Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01B—SOIL WORKING IN AGRICULTURE OR FORESTRY; PARTS, DETAILS, OR ACCESSORIES OF AGRICULTURAL MACHINES OR IMPLEMENTS, IN GENERAL
  • A01B33/00—Tilling implements with rotary driven tools, e.g. in combination with fertiliser distributors or seeders, with grubbing chains, with sloping axles, with driven discs
  • A01B33/16—Tilling implements with rotary driven tools, e.g. in combination with fertiliser distributors or seeders, with grubbing chains, with sloping axles, with driven discs with special additional arrangements
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01B—SOIL WORKING IN AGRICULTURE OR FORESTRY; PARTS, DETAILS, OR ACCESSORIES OF AGRICULTURAL MACHINES OR IMPLEMENTS, IN GENERAL
  • A01B49/00—Combined machines
  • A01B49/02—Combined machines with two or more soil-working tools of different kind

Definitions

• This invention relates to the tilling of soil and the formation in such soil of ridges and inter-ridge bed formations suitable for the planting of root crops such as potatoes or other crops requiring the shaped ridging of soil relative to the general ground level along the regions of intended planting of the crop.
• a root crop such as a crop of potatoes on a large scale
• a so-called tilling machine Such preparation of the ridges and inter-ridge beds frequently involves the conventionally used processes of destoning and/or breaking down heavy clods of soil into an acceptably fine tilth for the purposes of root crop growth.
• This initial formation of the ridges results in. a formation that requires additional shaping and a degree of compaction to ensure that the ridge retains its shape
• the finally prepared beds/ridges should have a generally a triangular cross-section in the sense that the walls of the ridges being inwardly inclined towards a flattened top level, and should be sufficiently compacted to ensure the required shape retention.
• This has necessitated a final shaping of the raised bed and thus has historically required the use of additional machinery separately tractor towed across a field
• soil tilling machines can and have taken many differing constructional forms and modes of operation including, for example, tilling the soil in such manner as to provide a series of parallel ridges of a finer tilth than originally present. Nevertheless what ever their specific form and mode of operation the tiller machines have historically been used to carry out a single soil preparation stage determined by the particular design of the tiller machine.
• U is an object of the present invention to provide a method of and apparatus for overcoming these perceived shortcomings.
• a method of working/preparing soil in which the production and the final shaping/profiling of a raised bed/ridge of soil for receiving a crop are carried out during the same pass of a machine over said soil.
• a method of forming a crop receiving raised bed with a predetermined profile in a field or the like characterised by the step of carrying out, during the same pass of a machine over a predetermined region of the field both the formation of a raised bed/ridge and subsequent shaping of the upstanding crop receiving bed formation to provide predetermined profile and soil compaction.
• the shaping forms a raised bed/ridge having a flattened top surface and side walls that are inclined inwardly towards the top whereby the base of the bed/ridge is wider that the top surface of the bed/ridge.
• the present invention provides a machine which combines/integrates the operational functions of a soil tilling machine and a soil bed forming machine so that soil tilling and bed forming can be carried out on a single pass of the machine across a terrain in which tilling and bed forming is required.
• apparatus/machine for use in the preparation of a raised and shaped crop receiving bed formation, characterised by a first section incorporating means for tilling soil as to form an elongate raised bed/ridge for a crop along a predetermined direction of a field, and by a second section operationally positioned downstream of the first section and incorporating means for shaping the raised bed/ridge thereby to produce a raised bed/ridge with a predetermined profile, the arrangement being such that the apparatus/machine is able to both produce and shape the raised bed during a single pass of the machine cross a field.
• a further aspect of the invention provides a apparatus/machine for producing at least one elongate raised bed for receiving a crop to be planted, characterised in that the operational functions of a ground tilling machine and a soil bed/ridge forming machine are integrally combined into a single machine in such manner that so that soil tilling to form the bed/ridge and a subsequent shaping to produce a raised bed/ridge with a predetermined shaped profile and soil compaction can be carried out on a single pass of the apparatus/machine across a terrain in which both tilling and bed forming is required.
