Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02288481 1999-11-03
FLEXIBLE ROTATABLE DRIVE SHAFT FOR A ROW CROP PLANTING UNIT
Background of the Invention
1. Field of the Invention:
The invention is directed to a row crop planting unit wherein the seed meter
and the
chemical meter are driven by a flexible rotatable drive shaft.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Row crop planters as their name suggests are used to plant agricultural crops
in
rows. These planters typically comprise a transverse toolbar on which is
mounted a plurality
of row crop units. The individual row units are coupled to the transverse
toolbar by a parallel
linkage, so they are free to vertically float, up and down. Esch row crop unit
is provided with
a seed reservoir, a seed meter, a furrow opener and a seed tube extending from
the seed
meter to the seed planting furrow opened by the furrow opener. Each individual
row crop
unit may also be provided with a chemical hopper, a Chemical meter and a
chemical
applicator for applying the chemicals to the field. The seed meter and
chemical meter are
driven by a chain drive extending from the meters to a transverse drive shaft
attached to the
toolbar. The transverse drive shaft drives all the row crop unifis.
Currently many farmers are practicing minimum tillage farming techniques,
These
techniques include planting directly into crop stubble, including com stalks.
During
harvesting of corn, the corn ear is stripped from the stalk and the stalk and
roots remain in
the field. Depending on conditions these stalks rnay project upwardly from the
field. As row
crop planters pass over the stalks. these stalks may sometimes penetrate the
row crop unit
and dislodge the chain drive for the seed meter and chemical hopper of an
individual row
planting unit. The farmer is normally alerted to this condition by a seed
monitor that fails to
detect seed passing through the seed tube because of the undriven seed meter.
The farmer
would then have to stop the tractor. get out of the tractor, to replace the
chain on the
sprockets before he could start seeding again. Since Some row Crop planters
are provided
with thirty-one planting units, maintenance required by the current chain
drive systems can
be time consuming and labor intensive. Guards and deflectors have been used to
overcome
this problem, but they have not been entirely successful.
Flexible rotatable shaft drives have been used in agricultural applications.
They have
been used to remotely adjust the sieves on a combine_ In addition, they have
also been
used in seeding applications.
Summary of the Invention
It is an object of the present invention to provide a drive assembly for a row
crop
planter that is more secure from stalk dislodgement than a chain drive.
1t n another object of this invention to provide a drive assembly that can be
readily
CA 02288481 1999-11-03
retrofitted to exlstlng row crop planters and that is easily assembled.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a drive assembly that
can allow
individual planting unit to float vertically relative to the toolbar and still
function correctly.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a drive assembly for
a row crop
planter that requires very low maintenance.
It is a feature of the present invention that the drive assembly is a tlexlble
rotatable
shaft extending between the transverse drive shaft on the toolbar and the s~ed
and chemical
meters on individual row units.
The row crop planter of the present Invention is a conventional seeding
machine
having a transverse toolbar on which are mounted a plurality of planting
units. Each planting
unit is provided with a seed hopper, a seed meter, a furrow opener and a seed
tube
extending between the seed meter end the furrow opener. In some embodiments
the row
crop planting unit is also provided with a chemical hopper. chemical meter and
a chemical
applicator.
The seed meter and the chemical meter, if provided, are driven by a flexible
rotatable
shaft extending from the transversely extending drive shaft to the meters. A
first gearbox is
drivingly coupled to the transversely extending drive shaft and is used to
drive the flexible
rotatable shaft. A second gearbox, opposite the seed meter, is coupled to the
flexible
rotatable shaft and is used to drive the seed meter. A third gearbox, opposite
the chemical
meter, is coupled to the flexible rotatable shaft and is used to drive the
chemical meter. The
drive couplings between the gearboxes and the meters are identical to those
used on a
conventional planting unit.
Brief Description of the OrawinCls
Figure 1 is a side view of a row crop planting unit mounted to a transverse
toolbar.
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the drive assembly. of the present invention
in a row
crop planting unit.
Figure 3 is a side detail cross sectional view of the first gearbox.
