Planting – Drilling – Furrow opener
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-17
2001-04-10
Batson, Victor (Department: 3671)
Planting
Drilling
Furrow opener
C111S167000, C111S168000, C172S575000, C172S574000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06213035
ABSTRACT:
This invention is in the field of furrow openers for agriculture and in particular such a furrow opener for utilizing a combination of a flat and a concave disc.
BACKGROUND
Furrow openers for use in depositing seeds, fertilizers and so forth in the soil have been of many types. There are hoe-type openers, which make a furrow by pulling a shovel or knife through the soil. There are also conventional double and single disc openers, or inclined disc openers such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,114 to Barton which all utilize a flat disc. Concave discs have also been used, which both till the soil and deposit the seed or fertilizer in the soil, covering them with soil.
With the advent of reduced tillage and increasingly no tillage, the various disc openers have gained interest because of the smaller soil disturbance caused by a disc compared to the hoe-type openers. The prior art disc openers, both flat and concave, have the axis of rotation of the disc at an angle to the direction of travel, rather than perpendicular to the direction of travel, as for instance is common with a wheel. This is required to make a furrow, since a flat disc running straight will only cut a groove in the soil the width of the disc, providing no furrow to receive seeds or fertilizer. The angle of the disc increases the width of this groove into a useable furrow. This requirement increases the power required to pull these furrow openers, and reduces the penetration of the disc in un-tilled soils.
Concave discs have been pulled at an angle to the direction of travel so that the concave side bites into the soil, with the seed being dropped on the convex side of the disc, to be covered over with soil lifted by the concave side of the next following disc. Such discs have not been suitable for no-till operations, because of the amount of soil disturbance. Placement of seed is often unsatisfactory as well with these concave disc furrow openers.
A disc-type furrow opener where the axis of rotation of the discs is perpendicular to the direction of travel would be advantageous by reducing power requirements. Such a disc that would penetrate and provide proper seed placement in un-tilled soils would be beneficial.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a furrow opener apparatus for depositing agricultural material such as seed and fertilizer in the soil that requires less power to pull than present furrow openers.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a furrow opener apparatus that penetrates and provides proper seed placement in un-tilled soils.
The invention accomplishes its objectives providing a furrow opener apparatus for attachment to an agricultural implement for depositing agricultural material such as seed and fertilizer in the soil, said apparatus comprising: a flat disc having first side and a second side rotatably attached to said apparatus such that the axis of rotation of said flat disc is perpendicular to the direction of travel of said implement; a concave disc having a concave side and a convex side, said concave disc rotatably attached to said apparatus such that (1) the axis of rotation of said concave disc is perpendicular to the direction of travel of said implement, (2) the rear edge of said concave disc is behind the rear edge of said flat disc, (3) the concave side of said concave disc is facing said first side of the flat disc and the outer rim of said concave disc is in close proximity to or touching said first side of the flat disc; and means to introduce said agricultural material into the open area between the concave side of said concave disc and said first side of the flat disc.
The means to introduce the agricultural material into the open area between the concave side of the concave disc and the first side of the flat disc can be a tube attached to the apparatus and extending into the lower rear portion of the open area through the space between the rear edge of the front disc and the rear edge of the concave disc.
The flat disc runs straight and ahead of the concave disc. The agricultural material, being seed, fertilizer or the like, will exit the open space between the discs at the point where the bottom of the rear arcs of each disc meet The bottom edge of the flat disc could be below the bottom edge of the concave disc. With the flat disc deeper, it will tend to stay in the deeper position and not be so affected by surface irregularities. The depth of placement would be at some shallower point where the rear arcs of the discs meet. The position of the rear edge of the concave disc relative to said rear edge of the flat disc and/or the position of the bottom edge of the concave disc relative to the bottom edge of the flat disc could be adjustable, allowing for varied placement of the agricultural material.
The apparatus could further comprise a swivel mount such that the apparatus may swivel about a vertical axis relative to the implement, the swivel mount comprising a stop to prevent the apparatus from rotating completely. This would facilitate turning the implement with reduced stress on the apparatus and reduced soil disturbance. The swivel mount could comprise a first pipe adapted at the upper end thereof for attachment to the implement, and a second pipe slidingly and rotatably mounted concentric to the first pipe, the lower end of the second pipe fixedly attached to the apparatus. Many such swivel mounts are known in the art and are considered to fall within the scope of the claimed invention.
The apparatus could comprise a packer rotatably mounted on the apparatus behind the discs for packing the soil over the agricultural material. The packer could be mounted such that the vertical position of the packer with respect to the vertical position of the discs is fixed during operation, and may be adjusted. In this fashion the packer would also act as a depth control mechanism, as the two discs can go no deeper than the packer allows them to go. The discs could be pivotally attached to the implement and biased in a downward direction thereby improving the ground following and depth control of the apparatus.
The packer could comprise a wheel having a first side and a second side, the wheel mounted so as to roll along the ground behind the flat disc and located so that the first side of the wheel is in alignment with the first side of the flat disc and the second side of the wheel is opposite the concave disc. The first side of the wheel could have a smaller diameter than the second side of the wheel such that the outer circumference of the wheel is at an angle to the horizontal and will push soil towards the furrow created by the discs. This packer location and shape would exert force to collapse the straight wall of the furrow onto the agricultural material, increasing the likelihood that agricultural material in the furrow was covered with moist soil rather than dry soil from the surface.
At this time it is contemplated that the most likely combination will be of two discs of close to the same diameter, however it is also contemplated that other combinations where either disc is smaller or larger will have utility as well in some applications.
REFERENCES:
patent: 605348 (1898-06-01), Schultz
patent: 646506 (1900-04-01), Sester
patent: 736963 (1903-08-01), Ham
patent: 3058531 (1962-10-01), Beaman et al.
patent: 4590869 (1986-05-01), Steilen
patent: 5398771 (1995-03-01), Hornung et al.
patent: 5531171 (1996-07-01), Whitesel et al.
patent: 5724902 (1998-03-01), Janelle et al.
patent: 6082276 (2000-07-01), Klein et al.
Batson Victor
Frederikson Mark D.
Koley Jessen P.C.
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