GB2243982A - Soil-working assembly - Google Patents

Soil-working assembly Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2243982A
GB2243982A GB9107712A GB9107712A GB2243982A GB 2243982 A GB2243982 A GB 2243982A GB 9107712 A GB9107712 A GB 9107712A GB 9107712 A GB9107712 A GB 9107712A GB 2243982 A GB2243982 A GB 2243982A
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GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
assembly
rotor
mouldboard
soil
furrow slice
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
GB9107712A
Other versions
GB9107712D0 (en
Inventor
Brian Wilton
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
National Research Development Corp UK
Original Assignee
National Research Development Corp UK
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by National Research Development Corp UK filed Critical National Research Development Corp UK
Publication of GB9107712D0 publication Critical patent/GB9107712D0/en
Publication of GB2243982A publication Critical patent/GB2243982A/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01BSOIL WORKING IN AGRICULTURE OR FORESTRY; PARTS, DETAILS, OR ACCESSORIES OF AGRICULTURAL MACHINES OR IMPLEMENTS, IN GENERAL
    • A01B17/00Ploughs with special additional arrangements, e.g. means for putting manure under the soil, clod-crushers ; Means for breaking the subsoil
    • A01B17/002Means for putting manure, debris, straw or the like under the soil

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  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Soil Sciences (AREA)
  • Environmental Sciences (AREA)
  • Soil Working Implements (AREA)

Abstract

A soil-working assembly 10 includes a cultivator rotor 12 and a skim rotor 13 mounted adjacent the mouldboard of a plough 19. In operation, the cultivator rotor 12 removes what would otherwise have been the top exposed corner region of the inverted furrow slice and deposits it on the corresponding surface of the previously cut and inverted furrow slice. <IMAGE>

