Snow throwers range from the very small, capable of removing only a few inches (a few cm) of light snow in an path, to the very large, mounted onto heavy duty winter service vehicles and capable of moving wide, or wider, swaths of heavy snow up to deep. Snow blowers can generally be divided into two classes: single stage and two stage.
Single-stage snow throwers use a single high-speed impeller to both move the snow into the machine and force it out the discharge chute. The impeller is usually in the form of two or more curved plastic paddles that move snow towards the centerline of the machine where the discharge chute is located. Single-stage snow throwers usually are light duty machines. Small electric machines can actually be picked up to chew away deep snow. Two-stage snow blowers range in power from a few horsepower to very large machines powered by diesel engines of over 1000 horsepower (746 kW). The large machines are used for clearing roadways and airport runways. These are capable of removing large amounts of snow quickly. Some municipalities use larger snow blowers to clear snow from streets after a snowfall, often by throwing the snow into trucks which haul it away.
Two-stage machines for home use are usually self-propelled, using either large wheels equipped with tire chains or, in some cases, tracks. The term "two-stage" means that there are two mechanisms used to move the snow. The first is the auger and the second is the impeller. The auger feeds the snow to the high-speed impeller where the impeller blows the snow out of the machine. These are usually single-purpose machines, though some are detachable front ends that can be replaced with other implements, such as a rotary tiller.
The auger drive is usually equipped with a shear pin. If a major jam occurs in the auger, this pin will break. This controlled failure prevents damage to the auger drive gears. Once the pin has failed, it must be replaced before the machine can be used again; this is generally a relatively simple process.
Most modern machines mitigate this problem by including a safety system known as the "Dead man's switch" (which may be electrical as implied or mechanical in design, such as a lever), to prevent the mechanism from rotating when the operator is not at the controls. In some jurisdictions, this is a mandatory requirement.
In December 2008, a snow blower accident made national headlines in the United States when Joe Sakic, the famous captain of the Colorado Avalanche hockey franchise of the National Hockey League, suffered three broken fingers and tendon damage while attempting to clean his snow blower's auger. Sakic required surgery to repair his hand and reattach the fingers.
Category:Snow removal Category:Canadian inventions
cs:Sněhová fréza da:Sneslynge de:Schneefräse eo:Neĝoblovilo fa:برفخور fr:Souffleuse à neige cr:ᑳᐅᑕᐦᐋᑯᓀᐦᐄᒉᐸᔨᒡ ja:雪かき車 no:Snøfreser nn:Snøfresar fi:Lumilinko sl:Snežni plug sv:Snöslunga ta:பனி ஊதிThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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