk or a road shoulder, although not limited thereto.

Background Art

[0002] Snow accumulation on the road surface hinders walking and safe driving. In urban areas with little snow accumulation, the ownership rate of snow boots, galoshes, etc. is low, and the proportion of vehicles equipped with studless tires is also small. Therefore, when there is snow accumulation, pedestrians who cannot walk on the snow-covered path may fall on the sidewalk, and traffic congestion may occur on the road. Thus, it is necessary to appropriately remove the snow accumulated on the road surface. By the way, for example, when snow removal is carried out by a snow removal vehicle or the like, it is necessary to secure a space for piling up snow. Alternatively, it is necessary to carry it out to the outside by a dump truck and discard it. However, in urban areas, there is no room for space, and it is difficult to secure a disposal site. Therefore, it is preferable to melt the snow accumulated on the road surface.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 1

[0004] Patent Document 1 describes a snow melting vehicle including a self-propelled vehicle, a water tank, one or more high-pressure hot water supply devices, and a plurality of injection nozzles provided on the lower surface of the vehicle. All the devices and water tanks necessary for snow melting in this snow melting vehicle are provided on a self-propelled vehicle, that is, a truck. Further, the plurality of injection nozzles are arranged at a predetermined interval in the vehicle width direction. Therefore, while traveling on the road, snow can be efficiently melted over the width of the vehicle or slightly wider than that. Since the snow melting vehicle described in Patent Document 1 can completely melt the snow accumulated on the road, it has high utility value particularly on urban highways.

[0005] Patent Document 2 describes a hand-operated snow melting device. This snow melting device is equipped with wheels consisting of a rotating wheel and a caster wheel, and a handle. Although not described in the specification, it is presumed that the user holds the handle and pushes the device, allowing it to travel across the road surface by human power. This snow melting device is equipped with a tank for holding snow, a combustion unit that heats and boils the snow in the tank, and a nozzle that sprays the steam generated by the boiling towards the snow, and can be moved to a desired location by human power to melt the snow. [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0006] The snow-melting vehicle described in Patent Document 1 is excellent because it can efficiently melt snow on roadways across the width of the roadway or wider. However, it cannot melt snow on sidewalks, shoulders, or in narrow areas separated from the roadway because the snow-melting vehicle cannot access them. Similarly, it cannot melt snow in open spaces such as plazas because the vehicle cannot access them.

[0007] In contrast, the snow-melting device described in Patent Document 2 is a hand-pushed type and is smaller than the snow-melting vehicle described in Patent Document 1. This suggests that it could melt snow in places where a snow-melting vehicle cannot access. However, the snow-melting device described in Patent Document 2 is equipped with a tank, a combustion unit, etc. In other words, it carries all the equipment necessary for snow melting. This inevitably leads to the problem of being heavy. Pushing it along the road surface is physically demanding, making it difficult to operate for long periods. Furthermore, snow has a high heat of melting, and steam, being a gas, has a low heat capacity, so it is expected that snow melting with steam will take a long time.

[0008] Incidentally, it is also conceivable to use a commercially available Kärcher® high-pressure washer (model number: HDS1000De) and connect a hose equipped with a spray nozzle at the end. Since high-pressure washers are heavy, they are loaded onto the back of a truck or similar vehicle and parked at the desired location. A worker holds the spray nozzle and moves around within the reach of the hose, spraying high-pressure hot water onto the snow. This would allow snow to be melted even on sidewalks, road shoulders, and open spaces where vehicles cannot enter. However, problems can be observed even with this method. A worker can only hold at most two spray nozzles at a time, so the snow melting efficiency is not necessarily high. There is also the problem of fatigue accumulating as the worker has to continuously hold the spray nozzles. Furthermore, in order to melt snow efficiently, it is necessary to spray high-pressure hot water with the spray nozzle facing the snow at the appropriate height and angle, but it is difficult for a worker to maintain a constant height and angle of the spray nozzle.

