NL2028992B1 - Tilling apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Tilling apparatus (1) comprising a row of rotary supports (9), each rotary support being rotatable about a vertical axis of rotation. Tilling elements (18), such as hoeing teeth, extend downwardly from the rotary supports. The tilling elements are mounted to the respective rotary supports by a spring element (15), such as for example a U—shaped leaf spring with one leg connected to the tilling element and another leg connected to the rotary support.

Description

33826-Zo/AV

Tilling apparatus

The present disclosure relates to a tilling apparatus comprising: - a row of rotary supports, each rotary support being rotatable about a vertical axis of rotation crossing said rotary support; - tilling elements, such as teeth or prongs, extending downwardly from the rotary supports; - a powered drive for driving the rotary supports,.

The rotary supports rotate about a vertical axis a horizontal plane, usually in technically the same horizontal plane within accepted tolerances. Such a tilling apparatus can for example be a tractor propelled apparatus powered via the power take-off shaft of the tractor. To obtain complete coverage of the surface to be tilled, the rotary supports can be arranged so that they have overlapping rotation ranges.

This has the drawback that stones or similar objects in the ground surface can get stuck between two tilling elements and block or seriously damage the tilling apparatus.

An example of such a tilling apparatus is disclosed in US 4,299,291, relating to a power harrow. A similar power harrow is disclosed in EP 1 208 729 Al.

It is an object of the invention to provide a tilling apparatus that is more resistant to the impact of stones, boulders, wood blocks or similar objects in the soil to be worked.

The object of the invention is achieved with a tilling apparatus as defined in the starting paragraph, with at least some of the tilling elements being mounted to the respective rotary support by a spring element.

It was found that the spring elements allowed stones and similar objects to escape from the tilling elements, so the risk of damaging or blocking of the tilling apparatus was significantly reduced.

In the event of an impact load, the spring element allows resilient displacement of a tilling element relative to the associated rotary support. During tilling, in the absence of stones or similar objects, the relative position between the tilling element and the rotary support remains unchanged, i.e., without changes on a technically meaningful scale.

The spring elements can for example be leaf springs, e.g., metal leaf spring, in particular steel, such as spring steel, in particular stainless steel or spring steel. In a particular embodiment, the leaf spring can have a substantially U-shaped cross section with two legs and a backbone bridging the two legs at one side of the cross section, with a first leg being fixed to the respective tilling element and the second leg being fixed to the respective rotary support. Good results are achieved if the backbone of the U-shaped cross section extends substantially vertical, e.g., at a leading side viewed in rotational direction or at a trailing side. In such a position, the spring element has a significantly higher spring stiffness in vertical direction then in a transversal horizontal direction.

The increased vertical spring stiffness ensures that all tilling elements remain at technically the same horizontal level, resulting in more even tillage.

In a specific embodiment, the rotary support may comprise a horizontal beam and two or more downwardly extending legs connected to one of the spring elements. The horizontal beam can for example overlap the spring elements wholly or partly.

Optionally, the tilling apparatus has a single row of rotary supports with overlapping rotation ranges, each rotary support being configured to rotate in a direction opposite to the rotational direction of an adjacent rotary support.

In an alternative embodiment, the tilling apparatus can have two or more rows of rotary supports in staggered arrangement. In such an arrangement, the rotation ranges do not need to overlap in order to obtain complete coverage of the soil surface to be tilled. Therefore, the rotary supports can be placed further apart so the risk of obstruction of the mechanism by stones is substantially less.

Hence, the invention also relates to a tilling apparatus comprising: - at least two rows of rotary supports, each rotary support being rotatable about a vertical axis of rotation; - tilling elements extending downwardly from the rotary supports; - a powered drive for driving the rotary supports, wherein the rotary supports in one row are staggered relative to the rotary supports of a next row. The rows are substantially parallel but do not need to be of the same length. This arrangement can also be used without using spring elements to mount the tilling elements.

The rotary supports of the two or more rows can have the same direction of rotation or have opposite directions of rotation, e.g., alternately within a row or alternately per row, e.g., alle rotary supports in one row having the same direction of rotation, which is opposite to the direction of rotation of the rotary supports in a next row. Other arrangements can also be used.

In particular embodiments, the tilling elements comprise straight harrow tines or teeth. This is particularly suitable if the rotary tiller is a power harrow.

In other embodiments, the tilling elements may for example comprise L-shaped hoeing teeth with lower ends extending horizontally toward the vertical axis of rotation.

This configuration is particularly suitable for weed cutters, hoeing machines or machines for loosening gravel of a gravel path or similar soil covering material.

The powered drive can for example be a drive train to be powered via the power take-off shaft of the tractor. In that case the tilling apparatus can for example be attached to the rear end of a tractor, e.g., behind the tractor or in an offset arrangement. Alternatively, the tilling apparatus can be a self-propelled carriage with a motor drive for driving the rotary supports, or the tilling apparatus can have any other suitable driving means.

The above-described aspects will hereafter be more explained with further details and benefits with reference to the drawings showing an exemplary embodiment.

Figure 1: shows an exemplary embodiment of the rotary tiller;

Figure 2: shows the tiller of Figure 1 from the rear side;

Figure 3: shows in detail a rotary support with tilling elements;

Figure 4: shows a spring element of the rotary support of Figure 3;

Figure 5: shows an alternative embodiment, having two staggered rows of rotary supports.

Figures 1 and 2 show a rotary tilling apparatus 1, more particularly a weed cutter or hoeing machine, which can be coupled to a tractor and be driven via a power take-off shaft of the tractor. The rotary tiller 1 comprises a frame 2 with side walls 3, a central hollow bar 4 extending between the two side walls 3 and two parallel uprights 5 carried by the central hollow bar 4. The two uprights 5 carry and guide a hitch frame 6 in a height adjustable manner. A yoke 7 is mounted on top of the hitch frame 6 for connection to a tractor. On top of the central hollow bar 4 below the yoke 7, is a gear box 8 connectable to the power take-off shaft of a 5 tractor.

A row of rotary supports 9 is suspended from a lower side of the central hollow beam 4. The rotary supports 9 comprise a rotary disc 10 and a holder frame 11 mounted to the lower side of the rotary disc 10. The rotary discs 10 are driven to rotate by means of the tractors power drive via the gear box 8 and a drive train hidden from view within the central hollow beam 4. The rotary supports 9 are driven to rotate about a vertical axis of rotation R (see Figure 3).

The holder frame 11 is shown in more detail in

Figure 3. The holder frame 11 comprises a horizonal beam 12, two legs 13 extending downward from the horizontal beam 12 and a horizontal transverse bar 14 bridging the two legs 13 at a distance below the horizontal beam 12. Both legs 13 have a surface facing the other leg 13 and an opposite surface engaging a spring element 15 bolted to the respective leg 13.

In the shown embodiment, the spring element 15 is configured as a U-shaped leaf spring, which is shown in more detail as a separate part in Figure 4. Other spring elements can also be used, if so desired. In alternative embodiments the holder frame 11 may have three or more legs 13.

The leaf spring 15 has a U-shaped cross section with two substantially parallel legs 16 and a backbone 17 bridging the two legs 16 at one side of the cross section, with a first leg 16A being fixed to a tilling element 18 and the second leg 16B being fixed to the holder frame 11 of the rotary support 9. The backbone 17 of the U-shaped cross section extends vertically at a leading side viewed in rotational direction R.

Hence, the rotary support 9 carries two tilling elements 18 and leaf springs 15 symmetrically arranged about the vertical axis of rotation R. In alternative embodiments, the rotary support 9 may carry three or more tilling elements 18.

In the shown embodiment, the tilling elements 18 are

L-shaped hoeing teeth, with an elongated vertical section 19 connected to the U-shaped leaf spring 15, and a shorter section 20 extending substantially horizontal toward the vertical axis of rotation R, so the horizontal sections 20 of the two tilling elements 18 point inwardly towards each other.

The horizontal lower sections 20 of the tilling elements 18 are all in substantially the same horizontal plane, so they have essentially the same depth in the soil to be tilled.

These types of tilling elements 18 are particularly useful for weed cutters or hoeing machines, since they loosen the top layer of the soil and cut any weed within their reach.

The rotary supports 9 have overlapping rotation ranges in order to obtain complete coverage of the surface to be hoed. Therefore, each rotary support 8 is driven to rotate in a direction opposite to the rotational direction of an adjacent rotary support 9. If stones or similar objects get stuck between the tilling elements 18, the tilling elements can be pushed aside against the action of the respective leaf spring 15. This way, obstruction of the tilling mechanism can effectively be prevented.

The shown exemplary embodiment of the rotary tiller 1 further has two swivel arms 21, both carrying a single rotary disc 22 with a set of tilling elements 18. These serve to till areas besides the path of the traveling tractor, e.g., between trees. Alternative embodiments can be without swivel arms, or they can have more than two swivel arms and/or have one or more swivel arms with more than one rotor head.

At the front side of the rotary tiller 1 is a rotatable drum 23 with a substantially horizontal cylindrical axis for levelling and compacting the tilled soil and for stabilizing the rotary tiller 1 during operation.

Figure 5 shows a bottom view of an alternative embodiment of a rotary tiller 30. This rotary tiller 30 has two parallel rows of rotary supports 31 each carrying three downwardly extending hoeing teeth 18 with horizontal sections 20 extending inwardly towards the central vertical axis of rotation R of the respective rotary support 31. Each rotary support 31 comprises three downwardly extending legs 32. A U- shaped leaf spring 33 connects a vertical section of each hoeing tooth 18 to an inner face of the respective leg 32 facing the vertical axis of rotation R.

The rotary supports 31 do not have overlapping rotation ranges. However, in travel direction the rotation ranges of the rotary supports 31 join to cover the ground surface over the full width of the row. The rotary supports 31 can be drive to rotate in the same direction or alternately in opposite directions.

In a further embodiment, the rotary tiller can have three or even more rows of rotary supports with tilling elements.

The terms “horizontal”, “vertical”, "upward", "downward", "below", "above", and the like relate to the embodiments as oriented during normal, regular use or storage, as shown in the drawings, unless otherwise specified.

The disclosure is not restricted to the above described embodiment which can be varied in a number of ways within the scope of the claims. For instance, different spring elements can be used, or the tiller can be used for different purposes, such as a power harrow or cultivator.

Claims (11)

CONCLUSIONS 1. Soil working device provided with: - a row of pivot supports, each pivot support being rotatable about a vertical axis of rotation; - tines projecting downwards from the pivot supports; - a drive for driving the pivot supports, at least some of the tines being mounted on the associated pivot supports by means of a spring element. 2. Soil working device as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least some of the spring elements comprise a leaf spring. A tillage device according to claim 2, wherein the leaf spring has a U-shaped cross-section with two legs and a spine connecting the two legs on one side of the cross-section, a first leg being attached to the respective tine and the second leg being attached on the corresponding swivel support. 4. Soil working device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the back of the U-shaped cross-section extends vertically, for instance on a front side viewed in the direction of rotation, 5. Soil working device as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein the spring element has a spring stiffness that is lower in horizontal direction than in vertical direction. 6. Soil working device as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein the working elements comprise straight harrow tines. 7. Soil working device as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein the tines comprise L-shaped hoe tines with bent lower ends extending in the direction of the vertical axis of rotation. 8. Soil working device as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein the pivot support comprises a horizontal beam and at least two downwardly extending legs, connected to one of the spring elements. 9. Soil working device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the horizontal beam at least partially overlaps the spring elements. A tillage device according to any one of the preceding claims, having at least one row of pivot supports with overlapping turning circles, each pivot support configured to rotate in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of an adjacent pivot support. 11. Soil working device, possibly according to one of the preceding claims, comprising: - at least two rows of pivot supports, each pivot support being rotatable about a vertical axis of rotation; - processing elements extending downwards from the turning supports, such as harrow tines or hoe tines; - a drive for rotatingly driving the pivot supports, wherein the pivot supports in a row are staggered with respect to the pivot supports of a following row.