CA1097144A

CA1097144A - Planting device

Info

Publication number: CA1097144A
Application number: CA318,234A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Paavo Haapamaki; Carl-Johan Lindebergh; Lasse Turunen
Original assignee: GA Serlachius Oy
Current assignee: GA Serlachius Oy
Priority date: 1977-12-22
Filing date: 1978-12-19
Publication date: 1981-03-10
Also published as: FR2423124A1; SE430558B; FR2412245B1; FI60479C; DE2854923A1; FI60479B; DE2854923B2; FI773908A; DE2854922C3; SE7813165L; BR7808385A; BR7808386A; SE430557B; DE2854923C3; DE2854922A1; CA1097145A; FR2412245A1; DE2854922B2; SE7813164L; FR2423124B1

Abstract

Planting device Abstract of the Disclosure A planting device for a plant setting machine, said device comprising a frame supported by the plant setting machine, a hole-making means for making a hole for a plant into the ground, said hole-making means being vertically displaceably mounted on said frame, a shifting means for displacing said hole-making means vertically with respect to said frame and a feeding pipe ending at the path of movement of said hole-making means for supplying a plant to be set to said hole in the ground. Said hole-making means is formed as a vibrator rod comprising an internal vibrating element.

Description

2 ~97~4L4 The present invention relates to a planting device for a plant setting machinet which planting device comprises a frame supported by the plant setting machine, a hole-making means for making a hole for a plant into the ground, said hole-makin~ means being vertically displaceably mounted on the frame, a shifting means for displacing said hole-making means vertically in relation to said frame, a feeding pipe ending at the path of movement oF said hole-making means for supplying a plant to said hole in the ground as well as a vibrator for vibrating said nole-making means.

Planting devices designed for various plant setting machines are previously known by means of which a hole is made in the surface of the ground for receiving a plant to be set. The hole is made into the ground by means of a hole-making means which is shifted vertically towards the ground surface in order to press the tip of said hole-making means into the ground to an appropriate depth ~ and thereafter is lifted up. In its simplest form the hole-making means consists of a push rod, the tip of said rod having the shape of the hol~ to be formed in the ground, but more complicated constructions are also known, in which the tip of the hole-making , means consists of pivotable flaps which, after the tip has pene- -trated into the ground, widen the hole to the desired size. Hole-making means of this type are forced into the ground by means of~
mechanical, pneumatic, or hydraulic means, which, when the hole-making means meets an obstacle in the ground, such as a stone, root of a tree or equivalent, permit discontinuation of the down-ward movement of the hole-making means in order to prevent damagos to the planting device. ~herefore, when the tip of ~he hola-mal~in3 - , . ., .: ~ :

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means meets a stone or a roGt of a tree, a plant hole is only partly or not at all formed ;n the ground.

It has been suggested earlier to subject the hole-making means to vibration while it is being pushed into the ground. In this way the hola-making means starts a bouncing movement if it meets an obstacle underneath, and it performs some kind of a searching movement within a certain radius around the first con~act point between the hole-making means and the obstacle. The vibration o;
the hole-making means has been produced by directly or indirectly fastening an external vlbrator to the hole-making means. Such an arrangement is, however, relatively space-consuming and the vibrating element itself will be positioned rather far From the ;
tip of the hole-making means penetrating into the ground. Therefore~
the vibration has to pass a relatively long distance from the v1brating element to the tip oF the hole-making meanst which requires strong vibration and a solid construction of the different components of the planting device.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a planting device which eliminates the above mentioned drawback and in which it is possible to produce the vibration of the tip of the hole-making means by means of a simple construction as close to the tip as possible. This object is reached by means of a planting device in accordance with the present invention t which device is characterized in that the hole-making means is formed as a vibrator rod comprising an internal vibrating element.

~97~4 The invention i5 based on the idea that tne vibratin3 element of the vibrator is mounted inside the rod-shaped tip portion of the hole-making means, which tip portion is rigidly connected to the very hole-making tip. In this way a small-sized construction is provided and the vibration may be produced as close to the hole-making tip as possible. On the contrary, the power means of the vibrator may be fastened above the rod-shaped tip portion e.g. in a partic-ular support and be connected to the vibrating element by means of a power transmission means, such as a flexible drive shaft.

The vibration suggested for the hole-making means may also be utillzed for packing the ground surface around the set plant, whereby a packing means surrounding the hole-maktng means is also `
subjected to vibration by means of the vibrator of the hole-making means.

The Invention will be described more closely below with reference to the enclosed drawings, wherein Figure l is a vertical section of a preferred embodiment of a planting device in accordance with the invention, and Figures 2 to 5 are vertical views of the planting device at different working steps.

The plantin~ device shown in the drawings is designed for suspensicn on a support arm 100 shown by broken lines and belonging to a planting machin2. The plan~ing device mainly comprises a vertical tubular frame I verttcally displaceahly fixed to said suppor~ arm .. ; . . ..

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and a support sleigh 2 mounted vertically slidably inside the frame and a hole-making rod 3 supported by the sleigh. The support sleigh is connected to the piston rod 5 of a hydraulic cylinder 4 supported by the frame for the purpose of vertical displacement of the sleigh.
An electric, pneumatic or hydraulic motor 6 is mounted on the sleigh, which motor is by means of a fl~xible shaft 7 coupled to a rigid shaft extending through a support arm 8 of the hole-mak7ng rod and connected to a vibrating element 9 excentrically rotatably mounted inside the rod. The support arm 8 is fastened to a vibration absorber piece 10 supported by the support sleigh.

