Planting – Drilling – Frame and planting-element arrangement
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-29
2001-10-02
Pezzuto, Robert E. (Department: 3671)
Planting
Drilling
Frame and planting-element arrangement
Reexamination Certificate
active
06295938
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a soil preparation device for use with a planter row unit in no-till farming.
A planter as used in no-till farming comprises a number of row units to simultaneously plant multiple rows of crops. This type of planter row unit typically has a front face, a furrow opener (i.e. discs) to the rear of the front face for opening a furrow in the soil, a seed dispenser (i.e. seed hopper and seed tube) for dropping seed into the furrow, and a furrow closer (i.e. closing wheels) to the rear of the furrow opener and seed dispenser for closing the furrow to thereby cover the seed with soil.
A coulter blade is commonly mounted to the front face of the planter row unit for breaking up a top layer of soil in preparation for planting. However, the coulter blade aggressively breaks up a narrow (i.e. about 1 inch wide) band of soil so as to form a groove therein, and tends to throw at least some of the desirably dry and frangible soil from the above-mentioned top layer outside the path of the planter row unit. consequently, such desirable soil is lost for use in planting, making it more difficult for the row unit to close the furrow with soil which tends to be moist and more compacted. It is important to properly cover the seed with soil to ensure germination and to protect the seed from birds and insects.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a soil preparation device for use with a planter row unit which can effectively break up a top layer of soil over a wider area than a coulter blade while minimizing the loss of such desirable soil for use in planting.
The above object is realized by a soil preparation device for use with a planter row unit of the type which includes a front face, a furrow opener to the rear of the front face, a seed dispenser, and a furrow closer to the rear of the furrow opener and seed dispenser, wherein the soil preparation device comprises: a bracket having a longitudinal axis; a pair of front discs rotatably mounted to the bracket on opposite sides thereof, each front disc being angularly oriented with respect to the bracket axis so as to have a leading edge closely adjacent to the bracket axis and a trailing edge transversely spaced from such axis; a pair of rear discs rotatably mounted to the bracket on opposite sides thereof, each rear disc being angularly oriented with respect to the bracket axis so as to have a leading edge transversely spaced farther from the bracket axis than the trailing edge of each front disc, and a trailing edge transversely spaced from but closer to the bracket axis than the leading edge of such rear disc; and a mounting member, extending from and integrally connected to the bracket, for use in removably mounting the bracket to the front face of said planter row unit so as to position the rear discs adjacent to the front face and at least portions of the front discs in front of the rear discs. In a preferred embodiment hereafter described, the mounting member comprises a tube, hereafter referred to as a mounting tube.
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Pezzuto Robert E.
Sharp William R.
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