Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
SEED BED STERILIZATION SYSTEM AND METHOD TO PREVENT WEEDS
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present disclosure relates to a vegetable seed bed sterilizing system and
method for
preventing undesirable weeds from growth in the seed bed.
BACKGROUND
It is known to control weed growth by the use chemicals which are applied to
the weeds by
spray equipment and manually held spray containers or by the use of harsh
chemicals in
powder or granules from which are sprinkled on the weeds and such has been
found to be
hazardous to a person's health. When controlling weeds in agricultural crop
cultivation it is
preferable to use other means of weed control to reduce health risks to the
grower. A common
method is to use manual labor to pluck the weeds from the seed beds, but this
is slow, and
manpower is expensive. Steam and hot water used with a hot biodegradable foam
agent and
released on the weeds under pressure is also known to control undesirable
vegetation. Such
spraying systems are used with heavy farm type machinery which contains
several spray
nozzles and large water reservoirs which is usually pulled by a tractor. Such
method kills the
weeds, but the seeds of the weeds which are underground are usually not
destroyed for the
reason that the steam and hot water cools in the space between the spray
nozzles and the
weeds and by the time it precipitates by gravity into the soil below the
ground surface, the water
as cooled to a temperature which has no effect on the seeds.
A problem to many known weed control systems using hot water is their ability
to maintain the
water at a suitable high temperature whereby the seeds of the weeds exposed to
the water will
die. Because the containers are quite large, it is therefore imperative, to
maintain hot water
usually contained in the container, heated while the dispensing equipment is
operative to insure
that the water temperature does not fall to a temperature which has no effect
on the unwanted
vegetation. To this end, these containers, which are mounted on a trailer
pulled by a tractor
vehicle are equipped with resistive heating elements which are powered by
electricity from the
battery of the tractor or the containers are replenished with hot water at the
farm house or barn
where large amounts of water can be heated to elevated temperatures above 200
degrees F.,
or to the boiling point of water, and the water maintained at substantially
that temperature by
emersion electrical heating elements or by a gas burner. These techniques are
costly and time
consuming as the equipment has to be displaced to the source of water which
may be far from
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the seed beds. Also, the heating equipment which is transported by the water
supporting and
dispensing apparatus is heavy and costly and therefore not suitable by small
crop growers.
There exists a need to provide an effective weed control apparatus and method
for the
prevention of weeds in seed beds for small crop growers, such as residential
farms, hobby
farms, and gardens, and wherein such is compact and operable by a single
person, and
wherein the average row length is no more than 150 feet. A still further need
is to have a water
supply and a water heater in close proximity to the weed beds and the bed
saturating
equipment.
SUMMARY
It is a feature of the present invention to provide a seed bed hot water
saturation system and
method which provides at least the above-mentioned needs.
It is a further feature of the present invention to provide such system and
method which is
capable of killing the seeds of weeds embedded below the surface of the soil
of seed beds by
the use of hot water injected under pressure directly from the surface of the
seed beds, such
that the hot water remains enclosed with no possibility of harming the
operator.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a seed bed saturation
system and method
which utilizes a wheel driven shuttle vehicle for sterilizing the seed beds in
combination with a
self-contained mobile water heating vehicle for heating water placed directly
in a hot water
holding tank of the shuttle vehicle and with the water in the hot water
holding tank being heated
by re-circulating the water between the hot water holding tank and a water
heater mounted on a
mobile water heating vehicle.
A further feature of the present invention is to provide a manually controlled
and operable self-
propelled seed bed saturation system which is easy to operate by one person
and wherein the
user person only needs to control the direction of the self-propelled shuttle
vehicle.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a seed bed
sterilization system wherein
the hot water is injected into the soil with restraining bands on both sides
to prevent the
escaping of hot saturating water from said sides.
