AU2805799A

AU2805799A - Ground preparation tool

Info

Publication number: AU2805799A
Application number: AU28057/99A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Jim L. Smith
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1999-05-11
Filing date: 1999-05-11
Publication date: 2000-11-16

Description

P/00/01 1 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE

SPECIFICATION

STANDARD

PATENT

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V V Invention Title: Ground preparation tool.

The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: OP3X'OcFMNATP(I\09Y1 31020 2 CE99119021.2

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Ground Preparation Tool Field of the invention The present invention relates to ground preparation tools and more particularly to listing tools.

Background of the invention Described in Australian patent 680887 is a listing tool which has a forward blade, shear blade and mould boards which break up compacted soil in a furrow and deposits the compacted soil onto the side of a bed adjacent the furrow which might also be called the furrow wall. In use a multiple of these listing tools are attached to a tool carrier so as to list an equal number of furrows.

10 While the tool of 680887 has many advantages over prior art tools it has been found that it oooo operates best in dry conditions when the soil and furrows are sufficiently dry to bear the weight of heavy machinery passing thereover.

With the advent, over the last few seasons, of generally wet conditions, it has been found that soils have been too wet to support the weight of heavy machinery passing over them, thus making the use of heavy machinery very difficult and generally resulting in damage rather than S• soil preparation. The listing tool of 680887 and other known listing tools however would not function if attached to relatively light machinery or motive power means.

Further, with soil being wet, if the compacted soil which is wet is deposited on top of the beds, such as may happen when heavy machinery is used shortly after the ground can carry the weight, a coarse tilth is generated on the bed which is not conducive to good growing soil for a crop.

CE991 1921.2 2 As a result of the limitations of high horse power machinery in wet conditions, there has developed a need to be able to list furrows to prepare furrows and beds for new crops, which requires less horse power than before.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of listing soil which ameliorates at least one disadvantage of the prior art. The present invention also provides a listing tool to perform this method and a tracker stabiliser to further assist the listing tool or any other tool used in ground preparation.

Summary of the invention The present invention provides a method of listing soil, said method including the steps of: S 10 1 in a first pass of a listing tool, breaking lower compacted soil in a furrow, said furrow .i also having a bed of soil adjacent thereto and at least one furrow wall; 2 said first pass also shearing broken lower compacted soil to force said soil in a vertical direction relative to the motion of the listing tool; S 3 depositing said soil onto a furrow wall; 4 leaving said soil on said furrow wall so as to break down by climatic conditions; and once said soil has broken down, to a sufficient degree, making a second pass to list said soil from said furrow wall onto the top of said bed.

The present invention also provides a listing tool including a shank or tyne adapted to receive a blade or wear point to break soil, a shearing blade to vertically move said soil and a mould board or blade to deposit said soil onto a side wall of a furrow, said tool being characterised by said mould board including a socket through which a portion of said tyne can pass, said socket including forward portions to engage a rear end of said forward blade to prevent said board moving in a forward direction when located on said tyne behind said forward blade, said socket CE99119021.2 3 and said tyne interacting to prevent said board moving along said tyne in a rearward direction when said tool is engaging ground.

The tyne can include an angled toe portion, with said angle being measured with respect to a horizontal axis.

The socket can include an internal surface to rest against said tyne, said surface being at an angle to the horizontal so that when mounted on said tyne said internal surface rests against said angle toe portion and said shear blade(s) lie at an angle of between 10° and 20° to the horizontal, and most preferably The tyne can have the socket, shear blade(s) and mould board(s) replaced by disassembling said 10 wear point and removing said socket from said tyne, with another set of socket, shear blade(s) and mould board(s) being positioned and secured on said tyne by means of a similar socket arrangement.

a.

The invention further provides a tracker stabiliser having a first portion which is a vertically extending blade having a longitudinal axis, which first portion is adapted to pass through earth in the direction of said longitudinal axis, said first portion depending downwardly when in use from a second portion which extends laterally away from both sides of said first portion and has a a generally planar under surface, said second portion being adapted to plane over earth, while said first portion passes through earth.

Preferably the first portion is relatively thin and has a knife like construction.

Also the first portion can include a curved or angled forward portion.

CE99119021.2 4 The second portion can be formed from one of: a delta shaped plate; a triangular plate; one or more generally triangular shaped plates.

The tracker stabiliser can be manufactured as part of an agricultural implement, or it can be manufactured separately and is adapted to be attached to an agricultural implement.

