US3835932A - Scarifier-pulverizer - Google Patents

Abstract

A scarifying and pulverizing implement for mounting on earthworking equipment in which such implement has a plurality of adjustably mounted ripper teeth for penetrating the soil, an inclined front face for rolling and crushing the uplifted soil, and a plurality of spaced plates extending forwardly from the inclined face prohibiting extensive lateral displacement of the pulverized soil.

Description

nited States Patent [1 1 1 itchell [451 Sept. 17, 1974 SCARIFIER-PULVERIZER [76] Inventor: Donald R. Mitchell, 1937 W. 24th St., Apt. 6B, Emporia, Kans. 66801 [22] Filed: Oct. 27, 1972 21 Appl. No.: 301,412

[52] US. Cl. 172/197, 172/766 [51] Int. Cl A0lb 49/02 Field of Search 172/196, 197, 271, 276, 172/801, 802, 766, 777, 513, 694, 784, 785,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 953,792 4/1910 Mitchell 172/766 1,945,518 2/1934 Carlson 172/784 X 2,840,933 7/1958 Brem 37/1175 2,871,959 2/1959 Koskenmaki 172/197 3,460,633 8/1969 Richey et a1 172/777 X Primary Examiner-Stephen C. Pellegrino Attorney, Agent, or FirmA. Yates Dowell, Jr.

[57] ABSTRACT A scarifying and pulverizing implement for mounting on earth-working equipment in which such implement has a plurality of adjustably mounted ripper teeth for penetrating the soil, an inclined front face for rolling and crushing the uplifted soil, and a plurality of spaced plates extending forwardly from the inclined face prohibiting extensive lateral displacement of the pulverized soil.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 1 SCARIFlER-PULVERIZER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to earth-working implements and particularly to a combination scarifying and pulverizing tool which is selectively connected to support arms of various types of earth-working equipment.

2. Description of the Prior Art Heretofore there has been continuous development with respect to various types of scarifying and pulverizing equipment for use in soil preparation and treatment. The early art discloses the use of harrow teeth and beveled boards in combination and constructed as large dragging implements as in US. Pat. No. 253,342 to Blosser. These drags, however, were bulky and cumbersome and afforded a minimum of penetrative and pulverizing effort without the addition of excessive weights to force the drag teeth to penetrate the earth while supplying adequate weight to pulverize hardpan and other dense soils.

With the advent of heavy and powerful earthworking equipment, it became possible to achieve the effort needed to penetrate and break dense soils and clays. However, there was little effort given to pulverizing the soil as it was broken up by a scarifier. Instead, back blading and drag techniques were used to smooth the surface materials. In order to prevent the equipment from having to cover the same ground twice when back blading techniques were used, scarifier teeth were mounted facing the rear of the equipment and to the rear of the blade as in US. Pat. No. 2,695,468 to Mac- Leod, or exra blades were attached with the scarifiers as disclosed in US. Pat. No. 3,1 12,573 to Moras. These modifications allowed the combined operation of scarifying and pulverizing, by back blading, to be performed more economically. However, back blading not only has the tendency to pack the scarified material instead of pulverizing it, but allows material to be gathered in front of the blade and subsequently displaced laterally during the operation.

There has been some effort directed toward implements which provide some containment and pulverizing action together with a scarifier tool. U.S. Pats. such as Nos. 3,069,791 to French and 3,034,238 to McGee describe the addition of various leveling pans or blades in combination with scarifier teeth. These systems, however, require special mountings and lift capabilities and are also bulky and complex in themselves.

Other examples of the prior art include US. Pat. Nos. 2,279,869 to Houston; 2,302,702 to Leschirsky; 2,840,933 to Brem; 2,840,935 to Bird et al.; and 2,992,499 to McSpadden.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A combination scarifying and pulverizing implement which is selectively attachable to earth-working equipment and includes a generally rectangular tool support beam having a plurality of divider members extending forwardly from the front face of the support beam to reduce lateral displacement of material being pulverized. At least one inclined plate is disposed between the divider members for rolling and pulverizing the soil which is loosened by scarifier teeth adjustably connected to the support beam.

It is an object of the invention to provide a tool which is selectively mounted on earth-working equipment and is capable of both ripping through and pulverizing dense soils and clays leaving a relatively smooth, aerated surface.

Another object of the invention is to provide a scarifying and pulverizing tool for use with earth-working equipment having a blade in which the tool is selectively mounted on the blade support arms in such a manner that the blade cooperates with the tool to form a chamber between the lower rear portion of the blade and the inclined face of the tool, and such chamber serves to contain the uplifted earth thus improving the pulverizing action of the tool by allowing the material to roll while preventing material from being lifted over the working face of the pulverizing implement.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for preventing excessive lateral displacement of material being worked, thereby allowing for a more complete and uniform soil treatment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective illustrating one application of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the implement per se.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged section on the line 3--3 of FIG. 2.

FIG; 4 is a side elevation of the implement mounted on a blade support arm of a propelling vehicle.

FIG. 5 is a section on the line 55 of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With continued reference to the drawings, a scarifying and pulverizing implement 10 is provided for use with a propelling vehicle 30. The propelling vehicle 30 has an earth-working blade 31 attachd thereto by blade support arms 32 located on each side of the vehicle. The blade support arms 32 have a generally rectangular cross-section and are inwardly tapered to facilitate connection with the earth-working blade 31.

