GB1574517A - Moulbord plow - Google Patents

Description

(54) MOLDBOARD PLOW (71) We, SUGANO CORPORATION, of Shigaichi, Aza-Kamifurano, Kamifuranocho, Sorachi-gun, Hokkaido, Japan, a Japanese Corporation do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: - The present invention relates to a moldboard plow, and preferably to plowing apparatus in which the plow units can be substituted with different sized units and laterally shifted.

Conventionally, each plow unit comprises a vertical beam secured to the frame, and a moldboard secured to the beam. The beam and moldboard secured thereto are angled so as to plow the soil. Therefore, the beam and moldboard are liable to be further bent by the soil pressure during operation. In order to prevent the deformation, reinforcement members and a landside are provided on the rear of the beam and moldboard. As a result, the space under the beam and moldboard is occupied by the reinforcement members and landside.

Therefore, the apparatus must be designed to have a space between plow units to avoid the collision of plowed soil with the reinforcement members and landside of the adjacent plow unit. To provide enough space on the turning side of each plow unit, the plow units have to be spaced in the longitudinal direction, thus extending the ic,ngitudinal length of the plow. Therefore, the centre of gravity of the plow is positioned backwards, which causes difficulty in driving the tractor, especially when turning.

Generally, the right side rear wheel of the tractor is disposed to run on the previously plowed land and a front plow unit takes a position to follow after the right side rear wheel, while no plow unit is in a position to follow the left side rear wheel.

In this type of plowing apparatus, a strip of land at the edge of the border strip or road remains unplowed, which must be plowed by hand or left unplowed.

Accordingly, the present invention seeks to provide a moldboard plow which may remove the above described short-comings.

According to the present invention, we provide a moldboard plow comprising a frame, adapted to be connected to a tractor and including a rear frame member, engaging means mounted on said rear frame member and slidable thereon, a plurality of plow units secured to said engaging means each of said plow units comprising a beam secured to said engaging means, a moldboard secured to said beam, and a share secured to said moldboard, means for securing said engaging means to said rear frame member, and a landside provided only on the rearmost plow unit, whereby a large space may be provided under the beam and moldboard of each plow unit.

The present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: - Figure 1 is a perspective view of a plowing apparatus in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 is a plan view thereof; Figure 3 is a side view thereof; Figure 4 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 5 is a plan view showing a further embodiment of the present invention.

A frame 10 of the plowing apparatus comprises a front frame member 11 and a rear frame member 12 for slidably mounting the plow units thereon. The member 11 is connected to a tractor 2 by a pair of lower links T1 and an upper link T2.

The rear frame member 12, which is disposed to make substantially a right angle with the longitudinal direction is connected to the front frame member 11 at both ends by side frame members 13.

On the lower end of right side frame member 13, a pin 14 protrudes so as to engage the right side lower link T1, and another pin 14a, which corresponding to the pin 14, is provided on a bracket 14b, at the middle portion of the front frame member 11 to engage the left side lower link T1. A pair of struts 15 are provided on the upper surface of the front frame member 11 to engage with the upper link T2.

Further, a number of plow units 20 are mounted on the rear frame member 12 by a slidable engaging member 30. Each plow unit comprises a bracket 31 welded to the slidable engaging member 30, a beam 21 secured to the bracket 31 by bolts 22, a moldboard 24 secured to the beam 21 without any reinforcement members and a share 23 secured to the moldboard 24 by bolts.

in order to increase the strength of the beam 21, the beam is bent so as to be Ushaped at the central portion 21a, as shown in Fig. 2.

Each bracket 31 of the slidable engaging member 30 has different length from each other to dispose the plow units so that they are longitudinally spaced so that the turning of one furrow slice may be carried out without collision with the adjacent plow unit.

Each engaging member 30 is adapted to be fixed to the rear frame member by set bolt 32 at a predetermined position. The engaging members 30 are connected to each other by engaging the bolts 32 with holes 32a of a connector 33 so that the plow units may be shifted together. It is possible to change the distance between the plow units by selecting the holes 32a of the connector.

Unlike a conventional plow which is provided with landsides on every plow unit, only the left side rearmost plow unit 20 is provided with a landside 25 of which the side face touches the end wall of the plowed soil preventing the plowing apparatus from moving transversely. In the conventional plowing apparatus, reinforcement members are provided on the rear of the beam 21 and moldboard 24 and every plow unit has a landside. Therefore, each plow unit must be set greatly apart from each other longitudinally so that the soil turned by the preceding plow unit may not collide with the reinforcement members and landside of the following adjacent plow unit. As a result, the whole length of the plow apparatus becomes great. On the other hand, in the present invention, since the reinforcement members and landside are not provided, except for the landside on the rearmost plow unit, there is provided a large space under the moldboard. Therefore, soil may be turned toward the adjacent moldboard without collision with the reinforcement members and landside thereof. Thus, the whole length of the plowing apparatus may be shortened.

To slide the engaging member 30 along the rear frame 12, a shifting device 40, comprising an oil pressure cylinder 41 and a piston is provided. One end of the oil pressure cylinder 41 is connected to the side frame 13 and the rod 42 of the piston is connected to the central slidable engaging member 30 through a bracket 43. An oil pump mounted on the tractor T serves to supply pressure oil to the both pressure oil chambers within the cylinder 41 for driving it as a double-acting cylinder.

The plowing work of the apparatus will now be described.

In connecting the plowing apparatus to the tractor T. the lower links T1 are engaged with pins 14 and 14a on the frame 10 and the upper link T2 with the struts 15.

The frontmost plow unit 20a is set in a position to plow along the inside of a line extending from inside of the right side rear wheel R of the tractor T. According to the position of the plow unit 20a, the positions of the other plow units, which are connected to each other by the connector 33, are determined, and the plow units are fixed to the rear frame member 12 by set-bolts 32.

