Floating brush sweeper

Abstract

This invention relates to an industrial street sweeper and especially to a street sweeper having a floating sweeper brush which floats or rides over obstacles in the surface being cleaned.

Claims

1. A floating sweeper brush attachment for a wheeled vehicle comprising: a sweeper brush; a sweeper brush frame rotatably supporting the sweeper brush, the sweeper brush frame having a hydraulic brush motor mounted thereon for rotating the sweeper brush on the frame; a linkage attached between a front plate attached to the sweeper brush frame and a rear support plate attached to the wheeled vehicle to moveably support the sweeper brush frame and the sweeper brush to the wheeled vehicle; a lift assembly including a lift hydraulic cylinder attached between the front plate and the rear support plate, the lift assembly causes raising and lowering of the sweeper brush frame responsive to actuation of the lift hydraulic cylinder, the lift hydraulic cylinder having a neutral position; a floating hydraulic cylinder attached to the lift assembly between the front plate and the rear support plate parallel to the lift hydraulic cylinder and which controls a position of the lift assembly when the lift hydraulic cylinder is in the neutral position wherein when the sweeper brush contacts the surface being swept, hydraulic fluid pressure is diverted into the float cylinder allowing for a constant source of flowing fluid to maintain a constant brush contact pressure between the sweeper brush and the surface being swept; and a variable hydraulic fluid source operatively connected to the hydraulic brush motor to the floating hydraulic cylinder to vary the hydraulic fluid pressure in the floating hydraulic cylinder by variable hydraulic pressure in the hydraulic brush motor, wherein when the lift hydraulic cylinder is in the neutral position, responsive to a force of the sweeper brush on the surface being swept, the hydraulic fluid pressure increases proportionally in the float hydraulic cylinder, which causes the lift assembly to cause the brush frame to raise the sweeper brush when the sweeper brush sweeps over a raised surface obstacle and the hydraulic fluid pressure decreases in response to the sweeper brush having less contact with the surface being swept, which causes the hydraulic fluid to flow back out of the float hydraulic cylinder allowing the sweeper brush to settle onto the surface being swept.

2. The floating sweeper brush attachment in accordance with claim 1, wherein the variable fluid source includes a hydraulic fluid reservoir and a float hydraulic cylinder pump supplying the float hydraulic cylinder and the hydraulic brush motor.

3. The floating sweeper brush attachment in accordance with claim 2, further comprising a lift hydraulic fluid reservoir and a lift hydraulic cylinder pump supplying the lift hydraulic cylinder.

4. The floating sweeper brush attachment in accordance with claim 1, wherein the lift hydraulic cylinder is manually remotely controlled to raise or lower the sweeper brush frame and the sweeper brush.

5. The floating sweeper brush attachment in accordance with claim 4, wherein the linkage has a frame lift plate movably attached between the front plate and the rear support plate movably supporting the sweeper brush frame to the rear support plate.

6. The floating sweeper brush attachment in accordance with claim 1, wherein the linkage has two frame lift plates movably attached between the front plate and the rear support plate movably supporting the sweeper brush frame to the rear support plate.

7. The floating sweeper brush attachment in accordance with claim 6, wherein the linkage has a frame lift plate movably attached to the sweeper brush frame on one end and movably attached to the rear support plate on another end thereof.

8. A floating sweeper brush attachment comprising: a sweeper brush; a sweeper brush frame rotatably supporting the sweeper brush, the sweeper brush frame having a hydraulic brush motor mounted thereon for rotating the sweeper brush on the sweeper brush frame, the sweeper brush frame raises and lowers the sweeper brush over surface obstacles on a surface being swept responsive to hydraulic fluid pressure in the hydraulic brush motor as a force of the sweeper brush varies against the surface obstacles of the surface being swept; a lift assembly that includes a pair of hydraulic cylinders mounted parallel to each other, a front support plate coupled to the sweeper brush frame and a rear support plate coupled to a wheeled vehicle, the pair of hydraulic cylinders includes: a float hydraulic cylinder coupled to and between the front and rear support plates, and a lift hydraulic cylinder coupled to and between the front and rear support plates, the lift hydraulic cylinder having a neutral position for disengaging the sweeper brush frame to allow the float hydraulic cylinder to control the sweeper brush frame and sweeper brush; and a variable hydraulic source fluid line operatively connecting the hydraulic brush motor to the float hydraulic cylinder together to vary the hydraulic fluid pressure in the float hydraulic cylinder responsive to changes in hydraulic pressure in the hydraulic brush motor and responding to variations in the force of the sweeper brush sweeping the surface, wherein the hydraulic fluid pressure increases proportionally in the float hydraulic cylinder, which causes the brush frame to raise the sweeper brush, when the sweeper brush sweeps over a raised surface obstacle, and the hydraulic fluid pressure in the hydraulic brush motor decreases in response to the sweeper brush having less contact with the surface being swept, which causes the hydraulic fluid to flow back out of the float hydraulic cylinder to cause the sweeper brush frame to settle the sweeper brush onto the surface being swept.

9. The floating sweeper brush attachment in accordance with claim 8, further comprising a variable fluid source that includes a hydraulic fluid reservoir and float hydraulic cylinder pump supplying the float hydraulic cylinder and the hydraulic brush motor.

10. The floating sweeper brush attachment in accordance with claim 9, further comprising a lift hydraulic fluid reservoir and a lift hydraulic cylinder pump supplying the lift hydraulic cylinder.

11. The floating sweeper brush attachment in accordance with claim 8, wherein the lift hydraulic cylinder is manually remotely controlled to raise or lower the sweeper brush frame and the sweeper brush.

12. The floating sweeper brush attachment in accordance with claim 8, further comprising: a linkage attached between the sweeper brush frame and a frame supporting plate to movably support the sweeper brush frame to the frame supporting plate, wherein the sweeper brush frame has a linkage connecting plate pivotally supporting the sweeper brush frame to one end of the linkage.

13. The floating sweeper brush attachment in accordance with claim 12, wherein the lift hydraulic cylinder connects the linkage connecting plate to the sweeper brush frame for pivoting the sweeper brush frame thereon.

14. The floating sweeper brush attachment in accordance with claim 12, wherein the linkage has a frame lift plate movably attached to the sweeper brush frame on one end and movably attached to the frame supporting plate on another end thereof.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide further understanding of the invention, are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification and illustrate an embodiment of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

(2) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a floating brush sweeper attachment in accordance with the present invention;

(3) FIG. 2 is a side elevation of a brush sweeper attachment attached to a wheeled vehicle;

(4) FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the floating brush sweeper attachment of FIG. 1;

(5) FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the floating brush sweeper attachment floating linkage of FIGS. 1 and 3; and

(6) FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic flow diagram for the hydraulics of the floating brush sweeper in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT

(7) In this description of the present invention in FIGS. 1 through 5, the following list of components are identified with the adjacent numerals as follows: 1. Front Plate 2. Rear Plate 3. Pivot Plate Upper 4. Lift Plate Pins 5. Lift Plate Yoke Ears 6. Upper Lift Plate 7. Lower Lift Plate 8. Lift Cylinder 9. Float Cylinder 10. Alignment Pin 11. Front Plate Parallel Cylinder Gussets 12. Cylinder Pins 13. Lower Pivot Plate 15. Complete Lift Assembly 16. Rear Yoke Cylinder Parallel Gussets 17. Front Yoke Assembly 18. rear Yoke Assembly 19. Lift Cylinder Valve 20. Brush Motor 21. Brush 22. Brush Frame 23. Pivot hydraulic cylinder 24. Lift cylinder hydraulic fluid reservoir 25. Floating cylinder hydraulic fluid reservoir 26. Lift cylinder hydraulic fluid pump 27. Floating cylinder brush motor hydraulic fluid pump 28. Flow control valve 29. Quick change cylinder 30. Quick change valve 31. Brush motor valve 32. Wheeled vehicle

(8) The present invention is for an industrial sweeper machine as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 which uses a hydraulic system to control the downward force of the sweeper brush onto the surface being swept to allow the brush to ride over obstacles in the surface being sweep.

(9) The system as shown in the drawings, FIGS. 1 through 5, and especially as seen in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4, uses a lift assembly 15 attached to a wheeled vehicle 32 having a forward assembly called a front yoke. This front yoke assembly 17 includes a main plate having an upper and lower pivot plate 3 and 13 attached to the main plate by welding. The main plate also has two cylinder gussets attached thereto by welding and has four lift plate ears 5 attached thereto by welding.

