Plant husbandry – Material distributor with plant manipulating – cultivating or...
Patent
1998-05-04
1999-11-16
Price, Thomas
Plant husbandry
Material distributor with plant manipulating, cultivating or...
111127, 239 1, A01G 1500, A01C 2300, B05B 1700
Patent
active
059835591
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to an apparatus for cultivating turf and turf subsoil to fertilize, discharge chemicals to, or aerate the turf and turf subsoil by injecting high-pressure liquid intermittently into the turf.
TECHNICAL BACKGROUND
Operations such as fertilization and aerification are indispensable for maintenance of the turf at golf courses or other turf facilities. Aerification is used to lead air into the roots of the turf and assist the turf in growing. For example, a method of aerification has been developed, in which a lot of pores are formed under ground by jetting high-pressure water from nozzles toward the surface of the turf. As occasions demand, fertilizer or agricultural chemicals are mixed with the high-pressure water for simultaneous fertilization or application of the chemicals to the turf and turf subsoil.
A conventional apparatus for such purposes comprises a plurality of nozzles having output ports arranged toward the surface of the turf, a tank filled with liquid such as agricultural chemicals to be jetted from the nozzles, and a pump for pumping the liquid in the tank to each nozzle. With this apparatus, aerification, fertilization, discharging chemicals and the like are operated by moving the above-mentioned output ports of the nozzles along the surface of the turf and jetting the liquid from the nozzles intermittently.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In such a conventional apparatus, the angle of injection is always fixed, and the one with the angle perpendicular to the surface of the turf is often used. However, if injection is operated at a fixed angle to the turf all the time, the soil is compressed from above, so that a compacted subsurface layer is formed under the turf. After the compacted subsurface layer has been formed, even if the injection is operated, the compacted subsurface layer reflects the injected liquid in the direction of injection, preventing the liquid from penetrating into the soil, thereby to decrease the effect of fertilization or chemicals. Not only does the surface of the turf becomes uneven because the surrounding soil has been raised, but also a bad influence is brought to the growth of the turf because the water drainage of the soil has been reduced.
Adjustment of injection depth is also necessary to make chemicals act most effectively. For that purpose, the discharging pressure of the liquid has to be changed. However, as the pressure changes, the quantity discharged changes simultaneously. This burdens the operator with operations to control the moving speed of the nozzles, that is, the moving speed of the injection apparatus at all times to keep a proper quantity of discharging chemicals.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, in accordance with this invention, the liquid is jetted from two opposite directions thereby to prevent the soil from moving in one direction and being compressed to form a compacted subsurface layer. The injection depth also can be adjusted by changing the angle of injection without changing the discharging pressure of the liquid.
In accordance with this invention, an apparatus for cultivating turf by high-pressure injection of liquid is provided, which comprises a plurality of nozzles movable along the surface of the turf and having output ports oriented toward the surface of the turf; a tank filled with the liquid such as agricultural chemicals to be jetted intermittently from the nozzles; a pump for pumping the liquid in the tank to the nozzles; and which is characterized in that a plurality of frames are arranged in parallel, that the plurality of nozzles are mounted on and along said frames perpendicularly to the axes of the frames so as to be rotatable about the axes thereof and to be positioned at two or more angles, and that the nozzles on two adjacent frames are rotatable in opposite directions to each other.
With the above-mentioned apparatus, the following effects are achieved. It becomes possible to prevent formation of a compacted subsurface layer in the soil since it is possible to ap
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French III Fredrick T.
Marunaka Co., Ltd.
Price Thomas
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