MXPA00002172A - Flexible rotatable drive shaft for a row crop planting unit - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a device (10) for spreading an agricultural product, comprising a tool holder (14), a drive shaft (40) fixed to the tool holder (14) and at least one spreader unit (12) which is mounted on the tool holder (14) and has a dosing device (24, 36) for metering doses of product to be spread, notably seed and/or chemicals. The invention provides for a flexible, rotating shaft (51, 62) which is linked to the drive shaft (40) and dosing device (24, 36) in a driving fashion.

Description

FLEXIBLE ROTATING IMPELLER AXIS FOR A SEED HARVESTING UNIT IN ROW Background of the Invention Field of the Invention The invention is directed to a crop and row seeder unit where the seed doser and the chemical doser are driven by a flexible rotating drive shaft.

Description of Previous Art Row crop planters, as the name suggests, are used to plant agricultural crops and rows. These seeders typically comprise a transverse tool bar on which a plurality of row crop units are mounted. The individual row units are coupled to the transverse tool bar by means of a parallel hinge, so that they are free to float vertically up and down. Each row harvesting unit is provided with a seed tank, a seed doser, a furrow opener and a seed tube extending from the seed doser to the seed sowing furrow opened by the furrow opener. Each individual row crop unit can also be provided with a chemical hopper, or chemical dispenser, and a chemical applicator to apply chemicals to the field. The seed doser and chemical doser are driven by a chain drive that extends from the dosers to a transverse drive shaft attached to the tool bar. The transverse drive shaft drives all harvest units and rows.

Currently, many farmers are practicing the techniques of minimum planting and threshing. These techniques include sowing directly into crop stubbles, including corn stalks. During corn harvest, the corn ear is stripped from the stem and the stem and roots remain in the field. Depending on the conditions, these stems can project upwards from the field. By passing the row planters on the stems, these stems can sometimes penetrate the row harvesting unit and dislodge the chain drive for the seed doser and chemical hopper of a single row seed drill unit. The farmer is usually warned of this condition by a seed monitor who warns him that seeds have not passed through the seed tube due to a non-driven seed meter. The farmer will then have to stop the tractor, get off the tractor, replace the chain on the cogwheels before he can place the seeds again. Some row crop planters provide thirty-one seeder units, so the maintenance required by current chain drive systems can be time-consuming and labor-intensive. Projectors and deflectors have been used to sustain this problem, but These have not been completely successful.

The flexible rotary shaft impellers has been used in agricultural applications. These have been used to remotely adjust the screens over a combined one. In addition these have been used in applications of seed seeding.

Synthesis of the Invention It is an object of the present invention to provide an impeller assembly for a row crop planter that is more secure with respect to stem eviction than a chain drive.

It is another object of this invention to provide a drive assembly that can be easily retrofitted to existing row crop planters, and which is easily assembled.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a drive assembly that can allow the individual planter unit to float vertically in relation to the tool bar and still function properly.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an impeller assembly for a row seeding machine that requires very little maintenance.

It is a feature of the present invention that the drive assembly is a flexible rotary shaft extending between the transverse drive shaft on the tool bar and the seed and chemical dispensers on the individual spinneret units.

The row crop planter of the present invention is a conventional seeder machine having a transverse tool bar on which a plurality of seeder units are mounted. Each seeding unit is provided with a seed hopper, a seed doser, a furrow opener and a seed tube that extends between the seed doser and the furrow opener.

In some additions, the crop and row seeding unit is also provided with a chemical hopper, chemical doser and chemical applicator.

The seed doser and chemical doser, if provided, are driven by a flexible rotating shaft extending from the drive shaft extending transversely to the feeders. A first gearbox is urgeably coupled to the drive shaft which extends transversely and is used to drive the flexible rotating shaft. A second gearbox, opposite to the seed metering is coupled to the flexible rotating shaft and torque is used to drive the seed metering device. A third gearbox, opposite to the chemical doser, is coupled to a flexible rotary shaft and is used to drive the chemical doser. The drive couplers between the gear boxes and the feeders are identical to those used in a conventional seeder unit.

