Planting – Drilling
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-23
2003-04-29
Batson, Victor (Department: 3671)
Planting
Drilling
C111S903000, C111S923000, C111S924000, C172S005000, C180S401000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06553925
ABSTRACT:
This invention deals with the field of agricultural seeders and in particular a method of reducing plugging of such seeders with crop residue and a guidance system for such planters.
BACKGROUND
In many areas, notably the Great Plains of North America, there has recently been a large shift to no-till seeding for crops such as cereals, pulses and oilseeds. These crops are usually “solid-seeded”, which most often means seeded in narrow rows from 6 to 12 inches apart. Discer seeders do provide essentially an even coverage of the field with no discernable rows, however such seeders are not used to the extent they once were, due to the preference for no-till seeding. The crops, when growing, cover the ground and are harvested as if there are no rows. This differentiates such crops from “row” crops such as corn and cotton which are planted in wider rows, from 24 to 36 inches apart.
One of the objects of no-till seeding is to leave the previous years plant residue, or stubble, standing as long as possible to catch snow and later to provide protection for new seedling crops from wind and evaporation. It is common practice when harvesting to cut the crop as high as possible in order to leave as much standing stubble as possible to catch snow and to minimize the amount of non-grain material, mainly straw, passing through the combine harvester. The straw that does pass through the combine is generally broken up and spread evenly over the land.
The crop plants grow from a furrow which is generally depressed in the soil by packing. The next spring when no-till seeding is taking place, the rows of standing stubble therefore generally extend from a depressed furrow that is still easily discernible in the soil.
Present no-till seeders generally use a hoe opener for making the furrows into which seed is deposited, although disc furrow openers are used as well. The openers are mounted on a frame, which is generally towed by a tractor rather than mounted thereon as is common with row crop seeders seed and fertilizer is passed through a delivery system and into the furrows. Seed and fertilizer may be delivered as a mixture, or in separate tubes to different locations on one furrow opener or to separate furrow openers for seed and fertilizer. The fertilizer is sometimes applied in a separate field operation wherein no seed at all is being applied.
Hoe furrow openers are presently preferred over disc openers, as they generally penetrate better and do not require the cost and maintenance of bearings and so forth. Disc openers are also subject to “hair-pinning”, wherein straw is not cut but instead is pushed into the furrow, causing poor germination of the seed and drying out the soil in the furrow by a wick, action. U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,939 discusses and provides an apparatus for alleviating this hair-pinning problem. Both hoe and disc furrow openers' work better when they are passing through less crop residue. Straw tends to wrap around individual hoe openers and be dragged down the field, impairing the clean cut desired.
A major problem with hoe openers is that the standing stubble is often longer than the spacing between the furrow openers, and with hoe seeders it often does not pass between the openers, resulting in a wad of straw and plant residue being dragged down the field, plugging the seeder. Up until now, the only method used to alleviate this problem has been to provide more room for the straw and trash to move through between the hoe openers and between the frame and the ground. This has been done by increasing the spacing between the hoe openers, and thereby increasing the row spacing to 10 or 12 inches which is about the maximum spacing possible for these crops; by increasing the number of rows of hoe openers and thereby increasing the space between the hoe openers on a row; and finally by increasing the length of the hoe openers and thereby increasing the distance between the seeder frame and the ground.
When a seeder is seeding into standing stubble, the hoe openers constantly cross the standing stubble rows from the previous crop, knocking the stubble down. If the seeder was guided so that it only occasionally crossed a standing stubble row, such as when turning, much of the plugging problem could be alleviated, as the standing stubble rows would be left undisturbed and pass vertically under the seeder.
There is considerable prior art in the field of guidance systems to keep row crop implements aligned with furrows or plant rows. This is understandable because row spacing between passes must be kept constant at seeding in order to allow for efficient operation of subsequent cultivating, spraying and harvesting equipment. The prior art also provides guidance systems for working in growing row crops, where there is a sensor which senses the growing plant rows and keeps the implement between the rows. In solid-seeded crops, there has hitherto not been any perceived need for such precision since growing crops are not cultivated and sprayers and combines are operated without regard to where the narrow crop rows are located.
Guidance systems for use in row crops have not been used to guide an implement with respect to a row of standing stalks from the previous crop. There does not appear to have been any need for such guidance.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,255,756, 5,121,799, 5,094,300 and 5,031,704 are examples of such guidance systems for row crops. U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,873 provides a device to follow a furrow or growing crop row, thereby sending a signal to a guidance system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is the object of the present invention to provide a guidance system for a no-till seeder which will reduce the problem of plugging the seeder furrow openers with crop residue.
It is the further object of the present invention to provide such a guidance system for a no-till seeder which will reduce the amount of crop residue encountered by the furrow openers, thereby reducing straw dragging on hoe openers and hair-pinning of disc openers.
It is the further object of the present invention to provide such a guidance system for a no-till seeder which will leave a greater proportion of previous crop stubble standing after the seeding operation.
The present invention accomplishes these objects providing, in a no-till seeding application, a method of reducing plugging of seeders with crop residue from the previous year crop comprising the following steps: sensing the location of the standing stubble rows of the previous year crop; and guiding the furrow openers of the seeder between said standing stubble rows.
In a second aspect, the invention provides a guidance system for guiding a no-till seeder such that the furrow openers of said seeder travel along the field between the standing stubble rows from the previous crop, said guidance system comprising: sensing means to sense the standing stubble rows from the previous crop and to send a steering signal in response to changes in the relative position of the seeder to said standing stubble rows; and adjusting means to adjust the travel path of said seeder in response to said steering signals.
The standing stubble rows of the previous crop should have the same row spacing as the seeder being guided, or it will not be possible to have all furrow openers properly positioned is between the standing stubble rows.
Conveniently, the adjusting means could vary the path of travel of the seeder relative to the path of travel of the seeder towing vehicle.
In a third aspect the invention provides a guidance system for guiding a seeder towed by a vehicle, said guidance system sensing the location of the standing stubble rows left by a previous crop and in response to said sensing guiding the seeder so that the furrow openers of said seeder travel on a preferred path along the field between said standing stubble rows, said guidance system comprising: a row location sensor mounted on said seeder and adapted to sense the location of said standing stubble rows, said row location sensor sending a steering signal when said row location sensor senses that said furrow open
Batson Victor
Straw Track Mfg., Inc.
LandOfFree
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