[0009] The present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problems, and specifically aims to provide a snow melting device that can easily melt snow on road surfaces in places where it is difficult for vehicles to enter, and that can melt snow efficiently with less fatigue for workers. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] The invention described in claim 1 is configured as a push-type snow melting device comprising a pushcart, a spray nozzle provided on the frame of the pushcart, and a hot water supply pipe provided on the frame and connected to the spray nozzle. The hot water supply pipe is fitted with a manual shut-off valve and has a connector at its end. A supply pipe from an externally provided high-pressure hot water supply device is connected to the connector, and when the manual shut-off valve is opened, high-pressure hot water from the high-pressure hot water supply device is sprayed from the spray nozzle.

[0011] The invention described in claim 2 is a handcart with a single axle of wheels, wherein when an operating handle provided on the frame is moved up and down, the frame rotates around the wheel axle, and the height of the spray nozzle from the road surface and the spray direction change as it rotates. The invention described in claim 3 is configured such that a plurality of injection nozzles are provided on a handcart, and the plurality of injection nozzles are arranged at predetermined intervals in the width direction of the handcart. The invention described in claim 4 is configured such that multiple spray nozzles are arranged in multiple rows in front of and behind the wheelbarrow in the direction of travel, and in each row, they are spaced apart in the width direction of the wheelbarrow. The invention described in claim 5 is configured such that the spray direction can be adjusted by adjusting the mounting angle of the spray nozzle relative to the frame. [Effects of the Invention]

[0012] According to the present invention, a supply pipe from an externally provided high-pressure hot water supply device is connected to a connector, and when a manual shut-off valve is opened, high-pressure hot water from the high-pressure hot water supply device is sprayed from a spray nozzle, resulting in a wheelbarrow-type snow melting device. Therefore, the heavy high-pressure hot water supply device is separate from the wheelbarrow, and the weight of the wheelbarrow is reduced, allowing workers to easily drive it on the road surface to melt snow. The wheelbarrow can also travel in places where it is difficult for vehicles to enter, so it can easily melt snow on sidewalks, road shoulders, plazas, etc. Furthermore, since the spray nozzle is mounted on the wheelbarrow frame, workers do not need to hold the spray nozzle, and fatigue does not accumulate. Moreover, the height and angle of the spray nozzle can be kept constant, so snow melting can be done efficiently.

[0013] The invention described in claim 2 is easy to maneuver because it has a single axle for the wheels. Furthermore, the height of the spray nozzle from the road surface and the spray direction can be easily changed simply by moving the handle up and down, so that high-pressure hot water can be appropriately sprayed according to the snow conditions. The invention described in claim 3 has multiple spray nozzles arranged at predetermined intervals in the width direction of the wheelbarrow, so that snow can be melted on relatively wide road surfaces and snow melting work can be carried out with high efficiency. The invention described in claim 4 has multiple spray nozzles arranged in multiple rows in front of and behind the wheelbarrow in the direction of travel, so that any snow that was not completely melted in the first row can be completely melted in the second row, etc. In other words, it is possible to prevent any snow from being left unmelted. The invention described in claim 5 allows for adjustment of the spray direction by adjusting the mounting angle of the spray nozzle relative to the frame, making it easy to set a spray direction that can efficiently melt snow. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0014] [Figure 1] This is a perspective view of the push-type snow melting device according to this embodiment. [Figure 2] This is a side view showing a hand-operated snow melting device and a snow melting vehicle according to this embodiment. [Figure 3] This is a side view showing a hand-operated snow melting device and an operator according to this embodiment. [Figure 4] This is a side view showing a hand-operated snow melting device and an operator according to this embodiment. [Figure 5] This is a side view of a push-type snow melting device according to a second embodiment. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0015] [This embodiment] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. The hand-operated snow melting device 1 according to this embodiment consists of a hand-operated wheelbarrow 2 without a power source, injection nozzles 3, 3, ... for injecting high-pressure hot water, hot water supply pipes 4, 4 connected to the injection nozzles 3, 3, ... and injection direction adjustment means 6 for adjusting the injection direction of the injection nozzles 3, 3, ....

[0016] <Handcart> The wheelbarrow 2 is composed of a frame 7 and wheels 9 provided on this frame 7. A part of the frame 7 forms a handle portion 10, and as will be described later, a snow melting operator holds the handle portion 10 to push the wheelbarrow 2. The lower part of the frame 7 is a nozzle support portion 11 that supports the injection nozzles 3, 3,... to be described next. In the present embodiment, the wheels 9 of the wheelbarrow 2 have a single axle. Therefore, the wheelbarrow 2 is maneuverable and can easily enter a narrow area.

[0017] <Injection nozzle> In the present embodiment, the injection nozzles 3, 3,... are provided in multiple rows, specifically two rows, with respect to the frame 7, that is, the nozzle support portion 11. The injection nozzles 3, 3,... in the first row 12 and the injection nozzles 3, 3,... in the second row 13 are provided with the same structure. That is, nozzle support bars 15, 15 are rotatably supported with respect to the nozzle support portion 11, and horizontal pipes 16, 16 are fixed to these nozzle support bars 15, 15. That is, the horizontal pipes 16, 16 are not directly fixed to the nozzle support portion 11. The injection nozzles 3, 3,... are provided in four at a predetermined interval with respect to the horizontal pipes 16, 16. That is, in the first row 12 and the second row 13, four injection nozzles 3, 3,... are arranged at a predetermined interval in the vehicle width direction of the wheelbarrow 2. Therefore, when high-pressure warm water is injected from the injection nozzles 3, 3,... to melt snow, snow can be efficiently melted over the vehicle width of the wheelbarrow 2.

[0018] <Hot water supply pipe> The hot water supply piping 4, 4 consists of vertical pipes 17, 17 connected to horizontal pipes 16, 16, and flexible hoses 19, 19 connected to these vertical pipes 17, 17. The vertical pipes 17, 17 are supported by the spray direction adjustment means 6, which will be described next. Meanwhile, the hoses 19, 19 are each provided with manual on / off valves 21, 21 and connectors 22, 22, which are fixed to a mounting plate 23, which is part of the frame 7. Since the manual on / off valves 21, 21 are located near the handle 10, the snow melting worker can operate the manual on / off valves 21, 21 as needed while holding the handle 10.

[0019] <Injection direction adjustment means> The injection direction adjustment means 6 is attached to the frame 7 and includes a support plate 25 that supports a portion of the vertical pipes 17, 17. The support plate 25 has elongated holes 26, 26, and support fittings 27, 27 are provided in the elongated holes 26, 26. The vertical pipes 17, 17 are fixed in place by the support fittings 27, 27. When the support fittings 27, 27 are loosened, they become slidable within the range of the elongated holes 26, 26. In other words, the vertical pipes 17, 17 can be fixed in a desired position within the range of the elongated holes 26, 26.

[0020] <Snow melting method> A method for melting snow on a road surface using the hand-operated snow melting device 1 according to this embodiment will be described. The hand-operated snow melting device 1 according to this embodiment is used by connecting a supply pipe from an external high-pressure hot water supply device to this device. Figure 2 shows a snow melting vehicle 100 equipped with multiple high-pressure hot water supply devices 105, 105, ... The snow melting vehicle 100 consists of a self-propelled vehicle 102, a water tank 104, multiple high-pressure hot water supply devices 105, 105, ... and multiple spray nozzles 106, 106, ... provided on the underside of the vehicle 102.

[0021] The high-pressure hot water devices 105, 105, ... employ, for example, a Kärcher® high-pressure washer (model number: HDS1000De) and supply high-pressure hot water to the spray nozzles 106, 106, .... For a given high-pressure hot water device 105, in addition to supplying hot water to the spray nozzles 106, 106, ..., a supply pipe 30 is connected. This allows for the supply of high-pressure hot water to an external source. Such a supply pipe 30 is connected to the push-type snow melting device 1 according to this embodiment.

[0022] Figure 3 shows a hand-operated snow melting device 1 according to this embodiment, with a supply pipe 30 extending from an external high-pressure hot water supply device connected to a connector 22. The snow melting worker Y holds the handle 10 and opens the manual on / off valve 21. High-pressure hot water from the high-pressure hot water supply device is then sprayed from the spray nozzles 3, 3, ... The snow melting worker Y drives the handcart 2, and the snow S on the road surface R is melted. Incidentally, the spray angle of the spray nozzles 3, 3, ... can be adjusted. In the spray direction adjustment means 6, the fixed position of the vertical pipe 17 is adjusted within the range of the elongated hole 26. This changes the angle of the vertical pipe 17, and the horizontal pipe 16 and the spray nozzle 3 rotate integrally around the nozzle support bar 15. In other words, the spray angle can be adjusted.