• the shaping forms a raised bed/ridge having a flattened top surface and side walls that are inclined inwardly whereby the base of the bed/ridge is wider that the top surface of the bed/ridge.
• the machine is characterised by height ways adjustable means for producing a flat upper surface to the raised bed/ridge and by means for producing inwardly inclined side walls to the raised bed/ridge and for compacting the side walls to such extend that the shaped raised bed/ridge retains its formation.
• the height ways adjustable means includes a plate that is mounted to be selectively inclinable to the horizontal, with the plate providing a trailing edge region serving to form the top surface of the raised bed/ridge.
• each one of the inclined side walls of the bed ridge is formed by the rolling action of the surface of a roller contacting the sides of the bed/ridge.
• rollers are selectively positioned with respect to each other.
• the rollers associated with the bed/ridge side walls are resiliently loaded one towards the other the loading being such as to assist in producing a required degree of compaction of the raised bed/ridge.
• Figure 1 is a combined side and rear view of a combined soil tilling machine and bed forming machine incorporating the concepts of the invention.
• Figure 2 is a view of the machine of Figure 1 illustrating the rear of the machine in greater detail.
• the apparatus/machine 1 shown therein can conveniently be regarded as comprising two main sections, a first section 2 that is intended to act as a soil tilling i.e., ridge forming apparatus, and a second section 3 that is intended to provide the function of producing a raised bed/ridge with a specifically required shape/profile.
• the soil tilling section 2 incorporates a main framework of which a part is illustrated at 4 to which is mounted a rotatable shaft (not shown) carrying the requisite soil tilling tools (not shown).
• This first second is mounted upon wheels and is adapted for attachment to a towing tractor or the like.
• the soil tilling tools can be any of the tools conventionally used such as discs, tines or combinations thereof for preparing a required degree of fineness for a soil tilth in which it is intended to plant a root crop and which produces at least one ridge or raised crop bed..
• the tilling tools and the shaft and the associated mounts therefore are enclosed by a casing 5.
• This casing incorporates end plates 6, a top plate 7, mountings for the various external components 8 for the tilling section and a rear cover/plate 9 which effectively closes in the rear of the tiller section 2 to a level above any raised bed/ridge that the tiller section may be intended to produce.
• the tiller section 2 additionally incorporates conventional form attachments 10 by which the whole machine may be connected receive operational drive from to a prime mover such as a tractor (not shown).
• a prime mover such as a tractor (not shown).
• the tiller section itself can be regarded as being of conventional form further description of the tiller section is not thought necessary.
• the tiller section can be a rotary tiller of the type marked by the Applicants under the trade name rota-tiller.
• the rear end of the tiller section is used as the mounting/support framing etc., for the bed forming section 3.
• This section 3 can be conveniently regarded as including a generally trapezoidal shaped main frame 11 including parallel members 12 and 13, the member 13 being shorter than the member 12, and relatively inclined side members 10.
• Parallel spaced apart members 15 and 16 bridge the two parallel members 12 and 13 and extend rearwards of the shorter parallel member 13.
• This trapezoidal frame is pivotally coupled to the rear of the tiller section 2 so as to be pivotal relative to the tiller section to enable the frame 1 1 to be inclined at a required angle to the horizontal.
• the side rails 14 and the central rails 15 and 16 of the frame 1 1 are provided with lugs 17 that are pivotally connected to mounting points 18 on the tiller section 2.
• the frame 11 is held in a required inclined position by a support framework 19 that connects by way of a screw adjustment device 20 to an appropriate support 21 provided on the structure of the tiller section 2.
• this adjustment is illustrated as including a threaded sleeve 22 interconnecting two threaded bars 23, one coupled to the frame 1 1 and the other connected to the tiller section 2 whereby rotation of the sleeve by way of a handle 24 relatively displaces the bars 23 towards or away from each other thereby lifting or lowering the frame 1 1.
• This plate 25 thus extends rearwards of the frame 11 and serves as a top plate with respect to the flat top of a bed or ridge (not shown) to be formed in the soil.
• the position of the frame determines the position of this plate 25 and the latter effectively defines the height of the crop bed/ridge formed by the section 3.
• the angular setting of the frame 11 and its height position relative to the tilling section 2 defines the height of the bed/ridge above surrounding ground level.
