JPH0370511B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a sand leveling device that is suitable for use in sports fields such as tennis courts, and is made by scattering and filling sand into the grains of an artificial lawn.

Generally, artificial lawns are made of flat pile threads made from synthetic resins such as polyamide, vinylidene chloride, polypropylene, and polyurethane, which are flocked to a backing fabric, but they have various characteristics such as cushioning capacity, prevention of spikes getting caught, etc. In order to approximate natural grass as closely as possible in terms of capacity, water absorption capacity, etc., the grass grains are filled with sand. Of course, the natural grass grains that make up the greens of golf courses are also filled with sand, but the natural grass on the greens is short and the grass grains are not very dense, so the sand that is spread is almost natural. The sand gets into the grain of the grass, and the sand can be easily spread evenly by simply rubbing the inside of the grass with a belt-shaped brush. However, since the pile threads of artificial grass are considerably longer than those of natural grass and have a bulky structure, it is not easy to level the sand by lightly rubbing it with a brush. Therefore, it took a considerable amount of time and effort to spread the sand evenly, especially at the final finishing stage of construction, and to evenly repair the sand in areas roughened by the competition.

This invention was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a sand leveling device that can evenly spread the sand of an artificial lawn containing sand without much effort.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to an embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, this sand leveling device consists of a trolley having a pair of left and right wheels 2, 2 provided at one end in the traveling direction, in this embodiment, at the rear end. 1. And this trolley 1
A motor 4 is mounted on the upper part of the bogie 1 via a support frame 3, while a motor 4 is mounted on the lower part of the bogie 1 via a rotary drive transmission means including a reduction gear device 5 and a chain coupling spring 6. A pair of left and right rotating brushes 7 and 8 are provided which are operatively connected to the left and right rotating brushes.

Each of the rotating brushes 7, 8 has rotating shafts 9, 10 mounted perpendicularly to the trolley 1, and the lower ends of these rotating shafts 9, 10 are parallel to the artificial lawn laying surface. A plurality of branch brushes 7a to 7c and 8a to 8c are provided in a radial manner, three in this embodiment. In this case, the rotating brushes 7 and 8 are arranged at intervals such that virtual rotational trajectories drawn by these branch brushes partially overlap with each other. Further, in this embodiment, one rotating shaft 9 is connected to the reduction gear device 5 via the chain coupler spring 6.
The rotating shafts 9 and 10 are connected to spur gears 9a and 10 fixed to the shafts.
They are connected via 0a. The gear ratio of the spur gears 9a and 10a is set to 1:1, so that the rotating brushes 7 and 8 are rotated synchronously in opposite directions to prevent the branch brushes from colliding with each other. It is designed so that it can be rotated.

On the rear end side of the above-mentioned cart 1 is a handle 11 for pushing by hand.
On the other hand, on the front end side of the trolley 1, there are extendable auxiliary legs 12 that hold the rotating brushes 7 and 8 at a predetermined height position to prevent the brushes from becoming sagging when the device is not in use. It is provided. This auxiliary leg 12 is attached to a bracket member 13 on the front edge of the truck 1, as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5.
It has a guide cylinder 14 fixed vertically through the guide cylinder 14, and an inner cylinder 15 having a ground plate 16 at the lower end which is slidably inserted into the guide cylinder 14. The cylinder 15 is adapted to be pulled out downward from within the guide cylinder 14. That is, the foot pedal 17 has a lever 18 formed in a substantially dogleg shape. The rear end of the arm member 20 is pivotally connected to an arm member 20 provided below the truck 1. A slit 21 is bored in this lever 18 along its longitudinal direction.
A pin 22 driven along the diameter of the inner cylinder 15 is loosely fitted into the slit 21, thereby connecting the lever 18 and the inner cylinder 15. On the other hand, the guide tube 14 is formed with a guide slit 23 for moving the lever 18 in the vertical direction. Note that a stopper groove 24 for holding the lever 18 in a downwardly depressed state is connected to the lower end side of the guide slit 23, and a stopper groove 24 for holding the lever 18 in a downwardly depressed state is provided, and between the trolley 1 and the lever 18, the lever 18 is always A tension spring 25 that biases upward is installed. Therefore, by depressing the foot pedal 17, the inner cylinder 15 is pulled out from within the guide cylinder 14, and by moving the lever 18 laterally at its lower end position and hooking it into the stopper groove 24, the auxiliary leg 17 is moved. held in an extended position. On the other hand, when the lever 18 is removed from the stopper groove 24, the inner cylinder 15 is automatically returned to the state in which it is drawn into the guide cylinder 14 by the spring 25.

