Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
1~56~
TILLAC~E APPARATUS AND IMPROVED BLADE THEREFOR
Recent developments in the practice of yrowing legumes in
an established grass sod have disclosed the inadequacies of
conventional tillage apparatus, such as disk harrows, disk culti-
vators, rotary hoes or the like, for preparing the ground for
seediny. Often the particular ground surface, in contrast with
ground used for grain crops, will be uneven or rocky or with
grass swards of differing thicknesses. In the preparation of
such ground in sod-seeding or grassland renovation it is de-
sirable to reduce the numher of trips required over the sameground surface in order to complete the sequence of tiIling, seed-
ing, culti-packing and spraying of herbicide, and thus a premium
is placed upon the efficiency of the initial tilling action. If ~`
this, for example, can be accomplished properly by means of a
tilling structure drawn by a single prime mover, then equipment
for carrying out the subsequent steps may be added to the same
structure and the entire sod seeding procedure may be conducted
during on~ passage over the field. ;
Cutting of the sward and sod matt and provision of a furrow
therein of appropriate width and depth requires not only a till-
age blade of special design, but ~lso a source of power of ap- -
preciable magnitude for driving of the blade. While this power
could be provided by an engine mounted on a towed vehicle, the
present inv~ntion preferably employs the engine of a tractor, as
for example taught by the patent to Xaller No. 2,957,529, and
the tillage apparatus may be disconnected from the tractor in
order to release the tractor for other uses. As will later ap-
pear, a plurality of tillage unit assemblies each having at
least one blade and rotating at speeds of from 500 to 1,200 rpm
have been found to be appropriate to till the sod, requiring
substantially more power supplied from the tractor than re-
quired when tilling with a conventional rotary hoe or disk harrow.
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1 Summary of the Invention
The apparatus comprises a structure detachably connected to
a conventional tractor which tows the same and which supplies
power to a plurality of tillage blades mounted upon separate
tillage unit assemblies suspended from a tool bar. Each of the
tillage unit assemblies is independently biased to bring the
blades into proper cutting relation to the ground and with a re-
straint against cutting too deeply into the ground. The blade
is provided with wear resisting elements having improved wear
surfaces to extend its useful life and to provide a uniform width
of furrow.
Among the objects of the invention are the provisions of a
driven-blade tillage apparatus suitable for attachment to a
tractor having a three point hitch and a power take-off shaft;
the provision of a tillage apparatus having a plurality of till-
age unit assemblies mounted side by side on a tool bar supported
drive shaft and independently biased to bring their tillage blades
into contact with the ground; the provision of a tillage unit as~
sembly having an arm pivotally mounted on a drive shaft and car-
rying a furrow-producing driven blade at its other end; the pro-
vision of a tillage unit assembly which can be readily installed
upon or removed from a drive shaft; and the provision of an im-
proved tillage blade having spaced wear resisting elements at
its periphery.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention will
become more apparent as the description proceeds and when consid-
ered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Brie~ Descri~tion of the Dra~ings
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the tillage apparatus con-
nected to a tractor and showing a single tillage unit assembly in
operative position and with companion units indicated by separate ~ '
blade pairs.
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1 Fig. 2 is a plan view to a larger scale of a tillage unit
a~sembly mounted on the drive shaft and with parts broken away.
Fig. 3 is a side elevation view of a tillage unit assembly
with one blade removed and showing a furrow-depth-limiting skid. `
Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2.
Fig. S is a side elevation view of a tillage blade.
Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 5.
Description of the Preferred Embodiment
Referring now to Fig. 1, a suitable tool bar having elon-
gated members 10,11 with cross braces 12 attached thereto servesas a platform for mounting of a gear box 13. A shaf~ extending
from the gear box is attached by means of a universal joint to
a suitable link 14 having a universal joint at its other end de-
tachably connected to the shaft of a conventional power take-off
- of the tractor. ~ pair of spaced uprights 15,16 affixed to the~ ~ ;
platform on each side of the gear box are joined at the upper ends
by a rod 17 to which a link 18 is pivotally connected, with the
other end of this link being pivotally attached to the upper
hitch point of the tractor. A forwardly proje~ting plate 19 at-
tached to the tool bar platform~has a lift rod 20 pivotally at-
tached thereto for detachable connection with one of the lower
hitch points of the tractor, a similar arrangement l9A, 20A,; -
being employed for the other lower hitch point thereof. As a
consequence, the operator from his position on the seat of the
tractor may lift the tillage apparatus from the ground aven when
-the blades are fully biased toward the ground, as later to be
described.
Rigidly secured to the unde.side of the tool bar members
is a series of longitudinally spaced pillow blocks, one of which !.~ i
is shown at 21, and within which series o~ pillow blocks a single
long shaft, or pref~rably a pair of shorter shafts 22,23, is
journalled for rotation. Affixed to these shafts is a pair of
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1 sprockets 24,25 driven, as for example, by chains from corre-
sponding sprockets mounted on the opposite ends of a power output
shaft in the gear box, one such chain 25A and gear box sprocket
26 being shown in Fig. 1.
Considering now Figs. 2 to 4, a tillage unit assembly of the
present invention comprises a sturdy arm 30, for example about
two feet in length, and which is pivotally mounted at one end
upon a suitable ~earing 31 affixed to shaft 22 after having been
slipped therealong to ~he desired location. At its distal end
the arm supports a rotatable short shaft 32 which likewise is sup-
ported by a lateral portion 33 of the arm. A suitable driving
means is provided or causing the short shaft to rotate as the
shaft 22 is driven, and this may comprise a series of gears, a
sprocket driven chain, or, as shown, a belt 34 driven by a puIley
35 keyed to shaft 22 and engaging with a pulley 36 keyed to shaft
32. Any conventional means for taking up slack in the belt may
be used.