Brief Description of the Drawings Figure 1 is a side view of a row crop planter mounted on a transverse tool bar.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of drive assembly of the present invention in a row crop planter.

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view and side detail of the first gearbox.

Description of the Preferred Incorporation Figure 1 is a side view of a row crop planter 10 showing a single row crop planter unit 12. It should be noted that a row crop planter will comprise an identical number of seeder units. Each one of the sowing units plants a single row when passing on the ground. The planter 10 comprises a plurality of row crop planter units 12 which are mounted on the transverse tool bar 14. The tool bar 14 can be very long and have bending mechanisms for the simplified transport of the row crop planter 10. The sowing units are coupled to the tool bar 14 by U-bolts 16. Each sowing unit 12 is provided with a frame 18 which is coupled to the transverse tool bar 14 by a parallelogram 20 joint. parallelogram 20 allows the individual row units 12 to move vertically up and down. The seeds are stored in a seed hopper 22 and are directed to the seed doser 24. From the seed doser 24 the seeds are thrown into the seed tube 26 which directs the seed metered into the seed furrow formed by the seed opener. grooves 28. Metering wheels 30 control the depth of sowing and closing wheels 32 close the seeded furrow.

Pesticides and / or other fertilizers can be stored in a chemical hopper 34 which is mounted on the sowing unit frame 18. A chemical dispenser 3 directs the dosed chemicals to a chemical applicator 38 The chemical applicator can be used to apply a variety of chemicals including insecticides and / or herbicides.

The seed dosers 24 and the chemical dosers 36 of the plurality of d-row units are driven by a transversely extending drive shaft 40 which is rotatably mounted in the transverse tool-bar. The transversely extending drive shaft 40 may be driven to ground through a suitable transmission or may be driven directly by a motor. The drive shaft 40 is an axis of 6 passing through d a first gearbox 42 which is mounted on the stationary plate 44 of the parallelogram link 20. The first gearbox 40 can be mounted on the stationary plate 44 as it was illustrated in figures 1 and 2, or it can be mounted directly on the transversal toolbar 14. However, in the preferred embodiment, the first gearbox 40 is mounted on the stationary plate 44. The first gearbox 40 is provided with a helical drive gear 46 through which the drive shaft 40 passes. The drive shaft 40 is impulsively coupled to the helical driving gear 46 which in turn drives the helical driven gear 48. The tubular portions 49 of the helical driven gear extend outwardly therefrom and can rotate in bearings located in the cover of the first gearbox 40. The tubular portions 49 are provided with square openings into which a square drive member 50 of a flexible rotating drive shaft 51 is inserted. Therefore, rotation of the driven gear 48 rotates its tubular parts 49 in turn by rotating. the square driving member 50 and therefore the rotary driving shaft 51. The flexible rotary driving shaft 51 is housed in a flexible non-rotating cover 52 that protects the drive shaft 51 from the elements. The flexible rotary drive shaft of the present invention is of the type marketed by Elliott Manufacturing of Binghamtom, New York.

The flexible rotating drive shaft 51 extends rearwardly beyond the parallel hinge 20 to the seed doser 24. The end of the rotating drive shaft remote from the first gearbox 40 is also provided with a square drive member identical to the square drive member 50. Opposed to the seed meter 24, the square drive member 50 is inserted into the second gear case 54 so that the driving rotation can be transferred from the flexible rotating drive shaft 51 to the second gear case 54. This arrangement is essentially identical to the arrangement used with the first gearbox 42 which is illustrated in Figure 3. The second gearbox 5 is provided with a helical drive gear 56 having tubular portions 57 provided with square openings for receiving the square drive member that the helical driving gear 56 rotates. The helical driving gear 56 drives the imp gear helical drive 58 which is operatively coupled to the transversely extending bolts 60 to drive the seed metering unit 24 The coupled transverse bolt drive for the seed metering device 24 is identical to the drive coupling used on existing seeding units so that these units they can be easily retrofitted to use the flexible rotary pulse shaft 51 of the present invention.

