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CA2690767C - Wide ice resurfacing machine - Google Patents

Wide ice resurfacing machine Download PDF

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Publication number
CA2690767C
CA2690767C CA2690767A CA2690767A CA2690767C CA 2690767 C CA2690767 C CA 2690767C CA 2690767 A CA2690767 A CA 2690767A CA 2690767 A CA2690767 A CA 2690767A CA 2690767 C CA2690767 C CA 2690767C
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CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
ice
ice resurfacing
machine
resurfacing
vehicle
Prior art date
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Active
Application number
CA2690767A
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French (fr)
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CA2690767A1 (en
Inventor
Robert Taillefer
Sylvain Fredette
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Individual
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Individual
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Priority to CA2690767A priority Critical patent/CA2690767C/en
Publication of CA2690767A1 publication Critical patent/CA2690767A1/en
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Classifications

    • EFIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E01CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS, RAILWAYS, OR BRIDGES
    • E01HSTREET CLEANING; CLEANING OF PERMANENT WAYS; CLEANING BEACHES; DISPERSING OR PREVENTING FOG IN GENERAL CLEANING STREET OR RAILWAY FURNITURE OR TUNNEL WALLS
    • E01H4/00Working on surfaces of snow or ice in order to make them suitable for traffic or sporting purposes, e.g. by compacting snow
    • E01H4/02Working on surfaces of snow or ice in order to make them suitable for traffic or sporting purposes, e.g. by compacting snow for sporting purposes, e.g. preparation of ski trails; Construction of artificial surfacings for snow or ice sports ; Trails specially adapted for on-the-snow vehicles, e.g. devices adapted for ski-trails
    • E01H4/023Maintaining surfaces for ice sports, e.g. of skating rinks

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Architecture (AREA)
  • Civil Engineering (AREA)
  • Structural Engineering (AREA)
  • Motorcycle And Bicycle Frame (AREA)

Abstract

There is provided an ice resurfacing machine for quickly resurfacing large ice surfaces.
The ice resurfacing machine includes conventional ice resurfacing units with a scraper, a water delivery system and a squeegee. The ice resurfacing units extend from one or both sides of the ice resurfacing machine in order to resurface a wider strip of ice as the ice resurfacing machine moves.

Description

WIDE ICE RESURFACING MACHINE
Field of the Invention The present invention relates to ice resurfacing machine. In particular, the present invention relates to ice resurfacing machine having the capacity to resurface a wider surface of ice than a traditional ice resurfacing machine.
Background Ice resurfacing machines, often referred to as "zambonis", are well known and are typically used to resurface hockey rinks, skating arenas and other ice surfaces. These consist generally of a vehicle on which an ice resurfacing unit is installed at the back end, so that as the operator drives the vehicle on the ice, a trail of clean ice with a thin film of water is left behind.
In the prior art, the width of the resurfacing unit is typically the width of the vehicle.
This means that an operator of an ice resurfacing machine must drive over every square inch of the ice surface, a process which can take as much as 10 minutes on a regular sized hockey rink. For larger ice surfaces, such as for example, the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, Ontario, this problem is compounded, as the cost of operating an ice resurfacing machine for the time it takes to resurface the entire ice surface can be prohibitive.
Thus, there is a need for an ice resurfacing machine which can resurface a larger amount of ice at a time.
Summary of the Invention According to at least one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an ice resurfacing machine having a resurfacing unit with a width which is greater than the width of the machine.