According to the above features, from a broad aspect the present invention
provides a seed bed
sterilizing system for preventing the seeds of weeds from growth in the seed
bed. A manually
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guidable wheel driven shuttle vehicle is provided, and it has a frame for
supporting a hot water
reservoir. A hot water applicator manifold housing is displaceably supported
on the frame for
displacement from a storage position to a seed bed contact position where hot
water is
discharged under pressure from a lower soil contact surface of the hot water
applicator manifold
housing and into the seed bed and at a substantially constant rate as the
wheel driven vehicle is
displaced there along by a constant speed drive. Directional control means is
provided for the
user person to manually control the direction of displacement of the wheel
driven vehicle. A self-
contained mobile hot water heater vehicle is also provided with the system and
it has a water
heater for heating water to be contained in the hot water reservoir. A dual-
function water pump
is mounted on the shuttle vehicle and connected between an outlet of the hot
water reservoir
and the controllable valve. The controllable valve has operable control means
to direct water
flow through a selected one of two outlet ports of the controllable valve. One
of the outlet ports
directs water to the inlet of the water heater. A conduit fitted with a quick-
connect device
delivers the water to said water heater. The other outlet of the controllable
valve directs the
water to the manifold housing that injects the hot water into the soil. A
second conduit connects
an outlet of the water heater to an inlet of the hot water reservoir, this
said conduit having a
quick-connect device at the discharge end.
According to another broad aspect of the present invention there is provided a
method for
sterilizing seeds of weeds present in a vegetable seed bed comprising the
steps of:
(i) providing a wheel driven shuttle vehicle having a hot water reservoir, a
hot water applicator
manifold housing, a dual-function pump and a controllable valve,
(ii) providing a self-contained mobile hot water heater vehicle having a water
heater with inlet
and outlet connections to permit water flow through the water heater, a burner
is provided for
heating water in the water heater and wherein a burner control means is
provided,
(iii) filling the hot water reservoir with water,
(iv) establishing a conduit connection between the outlet connection of the
water heater and to
an inlet of the hot water reservoir and the inlet of the water heater to a
first outlet port of the
controllable valve,
(v) operating the dual-function pump to circulate water in a continuous flow
path through the
water heater and the hot water reservoir,
(vi) monitoring the temperature of the water in the continuous flow path,
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(vii) controlling the burner to control the heating temperature of the water
in the flow path flowing
through the water heater,
(viii) shutting off the dual-function pump and the burner once a desired
temperature has been
detected by step (vi),
(ix) operating the controllable valve to close the first outlet port and open
a second outlet port
thereof to provide for hot water flow from the hot water tank to the hot water
applicator manifold,
(x) disconnecting the conduit connections of step (iv),
(xi) positioning the hot water applicator manifold onto the seed bed with the
shuttle vehicle
disposed there over, and
(xi) switching on the dual-function pump and a drive of the wheel driven
shuttle vehicle to cause
the shuttle vehicle to be displaced over and along the seed bed at a
predetermined constant
speed while a user person guides the shuttle vehicle along the seed bed with
hot water from the
hot water reservoir being injected under pressure from a lower surface of the
hot water
applicator manifold housing and into the seed bed to saturate any undesirable
weed seeds.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF 'THE DRAWINGS
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with
reference to the
accompanying schematic concept drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective rear view of the seed bed sterilizing system
of the present
invention and wherein the shuttle vehicle is connected to a mobile water
heating vehicle water
heater by flexible conduits;
FIG. 2 is a top view of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a top side view of the wheeled shuttle vehicle;
FIG. 4 is a bottom perspective view of the wheeled shuttle vehicle;
FIG. 5A is a perspective view of the shuttle vehicle showing the handle bars
located at the rear
of the vehicle for guiding the self-propelled vehicle along a seed bed being
saturated with hot
water;
FIG. 5B is a perspective view like FIG. 5A showing the handle bars located at
the front of the
vehicle for displacing and orienting the vehicle for displacement to a further
location;
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FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing the construction of the hot
water applicator
manifold housing;
FIG. 7 is a bottom view of the hot water applicator manifold housing;
FIG. 8A is a top perspective view of the frame of the shuttle vehicle showing
the hot water
applicator manifold housing at a storage position elevated from a seed bed;
FIG. 8B is a view like FIG. 8A showing the disconnectable support linkage of
the hot water
applicator manifold housing disconnected from its storage position and in
transit to its seed bed
contact position,
FIG. 8C is a rear simplified view showing the hot water applicator manifold
housing with its
bottom surface resting on top of a seed bed, and
FIG. 9 us a fragmented perspective view of the reservoir.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring to the drawings and more particularly to FIGS. 1 to 4 there is shown
generally at 10
the seed bed sterilizing system of the present invention for preventing weeds
from growth in a
seed bed. This is accomplished by the present invention by destroying the
seeds of the weeds
which are imbedded into the soil of the seed bed and to overcome the treatment
methods of
above ground spraying which have failed to prevent re-growth of the weeds by
destroying only
the weed portion exposed above the soil of the beds.
The system is comprised of a manually guidable wheel driven shuttle vehicle 11
which is
comprised of a frame 12 which is supported on a set of motor driven front
wheels 13 and a set
of free-running rear wheels 14. The front wheels are driven by an electric
motor 15 which is
provided power by
a gas generator 16' mounted on the frame. As better seen from FIG. 4, the
electric motor 15 is
coupled to a gear box 16 in which is mounted a gear train, not shown but
obvious to a person
skilled in the art, and which gear train has a coupling gear ratio of 480/1 to
rotate a drive
sprocket gear 17 which is coupled to a driven sprocket gear 18 by a chain or
link belt 22. The
driven sprocket 18 is secured to the driven axle 19 of the front wheels. The
motor is driven at a
constant speed and is operated by a motor on/off switch 20 mounted on the rear
console 21 of
the shuttle vehicle 11. The constant motor drive provides for the shuttle
vehicle to be displaced,
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in this embodiment, at a constant speed of 7 rpm. This speed is adjustable
depending on the
soil structure, and the adjustment of the speed is accomplished by a speed
adjustment knob 23
provided on the console 21.
A hot water containing reservoir 25 is also mounted on the frame 12 and in
this embodiment has
a dimension suitable to retain 15 gallons of water. The container is provided
with a top cover 26,
which is insulated, for access to the inside of the reservoir to fill the
reservoir with water once it
is empty. The cover also shields the hot water in the reservoir from ambient
temperature and
other outside elements such as rain. The reservoir also has an inlet hose
coupling 27 secured to
its sidewall 28 in a top portion of the reservoir for receiving a quick
coupling 29 from a conduit,
herein a flexible hose 30 which is secured to an outlet end 31 of a water
heater 32 mounted on
a self-contained mobile hot water heater vehicle 33. As shown in FIG. 9, the
coupling 27
connects to a 90 degree elbow 85 coupling positioned inside the tank wall and
to which is
secured a dip pipe 86 to channel the hot water to an outlet spaced closely
above the bottom
wall of the reservoir 25. Accordingly, the heated water is released in the
reservoir shielded from
atmosphere above the water level in the reservoir to maintain pressure and
avoiding the
creation of steam. The reservoir 25 is also thermally insulated.
A 3-way controllable valve 34 has an inlet connection 34', secured to a pump
50 which receives
water through hose 51 which is connected to an outlet connection, not shown,
secured to a
bottom portion of the reservoir 25 to provide water flow under pressure,
regulated between 15 to
psi. The controllable valve 34 is further provided with a lever arm 44. When
the lever 44 is in
25 its upright position, as shown in FIG. 2, the water entering valve 34 at
connection 34' is directed
out of port 39 and water flow is established from the bottom end of reservoir
25 to the manifold
housing 43 via hose 40. When the lever arm is displaced in a rearward
direction, the water
entering port 34' from the reservoir 25 is directed to port 36 of the valve
34. Port 36 is
connectable by a quick-disconnect 37 of a flexible hose conduit 38 which is
secured to an inlet
30 end 39 of the water heater 32 mounted on the mobile hot water heater
vehicle 33. This
establishes a water flow from reservoir 25 to the water heater 32.
With reference now to FIGS. 6 and 7, there is shown the construction of the
hot water applicator
manifold housing 43. It is constructed of aluminum and stainless steel, and in
the present
embodiment has a dimension of 6 inches by 8 inches. It is to be noted that the
present invention
is not to be limited to these specific dimensions of this embodiment but can
vary in size to so
suit the size of the beds to be saturated. The applicator manifold housing is
formed by a solid
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top rectangular plate 45 to which is secured the hose coupling 41 which leads
to a water conduit
, shown in phantom lines, leading to a lower surface 47 of the plate 45. A
rectangular contour
gasket 48 is disposed between the top plate 46 and a thin stainless steel
solid lower plate 49.
The lower plate 49 is formed with a plurality of small holes 52 which
constitutes jet holes
through which hot water is released under pressure from the pump 50. A hot
water manifold
chamber is delineated between the top plate 46 and the bottom plate 49 by the
thickness of the
gasket 48 and provides a substantially even distribution of hot water to the
jet holes 52. The top
plate 46, the gasket 48 and the bottom plate 49 are secured in tight fit to
one another by a
plurality of bolts 53, the heads of such bolts being recessed in cavities 54
formed in the outer
surface 55 of the bottom plate not to provide any obstructions in such outer
surface as it is
displaced on top of the seed beds. The bolts 53 are fastened by nuts 56 on the
top surface 57 of
the top plate 46.
