GB2369027A

GB2369027A - A multi-land profiler

Info

Publication number: GB2369027A
Application number: GB0125877A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Philip Roberts
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2000-10-28
Filing date: 2001-10-29
Publication date: 2002-05-22
Anticipated expiration: 2021-10-29
Also published as: GB2369027B; GB0125877D0; GB0026443D0

Abstract

A multi-land profiler, or cultivator, for use in the preparation of soil comprises a frame 1 which supports a plurality of rows of knives 15, the knives 15 of one row being offset relative to the knives in the other row in the direction of the rows. The frame 1 may also support at least one row of tines 4 in front of the knives 15, and a roller 14 behind the knives 15 which supports the frame 1. The tines 4 and the knives 15 penetrate the surface of the ground to cultivate the soil even in difficult conditions such as heavy clay with a relatively low amount of power being required to drag the profiler. The height of the knives 15 may be adjusted via a subframe 16. The overall machine height may be adjusted via wheel 7.

Description

A MULTI-LAND PROFILER

This invention relates to a multi-land profiler, and in particular to a cultivator, its purpose to work mainly post ploughed land.

Currently the farming industry utilises various forms of machine to prepare ploughed land for seeding. They have various limitations which affects the time at which seeding can take place.

The preparation of soil presents many difficulties to the designer of machinery. A truly versatile machine must be designed to function satisfactorily in a wide variety of conditions including at one extreme working on hard or clay bound land and at the other light sandy soil.

Taking into account these conditions the applicant has identified a requirement for a machine for use in the preparation of ploughed land using reduced power consumption compared to similar methods currently on the market.

Products on the market that are used to achieve the same result similar to this invention are; cultivators, spring tine cultivators, rotary power harrows, discs. All of these types of machine, whilst successful for use in a limited range of conditions have the same limitations in that they can not on their own completely profile soil and also use a lot of horsepower to bring the soil to a satisfactory condition.

These machines in certain soil conditions can only provide moderate results when compared to this invention.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a machine for use in cultivating soil which overcomes at least some of problems present with prior art machines.

In accordance with a first aspect the invention provides apparatus for use in the preparation of soil comprising a frame, which supports a plurality of knives which cut through the ground, one or more of the knives being offset relative to one or more other of the knives in a direction orthogonal to the direction of movement of the apparatus in use.

The knives may be arranged in two or more rows which each extend in a direction orthogonal to the direction of travel of the apparatus when in use to prepare soil. The rows may be linear and parallel to one another.

The knives in one or more of the rows may be staggered relative to the knives in one other of the rows in the direction of the rows. All of the knives of a row may be staggered relative to the knives of all the other rows.

In operation the knives present very little drag as they pass through he soil, but due to the staggered arrangement breaks down the soil into a uniform and levelled consistency, ideal for drilling, which can be carried out at this operation if the conditions are right for drilling seeds.

The rows or banks of knives may be set in a staggered formation. Each knife may be inclined at an angle of between 20 and 45 degrees to the ground. The lowest point of the knife may trail the top of the knife relative to the direction of travel. The knives may be set to penetrate a depth of between 4 and 10 inches into the ground.

Each knife may be double edged, and may be manufactured from a rectangular strip or plate of material. The long sides of the strip may be sharpened to form the blade edges. They may be made of hardened steel.

The or each of the blades may be reversible to allow a different blade to be directed towards the front of the frame when a blade is badly worn. This allows their life to be extended. The knives may therefore be supported by a reversible mount, socket or bracket which allows the blade to be mounted in at least two positions.

Lifting means may be provided for raising the frame and the knives above the ground when it is moved from one piece of land to another. This may comprise an axle carrying a pair of spaced wheels, the axle being secured to the frame through an adjustable mechanism, which permits the wheels to be raised and lowered relative to the frame. The height adjustment allows the knives to be raised clear of the ground. This allows the apparatus to be towed along a road.

The adjustable mechanism may include a pivoting swing arm, which is pivoted about a point on the frame and supports the axle at its free end.

The knives may be supported on a sub frame, which is in turn supported by the frame. The position of the sub frame relative to the (main) frame may be adjustable.

The adjustable mechanism may include one or more hydraulic cylinders.

The invention, in at least one embodiment is able to provide the following advantages: 1. To reduce clod size i. e. soil turned over by the plough breast;

2. To cultivate and in certain conditions simultaneously seed the soil ; 3. Utilising design criteria, which are based around the use of minimum 150 horse power tractor unit, towing a 4 meter span machine; 4. To minimise the number of passes over the soil; 5. To utilise one machine instead of several machines currently needed for the same results.

