Snow thrower

Claim 1

In a snow blowing machine of the type including a body, a drive motor mounted on said body, support members for said body, a snow discharge chute mounted on said body, a blower member associated with said chute, an auger having a shaft journalled for rotation on said body, said shaft carrying blade sections of opposite helix for collecting and feeding snow to said blower member, and a drive from said drive motor to said blower member and to said auger, the improvement com-prising: said helical blade sections of the auger being spaced axially of each other on said shaft; said blower member being mounted on said shaft at a position intermediate said helical blade sections and having blades extending substantially axially of said auger shaft, said blades having edge members on the radially outermost edges of said blower member blades formed from a material having a low coefficient of friction, a drive from said motor to said auger shaft at a ratio such that said shaft is driven at a speed within the operating range of said blower, said auger having edge members on the peripheral edges of said helical blades formed from a material having a low coefficient of friction, said auger being in direct engage-ment with a ground surface and providing the sole ground en-gaging support for the front end of said body, and the residual friction between said edge members and said ground surface pro-viding motive force for moving said snow blowing machine across said ground surface.