A packing collar 12 surrounding the rod 3 Ts fastened to the bottom end of the tubular frame by means of an absorber piece 11. A
feeding pipe 13 extends diagonally upwards from said collar and is fastened to an extension 15 of the feeding pipe by me~ns of ar, absorber plece 14.

:::
When plants are being set, the entire planting device is displaced - downwards with respect to the support arm 100 of the planting machine by means of hydraulic cylinders (not sho~n) to said arm and the frame, until the packing collar 12 contacts the ground surface, as is "` shown in Figure 2 by an arrow A.
~', Hereupon the hydraulic motor 6 is startei so that the rod 3 starts vibrating, and the rod is pressed downwards by means of the cylinder

4 a distance corresponding the depth of t'ne plant holc" as is shown In Figure 3 by an arrow B. The tip 3a of the rod is designed as a double cone so as to correspond to the size and shape or the plants 97~44 to be set. tf the rod meets an:obstacle when moving d~wnwards5 the rod starts a bouncing movement on the obs~acle so that th~ tip is swaying laterally. If the obstacle is small, the rod can in this way penetrat~ into the ground slightly on the side of the original contact point. The hydraulic motor may be arranged to rotate a~ a lower speed at the beginning of the hole-making step so that the frequency of vibration of the rod is lower at the beginning.

Hereupon the rod 3 is raised to the upper po;ition, as is shown by an arro~ C in Figure 4, and the plant 17 is fell down through the feeding pipe 13 and the packing collar 12 into the hole in ~ha ground, as is shown by an arrow D in Figure 4. Thereafter the packing collar 12 is vibrated by means of the vibrating elernent 9 of the hole-making rod 3. For this purpose the rod is arranged so that in the upper position (Fig. 4) of the rod it comes into such a contact with the packing çollar that the vibration movement of the rod is transferred straight to the packing collar. Owing to the vibration, the packing collar can better follow variations in the ground surface at the planting point as compared with a packtng means purely mechanically pressed against the ground.

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Hereupon the entire planting device is raise.d to a driving position, as is shown by an arrow E in Figure 5, and the rod 3 is lowered so that its tip reaches the level of the bottom edge of tne packing collar ~2.

All the above movemsnts can be easi1y made automatic by means of appropriate limit switches.

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7 1~97~ 4 The drawings and .he description relating thereto are only intend2d to illustrate the idea of the invention. In its details, the pl3ntill9 device accord;ng to the present ir.vention may vary considel-ably within the scope of the claims. In stead of a tractor-type planting machine, it is also possible to use a planting vehicle of ligh.a.
construction, e.g. of a portable type, which supports tne plantinq device.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A planting device for a plant setting machine, which planting device comprises a frame supported by the plant setting machine, hole-making means for making a hole for a plant in the ground, said hole-making means being vertically displaceably mounted on said frame, shifting means for displacing said hole-making means vertically with respect to said frame, a feeding pipe ending at the path of movement of said hole-making means for supplying a plant to said hole in the ground, and a vibrator for vibrating said hole-making means, said hole-making means including a vibrator rod comprising an internal vibrating element.

2. A planting device according to claim 1, wherein said vibrating element is positioned adjacent a hole-making tip of said vibrator rod.

3. A planting device according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said hole-making means comprises a drive motor mounted above said vibrator rod on a support, said support being fas-tened to a vertical support arm of said vibrator rod, and a flexible shaft connecting said motor to said vibrating element.

4. A planting device according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the lower part of said feeding pipe forms a packing means surrounding said hole-making means, and said vibrator rod is mounted in said feeding pipe in such a way that the vibrating element of said vibrator rod acts as a vibrator for said packing means.

5. A planting device comprising: a vertically displace-able hole-making rod having a tapered lower tip adapted to pene-trate the ground; means for moving said rod between a lower position in which said tip penetrates the ground and an eleva-ted position in which said tip resides above the ground; a plant-feed pipe having a lower end positioned to feed a plant into a hole formed by said hole-making rod; and means for vib-rating at least said tip of said hole-making rod including a mechanical vibrator element mounted internally within said hole-making rod at a position adjacent said tip and a motor drivingly connected to said element for vibrating said element.

6. A planting device as in claim 5 wherein said motor is a rotary motor disposed above said hole-making rod and wherein the driving connection between said motor and said vibrator ele-ment includes a rotary shaft means extending through said hole-making rod.

7. A planting device as in claim 5 wherein said motor is a rotary motor mounted on a non-rotating support, said support being connected to the upper end of said hole-making rod so that said motor is vertically displaceable with said rod, and wherein said rotary shaft means includes a rigid rotary shaft connected at its lower end to said vibrator element and at its upper end to a flexible rotary shaft which is driven by said motor.

8. A planting device as in claim 5 including a vertical tubular member having a flared lower end which is engageable with the ground for compacting earth about a plant, said hole making rod being located in said tubular member and in contact therewith at least adjacent said flared end so that vibration of said rod vibrates said tubular member.

9. A planting device as in claim 8 wherein said motor is a rotary motor located within said tubular member and mounted to the upper end of said hole-making rod, the driving connection between said motor and said vibrator element including rotary shaft means extending through said hole-making rod, and wherein said plant feed tube has a lower end in communication with said tubular member.