Brief description of the drawings An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 illustrates a perspective view of a listing tool embodiment of the present .oeo invention having a second pass mould board mounted thereon; Figure 2 illustrates a partial plan of the mould board of figure 1; 9.

00 S.Figure 3 illustrates a side view of a first pass board with the second pass mould board of e figure 1 in dotted line for comparison; Figure 4 is a drawing showing the angles and shape provided by the first pass mould board; 15 Figures 5 and 6 illustrates an elevation and a plan of a tracker stabiliser for use with a cultivator.

Figure 7 illustrates an elevation of a tracker stabiliser similar to Figures 5 and 6 which can be used for listing tools.

Figure 8 illustrates a plan view of the apparatus of Figure 7.

Detailed description of the embodiments Illustrated in figure 1 and 2 is a listing tool 2 which has a shank or tyne 4 for attachment to a draw bar tool carrier or other similar means of a tractor or means of motive power. In actual CE99119021.2 field operations a multiple number of the listing tools 2 will be attached by tyres 4 to a draw bar or tool carrier. The tyne 4 is generally L-shaped in side elevation and has a forward projecting toe 5 to which is attached a forward blade or wear point 6. The wear point 6 is attached by means of a cleavis pin 8 to the toe Behind the wear point 6 is attached left and right second pass mould boards 16 and shear blades 12.

The mould boards 16 are welded at their forward ends to the sides of a socket 18 while the shear blades 12 are welded to the base of the socket 18 and to each mould board 16. The socket 18 is S" generally trapezium shaped to be positioned onto the tyne 4. This is done by threading the toe 10 through the socket 18 so that the forward surfaces 20 of socket 18 can rest adjacent to the rear surfaces 14 of the wear point 6, after wear point 6 is assembled by cleavis pin 8 to toe The combined mass of the mould boards 16 and shear blades 12 ensures that the socket 18 is biased by the angle of the toe 5, corresponding angle on the socket 18 and the affect of gravity, o• to force the forward surfaces 20 of socket 18, into contact with the rear surfaces 14 of wear point 6, when the listing tool 2 is not in use and the tyne 4 is out of engagement with the ground.

oeS The mould boards 16 illustrated in figure 1 being the second pass mould board, are labelled with numeral 16 in figure 3. The mould boards 16 are illustrated in phantom line work. A first pass mould board 22 is illustrated in figure 3 and has a similar socket 18a attached to a forward end so that the left and right first pass mould boards 16 and similarly attached shear blades 12a can be attached to the tyne 4 in the same way as second pass mould boards 16 and their shear blades 12, as described in preceding paragraphs.

The shear blades 12 and 12a are attached to the respective mould boards 16 and 22 and thus secured onto the tyne 4, so that in use the shear blades 12 and 12a form an angle to the CE99119021.2 6 horizontal (represented by line 30) being between 100 and 15', so as to elevate soil broken up by the wear point 6 and to prevent soil from falling back in situ. This also positions the soil once elevated, so that the mould boards 16 and 22 urge the soil in a lateral and vertical direction relative to the direction of motion of the listing tool 2.

The first pass mould board 22 is considerably smaller than the second pass mould board 16.

The first pass mould board 22 moves the soil upwardly away from the shear blade 12 initially at 150 from the vertical and at approximately 30' measured laterally to the direction of motion of the listing tool 2 through the soil. These angles lift soil onto and from the board 22 and passes the soil over to the furrow wall in a progressive action without smearing the soil.

10 The first pass mould board 22 is used in conjunction with a relatively low horse power machine and is passed through the furrow so as to break up compacted soil in the furrow and deposit it on the side wall of the furrow where it can await breaking down by climatic conditions. This breaking down by climatic conditions of the soil on the side wall of the furrow allows the soil to o* C mellow and dry out to a point where the farmer believes it is ready for placing on top of the bed prior to planting the new crop. This ensures that a coarse tilth does not end up on top of the bed by farmer ensuring that the soil has been properly mellowed.

The first pass mould board 22 and shear blades 12a can be readily removed from the tyne 4 by removing cleavis pin 8 and detaching wear point 6. This allows the socket 18a to pass over and off the toe 5 of the tyne 4. With the tyne 4 disassembed in this manner the mould boards 16 and shear blade 12 are positioned onto the toe 5 by the toe 5 being passed through the socket 18 and reattaching the wear point 6 and cleavis pin 8 thus holding all the blades onto the tyne 4.