The frame may also include one or more rows or banks of tines, which may be supported by the frame in front of the knives. The purpose of the tines is to initially break down the clod size. These are also adjustable between depths of 8 and 15 inches into the ground in use. By tines we mean any tine of a type or types which are commonly available in the industry.

The rows of tines may be linear and parallel to one another and to the rows of knives. The tines may be secured to the frame.

A tow bar may be provided at the front of the frame for attachment of the device to a tractor unit or the like. This may include a mechanism by which the height of the front of the frame relative to the tractor unit can be adjusted.

The frame may further support a roller, which may be supported behind the knives relative to the direction of travel of the apparatus in use. The rollers may also set the height of the frame above this to level and consolidate the soil. It also sets the height of the rear of the frame above the ground, which, together with the drawbar determines how far the knives penetrate the soil.

The drawbar, which attaches to the frame may include an adjustment mechanism, which allows the frame to be levelled in relation to the knives which should be parrallel to the ground. The adjustment device may have either a manual or a hydraulic or an electrical operation.

As such, the roller should be positioned relative to the frame such that it is forced into the ground that has been worked over by the tines and the knives.

More than one roller may be provided. The rollers may have a common axis of rotation, or may be staggered and overlap one another. This is especially suitable when a gullwing design of frame is used.

The roller may share the support of the frame with the tractor unit attached to the drawbar when cultivating. When it is desired to move the frame along a road the wheels on the axle may be moved to a lower position in which they raise the roller, the tines and the knives above the ground.

A hopper for seed may be provided which the frame supports. It may be supported generally above the level of the frame.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by using the enclosed drawings as follows: Figure 1 shows the general arrangement of the land profiler of the present invention viewed as a side elevation; Figure 2 shows the adjustment method used to set the levels of the framework in relation to the ground;

Figure 3 shows a plan view of the apparatus of Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings ; and Figure 4 is an illustration of an alternative adjustment means which incorporates a hydraulic ram.

Referring to Figure 1 the assembly comprises a frame 1 which is of sturdy manufacture utilising rectangular hollow section throughout. The frame is supported at one end above the ground by a pair of running wheels arranged on opposing ends of an axle secured at one end of the frame 7. The other end of the frame is supported by a draw bar 2, which can be secured to a tractor unit for towing the frame.

The axle is fixed to the frame at a pivot point by a pivoting arm. One or more hydraulic cylinders are connected between a point on the frame spaced from the pivot point and the axle. The or each of the hydaulic cylinders may be adjusted in length enabling the wheels to be raised or lowered.

In operation the cylinders (8) are extended which brings the wheels (7) to the ground and the frame (1) is levered upwards from the hitching point by placing the weight of the frame onto the towing hitch of the tractor.

The hydraulic cylinders are each supplied from a common hydraulic feed and so they work together to place the load between the wheels (7) and the tow hitch area (3).

At the point where the cylinders are fully extended the whole of the frame including the tines, the knives and the roller are clear of the ground.

The design feature is that in this position the turning radius of the tractor and frame is kept very tight for its size. This is an ideal feature where there are obstacles, the field is awkwardly shaped or particularly when turning to continue working, at which time the frame is lowered back to its pre-set height position.

Not shown in the drawings is a feature that will hydraulically raise the sides up into a"gull winged"position. This feature will effectively narrow the unit for transportation along the highways.

The draw bar 2 comprise an A frame construction and would be a suitable method which would provide stability during towing.

The draw bar is attached to the frame via a pin and bush pivot system, which allows the draw bar to pivot about the frame.

The point at which the draw bar attaches to the tractor unit 3 will be a standard device for mating to the existing draw bar of the tractor unit.

The tow bar is also attached to the frame through an adjustable hydraulic assembly shown in more detail in Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings.

The assembly comprises a bracket 10, which is fixed to the draw bar and has an endmost portion, which is positioned at least partially over the main frame. A threaded bar extends passes through a hole in the endmost portion towards the main frame and terminates with a T-bar, which rests against the main frame. Two lock nuts-one above the hole in the bracket and one below-are threaded onto the bar. Adjustment of the nuts along the bar increases or decreases the vertical spacing between the tow bar and the main frame. The tee bar rests against the frame and thus alters the angle of the frame to the roller 14.

In addition a hydraulic cylinder 8 connects a midportion of the tow bar to the frame and can be adjusted to vary the angle of the frame relative to the tow bar.

