Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
. A. Serlachius Oy ~`
Planting device for plants
The subject of the present invention is a planting device
which comprises a supporting frarne, a planting tube vertically
displaceably mounted on the supporting frame and pro~ided
with a planting head forming a p:Lanting hole into the ground,
an operating unit fastened ko the supporting frame and to the
planting tube for vertically displacing said planting tube, at
least one vertically displaceably mounted compression device
and an operating unit for displacing said compression device
between an upper position above the planting head and a lower
compression position below the planting head, which operating
unit is fastened, on one hand, to the compression device and,
on the other hand, to the planting tube.
Such a planting device is usually fastened to a tractor
vehicle by means of a boom and pivotable rods so that the
planting tube can, at the planting position, be lowered for
making the planting hole and, after the planting has taken
place, raised from the ground without stopping the tractor
vehicle.
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After the cell plant has been dropped through the planting
tube by means of the tip of the planting tube into the hole
made into the ground, the ground is eompressed around the
planted plant. For this purpose a planting machine is usually
provided with two eompression wheels placed after the planting
tube or with two compression jaws mounted to the planting tube
on its opposite sides. The compression wheels ean, however,
not be plaeed so close to each other that the area placed
near the roots of the plant could also be compressed, because
otherwise, when the vehicle is turned, there is the risk that
the compression wheels roll over the plant. By means of the
compression wheels, it is also diffieult to cover the edge
of the plant cell with soil.
A planting device is also previously known in which the
eompression device consists of a tube whose conieal lower
end, becoming wider towards the bottom, functions as a
compression collar. The tubular compression device is mounted
around the planting tube so that the compression deviee
ean be moved along the planting tube in its axial direetion.
For moving the compression device, a hydraulie eylinder is
provided which is mounted between the planting tube and the
eompression deviee. For lowering and raising the planting
tube, another hydraulie eylinder is provided, whieh is mounted
between the supporting frame and the planting tube. The
eonneetions of the hydraulie eylinders are then sueh that,
after the plant has been placed into the hole, the planting
tube must be raised by means of its own hydraulic cylinder
at the same time as the compression device must be pressed
down by means of its own separate hydraulie eylinder.
The objeet of the present invention is to provide a planting
device for plants which eliminates the above drawbacks and
which permits the performance of the eompression steps by
means of equipment of rnaximum purposefulness and simplicity
of operation. This objeet is aehieved by means of the plant-
ing deviee in aeeordanee with the invention, which is charac-
terized in that the operating unit of the planting tube is
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connected so as to become pressure-free when the operating
unit of the compression device is switched under pressure
so as to press the compression device down and, correspond-
ingly, to press the planting tube upwards by means of a
continuous pushing movement of the operating unit for the
compression device.
The planting device in accordance with the present invention
is based on the idea that the shifting of the compression
device down into the compression position and the performance
of the compression proper as well as the shifting of the
planting tube upwards off the planting hole are produced by
means of a continuous working movement of one and the same
pressure medium cylinder. The planting tube is thereby
automatically pushed upwards by the same operating unit as
pushes the compression device downwards as far as until the
resistance of the ground surface stops its pushing into the
ground. In this way the compression step can follow the
hole-making and plant-positioning steps as soon as possible
so that the time that the planting tube with its equipment
must be in contact with the ground becomes as short as pos-
sible. Owing to this, the speed of the tractor vehicle can
be increased without lengtheninq the support slide, at the
same time as the possibilities of malfunctioning are reduced.
r
The invention will ~e described more closely below with
reference to the attached drawings, wherein
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a planting device in accord-
ance with the invention as mounted on the supporting arm of
the tractor vehicle,
Fig~ 2 is a schematical view of the principle of construction
of the planting device,
Figures 3 to 5 are more detailed views of the planting device
from the front, from the side, and from the top, respectively,
; partly in section, and
Figures 6 to 9 show different working steps of the planting
device as viewed from the side.
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~he planting device shown in the drawings comprises a sup-
porting frame 16, which is in a way resembling a slide mounted
on a support arm 14, not shown in the drawing, carried by the
vehicle. ~he supporting frame can be shifted along the sup-
port arm by means of levers 17, 18 and of a hydraulic -
cylinder lg moving the levers. The supporting frame supports
a vertical planting tube 20, which is mounted on the support-
ing frame as gliding in the vertical direction. For this pur-
pose, a hydraulic cylinder 21 has been provided whose upper
end is fastened to the supporting frame at point 22 and whose
piston rod is fastened to the planting tube by means of a
shaft pin 23.
Vertical guides 24 have been fastened rigidly at two opposite
sides of the planting tube by means of fastenings 25, A
~lide piece 26 has been mounted as guiding on each of the
guides 24, to which gliding,piece a vertical support arm 28
has been mounted pivotably by means of a horizontal shaft pin
27 against a curved compression jaw 29 fastened to its bottom
end. The support arms of both compression jaws have been ad-
ditionally fastenea by means of the said shaft pins 27 to acommon support disk 30. This support disk is, on the other
hand, fastened by means of a shaft pin 31 to the piston rod
of the hydraulic c~linder 32, which cylinder is at its upper
end fastened to the planting tube 20 at poin~t 33., ,A~Xo~l 35
is mounted by means of a shaft pin 34 at the upper end o~
the support arm 28 of each compression jaw. For these rQlLs,
a vertical guide plate 36 has been,fastened to the plantin,g
tube, which plate forms guide tra,cks 37 for t~e rolls on:
opposite sides of the planting tube. The principal portions
of the guide tracks 37 extend ~ertically parallel to each
other, but their lower portions 37a extend diagonall~ down-
outwards from the planting tube.