The combination scarifying and pulverizing imple ment 10 includes a support beam 11 of generally rectangular cross-section having a top wall 12, bottom wall 13, rear wall 114, and front wall 15. The top and bottom walls are provided with a plurality of aligned openings 16 and 17, respectively, which selectively receive the shank 18 of a scarifier tooth 19. Each of the shanks 18 includes one or more notches 20 to allow an ease of vertical adjustment of the scarifier teeth in obtaining the desired depth of penetration. Locking keys 21 are provided to lock the shanks 18 to the top wall 15 by prohibiting any horizontal movement of the scarifier shanks relative to the notched engagement with the top wall of the support beam.

A plurality of divider members 22 are welded or otherwise attached to the front wall 15 of the tool support beam 11 in such a manner as to extend forwardly of, and generally normal to such front wall. The divider members are tapered along their outermost upper edge 23 to effect a closer engagement between the implement l0 and the lower rear portion 33 of the earthworking blade 31.

The implement also includes a series of pulverizing plates 24 which are welded or otherwise attached between the divider members 22. These pulverizing plates are inclined outwardly from the lower portion of the front wall of the tool support beam 11 to a point along the upper edges of the divider members 22.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is adapted to be mounted on the blade support arms 32 of a propelling vehicle 30, as illustrated in FIG. 1. A mounting bracket 25 is located adjacent to each end of the support beam 11 and each bracket includes a pair of vertical engagement plates 26 which are angled outwardly from front to rear generally complementary with the contour of the blade support arm 32. The vertical engagement plates 26 are flared at the top 27 providing a guide means for attachment of the implement to the blade support arm. The engagement plates 26 are further provided with flange supports 28 which serve to strengthen the mounting bracket along the line of the implement 10. A fastener such as a locking bolt 29 is removably mounted just below the flared portion 27 and connects the plates 26 above the arms 32.

In the operation of the device, the implement is placed on a level surface, and the propelling vehicle is brought into position with the blade 31 above the implement l0 and the blade support arms 32 above the mounting brackets 25. As the blade is lowered from this position, the blade support arms are received between the vertical engagement plates 26. The propelling vehicle is then moved slightly forward until the vertical engagement plates cooperatively engage the sides of the contoured portion of the blade support arms. Thereafter, the bolt 29, or other connection, is secured in place above the blade support arms thereby locking the tool in position. When removing the tool, the vehicle operator merely removes the bolt or pin 29 and with the tool on the ground backs slightly so as to separate the engagement plates from the blade support arms. The blade support arms are then lifted out of engagement with the tool mountings.

In use, the scarifier teeth 19 may be mounted to the implement or not. If pulverizing action is all that is required, the locking keys 21 are lifted out and the scaritier teeth removed. However, if the scarifier teeth are used, they are simply adjusted to whatever depth of penetration is required. As the propelling vehicle moves along the ground, the beam 11 is spaced slightly above the earth so that the scarifier teeth force the earth upwardly into the chambers created by the lower rear portion of the blade, the divider members, and the pulverizing plates. In the chambers, the earth is rolled and pulverized while being prevented from excessive lateral displacement and the small granular particles pass under the beam 11 to provide a smooth level surface.

I claim:

I. A pulverizing implement for selective attachment to earth-working equipment having spaced blade support arms comprising an elongated body having vertically extending mounting means adjacent the ends thereof for selective engagement with the blade support arms, a plurality of spaced divider members extending forwardly of said body and substantially normal to the longitudinal axis of said body, the lowermost portions of said body and said divider members being in substantially horizontal alignment, pulverizing plate means disposed between each of said divider members and being inclined upwardly and forwardly from a point adjacent the lowermost portion of said body to a position along the length of said divider members, whereby said divider members and said pulverizing plate means form a plurality of chambers for pulverizing earthen materials and restricting the lateral displacement of the material being pulverized.

2. The structure of claim 1 in which each of said divider members includes an upper edge which is inclined forwardly and downwardly along the outermost portion thereof.

3. The structure of claim 1 in which each of said vertically extending mounting means includes brackets having a pair of spaced generally vertical engagement members, said members of each pair being angled outwardly from front to rear along their width generally complementary with the contour of the equipment blade support arms, said vertical engagement members having reinforcing means on their outer sides, and retaining means for clamping said vertical engagement members to the equipment blade support arms.

4. The structure of claim 3 in which said vertical engagement members are flared outwardly at their upper ends to guide the equipment support arms between said members.

Claims (4)

1. A pulverizing implement for selective attachment to earthworking equipment having spaced blade support arms comprising an elongated body having vertically extending mounting means adjacent the ends thereof for selective engagement with the blade support arms, a plurality of spaced divider members extending forwardly of said body and substantially normal to the longitudinal axis of said body, the lowermost portions of said body and said divider members being in substantially horizontal alignment, pulverizing plate means disposed between each of said divider members and being inclined upwardly and forwardly from a point adjacent the lowermost portion of said body to a position along the length of said divider members, whereby said divider members and said pulverizing plate means form a plurality of chambers for pulverizing earthen materials and restricting the lateral displacement of the material being pulverized.

2. The structure of claim 1 in which each of said divider members includes an upper edge which is inclined forwardly and downwardly along the outermost portion thereof.

3. The structure of claim 1 in which each of said vertically extending mounting means includes brackets having a pair of spaced generally vertical engagement members, said members of each pair being angled outwardly from front to rear along their width generally complementary with the contour of the equipment blade support arms, said vertical engagement members having reinforcing means on their outer sides, and retaining means for clamping said vertical engagement members to the equipment blade support arms.

4. The structure of claim 3 in which said vertical engagement members are flared outwardly at their upper ends to guide the equipment support arms between said members.

Images