• the space defined by the rear 9 of the section 2, and the rearwardly extending top plate 25 is closed at each of the sides thereof by side plate structures 27.
• Each side plate structure 27 comprises a first section including a generally vertical first plate portion 28 that is of a generally rectangular form and which connected to the tiller section 3 by a connection 29 allowing pivotal movement about a vertical axis.
• a second plate portion 30 that is of a generally triangular form, as is shown in the Figure 1 is pivotally connected to the plate portion 28. This second plate section 30 is inwardly inclined to the vertical such that the upper edge region 31 thereof is closely adjacent to the adjacent side edge of the second top plate 25.
• the outermost inclined edge region of the second plate 30 mounts a roller assembly 32 that is intended to exert bed side wall forming pressure upon the soil to be formed into a shaped bed.
• Each roller assembly 32 includes a roller 33 rotatably mounted by a bracket 34 attached to the second plate section and a roller scraper unit 35 carried by the bracket, the latter being resiliently loaded towards the roll 33.
• the mountings for the brackets 34 are such that the inclination of the rollers 33 to the plate 25 can be selectively set to the vertical.
• the two side plate structures 27 are resiliently loaded towards each other by a compression spring arrangement 36 including springs 37 whose compression loading is selectively adjustable by appropriate adjustment of retaining nuts 38 on a threaded bar 39 carrying the compression springs.
• the overall separation between the rollers 33 can be varied and set into required relative positioning relative to each other by an arrangement including a pivotal connection 29 between the plate 28 and the tiller section end casing 6, a screwed member 39 pivotally connected to the end casing engaging the end of a rotatable sleeve 40 whose other end threadably engages with a reverse threaded screw member 41 pivotally attached to the roll bracket.
• a pivotal connection 29 between the plate 28 and the tiller section end casing 6 a screwed member 39 pivotally connected to the end casing engaging the end of a rotatable sleeve 40 whose other end threadably engages with a reverse threaded screw member 41 pivotally attached to the roll bracket.
• the combination of the top plate 25 and the side plate structures 27 effectively interact to provide a hood located downstream of the tilling section 2 and in such position that as the tilling section is advanced across a field the tilled soil is directed by way of the hood arrangement into a ⁇ shape defined by the height of the rearmost edge 26 of the top plate 25 above the field base level, and by the angular set of the rollers 33 carried by the side plate structures 27.
• the required tools are provided on the tiller section 2 for the production of the raised ridge like formations.
• the bed forming section is then adjusted so the the trailing edge 26 of the plate 25 is set at the required height above the normal level of the field involved by appropriate adjustment of the angular setting of main frame 11 by suitable direction rotation of the sleeve 20 by way of the handle 19.
• rollers 33 are set to the required setting relative to the plate 25 by suitable rotational adjustment of the sleeve 40. It will be appreciated that the resilient loading of the rollers 33 towards each other can be adjusted by rotation of the nuts 38 associated with the springs 36.
• the shaping section is integrally mounted from the tilling machine the practical usage problems that arise with the controlling, from a towing tractor, of the operation of two separate machines which have their own operational movements when being trailed across a field.
• the final shaping/profiling of the raised bed/ridge is integrally related to the formation of the bed/ridge as produced by the tilling section of the machine.
• the shape of the bed/ridge is readily ascertainable from the Figure 2 as being represented by the trapezoidal space beneath the trailing edge 25 and the inclined faces of the rollers 33.

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• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Soil Sciences (AREA)
• Environmental Sciences (AREA)
• Soil Working Implements (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=27763804

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Families Citing this family (5)

Family Cites Families (10)

• 2003
  • 2003-07-15 GB GB0316472A patent/GB0316472D0/en not_active Ceased
• 2004
  • 2004-07-15 EP EP04743418A patent/EP1646274A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2004-07-15 GB GB0415821A patent/GB2403886B/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2004-07-15 WO PCT/GB2004/003078 patent/WO2005006834A1/en active Application Filing

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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