(10) The present system includes a lift assembly which includes a rear main plate 2 that has two cylinder gussets 16 to receive the parallel cylinders 8 and 9, and four lift plate ears 5 attached to the rear plate 2 by welding. A center leveling alignment pin 10 allows the rear plate 2 to rotate with respect to a mount plate allowing for a means to level the brush. The rear plate 2 and the mount or front plate 1 have means to bolt the lift plates 6 and 7 to secure the positioning between the rear yoke plate 18 and the front plate 1.

(11) The front plate 1 and the rear plate 2 are held in the vertical arrangement of an upper lift plate 6 and a lower lift plate 7. The upper and lower plates 6 and 7 are attached to the front and rear plate by pins 4 that hold the upper and lower plates 6 and 7 in position in a parallel arrangement. The parallel cylinders 8 & 9 are attached to the front and rear yoke plates 17 and 18 with pins 12 that locate the cylinders in a parallel configuration. When hydraulic fluid pressure is applied to the lift cylinder, the lift assembly 15 changes its configuration to lower or lift the assembly. When the lift cylinder 8 is placed in a neutral position by means of a hydraulic valve, the lift cylinder 8 no longer controls the lift assembly 15 position and the float cylinder 9 controls the position of the lift assembly 15. Hydraulic fluid pressure is applied to the float cylinder 9 by a variable hydraulic fluid pump 27 which also supplies the brush motor 20. A hydraulic driven brush motor 20 drives the sweeper brush 21 which is supported on the brush frame.

(12) When the brush contacts the surface being swept, hydraulic fluid pressure is diverted into the float cylinder 9 allowing for a constant source of flowing fluid to maintain a constant brush 21 contact pressure with an area being swept. The fluid pressure supplied by the brush motor 20 is a variable pressure supply of fluid so that when the brush 21 contacting the surface increases due to a rise in the surface being swept, the pressurized fluid is applied to the float cylinder 9. As the float cylinder 9 raises the lift assembly 15, which raises the brush 21, the fluid pressure is decreased to the float cylinder 9 and as the brush 21 rises, the pressure is reduced. When the brush 21 loses contact pressure with the surface being swept, the float cylinder 9 collapses to allow the brush 21 to settle down.

(13) As can be seen from the drawings, a lift assembly 15 is used to control the up and down motion and the left to right swing motion of a brush frame 22 to move the position of the brush 21. This gives the brush 21 the ability to float over the area being swept and over obstacles and to control the contact pressure against the surface being swept.

(14) A complete lift assembly 15 has a front yoke plate 1, which has means for a brush frame 22 to mount thereto with upper and lower pivot plates 3 and 13. The means to attach the upper lift plate 6 and a lower lift plate 7 is accomplished by the use of four lift plate yoke ears 5. The ears 5 are welded in place and have means to accept a spherical bearing. A pivot hydraulic cylinder 23 pivots the brush frame 15.

(15) The lift cylinder 8 and the float cylinder 9 are welded in a precise location to a pair of cylinder gussets 11. The gussets 11 are positioned on front plate 1 in a precise location above the center line of front plate to accept the lift cylinder 8 and float cylinder 9. Cylinder pins 12 secure cylinders 8 and 9 in place.

(16) The complete parallel lift assembly 15 has a rear yoke assembly 18 having a rear yoke plate 2 that has four lift plate yoke ears 5 and a pair of cylinder gussets to mount cylinders 8 and 9. The rear yoke cylinder parallel gussets 16 are welded to the rear yoke plate 2 positioned below the center position on rear plate 2. The rear yoke cylinder parallel gusset 16 is welded below the center position on plate 2. This position of the front plate parallel cylinder gussets 11 and rear yoke cylinder parallel gussets 16 provide the means for the complete lift assembly 15 to raise and lower the brush frame with lift cylinder 8.

(17) Lift cylinder 8 is necessary for an operator to be able to lift and lower the brush frame 22 with the complete lift assembly 15 since lift cylinder 8 extends the configuration of the complete lift assembly 15 and raises the front plate 1 above the rear yoke assembly 18. As lift cylinder 8 is retracted, the front yoke assembly 17 is lowered in relation to the rear yoke assembly 18.

(18) Control of the force applied by the brush to the surface being cleaned is done by means of the float cylinder 9. Float cylinder 9 is mounted parallel to lift cylinder 8 by means of rear yoke cylinder gusset 16 and front plate cylinder gusset 11 which are held in place by cylinder pins 12.