As better seen in FIG. 7, the bottom plate 49 has an upwardly formed front
edge portion 58 to
cause any obstructions on the seed bed, such as stones and weeds, to be
compressed under
the manifold housing has it is displaced over the seed bed. The lower soil
contact surface 52' of
the bottom plate 49 of the hot water applicator manifold housing 43 is further
provided with a
pair of elongated straight barrier blades 59 disposed parallel to one another
and extending in a
respective vertical plane on a respective side of the plurality of the jet
holes 52 to concentrate
the hot water injected through the jet holes along a band 90, see FIG. 8C, of
the seed bed and
to prevent soil erosion on opposed outer sides of the seed bed. The hot water
pressure spray
penetrates into the soil sufficiently deep and at a temperature sufficient to
destroy the seeds of
weeds.
With reference now to FIGS. 8A to 8C, there is described the mounting and
operation of the hot
water applicator manifold housing 43. As herein illustrated, the manifold
housing 43 is secured
to a pivotal linkage which comprises a pivot support arm 61 pivotally secured
at a front end 62
on a pivot rod 63 supported between a pair of brackets 64 secured to a front
frame member 65.
The rear end of the pivot support arm 61 constitutes a handle 66 for
displacing the support arm
61. A connecting arm 70 is secured to the top surface 57 of the manifold
housing and the pivot
support arm 61. A pivotal support arm 67 is also pivotally secured to the
pivot support arm 61 at
a rear end thereof, in front of the handle portion 66, and is provided to hold
the manifold housing
to a storage position elevated from the soil. This is accomplished by lifting
the handle 66 and
placing the lower end 68 of the support arm 67 into a cavity 69 formed on the
top surface of a
rear frame member 70 or other engagement means.
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To lower the manifold housing onto a seed bed it is only necessary for an
operator person to lift
the handle 66 and move the pivotal support arm forwardly out of contact with
the cavity 69 and
lower the manifold housing onto the top surface of the seed bed, as
illustrated in FIG. 8C. As
shown, support flanges 82 and 83 are secured spaced-apart on the top plate 43
of the manifold.
A pivot rod 84 is secured between the flanges 82 and 83 and a lower end of the
support bar 70'
is pivotally connected thereto between the flanges. The lower end of the
support bar 70' is
spaced about A inch above the top surface of the plate 43. Such pivotal
support permits the
manifold to pivot about 5 degrees in the forward and rearward directions as it
is displaced over
the seed bed.
FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrates directional control means to provide for a user
person to manually
control the direction of displacement of the wheel driven shuttle vehicle. It
is simply provided by
a pair of handle bars 71 which are removably attached to a pair of vertical
tubes 72 secured to
the rear frame member 70 on opposite sides thereof. A further pair of
horizontal tubes 73
secured to an elevated frame 74 on a front end of the shuttle vehicle to
permit the handle bars
71 to be connected thereto to re-orient the shuttle vehicle. Because the
shuttle vehicle 11 is
driven at a constant speed by the drive motor 1, the operator person only has
to guide the
direction of movement of the shuttle vehicle and this is accomplished by
holding the handle bars
71 and following the shuttle vehicle along the seed bed by holding the handle
bars which extend
vertically. When the shuttle vehicle reaches the end of a seed bed, the
operator person shuts off
the motor drive on/off switch 20 and the pump on/off switch 50' on the console
21. The operator
person then removes the handle bars from its rear tubes 72 and positions the
handle bars 71 in
the front tubes, as shown in FIG. 5B. The operator person then lifts the
handle bars to lift the
front drive wheels off the ground to displace and re-orient the shuttle
vehicle onto another bed
or simply to move it to another location to fill it with water. Usually there
is a close water supply
to these seed beds and provided with a hose connection whereby it is not
necessary to displace
the shuttle vehicle. To prevent the handle bars from slipping out of the
connecting tubes 72, 73
a detachable formation can be provided by suitable detachable connecting
means.
