AU754338B2

AU754338B2 - Row crop spreader

Info

Publication number: AU754338B2
Application number: AU13482/00A
Authority: AU
Inventors: David Stanley Hoyle
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1999-01-21
Filing date: 2000-01-21
Publication date: 2002-11-14
Anticipated expiration: 2020-01-21
Also published as: AU1348200A

Description

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AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT *b G.e

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a A. 4~6,A fr* AG *A q, O RI GI NA L Name of Applicantls: Actual lnventor/s: Address for Service: Invention Title: David Stanley Hoyle David Stanley Hoyle BALDWIN SHELSTON WATERS 60 MARGARET STREET SYDNEY NSW 2000 'ROW CROP SPREADER' a.

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a a a o eAt The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us:- File: 26854AUPOO ROW FERTILISING APPARATUS Field of the Invention This invention concerns apparatus for distributing fertilisers from a vehicle spreader. More particularly but not exclusively it relates to apparatus for distributing fertilisers to crops planted in rows.

Background to the Invention Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.

In our New Zealand patent 243 837 we describe vehicle spreaders with a Vsection body for conveying fertiliser on a truck or trailer chassis. In this arrangement, the fertiliser is conveyed rearwardly by a floor mounted conveyor. The fertiliser exits from the body through a gate in the body and descends a sheet metal ramp to a pair of apertures in a cover plate, mounted at the rear of the vehicle at a height of about a metre from the ground. The cover overlies a pair of spinners driven by the truck hydraulics. The spinners throw the fertiliser to the left- and right-hand sides of the vehicle, in a quadrant which is optionally trimmed by the appropriate use of deflectors projecting into the air stream.

Problems are encountered, however, with crops which are sown in rows of discrete spacing. Fertiliser is too expensive to broadcast over such crops; multiple spinners may be feasible but arranging equal feeds to each spinner is not practical.

It is known to fertilise a row crop using a vehicle with a body of W-section.

Such a vehicle employs a narrow endless conveyor in each of the two valleys defined by the body. Two rows at a time are treated, whilst the vehicle travels parallel to the rows. There are a number of difficulties with such an arrangement. The spacing of the conveyors must be the same as the spacing R Aof the crop rows; the material must empty evenly in 2 order for the spreading to be uniform, and variation in row width can be a problem.

It is also known to apply particulate fertiliser to a row crop using apparatus having an auger for each row. The bearings, drives, and other moving parts require constant maintenance, however, because the material is naturally abrasive or contains hard inclusions.

In particular, no efficient spreader is available for controlling the fertiliser directions suitably for a crop such as sugar cane. Sugar can presents a number of difficulties. It is commonly planted in rows 1.5m apart. The crop may grow 6m in a season. Growth on this magnitude severely depletes the soil. Yields are sustained by application to the rows of super phosphate and urea. Ditches between the rows tend to take run-off away 15 from the roots so accurate placement of material is important, Further, the humidity prevalent in latitudes suited to cane-growing tends to result in caking of the spreader particles. The separation of the particles and the maintenance of the material in a form which the machine can 20 spread effectively is therefore important also,. The rate of deposition required introduces a further problem. Weights of 800-2,000 kg/acre are common. If this can be achieved at economic speed the benefits can be considerable. The crop yield is maximised as the cane is able to utilise the dressing of material, but the same concentration is fatal to weeds and brush. Accurate placement remains vital for proper utilisation.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a means for applying fertiliser to row crops such as sugar cane, or to overcome or to ameliorate some of the above disadvantages, or to at least provide the public with a useful choice, Other objects of the invention may become apparent from the following description which is given by way of example only.

Disclosure of the Invention According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a distributor for a vehicle spreader capable of directing particulate material to two or more substantially mutually parallel rows, including one or more spinners, the or each spinner having four quadrants; a housing extending substantially around at least three quadrants of the or each spinner, the housing having a cover overlying the one or more spinners and one or more feed apertures formed through the cover and arranged to feed the or each spinner; and a plurality of ducts extending substantially tangentially from the housing periphery, adapted to direct material to each of two or more rows.

Preferably the housing may extend substantially around a front and rear outer 00 spinner quadrant, and a rear inner spinner quadrant of the or each spinner, and include a duct for each of at least two of the quadrants, each duct adapted to guide a stream of particulate material to a planted row.

Preferably the or each spinner may include blades on an obverse face adapted to propel particulate material, and/or air impelling means on a reverse face.