The difference between the second pass mould boards 16 and first pass mould boards 22 is that the second pass mould boards 16 have a more extensive surface area and height by comparison to the mould boards 22. This ensures that the soil previously deposited by the first pass mould CE991 19021.2 7 board 22 onto the side wall of the furrow which has mellowed, will be lifted sufficiently by board 16 onto the bed. The mould boards 16 have a dimension (see fig which is preferably of the order of 20 inches or 500mm in magnitude, whereas the dimension for the first pass mould boards is of the order or 16 inches or 380 mm.

The listing tool 2 with second pass mould boards 16 mounted thereon does not have to break up compacted soil in the furrow. Therefore a great deal less power is used by the machinery having to drag the second pass listing tool 2 through the furrow. In fact the wear point 6 on the second pass preferably passes through the same track formed on the first pass, resulting in the wear point doing little or no work. By the time the listing tool 2 makes the second pass several days .•10 or possibly weeks after the first pass, the previously compacted soil will have dried out and mellowed and will be relatively easy to move onto the top of the bed.

too* The listing tool 2 having interchangeability of mould boards 16 and 22 provides an improved method of listing furrows and soil as described above. A relatively low energy level (by comparison with previously mentioned prior art listing tools) is required to do the respective 15 first pass and the second pass with mould board 22 and 16 respectively. As low horse power machinery can be utilised the farmer is ensured of achieving a fine tilth onto the bed, ready for planting the new crop.

Illustrated in figures 5 and 6 is a tracker blade 50 for attachment via attachment plate 51 as illustrated in figure 1 to the rear of tyne 4. Referring to figure 2, the shear blades 12 has a form 52 at their rear central region. This space 52 allows the attachment of the tracker blade 50 to the plate 51 by means of attachment brackets 53 and 54. The tracker blade 50 is made up of a central longitudinal blade 55 for travelling in the ground with the blade 55 being oriented to sit generally in the vertical plane. Across the top of the blade 55 is a generally horizontal sheet 56 which is generally triangular or delta shaped as illustrated in Figure 6. As the tracking blade CE99119021.2 8 passes through the soil, the blade 56 planes over the top of the soil. By means of both the blade and 56, the listing tool 2 will stay stabilised and track correctly without the need of electronics systems.

Illustrated in figure 7 and 8 is a stabiliser/tracker blade having a similar construction to that of figures 5 and 6 except that the two brackets 53 and 54 are replaced by a single bracket In use, for a tool carrier carrying a multiplicity of listing tools 2, two stabilised/trackers 50 will be attached to the listing tools 2 located one in from, or adjacent to, the outer most listing tools 2 on the tool carrier. This is to ensure that the stabiliser/tracker 50 engages newly tracked soil, as the operator after turning around at the end of a pass, will ensure that relative to the arc of the 10 turning circle, the inboard listing tool will over run the track that very same tool made on the previous pass in the opposite direction. As the tracker stabiliser will be engaging previously untracked soil, it will work more effectively.

CCC.

The tracker stabiliser 50, together with the listing tool 2, together serves an important function.

o* C The listing pass is the basis of all subsequent field directional passes for planting and crop cultivation. The lister furrow is the basis for crop precision cultivation to control and hold beds in uniform central relation to furrow guiding lines.

CeC The stabiliser tracker 50 assists directional field control to maintain the coordination of soil tools in the field bed to control cultivation and of plant line. Any lateral movement from the centre of the furrow base line will cause irregular cultivation of the soils for weed control or damage to a planted crop.

The stabiliser tracker 50 will hold the tyre 4 in correlated position if the tractor is driven in the centre line of the furrow and the linkage is allowed to float laterally.

CE99119021.2 9 The stabiliser tracker 50 has its vertical blade 55 of dimensions 75mm x 20mm and 500mm length and has a leading edge 55A bent to a radius of 30mm to cut through crop residue and penetrate into firm soil 50mm below the track cut by the wear point 6.

The length of the blade 55 in the slot of the lister groove formed by wear point 6 and in due to depth below the lister track, will resist any lateral movement of the tool carrier and maintain correlation of tools from their predetermined position in the plant bed.

The track of the tool carrier may change if the soil density across the width of the carrier is variable. This variable density may cause a lateral stress across the direction of travel of the tool carrier. However, the stabiliser/tracker blade 55 will resist this stress and resultant movement.

