Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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SEED FURROW CLOSING AND COVERING DISK
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to drills for planting crops and more
5 particularly to a covering disc that covers seed that has been deposited in a slit
or furrow in the ground.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Grain drills and planters form a slit or furrow in the ground,
deposit seed in the slit, and cover the seed with soil. The soil that covers the
10 seed is often compacted by a press wheel. The seed covering portion of
planting is relatively simple when the field has been cultivated and there is
little or no residue from the previous crop. The seed covering portion of the
planting process may be very difficult when the field has not been cultivated,
and the surface is covered with a thick mat of crop residue from an earlier crop
15 or crops that were grown in the field.
Planters and grain drills, that are planting crops in a cultivated
field, form ridges of loose soil between the furrows that seed is deposited in.
A press wheel that rolls down the furrow after seed is deposited in the furrow,
tends to force soil from the sides of the ridges down on top of the seed
2 o dispensed in the furrow. At the sarne time, soil is moved over the seed, the
soil above the seeds is compacted. In some cases, too much soil is deposited
on top of the seeds, and plants are not able to grow up through the soil that
covers them. Compacted soil above seeds tends to form a hard crust as it dries
following a rain. Seed that has germin~ted is frequently unable to emerge
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through such a crust and dies, even if the crust is relatively thin. Implements
such as rotary hoes have been developed to break up crusted soil so that plants
can emerge. Unfortunately, rotary hoes cannot always break up crusted soil.
In many cases, a hard crust that forms above seeds after a rain will kill the
5 seeds and make it necessary to replant the field.
Planters and grain drills that plant crops in fields subjected to
no till or minimum tillage farming practices also have problems covering the
seed with soil. Seed which is not covered with soil and is exposed to the sun
and air will generally not germinate. Press wheels merely roll on the surface
10 of the soil and cannot move compacted soil, at the sides of the slit that receives
the seed, down into the slits to cover the seed.
Discs have been employed at either one or both sides of a
furrow to form a new furrow and to cover the seeds with a ridge of soil. Such
discs can place too much soil on top of seed. When such discs are employed
15 in fields with some surface residue, they tend to ride up over some residue and
not cover seeds at times. At other times, they tend to cover seeds with too
much soil.
Coulters with fluted blades are frequently employed on drills
and planters in, front of the assembly that forms a slit or furrow and deposits
2 o seed in the furrow, to cut old crop residue. By cutting through the residue in
front of a furrow forming and seed placement assembly, the furrow forming
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assembly is able to penetrate the soil and place seed at the desired depth. To
cover the seed and fill the seed f~row with a closing disk, the disc has to be
positioned to one side of the seed furrow. This places the closing disc to the
side of the fluted blade coulter where there is old crop residue. The old crop
residue forces the closing disc up out of the soil at times, and lets the covering
disc penetrate too deeply into the soil at other times. The operation of
covering discs in these conditions result in some seed not being covered with
soil and other seed being covered with excess soil, as explained above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
0 An object of the invention is to provide a seed covering disc
which covers seed with loose soil. Another object of the invention is to
provide a seed covering disc that does not forrn a furrow in the ground. A
further object of the invention is to provide a seed covering disk that
elimin~tes residue bunching and plugging in heavy, old crop residue
conditions. A still further object of the invention is to provide a seed covering
disc with adjustrnents for ch~nging the position where soil discharged by the
disc is deposited.
The closing and covering disk for grain drills and planters
includes a generally flat round plate portion with a central mounting bore. A
2 o flange on the radially outer periphery of the round plate portion is bent to one
side of the round plate portion. A plurality of notches are cut from the
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periphery of the flange to divide the flange into a plurality of flange sections.
A bearing hub is secured in the central mounting bore in the covering disk. A
spindle is mounted in the bearing that is held in the bearing hub.
The spindle is secured to a mounting plate and held in a
5 position in which the axis of the spindle extends downward and outward from
the mounting plate at an angle of about 38~ from a horizontal plane. The
mounting plate is attached to a plate on the free end of a shank by fasteners.
These fasteners permit the position of the mounting plate to be adjusted
relative to the plate on the shank. A forward end of the shank is pivotally
0 attached to a planter or grain drill frame. A spring biases the shank in a
direction that forces the closing and covering disc toward the ground.
A seed furrow opener disk is rotatably journaled on the frame
in a position to form a seed furrow and to throw soil removed from the furrow
to a first side of the opener disk and to the rear. Seeds are deposited in the
15 seed furrow on a second side of the opener disk.
The closing and covering disc engages the soil that is thrown to
a first side of the seed furrow opener and to the rear and throws the soil that is
engaged toward the seed furrow and to the rear. The soil thrown by the
closing and covering disk covers seed in the seed furrow with loose soil and at
2 o least partially fills the seed furrow.