Preferably the blades may be L-section fins substantially upstanding from the obverse face, adapted to strike the particulate material as it falls towards the *25 spinner(s).

Preferably the impelling means may be blades capable of circulating air in the housing at substantially the same speed as the particulate material.

Preferably one or more of the ducts may be individually opened or closed, preferably by a fluid operated gate located between each duct and the housing.

According to a further preferred embodiment one or more of the ducts may include an extension adapted to modify the flow of material by diverting the air flow; preferably the extension may include a divider which diverts the air flow both upwardly and downwardly.

Preferably the ducts may include a clearing means adapted to reduce the build up of residue within the ducts.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a housing adapter for fitting to a spinner housing of an agricultural spreader wherein the adapter encloses at least three quadrants of a spinner, and the adapter includes a plurality of ducts extending substantially tangentially from the adapter periphery, adapted to direct material to each of two or more rows of a crop.

e Preferably the adapter may enclose a front and rear outer spinner quadrant, and a rear inner spinner quadrant, and include a duct for each of at least two of the quadrants, each duct adapted to guide a stream of a particulate material to a planted row.

Preferably one or more of the ducts may be individually opened or closed, preferably by a fluid operated gate located between the or each duct and the housing.

Preferably the one or more ducts may include an extension adapted to modify the flow of material by diverting the air flow; preferably the extension includes a divider which diverts the air flow both upwardly and downwardly.

According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided a spreader including a distributor as described above.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention there is provided a method of distributing particulate material to two or more rows of a row crop simultaneously including the steps of: substantially enclosing at least three quadrants of a spinner; feeding particulate material to the spinner through a feed aperture formed through a cover of the housing; directing the flow of particulate material through a plurality of ducts extending substantially tangentially from:the housing periphery to two or more rows of the crop, Other aspects of the invention may become apparent from the following description which is given by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings The invention is now described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: "Figure 1 is a plan view of a distributor according to one aspect of the invention.

Figure 2 is a plan view of a housing adapter according to a second aspect of the invention.

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Figure 3 is a perspective view of the adapter of Figure 2, attached to the rear of a spreader with the bridge plate removed.

Figure 4 is a perspective of a fragment of the view in Figure 3, showing the duct flow control with a bridge plate in situ.

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic plan of the adapter of Figure 2 on a spreader showing the feed to the rows, Figure 6 I s a cross section view through a housing according to a preferred embodiment of a distributor of the invention.

Figure 7 is a perspective view of the distribution of Figure 6.

6 Detailed Description of the Drawings Figure 1 shows a purpose built distributor, being a spinner housing, 14, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. This housing 14 is shaped in plan like the numeral 8. Figures 2 5 show views of a housing adapter 100, in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention.

The plan view of Figure 2 shows that the shape of the. housing adapter 100 is similar to that of Figure 1 except that the inlet is enlarged and the front of the housing is absent allowing the housing to fit like a jacket over the main cover plate which usually overlies the spinners of a general purpose spreader.

With reference to Figures 2 5, the general features of the housing adapter 100 in use with a spreader are now described. This description 15 may also be extended to features of a purpose built housing 14 such as that in Figure 1. The vehicle body has a pair of rear vertical plates 2 which extend to the drive tubes 4 of the spinners 6. The plates support the exterior bearings 10 of the chain conveyor 12. The spinners 6 rotate in their usual positions, with a clearance of 25mm between the spinner rim and the upright side 16 of the housing. The underface of the housing closes in the spinners 6 creating a chamber of a shape which promotes the suspension of fertiliser in the continuous air stream generated by the spinners 6.

The air stream is fed by a common inlet 18 in the upper face 20 of the housing. The top face has flanges (not shown) which are connected to the end plates 2. The conveyor 12 feeds fertiliser in a stream which is divided by a vertical separator 22. The two streams flow toward the housing where they drop through the inlet 18 onto a spinner 6 or they run over the optional inverted V-shaped diverter 24 which prevents fertiliser falling between the spinners.

With reference to the right hand spinner 6 specifically (although this description is accurate for each) the spinner 6 throws fertiliser evenly over 360 degrees but the fertiliser which is thrown from the front inner 7 quadrant 26 rejoins the air stream because it cannot leave the housing in that quadrant. The rear inner quadrant 28 has an outlet 30. The right outer quadrant 32 has an outlet 34. The front outer quadrant 36 has an outlet 38. These three outlets 30, 34, 38 are curved as shown so as to impede the air stream as little as possible. The outlets'30, 34, 38 have helical cuts in order to receive strakes 40 which induce inner swirling in the stream. This reduces build up when powdery fertiliser is spread. The outlets 30, 34, 38 are of square section and are separated and directed in order to deliver a concentrated stream of fertiliser to a row. The optional duct extensions (not shown) are generally tubular and able to flex somewhat with the motion of the vehicle. Vibration also assists the tube to dispel fertiliser build-up. In a further embodiment (not shown) the outlets have flexible hose extensions for trimming the separation of the streams.

1 Of note is that whilst the embodiment of Figure 1 shows a housing for covering all quadrants of a spinner, it will be appreciated that the body of the housing may only cover three quadrants, being the;front and rear outer spinner quadrants, and the rear inner spinner quadrant.

In Figures 1, 4 and 5 the confluence of the duct and spinner housing has a rectangular aperture 42 in the side of the housing. The aperture is opened 0 and closed by a rise and fall gate 44 operated by a pneumatic ram 46 which is part of the truck pneumatic circuit. There is a ram for each of the three gates for both spinners 6. These are mounted on brackets 48 welded to the top of the spinner housing or the bridge plate 50. A threaded adjuster 52 allows manual correction of the gate position.

The vehicle travels parallel to the rows, When the outermost row is reached any surplus ducts are closed down from the cab using pneumatics. If an entire side is to be cancelled, the operator interrupts the drive to the appropriate half of the chain conveyor 1 2.' In Fig 5 the axis of the six outlets are aligned with six crop rows each separated by 1.5m. The seventh row is supplied from the centre gate 54.

It is envisaged that the duct lengths may be in multiplds of row widths, The longest duct may be up to 6m in length. The row widths can be 0.75- 1.75m depending upon the crop, but is typically 1.5m for sugar cane.

Optionally the spinner case may also have a control duct allowing fertiliser to spread rearwardly on a row, the axis of which divides the spinners.

With reference to Figures 6 and 7 there is illustrated a purpose-built distributor of one preferred embodiment of the Invention. The sheet metal housing 50 encloses a pair of spinners 6 (one shown).,The top cover 51 is effectively the same as discussed above; the bottom cover 52 being generally shaped like the number 52, with a central air intake 53, ideally some 300mm in diameter for each spinner 6. The spinner 6 has a number, typically six, of upstanding fins 64, Each fin 54 is of Lsection with the angled top section 55 pointing in the direction of rotation. The fins 54 have a perpendicular edge 62 and inclined edge 56. A flat circular plate 57 is connected to the spinner 6 by air impellers 58 welded to the plate, and 6 20 the underside of the spinner 6. The air impellers 58 may resemble fan blades, which may be radial or tangential.

a In general terms, as described above, in order to produce orderly air flow, the distributor housing may underlie the spinners and have an air entry for each spinner, preferably centrally spaced so as to create a centre to equalise air flow, Accordingly the distributor functions as a throwing device and as an air entrainment device. The fan and spinner may be separate but it is mechanically convenient to join them.

The clearance between the spinner assembly and the housing is about The rise and fall gates (not shown) which open and close the entrances 59 to the square-sectioned duct 60 are as discussed previously.

A tubular spigot 61 is welded to the end of each square-sectioned duct The axis of the spigot 61 is tilted to mimic the inclination of the 9 spinner surface. The mouth of the spigot 61 is aligned with the spinner so that half the spigot 61 is above the spinner 6 and half below, thereby admitting both impelled particles and impelled air. Smooth surfaced tubes are then attached to the spigots 61 and suspended to form the assembly, in order to feed the six rows as discussed previously.

The operation of the invention has been described with reference to fertiliser, however it can equally well be used in conjunction with other particulate material.

The distributor and housing adapter of the invention described possess a number of advantages over what is known. They allows utilisation the large horsepower of a vehicle spreader to fertilise large ribbon widths in a single pass. Furthermore the embodiments of the invention possess fewer moving parts than an auger system and are consequently more robust and reliable. Further the invention copes with density variation in the material and hygroscopic materials more easily, Where in the foregoing description reference has been made to elements "20 or integers having known equivalents, then such equivalents are included as if they were individually set forth.

