WO1997001267A1

WO1997001267A1 - Device for moving soil material

Info

Publication number: WO1997001267A1
Application number: PCT/NL1995/000228
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hermann Albert Hans Rudolf Arndt
Original assignee: Blok's Draadvorm Fabriek B.V.
Priority date: 1995-06-29
Filing date: 1995-06-29
Publication date: 1997-01-16
Also published as: AU2808695A

Abstract

Device for turning over soil material. This device consists of a shaft (2, 12, 22) to which, at one end, a torsion handle (3, 13, 23) and, at the other end, a bent section of solid wire or tube (4, 14, 24) are fixed. This section is bent in such a way that at least one triangular opening is defined inside the section of solid wire or tube. Furthermore, the wire section is provided with a pointed free end (5, 15, 25) to enable the device according to the invention to be introduced simply into the soil.

Description

Device for moving soil material

The present invention relates to a device for moving soil material, comprising a body to be introduced into the soil, which body is provided at one end with a shaft, which shaft is provided at its other end with torsion means, said body defining a flat surface and having a pointed end.

A device of this type is disclosed in US Patent 2 855 668.

This patent describes a device for turning over soil material, consisting of two fork teeth located opposite one another with a blade placed between them.

This blade is provided with a pointed end. By means of said end it is possible to penetrate into the soil material.

The device described in said US Patent 2 855 668 is relatively difficult to handle and expensive to produce. Moreover, when the device is rotated in the soil, appreciable damage is caused, in particular by the blade section, to living organisms, such as earthworms, present in the soil material.

As is known, organisms of this type are very important for the good health of soil material.

Devices of this type are used to loosen soil material in, for example, gardens.

The aim of the present invention is further to improve the device described in US Patent 2 855 668.

This aim is achieved with a device as described above in that the body consists of a bent section of solid wire or tube, at least one triangular opening being delimited inside the periphery of said wire section, one corner of said triangular opening defining the pointed end.

The invention is based on the insight that a pointed end of the turning- over device is desirable in order to penetrate easily into the soil using a turning-over device of this type.

By using only the peripheral outline of a spade-like construction, on the one hand sufficient earth is turned over, but, on the other hand, damage to living organisms in the soil is restricted as far as possible. Moreover, while achieving loosening of the soil which is at least equally as good, it is possible to work with a very much lower force than is the case with the blade-shaped construction disclosed in US Patent 2 855 668. Nevertheless, a large proportion of the soil surface is affected. It is relatively inexpensive to produce a construction of wire material. Moreover, this material can easily be bent into any desired shape and is simple to weld and to provide with a coating.

Numerous variants are possible starting from the above concept. A first group is that in which the wire section is joined at one end to the shaft and is free at the other end. This free end can, as it were, cut through the soil material. For this purpose, this free end is preferably arranged so that it is directed toward the shaft. Moreover, the free end is preferably sharpened to a point in order to provide a sharp surface.

If the thickness of the wire material is, for example, 8 mm or 10 mm, adequate rigidity can be obtained to achieve loosening in an average soil material.

According to another approach, the section composed of solid wire or tube is fitted such that an unbroken surface is defined. According to a particularly simple embodiment, the ends of the section composed of solid wire or tube are joined to or merged into the shaft. If, for example, the shaft is of tubular construction, it is particularly simple to insert the free ends of the body, which, for example, is composed of wire material, into said tube and to join it thereto, for example by means of welding or compression.

In addition to the body described above for loosening the soil material, a fork tooth can also be fixed to the shaft. It is also possible to fit more than one fork tooth. Such fork teeth can be fixed to, for example, a tube in the same way as described above for the free ends of the body.

The torsion means or handle of the device described above can be constructed in various ways. For instance, it is possible to construct these means as ratchet means, as a result of which the position of the user with respect to the device according to the invention can always be adjusted in an optimum manner.

In the case of a fixed construction, optimum adjustment between the body described above and a handle or torsion means is obtained if said torsion means are arranged at an angle of between 10 and 45° with respect to the plane defined by the body.

In the embodiment described above in which the body does not define an unbroken surface but the wire section has a free (cutting) end, the device preferably consists of one part. The end of the body joined to the shaft can indeed be a simple extension of the wire material, which likewise simply continues, by bending, at the transition between shaft and torsion means.

A few alternative embodiments of the invention will be explained below with reference to illustrative embodiments shown in the drawing. In the drawing: Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a first embodiment of the device according to the invention;

Fig. 2 shows a top view of the device according to Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 shows a second embodiment of the invention; and

Fig. 4 shows a third variant of the present invention.