10 The difference in density of the soils across the width of the tool carrier may also adversely affect the depth control of a toolcarrier gauge wheel which is used to maintain an even depth of listing. This difference in density may cause the tools 2 to penetrate to a greater depth on one side of the toolcarrier.

To compensate for this, the stabiliser/tracker 50 has the delta shape Blade 55 horizontally mounted on top of the vertical blade 55. Thus any downward movement would cause this horizontal blade 56 to bear on the soil preventing the tools 2 from penetrating, thus stabilising

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the Toolcarrier and resisting any diversion to directional tracking.

The tracker blade 50 of figures 5 to 9 are able to be used not just with the listing tool 2 as described in preceding paragraphs but with other ground preparation tools as well.

In respect of the desired shape of mould boards preferably they are constructed in accordance with an article entitled "An analytical method for identifying and designing a mould board plow surface" by V. Craciun D. Leon published in the Transactions of the ASAE Vol 41 1589- CE99119021.2 1599 (see figure 8 of the article reproduced as figure 4 herein). The text of this is incorporated herein by reference.

It will be understood that the invention disclosed and defined herein extends to all alternative combinations of two or more of the individual features mentioned or evident from the text or drawings. All of these different combinations constitute various alternative aspects of the invention.

a a 10 a a a a a, *a a The foregoing describes embodiments of the present invention and modifications, obvious to those skilled in the art can be made thereto, without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Dated this 5th day of May 1999 Jim L Smith by its attorneys Freehills Patent Attorneys 0 a..0

Claims

1. A method of listing soil, said method including the steps of: I. in a first pass of a listing tool, breaking lower compacted soil in a furrow, said furrow also having a bed of soil adjacent thereto and at least one furrow wall; II. said first pass also shearing broken lower compacted soil to force said soil in a vertical direction relative to the motion of the listing tool; III. depositing said soil onto a furrow wall; IV, leaving said soil on said furrow wall so as to break down by climatic conditions; and V. once said soil has broken down, to a sufficient degree, making a second pass to list said 10 soil from said furrow wall onto the top of said bed.

2. A listing tool including a shank or tyne adapted to receive a blade or wear point to break 0055 soil, at least one shearing blade to vertically move said soil, and at least one mould board or blade to deposit said soil onto a side wall of a furrow, said tool being characterised by said mould board including a socket through which a portion of said tyne can pass, said socket including forward portions to engage a rear end of said forward blade to prevent said board moving in a forward direction when located on said tyne behind said forward blade, said socket and said tyne interacting to prevent said board moving along said tyne in a rearward direction when said tool is engaging ground.

3. A listing tool as claimed in claim 2 wherein said tyne includes an angled toe portion, with said angle being measured with respect to a horizontal axis.

4. A listing tool as claimed in claim 3 wherein said socket includes an internal surface to rest against said tyne, said surface being at an angle to the horizontal so that when mounted on CE991 I190)21.2 12 said tyne said internal surface rests against said angle toe portion and said shear blade(s) lie at an angle of between 100 and 20' to the horizontal.

A listing tool as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 4 wherein said tyne can have the socket, shear blade(s) and mould board(s) replaced by disassembling said wear point and removing said socket from said tyne, with another set of socket, shear blade(s) and mould board(s) being positioned and secured on said tyne by means of a similar socket arrangement.

6. A tracker stabiliser for an agricultural implement, said tracker stabiliser having a first portion which is a vertically extending blade having a longitudinal axis, which first portion is adapted to pass through earth in the direction of said longitudinal axis, said first portion *.l 10 depending downwardly when in use from a second portion which extends laterally away from S:9. both sides of said first portion and has a generally planar under surface, said second portion being adapted to plane over earth, while said first portion passes through earth. 0*

7. A tracker stabiliser as claimed in claim 6 wherein said first portion is relatively thin and has a knife like construction.

8. A tracker stabiliser as claimed in claim 6 or 7 wherein said first portion includes a 99**99 curved or angled forward portion. *9999.

9. A tracker stabiliser as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein said second portion is formed from one of: a delta shaped plate; a triangular plate; one or more generally triangular shaped plates

10. A tracker stabiliser as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 9 wherein said tracker stabiliser is manufactured as part of an agricultural implement, or is manufactured separately and is adapted to be attached to an agricultural implement.