Although the invention has been described by way of example and with reference to particular embodiments, it is to be understood that modifications and/or improvements may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention.

Claims

1. A distributor for a vehicle spreader capable of directing particulate material to two or more substantially mutually parallel rows, including one or more spinners, the or each spinner having four quadrants; a housing extending substantially around at least three quadrants of the or each spinner, the housing having a cover overlying the one or more spinners and one or more feed apertures formed through the cover and arranged to feed the or each spinner; and a plurality of ducts extending substantially tangentially from the housing periphery, adapted to direct material to each of two or more rows,

2. A distributor as claimed in claim 1 wherein the housing extends substantially around a front and rear outer spinner quadrant, and a rear inner spinner quadrant of the or each spinner, and includes a duct for each of at least two of the quadrants, each duct adapted to guide a stream of a particulate material to a planted row.

3. A distributor as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the or each spinner includes blades on an obverse face adapted to propel particulate 20 material, and/or air impelling means on a reverse face.

4. A distributor as claimed in claim 3 wherein the blades are L-section fins substantially upstanding from the obverse face, adapted to strike the particulate material as it falls towards the or each spinner. A distributor as claimed in claim 3 or 4 wherein the impelling means are blades capable of circulating air in the housing at substantially the same speed as the particular material.

6. A distributor as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein one or more of the ducts may be individually opened or closed, 11

7. A distributor as claimed in claim 6 wherein a fluid operated gate is located between each duct and the housing.

8. A distributor as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein one or more of the ducts includes an extension adapted to modify the flow of material by diverting the air flow.

9. A distributor as claimed in claim 8 wherein the extension includes a divider which diverts the air flow both upwardly and downwardly. 10, A distributor as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the ducts include clearing means adapted to reduce the build up of :residue within the ducts,

11. A distributor as claimed in claim 10 wherein the clearing means includes one or more apertures formed in the base of the ducts, allowing escape of the residue. "12. A distributor as claimed in claim 10 wherein the clearing means includes internal protrusions adapted to promote a generally rotating •motion of material within the ducts, encouraging emptying of the ducts.

13. A housing adapter for fitting to a spinner housing of an agricultural spreader wherein the adapter encloses at least three quadrants of a spinner, and the adapter includes a plurality of ducts extending substantially tangentially from the adapter periphery, adapted to direct material to each of two or more rows of a row crop.

14. A housing adapter as claimed in claim 13 wherein the adapter encloses a front and rear outer spinner quadrant, and a rear inner spinner quadrant, and includes a duct for each of at least two of the quadrants, each duct adapted to guide a stream of a particulate material to a planted row. 12 A housing adapter as claimed in claim 13 or 14 wherein the or each duct may be individually opened or closed.

16. A housing adapter as claimed in claim 15 wherein a fluid operated gate is located between each duct and the spinner housing.

17. A housing adapter as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 16 wherein one or more ducts includes an extension adapted to modify the flow 10 of material by diverting the air flow.

18. A housing adapter as claimed in claim 17 wherein the extension includes a divider which diverts the air flow both upwardly and downwardly.

19. A housing adapter as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 18 wherein the ducts include a clearing means adapted to reduce the build up of residue within the ducts.

20. A housing adapter as claimed in claim 19 wherein the clearing means includes one or more apertures formed in the base of the ducts, allowing escape of the residue.

21. A housing adapter as claimed in claim 19 wherein the clearing means includes internal protrusions adapted to promote a generally rotating motion of material within the ducts, encouraging emptying of the ducts.

22. A spreader including a distributor as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12.

23. A method of distributing particulate material to two or more rows of a row crop simultaneously including the steps of; 13 substantially enclosing at least three quadrants of a spinner within a housing; feeding particulate material to the spinner through a feed aperture formed through a cover of the housing; directing the flow of particulate material through a plurality of ducts extending substantially tangentially from the housing periphery, to each-of two or more rows of the crop.

24. A distributor substantially as herein described, with reference to the 10 accompanying drawings.

25. A housing adapter substantially as herein described, with reference to the accompanying drawings. 15 26. A spreader including a distributor substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

27. A method of distributing particulate material to two or more rows of a row crop sumultaneously, substantially as herein described with reference to any one of the embodiments of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings. DATED this 21st Day of January, 2000 DAVID STANLEY HOYLE Attorney: STUART M SMITH Fellow Institute of Patent Attorneys of Australia of BALDWIN SHELSTON WATERS