A second rotary drive shaft 62 extends between the second gearbox 54 to a third gearbox 64 which is located opposite the chemical doser 36. Again, the ends of the drive shaft provide square drive members which engage the two gear boxes. This arrangement is essentially identical to the arrangement used with the first gearbox 42 and illustrated in FIG. 3. The third gearbox 64 is provided with a helical drive gear 66 having the tubular portions 67 that are provided with a square opening for the driver. engaging the square driving member of the second rotating driving shaft 62. The second rotary driving shaft 62 in turn drives the helical driving gear 6 which drives the helical driven gear 68. The helical driving gear 68 is driveably coupled to drive coupler 70. The drive coupler 70 is identical to the drive coupler used on existing seeder units so that these units can easily feed back.

The invention should not be limited to the above-described embodiment, but should only be limited to the claims that follow.

Claims (9)

R E I V I N D I C A C I O N S
1. A row crop planter that includes: a toolbar that extends transversely; a transversely extending drive shaft rotatably coupled to the tool bar; a plurality of row crop planter units coupled to the tool bar, each row crop planter unit has a seed hopper to contain the seeds to be planted, a seed doser for dosing the seeds from the seed hopper. seeds, a furrow opener to form a seed trench, and a seed tube that extends between the seed doser and the furrow opener to direct the seeds from the seed batch to the seed furrow, a rotary driven shaft flexible that extends from the transversely extending drive shaft to the seed metering device for driving the seed metering device, the flexible rotating drive shaft is driven to the transversely extending drive shaft and to the seed metering device to transmit the rotational movement from the impeller shaft that extends transversely to the pair seed doser drives r the seed doser.
2. 2. Such a row crop planter is claimed in clause 1, further characterized in that it comprises a first gearbox located impulsively between the flexible rotating drive shaft and the transversely extending drive shaft for rotating the flexible shaft from the shaft. impeller that extends transversally and rotates.
3. 3. Such a row crop planter is claimed in clause 2, further characterized in that it comprises a second gearbox located impulsively between the flexible rotating drive shaft and the seed feeder to drive the seed feeder from the flexible rotating drive shaft. .
4. 4. A row crop planter as claimed in clause 3, characterized in that the first gearbox is provided with a drive gear that engages the transversely extending drive shaft, the first gearbox is also provided with a gear driven that meshes with the drive gear in the first gearbox to drive the flexible rotating drive shaft.
5. 5. Such a row crop planter is claimed in clause 4, characterized in that the second gearbox is provided with a drive gear which engages the flexible rotary drive shaft, the second gearbox is also provided with a driven gear that It meshes with the drive gear in the second gearbox to drive the seed doser.
6. 6. A row crop planter as claimed in clause 1, characterized in that each row crop planter unit also comprises a second hopper to contain chemicals, a chemical dispenser is used to measure the chemicals for a chemical applicator, wherein a second flexible rotating drive shaft extends between the seed doser and the chemical doser to drive the chemical doser.
7. 7. A row crop planter as claimed in clause 3, characterized in that each row crop planter unit also includes a second hopper to contain chemicals, a chemical dispenser is used to dose the chemicals to a chemical applicator, wherein a second rotary drive shaft extends between the second gearbox to drive the seed feeder of a third gearbox to drive the chemical feeder.
8. 8. A row crop planter as claimed in clause 1, characterized in that the flexible rotating drive shaft is housed in a flexible stationary cover.
9. 9. A row crop planter as claimed in clause 6, characterized in that the flexible rotating drive shaft and the second flexible rotating drive shaft are housed in a flexible stationary cover. R E S U E N The seed and chemical dispenser of a row crop planter unit is driven by a flexible rotating shaft extending from a main thrust shaft that extends transversely for all seeder units. A first gearbox is urgeably coupled to the transversely extending drive shaft and is used to drive the flexible rotating shaft. A second gearbox, opposite to the seed metering, is coupled to the flexible rotating shaft and is used to drive the second metering device. A third gearbox, opposite to the chemical doser, is coupled to a flexible rotating shaft and is used to drive the chemical doser. The drive couplings between the gear boxes and the feeders are identical to those used in a conventional seeder unit.