Planting – Drilling – Including trash control accessory
Reexamination Certificate
2002-08-28
2004-02-10
Pezzuto, Robert E. (Department: 3671)
Planting
Drilling
Including trash control accessory
Reexamination Certificate
active
06688243
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to minimum tillage agricultural implements having furrow opening shank assemblies for forming narrow furrows and depositing or “shanking” fertilizer and or seeds therein in soil that is overburdened with agricultural residue.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Even though the advantages of minimum tillage agricultural practices in arid and semi-arid soils have been known for some time, their adoption has been rather slow.
One of the problem s has been the difficulty associated with providing efficient high speed implements that are capable of placing or “shanking” fertilizer and/or seeds in the soil with uniform precision when the soil is overburdened with a substantial mat or layer of agricultural residue. Often the residue will bunch, pile or “hair pin” against the furrow opening shanks requiring the implement to either be slowed down or stopped and the built-up residue removed by the operator from in front of the shank. The problem becomes even more difficult when the residue is either wet or quite dense or quite thick. Because of these problems the implements used require application methods that result in higher soil disturbance not conducive to minimum tillage procedures.
Furthermore, to accommodate the residue overburden, the shanks must be taller and spaced further apart, both side-to-side on the same tool bar and front-to-back on multiple tool bars. The side-to-side limitation increases the distances between crop rows per tool bar, requiring more tool bars. The more front-to-back tool bars increases the problems associated with turning the implement at the end of the rows. Often when the implement is turned on a corner or on a side hill the shanks on one tool bar will line up with the shanks on another tool bar resulting in uneven row spacing and inefficient or duplicate application of fertilizer. Additionally, the more tool bars substantially increases the implement framework required to support the increased number of tool bars, thereby substantially increasing the cost of the implement.
Considerable effort has been expended in providing rather expensive devices, called “coulters”, forward of the shanks for cutting or slicing through the residue to minimize the bunching up or “hair pinning” of the residue on the front of the shanks. One such design is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,075 issued Aug. 9, 1988 to James W. Halford entitled “Seed/Fertilizer Minimum Tillage Planter”.
FIGS. 1-4
of the Halford patent show a “coulter” design and
FIGS. 5-9
show a non-coulter design that has deflector plates
141
mounted to the shank
15
that extend rearward and outward from the front edge of the shank to deflect trash laterally and rearward away from the shank
15
. Such a design has the disadvantage of also deflecting some of the soil uprooted by the shank away from the shank, effectively widening the furrow and compromising the minimum tillage procedure. There are many other patents that show various “coulter” and “non-coulter” designs that are classified in Class 111 of the U.S. Patent Classification System.
The principal object of the present invention is to provide a substantially improved relatively high speed minimum tillage agricultural implement having furrow opening shank assemblies that are more efficient in “shanking” fertilizers or seeds into soils having substantial agricultural residue overburdens.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3736999 (1973-06-01), Randol et al.
patent: 3999614 (1976-12-01), Rhoads
patent: 4601248 (1986-07-01), Beasley
patent: 4762075 (1988-08-01), Halford
patent: 4799823 (1989-01-01), Williams
patent: 4926767 (1990-05-01), Thomas
patent: 4932478 (1990-06-01), Jones
patent: 5165487 (1992-11-01), Williams et al.
patent: 5303662 (1994-04-01), Drake
patent: 5333694 (1994-08-01), Roggenbuck et al.
patent: 5529128 (1996-06-01), Peterson et al.
patent: 5540288 (1996-07-01), Dietrich, Sr.
patent: 5724903 (1998-03-01), Yoder et al.
patent: 5787994 (1998-08-01), Friesen
patent: 5819855 (1998-10-01), Tarver, III
patent: 6009955 (2000-01-01), Tarver, III
patent: 6276462 (2001-08-01), Dietrich, Sr.
patent: 6325156 (2001-12-01), Barry
patent: 6345671 (2002-02-01), Siemens et al.
patent: 6397767 (2002-06-01), Dietrich, Sr.
patent: 6612381 (2003-09-01), Powell et al.
Stelljes, Kathryn Barry; “New Tool Improves No-Till Seeding”, Nov. 21, 2000, pp. 1-2; http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2000/001121.htm.
Siemens, Dr. Mark, USDA-ARS, CPCRC, Pendleton, OR; (Video of Movie and Text) “Copy of Residue Management Wheel 2001”.
Pezzuto Robert E.
The McGregor Company
Wells St. John P.S.
LandOfFree
Minimum tillage agricultural implement having furrow opening... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Minimum tillage agricultural implement having furrow opening..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Minimum tillage agricultural implement having furrow opening... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3288543