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The axis of the spindle is in a vertical plane that is at an angle
of between 380 and 660 to the direction of travel. The position of the spindle
relative to the shank is adjustable to change the position of the closing and
covering disk relative to the direction of travel. By adjusting the position of
5 the closing and covering disk relative to the direction of travel, a quantity of
new soil covering seeds in the seed furrow can be adjusted.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE D~AWING
The presently preferred embodiment of the invention is
disclosed in the following description, and in the accompanying drawings,
wherein: -
Figure l is a perspective view of a tool bar mounted planter
row unit with a furrow closing and seed covering disk;
Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the furrow closing and
seed covering disk;
Figure 3 is a front elevational view of the furrow closing and
seed covering disk; and
Figure 4 is a expanded view of the seed shoe, furrow opener
disk and the gauge wheel.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
2 o The planter row unit 10, as shown in Figure l, has a unit frame
12, a seed furrow opener disk 14, a gauge wheel 16, a seed shoe 18, and a
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furrow closing and seed covering disk 20. The planner row unit 10, as shown,
is for an air seeder with a central seed dispense and a blower that provides airto convey seed to the seed shoe 18. The planter row unit 10 could be equipped
with a seed box and a seed dispenser to form a unit planter if desired. Unit
planters generally rely upon gravity to carry seed to the seed shoe 18.
The unit frame 12 includes a front channel 22 that clamps to a
tool bar. Guide bars 24 and 26 position the channel 22 vertically on the tool
bar. A lower link assembly 28 is pivotally attached to the first channel 22 by abolt 30 and to a rear subframe 32 by a bolt 34. An upper link assembly 36 is
1 0 pivotally attached to the front channel 22 by a bolt 38 and to the rear subframe
32 by a bolt 40. The parallel lower link 28 and upper link 36 form a
pantographic linkage which holds the subframe 32 in a generally vertical
position and parallel to the front channel 22.
A tension spring 42 is connected to a pin 44 rigidly secured to
the lower link 28 and to a pin 46 that sits in notches 48 in the upper link 36.
Moving the pin 46 to a pair of notches 48 that is further from the pivot bolt 38increases the downward force on the gauge wheel 16. Moving the pin 46 to a
pair of notches 48 that are closer to the pivot bolt 38 decreases the down-vard
force on the gauge wheel 16. A lever 50 is pivoted about pivot pins 52, 54, or
2 0 56 to move the pin 46 bet~veen notches 48.
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The seed furrow opener disk 14 is rotatably journaled on an
opener disk shank 58. As shown in Figure 1, the opener disk 14 throws soil to
the left when it is moved forward by a tractor. Planter row units 10 are also
constructed with seed furrow opener disks arranged to throw soil to the right.
The gauge wheel 16 is journaled on a gauge wheel shank 60.
The upper end of the shank 60 passes through slots 62 and 64 in the rear
subframe 32. A handle 66 is provided on the upper end of the shank 60 for
m~nll~lly moving the shank in the slots 62 and 64 to the desired depth setting.
A pin 68 is inserted through one of a series of apertures 70 and bores through
the shank 60 to hold the gauge wheel 16 at the chosen depth setting. The
gauge wheel 16 includes a rubber tire 72 mounted on a metal rim assembly 74.
The forward edge of the rubber tire 72 runs close to the seed furrow opening
disk 14 and is spaced from the disk at the rear to make room for the shanks 58
and 60, the seed tube 76 and the seed shoe 18. The upper end of the seed tube
76 is connected to a seed distributor tube (not shown) that carries seed in a
stream of air from a seed dispenser. Seed shoe 18 receives seed from the seed
tube 76, deposits the seed in the bottom of a furrow formed by the disk 14 and
a plastic cam plate 124 presses the seed into moist soil in the bottom of the
furrow.
2 o The furrow closing and seed covering disk 20 is part of a disk
assembly 84 that includes a covering disk tubular shank 78. The covering disk
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shank 78 is pivotally attached to the rear subframe 32 by a pin 80. A generally
horizontal plate 82 is welded to the free end of the covering disk shank 78. A
mounting plate 86 is connected to the horizontal plate 82 by bolts 88. A series
of bolt holes (not shown) permit the mounting plate 86 to be rotated about a
5 vertical axis to a chosen position and then clamped in the chosen position by
the bolts 88. Arcuate slots can be provided in the mounting plate 88 rather
than bolt holes for the passage of the bolts 88. With slots in the mounting
plate 86 or the horizontal plate 82, the bolts 88 can be merely loosened and
then retightened after the mounting plate has been rotated to a new position.
