Powered vehicle and rakes mountable thereon for grooming granular ground surfaces

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10046214-B2
Application number	US-201313829673-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 14, 2013
Priority date	Mar 14, 2013
Publication date	Aug 14, 2018
Grant date	Aug 14, 2018

Abstract

A vehicle attached rake for grooming a granular surface includes a center section and two pivotal wing sections that carry rubber trowel members having a serrated lower edge that forms a plurality of downwardly extending teeth. The tips of the teeth are located on a large diameter, upwardly facing curve to better groom upwardly curved side walls in a golf course bunker. When the rake is attached to a ZRT vehicle, the wing section on the inside of a zero radius turn is automatically lifted up off the granular surface by a flexible tether that becomes taut. Another embodiment of the rake includes a rigid plate behind a rubber trowel member with a lower portion of the trowel member folding forwardly during reverse motion of the vehicle such that the plate engages the granular surface to act as a bulldozer blade.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. Apparatus for smoothing a granular ground surface, which comprises:
(a) a vehicle having a vehicle frame that carries at least three ground engaging wheels for supporting the vehicle for rolling over the granular ground surface, the ground engaging wheels including at least one front wheel rotatable about a front horizontal axis of rotation on the vehicle frame and at least one rear wheel rotatable about a rear horizontal axis of the rotation on the vehicle frame; and
(b) a grooming rake, which comprises:
(i) a hitch having a front end and a rear end, the front end of the hitch having a first pivot connection to the vehicle frame to allow the hitch to rotate relative to the vehicle frame about a first substantially vertical pivot axis;
(ii) a rake head that supports at least one laterally extending grooming member that engages the granular surface to smooth the granular surface as the vehicle traverses over the granular surface, the rear end of the hitch having a second pivot connection to the rake head to allow the rake head to rotate relative to the hitch about a second substantially vertical pivot axis;
(iii) wherein the second pivot connection includes at least one member for imposing a load on the rake head that opposes rotation of the rake head about the second substantially vertical pivot axis which load is greater than any load acting on the first pivot connection that opposes rotation of the hitch about the first substantially vertical pivot axis, and wherein a force of the granular surface acting on the grooming member during turns of the vehicle causes the hitch to first rotate relative to the vehicle frame about the first substantially vertical pivot axis before the force causes the rake head to rotate relative to the hitch about the second substantially vertical pivot axis;
(iv) wherein the grooming member comprises a downwardly extending, substantially vertical, flexible rubber trowel member having a serrated lower edge formed by a plurality of downwardly extending teeth, wherein the downwardly extending teeth are cut into the rubber trowel member or integrally formed as part of the rubber trowel member such that the teeth are an inseparable portion of the rubber trowel member; and
(v) further including first and second substantially rigid stops carried on one of the hitch and the rake head, each stop being physically spaced away from the other of the hitch and the rake head by a gap when the rake head extends substantially perpendicularly to a longitudinal axis of the hitch, wherein rotation of the rake head in a first direction about the second substantially vertical pivot axis will cause the first stop to close the gap to be brought into engagement with the other of the hitch and the rake head and will cause the second stop to increase the gap to move further away from the other of the hitch and the rake head to thereby limit the rotation of the rake head in the first direction about the second substantially vertical pivot axis; and wherein rotation of the rake head in a second opposite direction about the second substantially vertical pivot axis will cause the second stop to close the gap to be brought into engagement with the other of the hitch and the rake head and will cause the first stop to increase the gap to move further away from the other of the hitch and the rake head to thereby limit the rotation of the rake head in the second opposite direction about the second substantially vertical pivot axis.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first pivot connection is further configured to permit the hitch to rotate relative to the vehicle frame about a substantially horizontal pivot axis.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first pivot connection is between the front and rear horizontal axes of wheel rotation on the vehicle frame but is closer to the rear horizontal axis than to the front horizontal axis and the second pivot connection is behind the vehicle frame.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , further including a pair of flexible members attached between the hitch and the vehicle frame with the flexible members being slack when the vehicle is traveling straight ahead in a forward direction of motion and the hitch is aligned with the forward direction of motion of the vehicle, and wherein one flexible member becomes taut while the other flexible member remains slack when the vehicle turns to one side to limit the rotation of the hitch about the first substantially vertical pivot axis.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the rake head is fixed to the hitch during a grooming operation such that an angular attitude of the rake head about a substantially horizontal pivot axis through the rake head does not change during the grooming operation.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the rake head is selectively adjustable about the substantially horizontal pivot axis through the rake head to selectively vary the angular attitude of the rake head between different ones of a plurality of adjusted positions thereof, whereby the rake head can be adjusted such that the grooming member extends substantially vertically downwardly or can be selectively disposed in forwardly or rearwardly inclined orientations.

7. Apparatus for smoothing a granular ground surface, which comprises:
(a) a vehicle having a vehicle frame that carries at least three ground engaging wheels for supporting the vehicle for rolling over the granular ground surface, the ground engaging wheels including at least one front wheel rotatable about a front horizontal axis of rotation on the vehicle frame and at least one rear wheel rotatable about a rear horizontal axis of the rotation on the vehicle frame; and
(b) a grooming rake, which comprises:
(i) a hitch having a front end and a rear end, the front end of the hitch having a first pivot connection to the vehicle frame to allow the hitch to rotate relative to the vehicle frame about a first substantially vertical pivot axis;
(ii) a rake head that supports at least one laterally extending grooming member that engages the granular surface to smooth the granular surface as the vehicle traverses over the granular surface, the rear end of the hitch having a second pivot connection to the rake head to allow the rake head to rotate relative to the hitch about a second substantially vertical pivot axis, wherein the rake head has three sections comprising a center section and two pivotal wing sections on either side of the center section with each section having its own distinct laterally extending grooming member, the wing sections being pivotal relative to the center section about longitudinally extending, substantially horizontal pivot axes such that each wing section can pivot up and down relative to the center section in a vertical plane to overlap and follow the contours of curved ground side walls in or adjacent to the granular ground surface being groomed; and
(iii) wherein the vehicle is capable of substantially zero radius turn operation, and further including a pair of members extending between laterally outboard portions of the wing sections and the hitch, wherein a first one of the pair of members extends between the laterally outboard portion of a first one of the wing sections and the hitch and a second one of the pair of members extends between the laterally outboard portion of a second one of the wing sections and the hitch, the members being configured to be in a collapsed or slack condition in which the members are incapable of imposing an upward lifting force on the wing sections when the vehicle is traveling straight ahead in a forward direction of motion and the rake head is substantially perpendicular to the forward direction of motion, and wherein the members are further configured such that whichever member

Assignees

• Schmidt Larry W
• Kjolhaug Andrew J
• Thelen Joseph P
• Kosieracki Cal N
• The Toro Co

Inventors

• Schmidt Larry W
• Kjolhaug Andrew J
• Thelen Joseph P
• Kosieracki Cal N

Classifications

• A01B35/04

  drawn by animal or tractor {or man-power} · CPC title

• A63B57/50 Primary

  specially adapted for course maintenance · CPC title

• A01B35/08

  with rigid tools · CPC title

• A63B57/0068 Primary

  Human Necessities · mapped topic