[0023] By the way, in this embodiment of the push-type snow melting device 1, since the axle of the wheel 9 is a single axle, when the height of the handle part 1 is raised or lowered as shown in Figure 4, the frame 7 rotates around the axle of the wheel 9. As a result, the height of the spray nozzles 3, 3, ... from the road surface R and the spray direction change. Depending on the state of the snow accumulation S, raising the height of the spray nozzles 3, 3 from the road surface R in this way can melt the snow more efficiently. The snow melting worker Y can adjust the height of the handle part 10 as appropriate depending on the state of the snow accumulation S and melt the snow. This reduces the effort of the snow melting worker Y and minimizes fatigue from snow melting work.

[0024] [Second Embodiment] The push-type snow melting device 1 according to this embodiment can be modified in various ways. Figure 5 shows the push-type snow melting device 1' according to the second embodiment. In the second embodiment, the frame 2' is modified and equipped with a loading platform 35, and the wheels 9', 9' are double-axle. Therefore, necessary tools such as snow shovels can be placed on the loading platform 35, and the push-type snow melting device 1' remains stable without tipping over even if the snow melting worker releases their hands from the handle 10. In the second embodiment, the spray direction adjustment means 6 (see Figure 1) is not provided.

[0025] The push-type snow melting device 1 according to this embodiment can be modified in other ways. For example, although it has been described that the spray nozzles 3, 3, ... are provided in two rows, a first row 12 and a second row 13, on the frame 7, they may be provided in only one row or in three or more rows. Also, although it has been described that the spray nozzles 3, 3, ... are arranged in the width direction of the pushcart 2 at predetermined intervals, their spray direction has not been specifically described. For example, the spray direction of the outer spray nozzles 3, 3 located at both the left and right ends in the width direction may be adjusted to face outward with respect to the direction of travel of the pushcart 2. In this case, high-pressure hot water will be sprayed over a wider area, and snow can be melted over a wider area. [Explanation of symbols]

[0026] 1. Push-type snow melting device 2. Handcart 3. Spray nozzle 4. Hot water supply device 6. Injection direction adjustment means 7. Flame 9 Axle 10 Handle section 11 Nozzle support section 12 First row 13. Second row 15. Nozzle support bar 16 Horizontal pipes 17 Vertical pipes 19 Hose 21 Manual valve 22 Connector 23 Mounting plate 25 Support plate 26 Oblong hole 27 Support brackets 30 Supply piping 35 cargo bed 100 Snow melting vehicle 105 High-pressure hot water system

Claims

1. A handcart and The spray nozzle provided on the frame of the aforementioned handcart, Similarly, the frame is provided with a hot water supply pipe that is connected to the injection nozzle, The aforementioned hot water supply piping is equipped with a manual shut-off valve and has a connector at its end. A push-type snow melting device is provided, wherein a supply pipe from an externally provided high-pressure hot water supply device is connected to the connector, and when the manual on / off valve is opened, high-pressure hot water from the high-pressure hot water supply device is sprayed from the spray nozzle.

2. The pushcart has a single axle for the wheels, and when the operating handle provided on the frame is moved up and down, the frame rotates around the axle of the wheels, and the height of the spray nozzle from the road surface and the spray direction change with the rotation, as described in claim 1.

3. Multiple injection nozzles are provided on the handcart. The push-type snow melting device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the multiple injection nozzles are arranged at predetermined intervals in the width direction of the pushcart.

4. The push-type snow melting device according to claim 3, wherein the multiple spray nozzles are arranged in multiple rows in front of and behind the push-type cart in the direction of travel, and each row is spaced at a predetermined interval in the width direction of the cart.

5. The push-type snow melting device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the spray direction of the spray nozzle can be adjusted by adjusting the mounting angle with respect to the frame.

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