1 0A spindle 90 is secured to the mounting plate 86 with its axis
extending downwardly from a horizontal plane at an angle of about 380. A
bearing and bearing hub 92 are mounted on the free end of the spindle 90.
The furrow closing and seed covering disk 20 has a flat circular
plate portion 94 with a flange 96 on its outer periphery. A series of notches 98
1 5are cut in the flange 96 to form a plurality of teeth 100 which are bent from the
plane of the plate portion 94 by an angle 102 of a about 520. A central bore
104 in the center of the plate portion 94 of the disk 20 receives the bearing hub
92. Bolts 106 pass through apertures 107 and clamp the disk 20 to the bearing
hub 92. The teeth 100 extend to the side of the plate portion 94 which faces
2 o the mounting plate 86.
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A bar assembly 108 includes a front bar 110 that is pivotally
attached to the rear subframe 32 by a pin and a rear bar 112 that is pivotally
attached to the covering disk shank 78 by a bolt 114. Two pins 116 and 118
connect the bars 110 and 112 to each other and form a lost motion connection.
A coiled colllplession spring 120 tends to force the pins 116 and 118 apart
and bias the seed covering the disk 20 downward.
During planting operations, the planter row unit 10 is pulled
forward by a tool bar and a tractor the tool bar is attached too. A seed furrow
opener disk 14, as shown in Figure ], opens a furrow and displaces soil,
removed from the seed furrow, upwardly, rearwardly, and to left. Seed passes
down through the seed tube 76 to the seed shoe 18 that directs seed to the
bottom of the seed furrow. The seed tube 76 and the seed shoe 18 are attached
to the opener disk shank ~8 by a bracket 122 shown in Figure 4. The spring
126 is pivotally mounted on a bushing 127. An upper arm 129 of the spring
126 is anchored to the bracket 122 and a bracket 131 by bolt 133. ~olts 135
and 137 secure the bracket 131 to the bracket 122 and provide vertical
adjustment of the bracket 131. A plastic cam plate 124 is attached to a lower
arm 139 of the spring 126 by a bolt 128. The plastic cam plate 124 is directly
to the rear of the seed shoe 18 presses seed in the bottom of the furrow into the
2 o moist soil.
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The furrow closing and seed covering disk 20, which is moving
for~,vard along a path to the left of the furrow opener disk 14 and in line withthe strip in which most ofthe soil thro~hn laterally by the opener disk 14 lands,
throws loose soil from the seed furrow to the right and into the seed furrow
5 where it covers the seed. The axis of rotation of the seed covering disk 20 is in
a vertical plane that is positioned at about a 45O angle from the direction of
travel. The flat, circular plate portion 94 of the disk 20 faces toward the
furrow opener. The teeth 100 extend rearwardly from the plate portion 94 and
insure rotation of the seed covering disk 20. The bottom tooth 100, which is
10 in contact with the ground, is substantially horizontal and prevents the diskfrom penetrating into the surface of the ground and forming a furrow. Loose
soil from the seed furrow contacts the flat circular plate portion of the rotating
disk 20 and is thrown to the right, where it covers seed in the seed filrrow with
soft, loose soil that is not compacted. Soft, loose soil is less prone to form a15 crust as it dries after a rain than soil that has been compacted by a press wheel.
The position of the seed furrow closing and seed covering disk 20, relative to
the direction of travel, can be adjusted to control the quantity of soil deposited
above seed in the seed furrow. Adjustment of the position of a vertical plane
through the axis of rotation of the disk 20 relative to the direction of forward2 o travel, made by ch Inging the position of the mounting plate 86 relative to the
covering disk shank 78, can result in the disk placing a substantial quantity of
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loose soil to the right of the seed furrow, to the left of the seed furrow, or on
top of the seed furrow.
The furrow closing and seed covering disk 20 tends to slide up
over old crop residue on the ground. Because the disk 20 rotates, it generally
5 does not bunch crop residue or plug. The force exerted by compression spring
120 can be increased to move more loose soil toward the seed furrow and
decreased to reduce displacement of soil toward the seed furrow.
Planter row units 10 as described above have a seed furrow
opener disk 14 that throws loose soil to the left. Row units 10 are also
10 constructed with seed furrow opener disks 14 which throw loose soil to the
right. With units that throw soil to the right, the position of the gauge wheel
16 and the seed covering disk 20 must be changed too.
The furrow closing and seed covering disk 20 does not create a
new furrow in a field that could channel water and lead to erosion. The seed
15 covering disk 20 is therefore useful on drills and planters that do not have
individual row units 10 and row unit frames 12.
It is to be understood that other embodiments of the invention
which accomplish the same function are incorporated herein within the scope
of any ultimately allowed patent claims.