In Fig. 1, the turning-over device according to the invention is indicated in its entirety by 1. This device comprises a shaft 2, to the top of which a handle 3 is fitted.

Although not shown, it is possible to provide means with which the shaft height is adjustable in order thus to provide for adjustment to the height of the user.

At the other end, shaft 2 is provided with a turning-over body 4. In the embodiment shown, this body comprises an essentially triangular wire section which is provided with a point 5 directed downwards. This wire section consists of solid wire material.

In the embodiment according to Fig. 1, there are also two fork teeth 9, located opposite one another, at an angle of approximately 90° with respect to the turning-over body 4.

As can be seen from the partially broken away free end of shaft 2, the sections of wire material which are inserted in the tube from which the shaft 2 is made are joined to one another by means of welds 6. In addition to the welds 6, a weld can also be made at the cross where the various wire sections come together. Furthermore, there is a weld to join the various wire sections to the tube of shaft 2.

Fork tooth 9 is chamfered somewhat.

The construction shown here can be introduced into the soil without too much resistance. This is achieved by the pointed end 5. Moreover, the point promotes drainage in wet ground.

As a result of the closed construction of the turning-over body 4, the latter is relatively strong, so that relatively thin wire material, such as 8 mm steel, can suffice.

Because the turning-over body is open on the inside, there is no risk of distortion during turning, such as is known in the prior art in the case of constructions with a blade. Moreover, small animals are protected and the production of the turning-over body is particularly simple.

Fig. 2 shows a top view of the device from Fig. 1. It can be seen from this figure that handle 3 is positioned at a small angle with respect to the plane of body 4. This feature is provided because a user tends to place his or her foot on the top of turning-over body 4 when introducing the latter into the ground. The turning-over body 4 acts as a sort of spade when it is introduced into the soil material. Consequently, this 'spade' will be placed in a specific position. Positioning handle 3 at a small angle with respect thereto enables the user to exert an optimum force.

Fig. 3 shows a further embodiment of the device according to the invention.

The device shown in this figure is indicated in its entirety by 11. This device consists of a shaft 12. In this case, the handle 13 consists of a ratchet, so that, on the one hand, the position with respect to shaft 12 can be freely chosen and, on the other hand, optimum engagement of the turning-over body indicated by 14 can always be provided. The pointed end is indicated by 15. The construction shown here has no fork teeth. This has been found not to be necessary, depending on the nature of the soil. The turning-over body 14 is joined to shaft 12 at one end only and at the other end is provided with a pointed free end 15, provided with a free projecting section 29. The latter can be chamfered in order to provide a sharp cutting surface. As a result of the presence of the free end 29, weeds can be entrained and cut through. The wire material chosen for this embodiment will be somewhat thicker than that for the other embodiments, for example 10 mm. This, of course, depends on the strength of the wire material used.

In the construction shown in Figure 4, the turning-over device indicated by 21 consists of a continuous section of wire material. This section of wire material forms both shaft 22 and handle 23. The turning-over body 24 is joined to form an unbroken whole by means of weld 25.

The embodiment according to Fig. 3 is particularly simple to produce and is found to be particularly effective in practice.

A few different embodiments of the inventive concepts have been shown above. It is immediately apparent from these that many other variants are possible without going beyond the scope of the present application, as given in the appended claims. For instance, it is possible to construct the shaft and/or the body either as tube or as a solid section.

Claims

1. Device (1, 11, 21) for moving soil material, comprising a body (4, 14, 24) to be introduced into the soil, which body is provided at one end with a shaft (2, 12, 22), which shaft is provided at the other end with torsion means (3, 13, 23), said body defining a flat surface and having a pointed end (5, 15, 25), characterised in that the body consists of a bent section of solid wire or tube, at least one triangular opening being delimited inside the periphery of said wire section, one corner of said triangular opening defining the pointed end.

2. Device according to Claim 1, wherein the wire section, at one end, is joined to or merges into the shaft and, at the other end, has a sharpened free end (29)

3. Device according to Claim 2, wherein said free end is directed towards the shaft.

4. Device according to Claim 1, wherein the wire section defines an continuous surface and the ends of the section of solid wire or tube are joined to or merge into the shaft.

5. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one fork tooth (9) is fixed to the shaft, which forked tooth is arranged some distance away from the centre line of the shaft and extends essentially parallel thereto.

6. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the torsion means comprise ratchet means.

7. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the torsion means are arranged at an angle of between 10° and 45° with respect to the plane defined by the body.