AU2005200890A1

AU2005200890A1 - Improved press wheel

Info

Publication number: AU2005200890A1
Application number: AU2005200890A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Roger Fuss
Original assignee: GYRAL IMPLEMENTS Pty Ltd
Current assignee: GYRAL IMPLEMENTS Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2004-03-01
Filing date: 2005-03-01
Publication date: 2005-09-15

Description

55322 GEH:PFB cI P/00/011 AUSTRALIA Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 O COMPLETE SPECIFICATION SFOR A STANDARD PATENT 0 ORIGINAL Name of Applicant: GYRAL IMPLEMENTS PTY LTD Name of inventor: ROGER FUSS Address for Service: COLLISON CO.,117 King William Street, Adelaide, S.A. 5000 Invention Title: IMPROVED PRESS WHEEL Details of Associated Provisional Applications: Australian Patent Application No. 2004900999 Dated 1st March 2004 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: This invention relates to an improved press wheel attached to a seeding implement to press the seed and compact the soil to a desired degree following the planting tyne.

Press wheels are conventionally fixed to trail directly behind the planting tyne, or are hinged to have a degree of pivotal swinging lateral movement to permit the OO press wheel to trail and follow the seed furrow.

The fixed press wheels have the problem that the press wheel does not always follow the seed furrow, particularly on curves such as following a contour, or at N corners.

The press wheels which are provided with swinging lateral movement have the problem that they may foul the mainframe wheels or foul adjacent press wheels in narrow tyned spaced machines.

Also known press wheels mounted on the planting tyne rob the tyne of valuable break out force when the planting tyne meets an obstruction.

It is an object of this invention to provide a press to overcome one or more of the above objections to known press wheels.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a frame mounted press wheel.

Thus there is provided according to the invention a press wheel assembly, including a mounting bracket for attachment to a portion of a planting implement, a swivel head pivoted to the mounting bracket, a press wheel support arm attached to the swivel head, and control means to prevent or limit the swivelling action of the swivel head and the press wheel.

In a further form of the invention there is provided a press wheel, the press wheel being pivoted about a hinge pivot to be able to swing sideways, there being control means to control the degree of swing from stationary to maximum on each side.

Preferably the swivel head is bifurcated with arms extending from a boss through which a pivot pin of the mounting bracket passes.

O Preferably the pivot pin on the mounting bracket is spaced inwardly of the end of the mounting bracket, the end of the mounting bracket extending with clearance between the arms of the swivel head.

OPreferably a control plate is attachable to the mounting bracket between the arms of the swivel head, said control plate being dimensioned and attached in different Spositions to provide the selected swiveling movement of the press wheel.

00 oO Also there is provided according to the invention a control plate adapted to be attached to a mounting bracket and positioned between arms of a swivel head, the control plate being dimensioned and with having holes for attachment in various N 10 positions to prevent, permit or selectively permit swivelling of a press wheel.

Preferably the control plate has holes for attachment to the mounting bracket, the holes being positioned in the plate in relation to the spacing between the arms of the swivel head and dimensions of the plate so that the degree of swivelling can be selected by repositioning the control plate.

In order to more fully describe the invention reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which:- Figure 1 is an assembly for supporting the press wheel, Figure 2 is an illustration of the mounting bracket, Figure 3 is an illustration of the swivel head, Figure 4 shows two views of the control plate, Figures 5 to 9 show the five movements provided by the invention, and Figure 10 shows the assembly and press wheel.

Referring to the drawings the assembly for supporting and controlling the press wheel 21 includes the mounting bracket 1, swivel head 2 and the control plate 3.

The mounting bracket has an angle support 4 and mounting bolts 5 for attaching the bracket to a beam 22 of the planting implement. Spaced upper and lower plates 6 and 7 extend from the angle support 4, plates 6 and 7 being strengthened by gusset plate 8 and support post 9. The ends of the plates 6 and 7 are provided with holes 10 to receive a pivot pin 11. The upper plate 6 has a down turned control member 12 at right angles to the plate 6, having a hole 13 toward the lower end of the member 12, the hole 13 being equidistant from the side edges of the portion 12.

The swivel head 2 comprises a pair of spaced arms 14 and 15 joined to a swivel 00 boss 16. The swivel head is mounted on the bracket by the pivot pin 11 passing N through holes 10 and boss 16, the end of plate 6 and down turned control member extending between the spaced arms whereby the swivel head can pivot Nabout pivot pin 11, the degree of movement being limited by the control member 12.

Each of the arms 14 and 15 have a hole 17 to which a trailing arm 23 connected to the press wheel 21is pivoted. At the ends of the spaced arms holes 17(a) are provided for a push rod 24 connected to the lower end of the trailing arm 23 to thus hold the press wheel in vertical correct position to and apply the required pressure to the press wheel. The spacing between the arms 14 and 15 is greater than the width of the locking portion 12, so that the swivel head can swivel relative to the mounting bracket, the degree of swivelling being limited by the arms contacting the control member 12.

To control this swivelling movement the control plate 3 can be attached to the control member 12. As shown in Figure 4 the control plate 3 is a metal plate having three holes 18, 19 and 20. The length of side is the distance between the arms 14 and 15, while the length of side is less, this dimension will become apparent from the following description.

The hole 20 is positioned equidistant y/2 from the sides of the plate and is positioned toward the end of the plate along side Hole 18 is positioned equidistant x/2 and is positioned off centre from the centre of side Hole 19 is positioned on the same level as hole 18 and spaced from hole 18.

The dimensions of the plate and the position of the holes are related to the distance between the arms 14 and 15 and also the width of the control member 12, and this will become more apparent with discussion on Figures 5 to 9.

If the plate is not attached to control member 12, as in Figure 5 the swivel head can swivel to the maximum position on each side, the maximum positions being determined by the arms 14 and 15 contacting the edges of the control member 12.

O

In Figure 6 the plate is attached through hole 20 which is central of side which is aless than the distance between the arms 14 and 15. Hence the swivel movement is limited by the arms contacting the edges of the plate along sides thus 00 providing a limited swing on each side of the centre line of the bracket.

Figure 7 shows the plate attached through hole 19. Hole 19 is positioned on the c, 10 plate such that the distance between the hole and the furthest side is equal to half the distance between the arms thus arm 15 is prevented from moving across to provide swing to the right, it can only swing to the left. The other side is just proud the side of the control member 12 and thus arm 14 can swivel till it contacts the side the side Thus there is limited swivelling to one side only, in this instance to the left.

If the plate is removed and turned over or reversed with the exposed face now in contact with the control member 12 and repositioned on the control member 12 through hole 19, as can be seen the swivelling movement will be limited to the other side, in this instance the right hand side as shown in Figure 8.

To prevent any swiveling the plate is attached through hole 18 with the sides "x" extending across the portion 12, so the sides contact the arms 14 and 15 to prevent movement.

Thus it can be seen that according to the invention the control plate provides five alternate modes of operation of the press wheel from full freedom of swivelling, to limited swiveling in both directions, to limited swiveling on one side only either right or left to being locked with no freedom of movement.

The swivel control plate is designed to permit an operator to select any one of multiple lateral movement options of the press wheel, depending on hole selection and orientation of the control plate, effectively acting like a multi-position cam stop plate.

Although one form of the invention has been described in some detail it is to be in' 6 realised that the invention is not to be limited thereto but can include variations and modifications falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

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