Planting – Drilling – Including seed tamper in furrow
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-24
2003-03-11
Batson, Victor (Department: 3671)
Planting
Drilling
Including seed tamper in furrow
C111S193000, C111S900000, C111S927000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06530334
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to agricultural seeders that produce open furrows in the soil into which seeds are placed, and more particularly to an improved furrow closing system that is depth-limited by linkages with a separate firming device so as to provide consistent closing of furrows in no-till conditions without the risk of disrupting seed placement.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Agricultural planting methods continue to improve in response to rapid worldwide adoption of no-till crop production techniques, in which the new crop's seeds are placed directly into the previous crop's stubble, also known as crop residues, and which consists of the stalks, straw and chaff left from the previous crop. No-till seeding differs greatly from seeding into a tilled seedbed. The soil conditions for no-till seeding will typically be more moist than those dried by tillage, due to the mulching effect of the crop residues remaining on the soil surface. Moist soils are more prone to compaction by implements traveling over or engaging the soil. No-till soils will also be more structurally stable than tilled soils, as the soil particles are “aggregated” or held together by old roots, fungi, and other organic material, which forms a matrix to hold the soil particles in place and naturally creates a highly porous but very resilient substrate. Agricultural seeders operating in no-till conditions are often built and operated so as to supply more down pressure (via springs and/or hydraulics) onto the furrow opening discs to aid in the slicing of old crop residues and to assist in the penetration of this more structured soil. The extra down pressure on the opener discs and depth-gauging wheels sometimes results in more compaction of the furrow sidewalls.
Especially in no-till, some difficulties are encountered when attempting to draw soil back into the furrow, which is desirable to protect the newly placed seeds from drying winds and sun, to protect from wildlife predation and damaging temperature fluctuations, to improve seedling uniformity of emergence and growth, and to improve seedling root establishment. In tilled soils, the most common method was to employ packing (“press”) wheels rearward of the furrow openers; the packing wheels operated to both close the furrow and to do some amount of packing, since in the loose and dry tilled soils packing is desirable to assist the seed in drawing moisture from deeper in the soil. In no-till seeding, the wetter and more structured soils prevent packing wheels from performing adequately. The sidewall of the furrow formed in no-till seeding does not crumble easily like the sidewall in the tilled conditions, where the soil had previously been loosened and fluffed by tillage; accordingly, very high pressures are sometimes employed on the packing or closing wheels in an attempt to squeeze the furrow sidewalls back together. This typically results in poor seedling emergence—the seedling having great difficulty pushing itself through this dense layer of soil—as well as poor nodal or lateral root growth of emerged seedlings, since the compacted and “slickened” sidewall resists root penetration.
Some improvements in no-till seeding have been made by separating the seed firming and furrow closing functions; this is only possible where the depth-gauging function is already accomplished independently of the packing or closing wheel, as in the configuration where depth-gauging wheels travel alongside the furrow opening discs. Seeds that have been placed into the soil by the furrow openers and seed-directing tube are then firmed into the bottom of the furrow by either a narrow rolling wheel (typified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,429 to Johnson, although similar wheels have long been used in the industry) or a sliding-type firmer (U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,318 issued to Keeton) which travels along the bottom of the furrow “V” and exerts a slight amount of pressure onto the seeds and surrounding soil. Since the closing wheel is now relieved of its seed firming function, the closing wheel may be comprised of a spoked or tined shape to more aggressively slice or fracture the sidewall of the furrow.
Several spoked closing wheels types and methods have been disclosed in the prior art, including, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,443,023 issued to Carroll, U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,717 issued to Martin, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,896,932 issued to Bruns et al., as well as improvements made in the angles and alignments of the spokes as they enter the soil (Applicant's co-pending application Ser. No. 09/432,455). All of these spoked closing wheel arrangements regulate their depth by the shape and length of the spoke, the path of rotation of the spoke in relation to the furrow, as well as the weight of the wheel and its mounting bracket/arm and spring pressure exerted on the bracket/arm. The method described in the '455 application further limits depth by the angle of the spoke as it enters the soil in conjunction with its close alignment to the furrow.
Many aspects of the field's condition affect both the operating depth and furrow covering achieved by spoked closing wheels, such as changes in soil moisture level, amounts of stubble on the surface, soil texture, soil organic matter, soil structure, and amount of soil lifting or fluffing perpetrated by the opener disc or other devices. The operator must remain vigilant and continually adjust the down pressure on the closing wheels to achieve adequate furrow covering but yet not penetrate too far and disrupt seed placement. As a practical matter, this is extremely difficult to do as field conditions change frequently during the course of even a single pass with the seeding implement. While the method described in the '455 application mitigates these problems to a significant degree, the invention described herein will allow spoked wheels to be built of heavier materials or operated even more aggressively without concern of disrupting seed placement; i.e., the current invention opens the door for previously impractical or undesirable angles and alignments for the spokes of closing wheels.
In the current state of agricultural seeder manufacturing and usage, some dichotomy has arisen between “planters” and “grain drills” (or simply “drills”). The dichotomy is not particularly relevant to this application, except in the ease of describing the prior art in detail. For clarity, the term “planter” commonly refers to seeders with the capability of singulating seeds for each opener unit's placement, and typically with a relatively wide spacing between individual opener units (“opener unit” refers to the entire seed placement apparatus for one furrow, including not only the furrow opening device, but also seed-directing tube, gauge wheel, firming and closing devices, linkages, etc.). Virtually all planters have parallel linkages to attach the opener unit to the toolbar, which results in no changes in the angle of operation of the opener unit as it engages the soil on undulating terrain. Planters almost universally utilize two furrow-opening discs on each opener unit, mounted immediately adjacent to each other and in contact with each other at their lower leading edge, but slightly away from each other toward their upper and rearward edges, which allows for a seed-directing tube between them. Planters typically employ depth-gauging wheels on the outside of each opening disc. Planters often have a radially mounted vertically pivoting bracket mounted rearward of the opening discs; the bracket holding the closing wheels inclined at 20° to 24° from the vertical (“camber”) and 0° from the direction of travel, and accommodating either smooth rubber wheels, beveled cast iron wheels, or any of the spoked wheels previously described.
Planters sometimes use a separate seed firming mechanism, such as a sliding-type firmer (the Keeton patent previously described) attached on or near the seed tube and projecting rearward of it (but ahead of the closing wheels), or a small-diame
Batson Victor
Thompson Jeffrey L.
Thompson & Thompson P.A.
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