This feature therefore ensures level alignment of the frame to the ground.

Whilst the adjustment assembly shown in Figure 2 is essentially a mechanical adjustment design, a hydraulic version could be provided which would provide a better method of adjustment. For example a hydraulic cylinder pushing a taper into the gap between the tow bar bracket and the main frame would adjust the height. This is illustrated in Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings.

The frame supports a number of devices, which depend from the frame towards and into contact with the ground. These devices disturb the soil as the frame is dragged along on its roller by the tractor unit to cultivate the soil.

The devices include two (optional) rows of rigid tines which are set in a staggered formation along the front of the frame (relative to the direction of travel in use), as can be seen in Figures 1 and 3 of the accompanying drawings. One row comprises 14 tines whilst the other comprises 15 tines, the rows extending orthogonal to the direction of travel of the frame in use. The tines of one row are also offset relative to the tines of the other row in the direction of the rows.

The main purpose of these tines is to break the surface of the soil in the preparation for the knives.

Following behind the tines, towards the centre of the frame, are four parallel rows of cutting blades 15. These rows are parallel to the rows of the tines. The cutting blades are mounted on a sub-frame 16, which has the blades, bolted to them in the staggered formation as seen in Figure 3 of the accompanying drawings.

The cutting blades are manufactured out of a hardened steel and to allow for ease of maintenance are double-edged and designed to be rotated through 180 degrees about their axis to present a new edge and then replaced once all edges are worn.

The sub-frame 16 is mounted under the main frame via the adjustable mounting points 17 which can be either mechanical or hydraulic.

Following the tines and the blades, towards the rear of the frame, is a roller 14, which is as wide as the main frame. The roller serves two purposes, as follows: 1. To provide a pivot point at which the frame can be aligned to the ground against the draw bar; 2. To set the consistency of the soil for seeding. The roller can be hollow and can be filled with water to increase or decrease the weight of roll accordingly.

An additional feature which can be utilised with the land profiler, and which is shown in the accompanying drawings, is a seeding hopper 18 located on top of the main frame.

The apparatus of the present invention grades the soil to such a quality that in most conditions seeding can be carried out at the same time.

Optionally for use in some soils a set of soil lifting legs can be installed at the tow bar end of the apparatus. The legs are set to ploughing depth and will be used to lift the compacted soil as the machine behind then grades and seeds the soil.

Claims

1. Apparatus for use in the preparation of soil comprising a frame, which supports a plurality of knives which cut through the ground, one or more of the knives being offset relative to one or more other of the knives in a direction orthogonal to the direction of movement of the apparatus in use.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the knives are arranged in one or more rows.

3. Apparatus according to Claim 1 in which the rows are preferably parallel and linear and extend in a direction orthogonal to the direction of travel of the apparatus in use.

4. Apparatus according to Claim 1, claim 2 or Claim 3 in which the rows or banks of knives are set in a staggered formation of between 20 and 45 degrees to the ground and at a depth of between 4 and 10 inches into the ground.

5. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which each knife is double edged, the knives being reversible to allow a different blade to be directed towards the front of the frame when a blade is badly worn.

6. Apparatus according to any preceding claim which further includes a height adjustment means for adjusting the height of the frame above the ground when it is moved from piece of land to another.

7. Apparatus according to Claim 6 in which the height adjustment means comprises an axle carrying a pair of spaced wheels, the axle being

secured to the frame through an adjustable mechanism, which permits the wheels to be raised and lowered relative to the frame.

8. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which the knives are supported on a sub frame, which is in turn supported by the frame.

9. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which the frame may also supports one or more rows or banks of tines in front of the knives.

10. Apparatus according to Claim 9 in which the rows of tines are linear and parallel to one another and to the rows of knives.

11. Apparatus according to Claim 9 or Claim 10 in which the tines are secured to the frame by an adjustable sub frame, which allows the distance that they depend from the frame to be varied.

12. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which a tow bar is provided at the front of the frame for attachment of the frame to a tractor unit or the like.

13. Apparatus according to Claim 12 in which the tow bar includes a mechanism by which the height of the front of the frame relative to the tractor unit can be adjusted.

14. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which the frame further supports a roller spaced behind the knives relative to the direction of travel of the apparatus in use.

15. Apparatus according to Claim 13 in which more than one roller is provided.

16. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which a hopper for seed is provided which the frame supports.

17. Apparatus for use in the preparation of soil substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.