In plowing an unplowed part may remain behind the left-rear wheel L of the tractor, but no inconvenience is caused by this except at the edge of a border strip or road.

In order to plow the edge of a border strip, the plow units 20 are shifted and set, using the slidable engaging members 30 so as to be able to plow the outside of the left-rear wheel L of the tractor. In other words, after removing the set bolts 32 and disconnecting each slidable engaging member 30 from the rear frame member 12, pressure oil is supplied into the cylinder 41 of the offset device 40 to stretch the piston rod 42 and to slide the slidable engaging members 30 with the plow units 20 along the rear frame member 12. When the slidable engaging members 30 are moved to their proper position, supply of the oil pressure is stopped, and the slidable engaging members 30 are secured to the rear frame member 12 to plow the remaining strip of land at the edge of the border strip.

As a variation of the above-described apparatus, in which the plow units 20 are moved together with the slidable engaging members 30, each plow unit may have a respective independent slidable engaging member 30, the connector 33 being omitted, so as to make the plow units slidable one by one. In this case the plow units are moved by hand.

In Fig. 4, another embodiment of the present invention is shown with the same numerals used for the same parts as in the previous embodiment. In this embodiment, the slidable engaging members 30 are removably attached to the rear frame member 12. Therefore, the size of the plow units and pitch between the units may be varied to provide various types of plow apparatus with different plowing capacity, in accordance with the desired purpose. In this illustrated embodiment, the front frame member 11 and the rear frame member 12 are arranged in parallel and are at right angles to the longitudinal direction, but this arrangement can be changed to another suitable disposition.

In the embodiment of Fig. 5, the frame members 11 and 12 are disposed obliquely to extend rearwardly and an engaging member 30a formed by a sleeve is slidably mounted on the frame member 12. The beam 21 of each plow unit is directly secured to the engaging member 30a without a bracket 31 as shown in the aforementioned embodiment. To slide the engaging member, manually operated handle 45 is pivotally mounted on the pin 46 provided on the engaging member 30a. Thus, by pivoting the handle 45 about the pin 46 as shown in dotted lines. the handle 45 moves the engaging member 30a. In accordance with this embodiment, an apparatus having a high strength may be provided since the bracket 31 is omitted.

WIIAT WE CLAIM IS:- 1. A moldboard plow comprising a frame adapted to be connected to a tractor, and including a rear frame member engaging means mounted on said rear frame member and slidable thereon, a plurality of plow units secured to said engaging means, each of said plow units comprising a beam secured to said engaging means, a moldboard secured to said beam, and a share secured to said moldboard, means for securing said engaging means to said rear frame member, and a landside provided only on the rearmost plow unit, whereby a large space may be provided under the beam and moldboard of each plow unit.

2. A moldboard plow in accordance with claim 1 in which said engaging means comprises an engaging member provided on each plow unit and each engaging member is slidable on the rear frame member and connected by a connector to other engaging members of the other plow units.

3. A moldboard plow in accordance with claim 1 or 2, in which said engaging means is detachably provided on the rear frame member.

4. A moldboard plow in accordance with claim 1, 2 or 3, in which said beam is detachably provided on the engaging means.

5. A moldboard plow in accordance with any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising power means for shifting said engaging means along said rear frame member.

6. A plow substantially as shown in Figures 1 to 3 or Figure 4 or Figure 5 of the accompanying drawings and described herein with reference thereto.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (6)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. present invention is shown with the same numerals used for the same parts as in the previous embodiment. In this embodiment, the slidable engaging members 30 are removably attached to the rear frame member 12. Therefore, the size of the plow units and pitch between the units may be varied to provide various types of plow apparatus with different plowing capacity, in accordance with the desired purpose. In this illustrated embodiment, the front frame member 11 and the rear frame member 12 are arranged in parallel and are at right angles to the longitudinal direction, but this arrangement can be changed to another suitable disposition. In the embodiment of Fig. 5, the frame members 11 and 12 are disposed obliquely to extend rearwardly and an engaging member 30a formed by a sleeve is slidably mounted on the frame member 12. The beam 21 of each plow unit is directly secured to the engaging member 30a without a bracket 31 as shown in the aforementioned embodiment. To slide the engaging member, manually operated handle 45 is pivotally mounted on the pin 46 provided on the engaging member 30a. Thus, by pivoting the handle 45 about the pin 46 as shown in dotted lines. the handle 45 moves the engaging member 30a. In accordance with this embodiment, an apparatus having a high strength may be provided since the bracket 31 is omitted. WIIAT WE CLAIM IS:-

1. A moldboard plow comprising a frame adapted to be connected to a tractor, and including a rear frame member engaging means mounted on said rear frame member and slidable thereon, a plurality of plow units secured to said engaging means, each of said plow units comprising a beam secured to said engaging means, a moldboard secured to said beam, and a share secured to said moldboard, means for securing said engaging means to said rear frame member, and a landside provided only on the rearmost plow unit, whereby a large space may be provided under the beam and moldboard of each plow unit.

2. A moldboard plow in accordance with claim 1 in which said engaging means comprises an engaging member provided on each plow unit and each engaging member is slidable on the rear frame member and connected by a connector to other engaging members of the other plow units.

3. A moldboard plow in accordance with claim 1 or 2, in which said engaging means is detachably provided on the rear frame member.

4. A moldboard plow in accordance with claim 1, 2 or 3, in which said beam is detachably provided on the engaging means.

5. A moldboard plow in accordance with any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising power means for shifting said engaging means along said rear frame member.

6. A plow substantially as shown in Figures 1 to 3 or Figure 4 or Figure 5 of the accompanying drawings and described herein with reference thereto.