(19) Floating the brush hydraulically is done with a supply of hydraulic fluid that is variable in flow rate and variable in fluid pressure. Changing the flow rate and pressure is necessary to maintain an even contact force between the brush 21 and the surface being swept. As the sweeping machine maneuvers over an uneven surface, the brush contact force varies thereby producing either more or less fluid pressure in the brush motor supply line. When the pressure of the brush 21 against the surface being cleaned increases, the hydraulic fluid pressure increases proportionally in the float cylinder 9 to raise the brush 21 and as the hydraulic fluid pressure decreases by the brush 21 having less contact with the surface being swept, the hydraulic fluid flows back out of the cylinder 9 allowing the brush to settle onto the surface being cleaned.

(20) The variable flow and pressure of the hydraulic fluid in the hydraulic pressure line feeds the brush motor 20 and the float cylinder 9 from the reservoir 25 and pump 27. The pressure generated within the hydraulic system varies is based on a variety of factors including the density of the brush, weight of the brush, speed of the brush, diameter of the brush, the surface being swept and the amount of debris being swept. The hydraulic pressure varies due to all these factors by diverting the hydraulic brush pressure to the pacific bore diameter cylinder so that the desired contact of the brush to the surface can be obtained. This is why the brush can be floated over extremely unlevel surfaces through out the range of the lifting assembly.

(21) The floating action would not be possible without the variable pressurized hydraulic fluid generated by the variable hydraulic pump 27 varying the hydraulic fluid pressure of the demands of the brush motor 20. This requires the placement of lift cylinder 8 in a neutral position, not supporting the brush frame, so that the variable floating action of float cylinder 9 can take place to float the brush over the surface being swept.

(22) The lift cylinder valve 19 has multiple positions which allows the float cylinder 9 to function. The lift cylinder valve 19 has a lift, blocked neutral, down and float or neutral positions. When the lift cylinder valve 19 is in its float or neutral position, the hydraulic fluid is allowed to be cycled in and out of a fluid reservoir 24 by the pump and by the action of the lift cylinder 8 while the float cylinder 9 supports the sweeper brush frame and sweeper brush. The sweeper brush frame position is varied by the variable forces being applied to the float cylinder 9 by means of the hydraulic fluid pressure from the variable hydraulic fluid pump 27 operating the brush motor 20. When the operator wants to lift the lift assembly 15, the lift cylinder valve 19 directs the hydraulic fluid to the lift cylinder 8. When the operator wants to lower the lift assembly 15, the lift cylinder valve 19 is directed to a down position. When the operator wants to hold the lift assembly 15 in a suspended position or in a forced down position, the operator positions cylinder valve 19 in a blocked neutral position. This block position of cylinder valve 19 overrides any pressure that is directed to the float cylinder 9. A valve with a detent float position is used to allow the lift cylinder 8 to be in a position that allows it to move freely allowing the float cylinder 9 to function when cylinder valve 19 is in a detent position to raise or hold the lift assembly 15 in a certain position or to lower the lift assembly 15. The act of raising or lowering or even holding the lift assembly 15 in a fixed position is not affected by any force that may be applied to float cylinder 9.

(23) As seen in FIG. 5, the improved float system is accomplished with the lift cylinder 8 and the float cylinder 9 operating with hydraulic fluid from two different sources. Lift cylinder 8 receives hydraulic fluid from the prime movers lift cylinder valve 19. The float cylinder 9 receives its hydraulic fluid from the reservoir 25 and variable hydraulic fluid pump 27 supplying both the brush motor 20 and the float cylinder 9. A flow control valve 28 controls the flow from the reservoir 25 and pump 27 to the quick change cylinder 29 through the quick change valve 31.

(24) The improved brush float system can function with two sources of hydraulic fluid such as a tractor that uses its own hydraulic fluid and lift valve, and an assembly or attachment such as a sweeper that would use a separate source of hydraulic fluid to supply the brush motor 20 to provide a variable supply of hydraulic fluid to the float cylinder 9.

(25) It should be clear at this time that a floating brush system for a street sweeping machine has been provided which varies the brush pressure on the surface being swept as the surface being swept varies. However the present invention is not to be considered limited to the forms shown which are to be considered illustrative rather than restrictive.