According to at least another embodiment, there is provided an ice resurfacing machine having an arm extending from one side of the machine, the arm comprising a resurfacing unit.
According to at least another embodiment, there is provided an ice resurfacing machine having an arm extending from both sides of the machine, both arms comprising a resurfacing unit.
In the above described embodiments, the arms, or the wide resurfacing units can be in a deployed configuration or in a folded configuration. In the folded configuration, the arms are essentially parallel to the vehicle, thereby allowing the ice resurfacing machine to drive through narrow passageways, such as the gate of a hockey rink. In the deployed configuration, the arms are extended sideways for operation.
The ice resurfacing units are of the conventional type. In particular, in at least one embodiment, the ice resurfacing units comprise a scraper, a water delivery system, and a squeegee which spreads the water evenly over the ice surface.
According to at least one embodiment, the arms also comprise an auger which collects the ice shaved by the scraper, and transports it to a holding container, where it can be melted into water which can be used by the ice resurfacing machine.
According to at least another embodiment, advantageously designed for outdoor use, the water delivery system further includes heating elements to ensure that the water is not frozen prior to use.
Brief Description of the Drawings The present disclosure will be better understood with reference to the drawings in which:
Figure 1 is an elevated view of a vehicle in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure operating on an ice surface.
2 Figure 2 is an elevated view of a vehicle in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure operating on an ice surface.
Detailed Description In at least one embodiment, the ice resurfacing machine of the present disclosure includes a vehicle having an engine. The engine powers the movement of the vehicle, and in some 2a embodiments, the power of the engine can be used to power all other elements of the ice resurfacing machine. In some embodiments, an additional power source may be needed.
In at least one embodiment, a prior art ice resurfacing machine can be adapted to include the features of the present disclosure. Specifically, a prior art ice resurfacing machine includes a vehicle having an engine, a water tank, a heater to heat the water tank, and a ice resurfacing unit at the back end of the vehicle. The ice resurfacing unit is typically moveable between a lowered position (for when the machine is in operation) and an elevated position (for when the machine is not in operation). In some prior art ice resurfacing machines, there is also included an auger for collecting the ice shavings and transporting them to the water tank where they are melted.
Such a prior art resurfacing machine can be adapted to include the features of the present disclosure by adding to it an extendible side arm having thereon an ice resurfacing unit.
The arm is attached generally near the back end of the vehicle, and extends sideways so that the ice resurfacing unit is in contact with the ice while the vehicle is in operation.
It should be noted that in the present disclosure, the term "arm" is used to refer to any kind of extension capable of extending sideways from the vehicle and support at least one ice resurfacing unit.
The arm may be folded in order to allow the vehicle to pass through passageways such as the gate of a hockey rink. According to at least one embodiment, the arm folds and unfolds using hydraulic cylinders, however other means of folding and unfolding the arms may be known in the art and the above is not intended to be limiting.
The arm generally consists of a frame carrying a blade to scrape off the old ice surface.
A water delivery system is typically disposed behind the blade. The water delivery system consists of at least a single pipe extending the entire length of the arm and having apertures at regular intervals for delivering water to the ice surface. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, a pipe or a hose delivers water from the water tank
3 to the arm's water delivery system. The arm further includes a squeegee which picks up and evenly spreads excess water deposited by the water delivery system.
According to at least one embodiment, the arm also include an auger which collects the snow and ice shavings and stores them in a holding tank, within the vehicle, to be used as a source of water.
According to at least one embodiment, the arm's ice resurfacing unit is aligned with the main (i.e. conventional) ice resurfacing unit so that during operation, an uninterrupted length of fresh ice is created.
According to at least another embodiment, the arm may be deployed at different angles, so that the arm's effective length can be varied.
According to at least another embodiment, the arm further includes wheels at the end thereof to maintain stability and to prevent sliding. In one embodiment, the wheels may be powered. If the wheels are not powered or if the wheels are not provided, it may be necessary in some embodiments to provide the arm with a support member to compensate for sliding. Such a support member could consist of an additional arm extending from the side of the vehicle to a point on the main arm.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that in the event the wheels are powered, an axle or other means of providing the power to the wheels extends along the arm.
According to at least another embodiment, a prior art ice resurfacing machine can be adapted to include one arm on each side.
According to at least another embodiment, there is provided an ice resurfacing machine including a vehicle having an engine, a water tank, a heater to heat the water tank, and two arms having thereon an ice surfacing unit.
4 The two arms are foldable in a folded position where each arm is positioned substantially parallel to the side of the vehicle. The two arms may also be deployed so that they touch each other at the rear of the vehicle and they extend sideways of the vehicle.
These two arms can also include a blade, a water delivery system, a squeegee, and optionally an auger to collect ice shavings. Water can be provided to the water delivery system via pipes or hoses. In at least one embodiment, heating elements are provided near the pipes to prevent the water from freezing before it is used.
Depending on their length, the arms may fold at a single point, or at multiple points. As would be appreciated by those skilled in the art, if the arms have a length which is approximately equal to or less than the length of the vehicle, they may fold at a single point near the rear of the vehicle. If however the arms are longer than the vehicle, it is preferable to fold the arms at more than one point, so that any individual segment is not substantially longer than the length of the vehicle.
In an embodiment where arms fold at multiple points, the individual segments of the arms may be foldably connected by hydraulic cylinders powered by the vehicle's engine.
However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the above is merely an example and is not intended to be limiting.
In operation on an indoor hockey rink, the present ice resurfacing machine may resurface the entire ice surface in only one lap, as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 shows an ice hockey rink 10 being resurfaced by ice resurfacing machine 12.
Ice resurfacing machine 12 includes a conventional ice resurfacing unit 14 at the back of the vehicle and an arm 16 projecting sideways from the machine 12 also equipped with an ice resurfacing unit. The grayed out portion 18 shows the ice surface already resurfaced by machine 12. As can be seen from Figure 1, arm 16 extends all the way to a dotted line 13 at the center of the ice. Therefore, if the machine 12 follows the trajectory defined by dotted line 11, the entire ice surface can be resurfaced in just one lap of the machine 12. As would be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the area 17 will be resurfaced by the conventional ice resurfacing unit 14 and the area 15 will be resurfaced by the arm 16.
Figure 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention having two arms 24 and extending sideways from the ice resurfacing machine 22. As can be seen from Figure 2, in this embodiment, both arms meet at a point behind the machine 22 so that there are no gaps in the resurfaced ice (shown by numeral 28).
In some embodiments, the present invention also includes an ice safety mechanism, to ensure that the ice is thick enough to support the weight of the vehicle.
It should be appreciated that the present invention may be practiced to achieve any width desired. In one embodiment, the operative width of the ice resurfacing machine is 150 feet, however this is not limiting and even greater widths can be achieved.