Description

SOIL-HORKING ASSEMBLY The present invention relates to a soil-working assembly and, in particular, but not exclusively, to a soil-working assembly for use with a mouldboard plough.
The basic function of a plough is to furrow and turn the ground to bury surface vegetation and begin to prepare it for a subsequent planting operation.
In an ideal situation suitable for planting into, the plough will produce a fine tilth but in practice this is difficult to achieve because of the type and/or condition of the soil. Thus it is common for the furrow slice to break up into large lumps of soil which may subsequently dry hard and result in a most inhospitable environment for a plant material e.g. seeds etc., introduced in a subsequent planting operation.
It is therefore usual to work the ploughed soil with some sort of cultivation equipment which will break up the lumps.
Rotary cultivators and ground rolls may be used for this purpose, for example.
Known cultivation equipment suffers from three significant disadvantages: firstly it necessitates at least one further visit to the field because the design of a plough is not such that it will produce a seedbed (except in extremely weak soils); secondly, such equipment is expensive; and thirdly, its effectiveness is, like that of the plough, quite heavily dependent on the type and/or condition of the soil. Thus in an adverse operating environment, although some improvement will be observed, the physical nature of the treated soil after cultivation, may still well be less than satisfactory.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a soilworking assembly in which one or more of these disadvantages is significantly reduced or substantially overcome.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a soilworking assembly comprises one or more soil-impacting tines adapted to strike the soil at speeds of 30 kph or more.
Strike speeds of at least 50 kph or 70 kph are presently favoured, with speeds in excess of 90 kph or even 110 kph currently being preferred.
Typical ploughing speeds of from six to ten or eleven kilometres per hour are envisaged.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a soil-working assembly comprises a tine-bearing cultivator rotor mounted on or adjacent to a plough, with the tines adapted to impact transversely against the furrow slice as it moves along and/or leaves the plough mouldboard, whereby the rotor is effective to remove what would otherwise have been the top exposed corner region of the inverted furrow slice.
Conveniently, the cultivator rotor is displaceable relative to the plough mouldboard and the assembly includes a skid or the like (e.g. a wheeled support etc.), which is adapted to ride on top of the furrow slice so as automatically to vary the operating depth of the cultivator rotor in the furrow slice.
In one such case, the cultivator rotor is mounted on a shaft which is pivotally supported e.g. at or near its front end.
Conveniently, a tine-bearing skim rotor is provided at the leading end of the mouldboard with the tines adapted to impact against the furrow slice as it moves on to the mouldboard, whereby the skim rotor is effective to remove what would otherwise have been the top non-exposed corner region of the inverted furrow slice.
Conveniently, the assembly includes a seeder or planter which is effective to deposit plant material on or just below the upper horizontal surface of the inverted furrow slice before it is covered by soil removed by the assembly from a subsequent furrow slice.
Conveniently, in each of the cases outlined above, the assembly further includes a mouldboard plough from which the rotor or rotors (as the case may be) are supported.
Optionally, the plough has a truncated mouldboard.
Conveniently, the tines rotate in or close to a common plane e.g. by having them mounted on a hub member of disc-like form.
Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figures 1 and 2 are side and plan views of an earth-working assembly fitted to a conventional plough arrangement in accordance with the present invention; Figures 3 and 4 show, on a larger scale, end and side views of the cultivator rotor used in the assembly of Figures 1 and 2, and Figures 5 a 6 are side and end views on the same scale of the skim rotor used; Figure 7 schematically illustrates the practical effect of the assembly on a typical furrow slice which has been cut and turned by the plough; Figure 8 shows an embodiment in which the cultivator and skim rotors are supported from a front-pivoted skid member adjacent the working face of a truncated mouldboard;; Figure 9 diagrammatically illustrates an alternative drive arrangement for use in the assemblies of the earlier Figures; and Figure 10 diagrammatically illustrates an earth-working assembly incorporating a seeder or planter arrangement.
Thus referring first to Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, an earth-working assembly 10 in accordance with the present invention comprises cultivator and skim rotors 12,13 mounted on a common shaft 15 adjacent the mouldboard 17 of a conventional plough 19.
The shaft 15 is supported at its front and rear ends by bearing members 21,22 secured by brackets 23,24 to the plough frame 26.
Conveniently, the skim rotor 13 will lie just to one side of the plough disc coulter 28 (not shown in Figure 2) and just behind the plough share 30 which can be of the semi-digger or general purpose type. The shaft 15 will then be inclined so as to position the cultivator rotor 12 just to the rear of the mouldboard, as shown.
A belt and pulley drive 32 connects the shaft 15 with a hydraulic motor 34 secured to the support bracket 24 (for bearing member 22) via a lug 36. Preferably, the motor 34 is fitted with a flow-control valve (not shown) in the usual way so that the speed of rotor 12 can be varied to suit different soil types and conditions.
The cultivator rotor 12, which is shown in more detail in Figures 3 and 4, to which reference is now made, comprises a hub member 38 welded to the drive shaft 15 and carrying two or more free-swinging rectangular-section steel tines 42 (four, in the illustrated example).
Thus, at their radially inner ends, the tines 42 are provided with L-shaped extensions 44 and are secured to the hub member 38 by bolts 46. Reference numeral 48 indicates a nylon insert which has been included to reduce frictional effects and wear.
In an alternative version of this design of cultivator rotor (not shown) there are two hub members mounted on the shaft so as to support between them single linear tines.
In variations (not shown), the tines are rigidly secured to the hub member 38 instead of being free-swinging.
By way of example, the overall diameter of the cultivator rotor will be from 50 to 60 cms, say, and the cross-sectional dimension of the tines 42 will be about 5 x 1.3 cms.
In operation, the tine tips will be moving at velocities of up to, say, 110 kph and, although omitted from the drawings for clarity, a protective casing is preferably provided around the exposed part of the tines' path so as to protect operatives from any flying stones or the like which might be impel led by the tines as they leave the furrow slice. This casing will also arrest the material removed from the furrows and will deposit it on the adjacent furrow or furrows.
The structure of the skim rotor 13 is best seen from Figures 5 and 6 which show it to comprise four fixed rectangular-section tines 50 welded tangentially to a shaft extension piece 51 and to a shaft-mounted support disc 52.
From the end-on view of Figure 6, it will be seen that the outer tips of the tines 50 trail their inner ends in the direction of rotor rotation. From the side view of Figure 5, it will be seen that they also incline rearwardly (from the radial position) at about 45" to the shaft 15. Also in Figure 5, reference numeral 54 indicates a locking collar or the like engaging one side of the support disc 52.
By way of example, the overall diameter of the skim rotor will be about 20 cms, say, and the cross-sectional dimensions of the tines 50 will be about 5 x 1.3 cms.
Turning now to Figure 7, this shows the effect of the two rotors 12 and 13 on the furrow slice. Thus, to the right of the Figure, the skim rotor 13 is seen removing what would otherwise have become the top non-exposed corner region of the inverted furrow slice shown in the centre of the Figure.
The rotor 12 in Figure 7 is shown about to remove what would otherwise have been the top exposed corner region of the inverted furrow slice and the left-hand side of the Figure shows how the surface exposed by rotor 12 during one pass is covered with soil removed from the adjacent furrow slice during a subsequent pass.
In a modification (shown in Figure 8) of the above described embodiments, the front bearing member 21 is carried by a link 56 which is pivotally supported at its upper end by a lug 58 extending downwardly from the plough frame 26. In a variation (not shown), the link 56 is instead pivotally supported from the mouldboard support leg in similar fashion to item 23 in the Figure 1 embodiment. In a variation (not shown), the pivoted link 56 is replaced by a universal joint arrangement on the shaft.
At its lower end, the link 56 supports the front end of a skid 60 which in operation is adapted to ride on the top surface of the furrow slice as it moves along the mouldboard 17.
Secured to the trailing end of skid 60 is an upstanding support member 62 for the rear bearing member 22. At its upper end, member 62 carries a hydraulic motor 66 which is adapted to drive shaft 15 through a belt and pulley connection 68.
Reference numeral 70 indicates the pivotal connection between items 56 and 58. This comprises a 15 cm long circular section 3 cm diameter shaft pivotally housed throughout its length in a rolled hollow section of 4 cm internal diameter to constrain any displacement of the shaft to a substantially vertical plane. As before, reference numerals 12,13 respectively indicate the cultivator and skim rotors mounted on shaft 15.
It will be observed that as compared with the earlier embodiment, the mouldboard 17 is truncated enabling a more compact assembly to be achieved. As before, however, the cultivator rotor is mounted close to the trailing edge of the mouldboard e.g. from 1 to 5 cms. away. The rear portion of the previous (conventional) design of mouldboard is shown in broken line in Figure 8 for comparison.
In operation, the shaft 15 will continually pivot in response to different thicknesses of furrow slice passing along the mouldboard 17 under the skid 60. This enables the cultivator rotor 12 to be maintained automatically at or near some predetermined desired operating depth in the furrow slice.
Although not shown, a chain and hook connection is preferably provided to allow support of the cultivator rotor 12 during transit.
In possible modifications (not shown) of this last embodiment, the skid 60 is replaced by a displaceable shaftsupporting carriage mounted on a pair of wheels or discs etc.
positioned at 76 just before the cultivator rotor 12 and one on each side of the shaft 15. In this case, the motor 66 is preferably relocated at the leading end of the shaft 15 or close thereto.
In other modifications (not shown), the skid 60 is omitted and the cultivator rotor is mounted for manual displacement to new positions where it can be secured in place using a locking pin or equivalent device (not present in the arrangement of Figure 8).
In variations of the various embodiments and modifications described above, the skim rotor 13 is absent and the front bearing 21 can therefore be omitted or appropriately repositioned, if desired. In one such variation, considered by way of example only, the missing skim rotor is replaced by a conventional skim coulter supported from the plough frame 26 in the usual way.
Turning now to Figures 9 and 10, the former shows in diagrammatic form how the assembly 10 can be driven from the power take-off 72 of the towing tractor instead of by a hydraulic motor. Figure 10, on the other hand, shows, also in diagrammatic form, how a seeder, drill or other planter 74 can be incorporated into the assembly behind the rear rotor so as to deposit plant material on or just below the upper horizontal surface of the inverted furrow slice before it is covered by the soil removed by the assembly from a subsequent furrow slice.

