Snow Throwers, Snow Blowers and Snow Brushes

A snow thrower or snow blower is a machine designed specifically for removing snow from areas such as driveways, pathways, roads, runways, etc.  Often the term " snow thrower" is used to encompass both snow throwers and snow blowers.  In fact, a snow thrower uses a single stage to "throw" snow, whilst a snow blower uses two stages to remove or...

A snow thrower or snow blower is a machine designed specifically for removing snow from areas such as driveways, pathways, roads, runways, etc.  Often the term " snow thrower" is used to encompass both snow throwers and snow blowers.  In fact, a snow thrower uses a single stage to "throw" snow, whilst a snow blower uses two stages to remove or "blow" snow out of the way.  These machines can use either electric power or a petrol or diesel engine to throw snow to another location or into a truck to be hauled away.  In contrast, a snow plough simply pushes snow to the front or side.  Snow throwers range from the very small, capable of removing only a few inches of light snow in a path up to 20", to very large machines capable of moving around 10 foot wide swaths of heavy snow up to 6 feet deep. 

Single stage snow throwers are generally light-duty machines and use a single high-speed impeller to move the snow into the machine and force it out of the discharge chute.  Usually the impeller is in the form of two or more curved plastic paddles which move snow towards the centre of the machine where the discharge chute is located.

Two stage snow blowers are capable of removing large amounts of snow quickly and range in power from a few horsepower to very large machines powered by diesel engines of over 1000 horsepower. Two stage machines for home use are usually self-propelled, using large wheels equipped with tyre chains or, in some cases, tracks. Two stage snow blowers are equipped with two mechanisms 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.