There is a need to quickly drive course gates into the snow on a ski slope to define a course. In a ski practice situation, a course is typically set and a large number of runs are made through the course. With each run, the condition of the course deteriorates. Ultimately, during the practice session, a new course must be set in order to provide suitable practice for the skiers. Over the period of a several hour practice session, the ski course will necessarily be reset several times. Resetting the ski course is a time consuming task that subtracts from the valuable practice time allocated on busy slopes.
The gates are typically poles formed of thermoplastic material that project upward from the surface of the snow approximately four feet. The gate poles are made of a flexible thermoplastic material, having a hollow core and are approximately an inch and one-quarter in outside diameter. The poles are designed to deflect when struck by a passing skier and to return to the undeflected configuration after being passed by the skier.
The gates typically have an auger section connected to the bottom of the pole. The auger section has a spiral flight defined thereon. Above the spiral flight, are driving teeth designed to be engaged by a driver for turning the spiral flight into the snow. There are presently several makes of gate and each such different make has driving teeth of a unique configuration requiring a driver that is uniquely adapted to the driving teeth.
The current practice in setting course gates is for a first person to bore a hole in the snow. This is usually done with a power borer. The hole in the snow is typically somewhat smaller in diameter that the auger section of the gate pole, in order that the auger might establish a firm bite in the hole. A second person follows the first and drives the gate into the hole formed by the first person. This is done by a lever bar that has a central bore formed therein. The bore is slipped over the top of the gate pole and slid down to engage the driving teeth formed at the top of the auger section. The second person then manually turns the auger section into the hole. After the gate is in place, the lever bar is slid off the top of the gate pole. The lever bar is unique to the specific make of gate pole being used so that the notches formed in the central bore of the lever bar engage the driving teeth of the gate pole.
There is a need in the industry to be able to rapidly set course gates to define a course. This is desirable in order to maximize the skiing time during any fixed practice session. Additionally, the course gate driving operation should be able to be accomplished by a single person. The gate driver utilized should have the flexibility to be able to be used with all the various makes of course gates. And finally, the gate driver should be powered in order to minimize the driving time and effort required to set the gate.
A number of powered borers are known. None have structure or teach structure that is adapted to driving gate poles. The first such borer is as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,975,848 to Roberts and is designed to bore holes for the placement of poles. The auger is an integral component of the borer.
An extension to a drill machine table is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,027 to Mauch et al. The Mauch et al borer is an extension to an existing drill table that extends the distance from the table that a hole can be bored. The purpose is to allow the boring of a hole very close to a building without requiring that the drill table be positioned close to the building. A drill is attached to driven shaft by a coupling. The driven shaft is integral to the drill machine table extension.
An earth auger is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,177,736 to D. G. Kilmartin et al. The Kilmartin Auger is a large device having a T shaped frame for resisting the reaction forces generated by rotation of the auger that must be operated by two persons. The auger is integral to the earth auger device.
An anchor driver is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,961,671 to Adams et al. The Adams driver is utilized to drive anchors into the ground. After such driving, the anchor is left in the ground. The driver is designed to engage the end of the rod that comprises a portion of the anchor by being in threaded engagement therewith. The anchor is left in place in the earth by disengaging the threads at the end of the rod from the driver.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds