WO1993003600A1

WO1993003600A1 - Turf or strip of pre-grown lawn, method of obtaining it and device for implementation

Info

Publication number: WO1993003600A1
Application number: PCT/FR1992/000809
Authority: WO
Inventors: Raymond Gabard
Original assignee: GABARD, Geneviève; GABARD, William; Gabard, Jérôme; GABARD, David
Priority date: 1991-08-20
Filing date: 1992-08-20
Publication date: 1993-03-04
Also published as: FR2680443A1

Abstract

A turf or strip of pre-grown lawn comprises a plurality of through orifices (2) providing for easier recovery of the lawn. A method of obtaining said turfs or strips is also described and involves making the orifices either on the ground or after separating the turfs.

Description

Plate or strip of precultivated grass, its production process and device for its implementation.

We know that we use strips or patches of precultivated grass to make the grassing of green spaces such as stadiums, golf courses or gardens.

For this, the lawn is cultivated on flat surfaces to be then removed with a certain thickness of underlying soil which contains the roots of the lawn. This thickness can vary, for example, on the order of 5 to 50 mm. After which, the plates or strips of grass thus removed are deposited on the ground which must be sodded.

It is then necessary to frequently water the lawn that has been put in place, so as to allow its recovery and the development of its roots in the receiving soil.

In general, this watering is carried out until then under unsatisfactory conditions because the water has difficulty in crossing the layer of precultivated grass which is particularly dense, while the irrigation must occur at the bottom of the latter.

In practice, the water flows down toward the base of the bards or sod passing substantially by the lines of connection between lesditeε ^"plates or strips, which is obviously unsatisfactory. The present invention aims to solve this problem in a simple and economical way.

The subject of the present invention is a plate or strip of precultivated grass, characterized in that it has a plurality of orifices, preferably regularly distributed over its surface, which pass right through it.

According to the invention, the orifices can have a diameter of, for example, between 10 and 25 mm, with a density of orifices which can, for example, be around 300 to 600 orifices per square meter. The present invention also relates to a method for carrying out the laying of strips or plates of pre-cultivated turf perforated as indicated above, this method being characterized by the fact that the plates or strips of precultivated turf are applied to the ground to be sodded by placing them with contiguous edges, then that the orifices made in the turf are filled with sand. This can be easily achieved by placing a sufficient amount of sand on the surface of the turf patches or strips and by moving the sand over the surface of the lawn, for example using a broom, so as to penetrate the sand in all holes. In this way, thanks to the invention, a lawn is produced which has a multitude of chimneys, whether or not lined with sand, which allow rapid and controlled flow of water up to the level of the roots of the precultivated lawn. These chimneys ensure the recovery of the grass and the development of the roots which make the plates or strips of grass integral with the receiving ground and gradually occupy the orifices to reconstitute the grass which had been removed to make said orifices while allowing a flow of rainwater. or watering through the orifices. The tests which have been carried out by the applicant have shown that the invention allows recovery of the pre-cultivated turf which is both faster and more regular than with conventional methods.

The present invention also relates to a device for producing the perforated turf plates or strips according to the invention which is characterized in that it comprises in combination a first support drum rotating at the periphery of which the plate or the strip of precultivated grass and a second drum provided with punches, which is also driven in rotation, so that said punches perforate orifices in the plate or strip of turf, while the latter bears on the first drum support.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the punches are constituted by hollow tubes having a cutting edge at their end which is located on the periphery of the second drum which supports them, so as to cut a carrot of grass which penetrates at inside the punch where it will be repelled by the carrots which will be cut later, the carrots thus cut being collected inside the second hollow drum from which they are removed by any means.

The fact of cutting in this way the orifices which are produced in the plate or the strip of turf according to the invention has the advantage of obtaining orifices which do not tend to plug spontaneously. In addition, the cores thus cut which are essentially constituted by already strongly rooted turf can be used by being placed in bulk on the ground to reconstitute deteriorated turf surfaces.

In fact, it has been observed that grass cores thus used make it possible to reconstitute grass plantations fairly quickly, which is always useful in particular when sodding grounds of complex shapes or garnishing the goals of sports grounds.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the device which has just been described is placed on a spreader, that is to say on an apparatus of known type which makes it possible to cut and collect the plates or the strips of lawn that are separated from the ground on which the lawn was pre-cultivated.

According to a particular embodiment of the device according to the invention, the punches are arranged at a fixed position, radially with respect to the drum which supports them. In this case, it is advantageous for the drum in question to have a diameter large enough to allow the engagement and disengagement of the punches in the turf plate to be carried out satisfactorily without excessive lateral movements relative to the turf.

In a preferred variant of this first embodiment, the plate or strip of lawn is applied against the surface of the support drum in the zone at which the punching takes place.

In this way, the lateral deformations of the turf are very significantly reduced during the punching work, because the plate or the strip of turf is subjected to the punching over an area of smaller dimensions. - -

In another embodiment of the invention, punches are used which are articulated on the second drum which supports them at their end opposite to that which produces the orifice and around an axis parallel to the axis of rotation of the drum. In this embodiment, the punching of the plate or the strip of grass takes place while the latter is in a horizontal position. This avoids to a very large extent the lateral forces which cause deformations of the lawn when driving in and clearing the punches. In a variant, the perforations can be carried out with solid punches which hollow out the orifices by displacing and compressing the earth and the roots around the orifices. It is therefore advantageous in the case of fixed punches arranged radially to give the latter front and rear profiles in the form of an involute of a circle, which makes it possible to obtain orifices of regular shape.

The present invention also relates to a method of manufacturing perforated pre-cultivated turf plates or strips, characterized in that the pre-cultivated turf is perforated at its place of cultivation by pushing back into the ground the part of the turf which is at right of the perforations, at a distance at least equal to the thickness that the lawn plate or strip must have, then using a known type of spreader, the lawn plates or strips are detached from the ground where they were grown. This method according to the invention has the great advantage that after the harvesting of the perforated precultivated lawn, there is a ground which already has the planimetry necessary for the cultivation of the lawn and which, moreover, comprises a very large number of tufts of strongly rooted turf which develop to reconstitute a new, continuous layer of turf which allows in a short time to proceed to a new harvest of perforated turf.

The present invention is also characterized in that after the implementation of the process described above, the development of the rooted grass contained in the carrots is ensured by suitable treatments and watering until the reconstitution of a layer. of turf over the entire soil surface, after which a new harvest is carried out. We see that this process makes it possible to carry out a succession of perforated turf crops on the same land without having to rework and reseed the land between each harvest, this with a significantly shorter cultivation cycle because we start from a multitude of already deeply rooted tufts of grass, not seeds.

In order to better understand the invention, we will now describe, by way of illustration and without any limitation, several embodiments shown in the accompanying drawing.

On this drawing :

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a perforated turf patch according to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a section on a larger scale along II-II of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a schematic elevation view of a lawn mower provided with a device according to the invention,

- Figure 4 is an enlarged view of the device according to the invention shown in Figure 3, - Figure 5 is a variant of the embodiment of Figure 4, Figure 6 is another variant of the embodiment in Figure 4,

- Figure 7 is a view of another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view showing the method of cultivating the plates or strips of perforated grass according to the invention, and

FIG. 9 is a partial view on a larger scale of FIG. 8.

There is schematically shown in Figure 1 a perspective view from below of a turf plate 1 according to the invention. This turf plate is constituted in the usual way by a layer la which is constituted by an overlapping of roots of turf in the substrate on which the turf is precultivated, and by a layer lb constituted by the shoots of turf. FIG. 1 also shows the orifices 2 produced according to the invention which are, in this case, regularly distributed over the surface of the plate 1.

We find in the section of Figure 2 the layer la and the layer 1b as well as the orifices 2 which pierce the grass patch 1 right through.

In a particular embodiment given by way of example, the orifices have a diameter of 2 cm and their axes are spaced 5 cm in all directions, which gives a density of orifices of 400 per square meter.

However, it is possible depending on the desired result, to make orifices of a different diameter, for example from 10 to 25 mm in diameter with a density which can be for example from 300 to 600 orifices per square meter. Although, in accordance with the invention, it is simpler to produce orifices of circular section, it is not excluded, according to the invention, to produce orifices which have different sections, for example square or rectangular.

There is schematically shown in Figure 3 an elevational view of a lawn mower which is provided with the device according to the invention.

This plasterer is mounted on wheels 3 schematically shown, which are driven by a motor not shown, and it is steered from the cabin 4 in a conventional manner using a flywheel 5.

A horizontal blade 6 which pivots around an axis 7 while being subjected to a back-and-forth movement using a connecting rod-crank system 8, cuts the precultivated lawn 9 with a thickness comprised for example between 5 and 50 millimeters. The vertical uprights of the horizontal blade 6 delimit the width of the strip of lawn which, by means of conveyor belts 10 and 11, is brought towards the rear of the machine.

In the known manner, a vertical blade 12, driven in an appropriate reciprocating movement, cuts successive lengths of strip in order to produce plates of precultivated grass 1 which succeed one another on the conveyor belts 10 and 11. A person 13 stacks the lawn plates on a support placed at the rear of the machine.

In accordance with the invention, a first support drum 14 which cooperates with a second drum 15 which carries a series of punches 16 is placed on the path of the turf plates 1.

The two drums 14 and 15 rotate in opposite directions with a tangential speed which corresponds to the speed of advance of the conveyor belts 10 and 11.

The drums 14 and 15 are shown on a larger scale in FIG. 4.

The support drum 14 has on its periphery a layer 17 of rubber against which the end of the punches 16 is applied, so as to ensure a correct cutting of the orifices 2 which are produced in the grass plate 1. In the embodiment of FIG. 4, the punches 16, are constituted by hollow tubes arranged in a stationary position radially with respect to the drum 15. The external ends of the punches 16 preferably have a cutting edge so as to be able to produce, in cooperation with the layer 17 of the drum 14, a clear punch of the lawn.

When this punching has been carried out, the rotation of the drum 15 causes the punch 16 to be extracted from the orifice made in the lawn, while the core 2a_ resulting from the punching remains maintained inside the punch 16 while being extracted orifice 2.

When the punch has made a full turn, it then punches a second orifice in plate 1 (or in the following plate). This orifice gives rise to the formation of a new carrot which repels the first, which falls into the hollow central part of the drum 15 where a helical screw device 18, diagrammatically shown, makes it possible to extract the carrots at one end of the drum 15 2a_ which result from the various hallmarks.

As indicated above, it is possible to implement the invention using punches consisting of solid elements which produce orifices 2 in the plate or strip of grass without giving rise to the formation of carrots. However, it is preferable according to the invention to use hollow punches, because the orifices which are cut by such hollow punches have a section which does not tend to close, unlike what happens with the orifices made with full punches.

In addition, the elimination of the carrots has the effect of reducing the weight of the plates by approximately 10% which is far from negligible during the manual handling of the plates or during the transport of the latter towards their destination of setting. square. Finally, the grass cores can be advantageously used to make the lawn for certain ground surfaces.

Figure 5 is a variant of Figure 4 in which instead of using two conveyor belts 10 and 11 arranged on either side of the drums 14 and 15, a single conveyor belt 19 is made to circulate which bears on the periphery of the drum 14 at the level where the punches 16 make the orifices in the lawn plate, which simplifies the construction of the machine. The conveyor belt 19 which is made of rubber then plays the role of the covering 17 of the embodiment of FIG. 4 by serving as a support for the end of the punches 16.

Another preferred variant of the embodiment of FIG. 4 is shown in FIG. 6.

In this variant, the plate or strip of grass 1 is wound up on the surface of the drum 14 in the vicinity of the area where the perforations are carried out using the punches 16.

In this way, the perforations are carried out using the punches 16 over an angular distance which is less, which appreciably limits the lateral deformations imposed on the lawn by the punches 16.

In the embodiment of Figure 7, the end of the punches which is opposite to that which enters the lawn is articulated on the drum 15 about a horizontal axis 16a .. In this embodiment, the punching s' performs while the grass 1 moves horizontally above the support drum 14. As can be seen in Figure 7 throughout the area where the perforations are carried out, punches 16 are arranged vertically under the action of gravity which allows them to sink vertically into the lawn to perform the punching, their small lateral displacements during punching being compensated by a very slight angular movement around their axis 16a ..

As can be seen on the left and upper part of the drum 15, the punches are tilted during the rotation of the drum to return to place themselves in a vertical position when they start a new punching.

As in the embodiment of FIG. 4, the cores obtained by a first punch remain inside the punches to then be driven towards the inside of the drum 15 during a second punch.

Any device such as for example the helical device of FIG. 4 makes it possible to collect the cores at one end of the drum. There is schematically shown in Figure 8 the method of harvesting and growing the perforated precultivated grass according to the invention.

We see on the left side of Figure 8 the strip of lawn which must be perforated and moved according to the invention. There is schematically shown a punch 20 which is driven in a vertical reciprocating movement by a rod-crank system 21,22. This punch 20 whose periphery is cutting pushes down the part of the lawn and of the ground which is under it by successively creating in the soil perforations 2 whose depth is at least equal to the thickness of the plate or of the strip of grass (1) that you want to harvest.

FIG. 8 shows the grass cores ls_ which are thus driven back into the ground by the punch 20.

On the right-hand side of FIG. 8 a diagrammatic representation has been shown such as that which has been described with reference to FIG. 3.

In the embodiment described, this spreader is integral with the punch 20 and advances with it in the direction of the arrow F to clear the grass plate 1, leaving the grass cores 2a on the ground, from which the grass for the next harvest will quickly develop.

We find on a larger scale in Figure 9 the punch 20, during its downward movement, in the process of punching thanks to its cutting periphery 20a_ the core 2a which it drives back below the line 23 according to which the knife 6 of the spreader detaches the lawn plate or strip 1.

It is clear that although it has been shown in Figures 8 and 9 that a single punch 20 for clarity, there is in reality a plurality of punches arranged for example along one or more lines.

Likewise, it goes without saying that the process according to the invention is not taken out by punching the orifices using a different device such as, for example, drums as shown in the other figures.

It is understood that the embodiments as described above have no limiting character and that they can receive any desirable modifications without departing from the scope of the invention.

In particular, it is clear that while it is preferable to carry out the punching of the orifices and the displacement of the turf, it is possible according to the invention to carry out these two operations using two separate machines and even to separate them in time.

The production of orifices according to the invention is however preferred on turf in sheets which is delivered flat, without the need to be rolled up, the sheet being less fragile than the strips following the perforation. In addition, the plates can be more easily stacked on pallets which facilitates their transport and also their installation.

Claims

1. Plate or strip of precultivated grass, characterized in that it comprises a plurality of orifices (2), preferably regularly distributed over its surface, which pass right through it.

2. Turf plate or strip according to claim 1, characterized in that the diameter of the orifices (2) is between 10 and 25 mm.

3. Plate or strip of grass according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it has 300 to 600 orifices (2) per square meter.

4. A method of manufacturing perforated precultivated turf plates or strips, characterized in that the precultivated turf is perforated on its place of cultivation by pushing back into the ground the part of the turf (2 located at the right of the perforations (2) from a distance at least equal to the thickness that the lawn plate or strip must have (1) that with the help of a tacker, the lawn plates or strips (1) are detached from the ground or they have been cultivated.

5. A method of cultivating perforated precultivated turf plates or strips, characterized in that after the implementation of the method according to claim 4, the development of the rooted grass contained in the carrots is ensured by appropriate treatments and watering (2a_) until the reconstitution of a layer of grass over the entire soil surface, after which a new harvest is carried out according to the method of claim 4.

6. Method for laying plates or strips of perforated precultivated turf, according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the plates (1) or strips of precultivated turf are applied to the land to be sodded by placing them with contiguous edges, filling the orifices (2) made in the lawn with sand and watering them.

7. Device for producing perforated precultivated turf plates or strips, according to any one of claims 1 to

3 characterized in that it comprises, in combination, a first support drum (14) rotating at the periphery of which the plate (1) or the strip of precultivated grass, and a second drum (15) provided with punches (16) which is also rotated so that said punches (16) perforate holes (2) in the plate ( 1) or the strip of lawn while the latter is supported on the first support drum (14).

8. Device according to claim 7, characterized in that the punches are arranged at a station radially relative to the second drum (15).

9. Device according to any one of levencb ^" cations 7 and 8, characterized in that the support drum (14) is coated with a rubber layer (17).

10. Device according to any one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that the plate (1) or the strip of grass is applied against the surface of the first support drum (14) in the area where is carried out punching.

11. Device according to any one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in that the punches are constituted by hollow tubes (16) having a cutting edge at their end which is located on the periphery of the second drum (15) which supports them so as to cut a grass core (16 ^) which penetrates inside the punch (16) where it is pushed back by the carrots which are cut u tteriorly.

12. Device according to claim 11, characterized in that the carrots (16a_) are collected inside the second hollow drum (15) or they are removed by any means (18).

13. Device according to any one of claims 7 and 9 to 12, characterized in that the punches (16) are articulated on the second drum (15) which supports them at their end opposite to that which produces the orifice ( ?) around an axis (16a.) parallel to the axis of rotation of the drum (15).

14. Device according to any one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in that the drum (15) supports solid punches arranged radially preferably at a fixed station.

15. Device according to claim 14, characterized in that the profile of the punches has a form of involute of circle.