Description of the Preferred Embodiment
Figure 1 is a side view of a row crop planter 10 showing a single row crop
planting
unit 12. It should be noted that a row crop planter would comprise a number of
identical
planting units. Each of the planting units plants an individual row as it
passes over the
ground. The planter 10 comprises a plurality of row crop planting units 12
that are mounted
tv a transverse toolbar 14. The toolbar 14 can be quite long and have folding
mechanisms to
simplify transport of the row crop planter 10. The planting units are coupled
to the toolbar 14
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CA 02288481 1999-11-03
by U-bolts 16. Each planting unit 12 is provided with a frame 18 which is
coupled to the
transverse toolbar 14 by a parallelogram linkage 20. The parallel linkage 20
allows the
individual row units 12 to move vertically, up and down. Seed is stored in
seed hopper 22
and directed to seed meter 24. From the seed meter 24 the seed is dropped into
seed tube
26 which directs the metered seed into the planting furrow farmed by furrow
opener 28.
Gauge wheels 30 control the depth of planting and closing wheels 32 close the
planting
furrow.
Pesticides and/or fertilizer can be stored in a chemical hopper 34 which is
mounted
to the planter unit frame 18. A chemical meter 36 directs metered chemicals to
a chemical
applicator 38. The chemical applicator can b~ used to apply a variety of
chemicals including
insecticides and/or herbicides.
The seed meters 24 and the chemical meters 36 of the plurality of row units
are
driven by a transversely extending drive shaft 40 that is rotatively mounted
to the transverse
toolbar. Transversely extending drive shaft 40 can be ground driven through a
suitable
transmission or can be driven directly by a motor. The drive shaft 40 is a hex
shaft that
passes through a first gear box 42 that is mounted to the stationary plate 44
of parallelogram
linkage 20. The first gearbox 40 can be mounted to the stationary plate 44 as
illustrated in
Figures 1 and 2, or it can be mounted to the transverse toolbar 14 directly.
However, in the
preferred embodiment the first gearbox 40 is mounted to the stationary plate
44, The first
gear box 40 is provided with a helical drive gear 46 through which the drive
shaft 40 passes.
The drive shaft 40 is drivingly coupled tv helical drive gear 46 which in turn
drives helical
driven gear 48. Tubular portions ag of the helical driven gear extend
outwardly therefrom
and can rotate in bearings located in the casing of the first gearbox 40. The
tubular portions
49 an: provided with square apertures into which a square drive member 50 of a
flexible
rvtatable drive shaft 51 Is inserted- Therefore rotation of the driven gear 48
rotates its
tubular portions 49 in turn rotating the square drive member 50 and thereby
the rotable drive
shaft 51. The flexible rotatable drive shaft 51 is housed in a flexible non-
rotating casing 52
that protects th~r drive shaft 51 from the elements. The flexible rotatable
drive shaft of the
present invention is of the type marketed by Elliott Manufacturing of
Binghamtom, New York.
The flexible rotatable drive shaft 51 extends rearwardly past the parallel
linfcage 20 to
the seed meter 2a. The end of the flexible rotatable drive shaft remote from
the first gear
box 40 is also provided with a square drive member identical to the square
drive member 50.
Opposite the seed meter 24 the square drive member 50 is inserted into the
second gearbox
54 so that driving rotation can be transferred from the flexible rotatable
drive shaft 51 to the
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CA 02288481 1999-11-03
second gearbox 5a. This arrangement is essentially identical to the
arrangement used with
the first gear box 42 and illustrated in Figure 3. The second gear box 54 is
provided with a
helical drive gear 56 having tubular portions 57 provided with square
apertures for receiving
the spuare drive member that rotates helical drive gear 56. The helical drive
gear 56 in tum
drives helical driven gear 58 that is operatively coupled to transversely
extending pins 60 for
driving the seed meter 24. The transverse pin drive coupling for the seed
meter 24 is
identical to the drive coupling used on existing planter units so that these
units maybe easily
retrofitted to use the flexible rotatable drive shaft 51 of the present
invention.
A second rotatable drive shaft 82 extends between the second gear box 54 to a
third
9 0 gear box 64 which is located opposite the chemical meter 36. Again the
ends of this drive
shaft are provided with square drive members which engages the two gearboxes.
This
arrangement is essentially identical to the arrangement used with the first
gear box 42 and
illustrated in Figure 3. The third ~ear box 64 is provided with a helical
drive gear 66 having
tubular portions 67 that are provided with a square aperture for engaging the
square drive
'15 member of the second rotatable drive shaft 62. The second rotatable drive
shaft 62 in tum
drives the helical drive gear 66 which drives helical driven gear 68. Helical
drive gear 68 is
drivingly coupled to drive coupling 70. Drive coupling 70 is identical to the
drive coupling
used on existing planter units so that these units can be readily retrofitted.
The Invention should not be limited to the above described embodiment, but
should
20 be limited solely to the claims that follow.
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