Claims (10)

1. A soil-working assembly comprising one or more soil-impacting tines adapted to strike the soil at speeds of 30 k.p.h or more.
2. A soil-working assembly comprising a tine-bearing cultivator rotor mounted on or adjacent to a plough with the tines adapted to impact transversely against the furrow slice as it moves along and/or leaves the plough mouldboard, whereby the rotor is effective to remove what would otherwise have been the top exposed corner region of the inverted furrow slice.
3. An assembly as claimed in Claim 2 in which the cultivator rotor is displaceable relative to the plough mouldboard and including a skid or the like which is adapted to ride on top of the furrow slice so as automatically to vary the operating depth of the cultivator rotor in the furrow slice.
4. An assembly as claimed in Claim 3 in which the cultivator rotor is mounted on a pivoted shaft.
5. An assembly as claimed in any of Claims 2 to 4 in which a tine-bearing skim rotor is provided at the leading end of the mouldboard with the tines adapted to impact against the furrow slice as it moves on to the mouldboard, whereby the skim rotor is effective to remove what would otherwise have been the top nonexposed corner region of the inverted furrow slice.
6. An assembly as claimed in any of Claims 2 to 5 in which the assembly includes a seeder or planter which is effective to deposit plant material on or just below the upper horizontal surface of the inverted furrow slice before it is covered by soil removed by the assembly from a subsequent furrow slice.
7. An assembly as claimed in any of Claims 2 to 6 which further includes a mouldboard plough from which the rotor or rotors, as the case may be, are supported.
8. An assembly as claimed in Claim 7 in which the plough has a truncated mouldboard.
9. An assembly as claimed in any preceding claim in which the tines rotate in or close to a common plane.
10. An assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and/or as illustrated in, Figures 1 to 7 or Figure 8 or Figure 9 or Figure 10 of the accompanying drawings.
GB9107712A 1990-04-11 1991-04-11 Soil-working assembly Withdrawn GB2243982A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB909008177A GB9008177D0 (en) 1990-04-11 1990-04-11 Soil-working assembly