Claims (14)

We claim:
1. An ice resurfacing machine comprising:
a vehicle adapted for movement over the ice;
at least one ice resurfacing unit operatively connected to the back of said vehicle;
wherein each of said at least one ice resurfacing unit comprises:
an arm;
a scraper operatively attached to said arm for scraping the ice surface;
a water delivery system; and a squeegee;
wherein said at least one ice resurfacing unit extends laterally from a side of said vehicle for cleaning a greater width of ice than a width of said vehicle; and wherein said arm of each of said at least one ice resurfacing unit is operable to be in one of a deployed configuration and a folded configuration.
2. The ice resurfacing machine of claim 1, wherein said at least one ice resurfacing comprises two ice resurfacing units.
3. The ice resurfacing machine of claim 1 or 2, wherein said deployed configuration corresponds to said arm of each of said at least one ice resurfacing unit extending laterally from a side of said vehicle.
4. The ice resurfacing machine of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said folded configuration corresponds to said arm of each of said at least one ice resurfacing unit being substantially parallel to a side wall of said vehicle.
5. The ice resurfacing machine of any one of claims 1 to 4, further including hydraulic cylinders operable to move each of said at least one ice resurfacing units between said deployed configuration and said folded configuration.
6. The ice resurfacing machine of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein each of said at least one ice resurfacing unit further includes an auger for collecting ice scraped by said scraper.
7. The ice resurfacing machine of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the water delivery system of each of said at least one ice resurfacing unit comprises heating elements.
8. The ice resurfacing machine of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein said water delivery system of each of said at least one ice resurfacing unit comprises a pipe having apertures thereon.
9. The ice resurfacing machine of claim 8, further comprising a water tank operatively connected to said pipe of each of said at least one ice resurfacing unit.
10. The ice resurfacing machine of claim 9, further including a heater for heating said water tank.
11. The ice resurfacing machine of any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein each of said at least one ice resurfacing units extends laterally from a side of said vehicle at an angle between 0 and 90 degrees.
12. The ice resurfacing machine of any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein each of said at least one ice resurfacing unit further includes a wheel at a distal end of said arm.
13. The ice resurfacing machine of claim 12, wherein the wheels are powered.
14. The ice resurfacing machine of claim 13, wherein each of said at least one ice resurfacing unit further includes a support member extending between a side of said vehicle and said arm.
CA2690767A 2010-01-21 2010-01-21 Wide ice resurfacing machine Active CA2690767C (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA2690767A CA2690767C (en) 2010-01-21 2010-01-21 Wide ice resurfacing machine

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA2690767A CA2690767C (en) 2010-01-21 2010-01-21 Wide ice resurfacing machine

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA2690767A1 CA2690767A1 (en) 2011-07-21
CA2690767C true CA2690767C (en) 2016-01-19

Family

ID=44303624

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA2690767A Active CA2690767C (en) 2010-01-21 2010-01-21 Wide ice resurfacing machine

Country Status (1)

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CA (1) CA2690767C (en)

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
CA2690767A1 (en) 2011-07-21

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Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
EEER Examination request

Effective date: 20141113

MKLA Lapsed

Effective date: 20210831

MKLC Lapsed (correction)

Effective date: 20211223

MKLC Lapsed (correction)

Effective date: 20211223

MKLC Lapsed (correction)

Effective date: 20211223