With reference now to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is described the self-contained
mobile hot water
supply vehicle 33 of the system. As above mentioned, it has a water heater 32
for heating water
to be contained in the hot water reservoir 25 of the shuttle vehicle 11. The
mobile water supply
vehicle 32 has a support platform 75 to which is secured swivel wheels 76 for
displacing the
mobile water supply vehicle 33 to a location where the shuttle vehicle has
stopped for re-filling
the reservoir with a supply of water. A propane gas container 77 is supported
on the platform 75
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and has a gas line 78, equipped with a control valve 79 to supply gas under
pressure to the
water heater which is an instantaneous gas-fired water heater capable of
raising the
temperature of 1.6 gallons of water per minute by 45 degrees F. It is pointed
out that the control
valve is provided to modulate a burner flame of a burner associated with the
water heater to
control the rate of increase of temperature of the heated water in the re-
circulating flow path has
the heated water approaches a predetermined temperature, herein in the range
of between 200
to 207 degrees F., to slow down the increase in temperature not to exceed the
boiling point of
water to avoid creating steam. This temperature is monitored on the
temperature gauge 80
mounted on the housing 81 of the water heater 32 and the user person controls
the control
valve 79 to modulate the flame to slow down the heating rate of the water flow
to insure that its
.. temperature is below the boiling temperature of water but sufficiently high
to kill seeds of said
undesirable weeds. By having the mobile water heater displaced besides the
shuttle vehicle as
soon as the water heater is disconnected, the shuttle vehicle immediately
continues to saturate
the bed in front of it not to delay the saturation process wherein the hot
water can cool below the
saturation temperature.
In this particular embodiment the reservoir 25 is filled with 15 gallons of
water which is adequate
to saturate approximately 200 feet of seed bed at a displacement shuttle speed
of 7 rpm. A low
water level indicator 23 is mounted on the console 21 and secured to a level
detection device,
not shown, but of a type well know in the art, and mounted on the reservoir 25
to provide an
indication to the user person that the reservoir requires refilling.
Having thus described the construction of the shuttle vehicle 11 and the
mobile hot water heater
vehicle 33, the method of sterilizing weed seeds in a vegetable seed bed can
be summarized as
follows. Firstly, the hot water reservoir 25 of the shuttle vehicle is filled
with a predetermined
volume of water, herein 15 gallons sufficient to saturate 200 feet of seed
bed. The mobile hot
water supply vehicle 33 is positioned in close proximity to the shuttle
vehicle. The conduit
connections between the outlet connection 31 of the water heater 32 and the
inlet connection 27
of the hot water reservoir and the inlet 39 of the water heater to the outlet
port 36 of the
controllable valve 37 are made. The dual-function pump 50 is operated to
circulate water in a
continuous flow path through the water heater and the hot water reservoir to
start heating the
water in the reservoir 25.
The user person monitors the temperature displayed on the temperature gauge 80
which is
representative of the water temperature of the water flow though the water
heater 32. The user
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person controls the burner flame intensity via the control valve 79 to control
the rate of increase
of the heating temperature of the water in the water flow path flowing through
the water heater.
Once the desired temperature, in the range of 205-207 degrees F., has been
detected, the user
person shuts off the dual-function pump 50 by switching off the switch 50' on
the console 21.
The user person then operates the controllable valve 37 to close the outlet
port connected to the
water heater and opens the second outlet port to provide for hot water flow
from the hot water
reservoir to the hot water applicator manifold housing 43. The conduits 30 and
38 are now
disconnected.
Before heating the water in the reservoir 25, the shuttle vehicle 11 is
positioned at an end of a
seed bed to be sterilized. After the conduits are disconnected the hot water
applicator manifold
is displaced from its storage position and onto the top surface of the seed
bed. The user person
then operates the switches for the dual-function pump 50 and the drive motor
of the driven
wheels of the shuttle vehicle to cause the shuttle vehicle to be displaced
over and along the
seed bed at a predetermined constant speed while the user person guides the
shuttle vehicle
along the seed bed with hot water from the hot water reservoir being injected
under pressure
from the lower surface of the hot water applicator manifold housing and into
the seed bed, as
shown in FIG. 8C to sterilize any undesirable weed seeds.
The sterilizing shuttle vehicle of the present invention is designed to do one
complete seed bed
row at a time and the shuttle ideally starts at the beginning of a row and
there is always enough
water to complete the sterilizing of the seed bed. The water heater stays at
the end of the farm
and simply moves sideways to the next row. A low level water detector is
provided to protect the
pump to prevent it from running dry.
It is within the ambit of the present disclosure to cover any obvious
modifications of the
schematic illustration of the preferred embodiment construction of the system
of the present
invention as described herein, provided such modifications fall within the
scope of the appended
claims.
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