This sand leveling device is applied, for example, to filling the grass grains with sand that has been previously spread on the surface of the artificial lawn. In that case, the rotating brushes 7 and 8 are preferably rotated by the motor 4 in the forward direction relative to the traveling direction of the truck 1. That is, if the traveling direction of the trolley 1 is to the left in FIG. 1, the rotating brush 7
is rotated counterclockwise in the figure, and the rotating brush 8 is rotated clockwise in the figure. Therefore, as the trolley 1 moves forward, the sand spread on the artificial lawn is sewn off into the grass grain by the branch brushes 7a to 7c and 8a to 8c of the rotating brushes 7 and 8. It is filled and laid evenly. In addition, sand in areas roughened by competitions can be restored to a uniform thickness in the same way.

In the above embodiment, the trolley 1 is of a hand-pull type, but it is of course possible to use the driving force of the motor 4 to make it self-propelled.

As is clear from the description of the embodiments described above, the present invention provides a truck having a motor mounted on the upper part and having wheels at least at one end in the traveling direction, and a rotating shaft vertically attached to the lower part of the truck. a pair of left and right rotating brushes that rotate in a virtual horizontal plane parallel to the surface on which the artificial lawn is laid, and a rotational driving force transmission means that transmits the rotational driving force of the motor to the rotating brushes. Each of the rotating brushes has a plurality of branch brushes attached radially to the lower end of the rotating shaft, and is arranged so that virtual circles drawn by the branch brushes partially overlap. The lawn mower is characterized in that it is rotated by the motor in a forward direction with respect to the traveling direction of the trolley, and as a result, the turf grain of the artificial lawn, which is long and has a bulky structure, is improved. On the other hand, sand can be spread evenly. Therefore, it is extremely convenient for final maintenance of sand-containing artificial lawns, and its small size makes it easy to handle, making it possible to even out the sand even around the perimeter of a tennis court, for example. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a sand leveling device according to the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a right side view of the device, Fig. 3 is a front view of the device, Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the auxiliary leg, and Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing a partial cross-section of the main part of the auxiliary leg. It is. In the figure, 10 is a trolley, 2 is a wheel, 4 is a motor,
7 and 8 are rotating brushes, 9 and 10 are rotating shafts, and 12 is an auxiliary leg.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A sand leveling device that finishes the sand filled in the grain of the artificial lawn to a uniform thickness while traveling on the artificial lawn, which comprises: a motor mounted on the upper part; a cart having wheels at one end in the direction of travel; a pair of left and right rotating brushes having rotating shafts vertically attached to the bottom of the cart and rotating in a virtual horizontal plane parallel to the surface on which the artificial lawn is laid; and a rotational driving force transmitting means for transmitting the rotational driving force of the motor to the rotating brushes, each of the rotating brushes having a plurality of branch brushes radially attached to the lower end of the rotating shaft. and are arranged so that virtual circles drawn by the branch brushes partially overlap, and are rotated by the motor so as to be in the forward direction with respect to the traveling direction of the trolley. Features: A sand-leveling device for artificial lawns containing sand. 2. According to claim 1, the other end of the trolley is provided with telescopic auxiliary legs that hold the rotating brush at a predetermined height position on the artificial lawn surface. A sand-leveling device for artificial lawns containing sand.