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB9107712D0 GB9107712D0 (en) 1991-05-29
GB2243982A true GB2243982A (en) 1991-11-20

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GB909008177A Pending GB9008177D0 (en) 1990-04-11 1990-04-11 Soil-working assembly
GB9107712A Withdrawn GB2243982A (en) 1990-04-11 1991-04-11 Soil-working assembly

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GB909008177A Pending GB9008177D0 (en) 1990-04-11 1990-04-11 Soil-working assembly

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Citations (12)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB928420A (en) * 1959-10-19 1963-06-12 James Christopher Hetherington Improvements in and relating to tractor ploughs
GB1023636A (en) * 1963-11-26 1966-03-23 Johan Sigurd Kaller Device for ploughs with plough body and earth cutter
GB1080192A (en) * 1965-03-30 1967-08-23 Erik Axel Westlund Improvements in ploughs
GB1155446A (en) * 1966-12-07 1969-06-18 Gunnar Hilmer Palm Combined Ploughing and Tilling Apparatus
US3543861A (en) * 1966-11-17 1970-12-01 Shinjiro Takakita Apparatus for tilling and breaking soils
GB1416901A (en) * 1972-01-05 1975-12-10 Lely Nv C Van Der Rotary harrows
GB2100561A (en) * 1981-06-25 1983-01-06 Nat Res Dev Rotary cultivators
GB2137462A (en) * 1983-04-08 1984-10-10 Lely Nv C Van Der Soil cultivating implement
GB2147481A (en) * 1983-10-03 1985-05-15 Lely Nv C Van Der Soil cultivating implements
GB2147783A (en) * 1983-10-10 1985-05-22 Lely Nv C Van Der Soil cultivating implements
EP0222377A1 (en) * 1985-11-13 1987-05-20 Franz Krampe Multi-furrow plough
GB2189672A (en) * 1986-05-02 1987-11-04 Nat Res Dev Soil-working assembly

Patent Citations (12)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB928420A (en) * 1959-10-19 1963-06-12 James Christopher Hetherington Improvements in and relating to tractor ploughs
GB1023636A (en) * 1963-11-26 1966-03-23 Johan Sigurd Kaller Device for ploughs with plough body and earth cutter
GB1080192A (en) * 1965-03-30 1967-08-23 Erik Axel Westlund Improvements in ploughs
US3543861A (en) * 1966-11-17 1970-12-01 Shinjiro Takakita Apparatus for tilling and breaking soils
GB1155446A (en) * 1966-12-07 1969-06-18 Gunnar Hilmer Palm Combined Ploughing and Tilling Apparatus
GB1416901A (en) * 1972-01-05 1975-12-10 Lely Nv C Van Der Rotary harrows
GB2100561A (en) * 1981-06-25 1983-01-06 Nat Res Dev Rotary cultivators
GB2137462A (en) * 1983-04-08 1984-10-10 Lely Nv C Van Der Soil cultivating implement
GB2147481A (en) * 1983-10-03 1985-05-15 Lely Nv C Van Der Soil cultivating implements
GB2147783A (en) * 1983-10-10 1985-05-22 Lely Nv C Van Der Soil cultivating implements
EP0222377A1 (en) * 1985-11-13 1987-05-20 Franz Krampe Multi-furrow plough
GB2189672A (en) * 1986-05-02 1987-11-04 Nat Res Dev Soil-working assembly

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB9107712D0 (en) 1991-05-29
GB9008177D0 (en) 1990-06-13

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732 Registration of transactions, instruments or events in the register (sect. 32/1977)
WAP Application withdrawn, taken to be withdrawn or refused ** after publication under section 16(1)