As a significant feature of the invention, one or more till-
age blades are suitably fastened to the shoxt shaft, a pair of
similar blades 37,38 being preferred although a third blade could
be employed with an extended short shaft outboard of the lateral
arm 33 if so desired. In general, the lateral distance between
furrows made in the sod is to be uniform, and since a plurality
of the described tillage unit assemblies are to be mounted on the
shafts 22,23, the distance between ad~acent unit assemblies on
those shafts will`correspond to the distance between the blades
on any given unit assembly. To avoid the necessity of lifting
and lowering all blades of the apparatus when obstructions such
as rocks are encountered or when non-uniform ground surface is
30 being tilled, each of the present tillage unit assemblies is
independently biased downwardly to supplement the bias of gravity ;~
on the pivoted arms. For this purpose a rearwardly extending
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1 upright 39 is affixed to the tool bar platform and mounts a
spring adjusting means 40 providing an ad~ustable abutment a-
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gainst which one end of a compression spring 41 bears. The other
end of the spring bears upon a boss 42 provided near tha junction
of arm 30 and its lateral arm 33. A suitable means for limiting
the depth of penetration of the blade also is employed, and as
~een in Fig. 3 this may comprise a skid portion 43 depending from
~he arm 30 and riding on the ground as the blades are hiting into
the ground. This skid portion also may provide a support (not
shown) for a seed feeding apparatus carried by the tool bar, if
so desired. As will be evident, the tillage unit assembly when
operating near the sod is sub~ect to accumulation of grass parti-
cles as well as particles of soil thrown forward by the rotating
blade, and a shield is normally carried by the arm 30, one such
shield as shown in Figs~ 3 and 4 comprising a combined lower and
side wall 44 and a removable upper wall 45 serving to shield the
described pulleys and belt.
Each of the tillage unit asse~blies described comprises a
standard assembly which can be readily mounted upon or removed
from the drive shaft. For example, if the particular sod field
being tilled is such as to require an amount of power which the
tractor is unable to deli~er to shafts 22,23, the operator can
remove one or both of the outermost assernblies from thosa shafts.
Normally~ an equal number of assemblies are mounted on shafts
22,23 as indicated by blades 37 to 37C and 38 to 38C.
~ eferring now to Figs. 5 and 6 the tillage blade, which for
example may be about 12 inches in diameter, comprises a central
body portion 50 preferably of mild steel with a reinforced hub
ection conveniently formed by a pair of plates 51,52 rigidly at-
tached thereto. Extending through these plates and the confinedcentral disc is a bore 53 having an axis displaced a suitable a-
mount from the place of the blade so as to effect the well known
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1 wobble action of the blade duriny its passage along the ground.The interior of the bore also is provided with a key slot 54 for
affixing the blade`to a keyed portion of the short shaft 32.
Experience has shown that a conventional disc blade, whether with
a smooth circular periphery or a serrated periphery will suffer
unacceptable wear when driven at the necessary speeds to carry
out the sod seeding process in the swards of the average grass-
lands. To overcome this handicap the blade of the present till-
age unit is provided with special wear resisting elements com-
prising short lengths of rod-like material 55 welded to each side
of the blade adjacent its periphery and extending in an unbroken
length transversely over that periphery. A tungsten carbide ma-
terial, such as Stellite is satisfactory for this purpose. Pre-
ferably, these elements extend along the sides of the blade in a
trailing direction as related to the rotation of the blade.
As will be understood, the rakios o~ the pulleys 35,36; the
~prockets 24,26; and the gears within gear box 13 together with
the rated speed of the power take-off of the tractor are all
chosen so as to provide the appropriate angular velocity of the
blade for its intended purposes. If it is desired to rotate th~
blade at a different speed, this may be accomplished simply by
substitution of a different pulley 36. As seen in Fig. 3, re-
moval of blade 37 permits access to pulley 36 for such purposes.
As the blade revolves with its wobble motion, the wear ele-
ments cut a furrow whose depth is commensurate with the restraint
provided by the skid 43 and a width commensurate with the canted
axis of the blade on shaft 32. During this furrow cutting, a
major portion o~ the displaced earth is being thrown rearwardly,
and the rate of furrowing is dependent upon the rate of travel of
~he tractor. The size and strength of the described tool bar
platform, moreover, is such as to support auxiliary equipment
such as seeding and spraying equipment and to ac~ as a towing
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1 means for an auxiliary soil-firming device passing over the
seeded furrow.
While the spacing between furrows is dependent upon the
spacing between blades on each tillage unit assembly and upon the -.
spacing between adjacent units, it will be understood that the in-
vention is not limited to a single transverse array of tillage :
units. For example, the gear box 13 may supply power to a plu-
rality of transverse shafts each of which has tillage unit assem-
blies pivoted thereon and arranged to cut a pattern of furrows
more closely spaced than ~ose cut with a single array of blades~
While the described apparatus is especially useful for
grassland renovation purposes, it is by no means limited solely
thereto, and may be employed in other agricultural usages.
Having thus described a preferred form of tillage apparatus
and blade therefor, it will be understood that the invention may
be embodied in for~s other than that exemplified as ~he preferred
form.
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