AU7222900A - An agricultural share - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Applicant(s): McCOY TILLAGE PTY LTD A.C.N. 065 589 639 Invention Title: AN AGRICULTURAL SHARE The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: -2- AN AGRICULTURAL SHARE This invention relates to agricultural shares and particularly cultivating, seeding or harrow shares.

Agricultural shares come in a variety of shapes and sizes depending on their end uses. Seeding shares usually have a leading tip that cuts a seeding furrow. One conventional form of seeding share is in the form of a substantially triangular arched foot terminating in a pointed toe with a trailing heel section. An upwardly extending mounting flange projects from the rear of the foot to facilitate mounting of the share to an associated mechanism that is usually drawn by a tractor.

It has also been proposed to provide a seeding share that is substantially two-dimensional in that it is a narrow plate with a triangular forward portion terminating in a toe. The heel of the plate has laterally extending wings.

20 The upper end of the plate constitutes a mounting flange.

It is shares of the above kind and limitations and problems ooo that those devices have in use that have brought about the present invention.

*.i According to the present invention there is provided an Oe*agricultural share comprising a plate-like body shaped to define a pointed toe and a trailing heel, the heel having S•lateral wings depending from either side of the body, the oooo 30 wings being positioned at a specified distance above and behind the toe and being inclined to the horizontal in two planes.

Preferably the wings are inclined to the horizontal so that they extend outwardly and downwardly through an included angle of approximately 1350. The wings are also preferably inclined from the front to the rear downwardly through an \\MELBO 1\homeS\MCooper\Keep\Speci \PQ4635 CAP.doc 11/12/00 1 1.

3 angle of approximately 100.

The share is preferably fabricated in sheet steel and is adapted to be bolted to a cultivator tool. In a preferred embodiment, the cultivator tool is a seeding tool.

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 is a plan view of a share for agricultural use, Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the share, and Figure 3 is a rear elevational view of the share.

The share 10 illustrated in the accompanying drawings is manufactured from toughened steel. The share is essentially a single plate 11 of 6mm steel that is shaped S. to provide a pointed toe 12 with an upwardly inclined S. trailing surface 13, the toe 12 is formed at the forward 20 end of an upwardly and rearwardly extending arch 15 that in o turn merges with a upwardly extending heel 20. The upper end 16 of the arch 15 provides a rectangular plate that supports two mounting apertures 17, 18 spaced apart at the upper end thereof. A reinforcing rectangular flange 19 is welded to the rear edge of the upper plate to extend Sparallel to that edge to strengthen the assembly.

4 o The heel 20 of the share has a pair of laterally extending S wings 21, 22 positioned one on each side of the plate.

The wings 21, 22 of the heel 20 of the share are as shown in Figure 1 of substantially rectangular plate with a diagonal cut at the front to define a rearwardly trailing edge 23 which then merges into the rectangular rear 24 of each wing. The rearwardly inclined trailing edges 23 of the wings 21, 22 define an included angle of 700 to the longitudinal axis of the share 10. The wings also extend \\MELBO1\homeS\MCooper\Keep\Speci\PQ4635 CAP.doc 11/12/00 4 downwardly as shown in Figure 3 so that they define an included angle of 1350. As shown in Figures 2 and 3 the forward edge 23 of each wing 21, 22 is also inclined to the horizontal at an angle of 100 so that the rear edge 25 of each wing is as shown in Figure 3 below the level of the front edge 23. Thus, each wing 21, 22 is inclined downward in two planes. In the embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings, the length of the share is 160mm and the total height of the share is 150mm. The rear plate-like portion of the share extends for approximately 95mm which means that the winged heel is approximately 60mm higher than the forward tip of the share. The toe 12 of the share extends rearwardly for 45mm and trails upwardly from the horizontal by 50. The toe 12 is defined by a tapering tip with an included angle of 600. The wing structure also terminates before the join at the underside of the arch between the toe 12 and the heel The cultivator point or share described above is especially 20 designed for minimum cultivation seeding. Experience has shown that seeding with minimum cultivation requires a comparatively deep seeding trough backfilled with loose soil with the seed positioned at a constant height on top of the loose soil to be, in turn, covered by soil to complete the seeding process. The depth of the trough provides the desired degree of moisture, the loose low density back fill ensures a good quality strike rate and a constant height reduces the likelihood of root rot caused by Rizoctonia. The cultivator described above provides all 30 these features without the need for the optimum characteristics to be dependent on forward speed which is a usual criterion of conventional shares. Clearly, planting seeds to optimum characteristics that are irrespective of forward speed improves the efficiency of the operation by enabling the seeds to be sown much quicker than would usually be the case.

\\MEB01\homeS\MCooer\eep\per\Keep\peci\PQ4635 CAP.doc 11/12/00 5 The features that contribute to these advantages relate to the shape and configuration of the toe and its relative spacing in both horizontal and vertical sense to the lateral wings that trail at the rear of the toe. The lateral wings are also inclined to the horizontal in two planes. This inclination of the wings especially where the wings trail below the horizontal improves the uplift on the tool and prevents the tool embedding too deeply into the surface. The position of the wings relative to the toe is specifically calculated to allow the wings to gather enough soil to form the seedbed in average conditions prior to deposition of the seed. The inclined wing structure also whilst ensuring a constant depth seedbed, uses soil passing over the top of the wings to cover the seed immediately after the seed has been placed on the seedbed. The distance of the toe and head of the wings is calculated to allow the wings to gather enough soil to form a seedbed.

a \\MELBOI\homeS\MCooper\Keep\Speci\PQ4635 CAP.doc 11/12/00

Claims (5)

1. An agricultural share comprising a plate like body shaped to define a pointed toe and a trailing heel, the heel having lateral wings depending from either side of the body, the wings being positioned at a specified distance above and behind the toe and being inclined to the horizontal in two planes.

2. The agricultural share according to claim 1 wherein the wings are inclined to the horizontal so that they extend outwardly and downwardly through an included angle of approximately

1350.

3. The agricultural share according to either claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the wings are inclined from the front to the rear downwardly through an angle of approximately :100.

4. An agricultural share according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the share is fabricated in sheet steel and is adapted to be bolted to a cultivated tool.

5. An agricultural share substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Dated this 13th day of December 2000. MCCOY TILLAGE PTY LTD 30 By Its Patent Attorneys GRIFFITH HACK Fellows Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia \\MELB01\home$\MCooper\Keep\Speci\PQ4635 CAP.doc 11/12/00