At the bottom end of the planting tube, two closing flaps 39
~ have been mounted pivotably by means o~ horizontal shafts 3
; at opposite sides of the planting tube, which closing flaps
have such ~orms that they, as pivoted together, cover the
bottom end of the planting tube with their tips placed
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substantially in the vertical centre plane B of the planting
tube but, as pivoted open, open the bo*tom end of the planting
tube to its full width. As pivoted together, the closing
flaps form a sharp tip directed downwards for the planting
tube. Each closing flap is provided with a plate-shaped
shaft 40 directed upwards, which shaft forms a guide track 41
for the roll 42, which is by means of the shaft pin 43 fastened
to the said support disk 30. Both guide tracks 41 include
a lower portion 41a, which forms an angle with the upper part
of the guide track.
The planting device operates as follows:
The supporting frame 16 together with the planting tube 20
has been pushed by the hydraulic cylinder 19 along the
support arm 14 to the initial front position. The planting
tube and the compression jaws are placed in the retracted
upper positions. Figure 6 illustrates this initial situation.
The tractor vehicle is constantly moving forwards.
At the planting position the hyd;raulic cylinder 21 is switched
under pressure so that it shifts the planting tube down
towards the ground and further the distance of the planting
depth into the ground. The compression jaws 29, the support
disk 30, the hydraulic cylinder 32, and the other related
components are shifted down with the planting tube in accord-
ance with the arrow C as one unit without movin~ in relation
to each other. Figure 7 illustrates this step.
When a limiter 47, Fig. 4 and 5, elastically fastened to
the planting device, contacts the ground surface, the tip
of the planting tube has reached the necessary depth, whereby
the limiter gives an impulse ~or making the hydraulic cylinder
21 pressure-free. At the same time the limiter gives an
impulse for connecting the pressure to the hydraulic cylinder
32 of the pushing jaws 29, Fig. 2. ~he hydraulic cylinder 32
presses the support disk 30 and, by its intermediate, the
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supporting arms 28 with the compression jaws 29 down in
accordance with the arrows D against the ground. Then the
support disk 30 also presses the rolls 42 down, whereby they
roll along the guide tracks 41 formed by the shafts 40 of
the closing flaps and press the shafts towards each other
and, correspondingly, the closing flaps towards the open
position. Figure 8 illustrates this step. The cell plant 45
dropped into the planting tube is now allcwed to fall into
the hole opened by the flaps in the ground.
After the compression jaws have compressed the soil and
do no longer penetrate deeper and while the hydraulic
cylinder 32 is still under pressure, the hydraulic cylinder 32
in its turn pushes the planting tube 20 upwards in accordance
with the arrow E. The rolls 42 now roll along the lower
portions 41a of the guide tracks 41 on the shafts of the
closing flaps while constantly keeping the closing flaps in
the open position. The rolls 35 of the support arms 2~ of
the compression jaws have now reached the inclined track
portions 37a of the guide tracks 37 formed by the guide
plate 36 fastened to the planting tube, whereby the support
arms are pi~oted around the shaft pins 27 so that the
compression jaws 29 move towards each other as shown by the
arrows F. Figure 9 illustrates this situation. Thus, the
power with which the compression jaws are pushed down and
compress the soil is determined by the wei~ht of the entire
planting device and by -the flow resistance directed at the
pressure oil flowing out of the cylinder 21. The planting
tube moves upwards as pushed by the hydraulic cylinder 32
until the cyIinder 32 reaches its extreme position, whereupon
a limit switch, not shown in the drawing, switches the
hydraulic cylinder 21 to con-tinue the movement of raising
the planting tube and reverses the direction of movement of
the hydraulic cylinder 32. In this way the planting tube
and the compression jaws as well as the closing flaps consti-
tuting the tip return to the retracted upper initial position,
which is illustrated by Figure 6.
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A limit switch not shown in the drawing switches the pressure
on to the hydraulic cylinder 19 of the supporting frame 16,
which cylinder shifts the supporting frame that had glided
along the support arm 14 to the rear position back to the
position shown in Figure 1.
It is noticed that the movement of the compression jaws 28
down, the opening of the flaps 39 of the planting tube,
th~ movement of the planting tube upwards, and the pivoting
of the compression jaws are produced by means of a continuous
pushing movement of one and the same operating unit, i.e.
hydraulic cylinder 32~ The automatic rising of the planting
tube shifts the hole-making flaps off the ground at the cor-
rect moment so that they do not constitute an obstacle for -
the compression of the surrounding of the cell and for the
covering of the edge of the cell
The drawings and the related description are only intended
to illustrate the idea of the invention. In its details the
planting device in accordance with the invention may show
variation within the scope of the patent claims. The com-
pression jaws may be designed so that tXey form a full circleas a cone opening towards the bottom, whexeby the shafts of
the jaws have only a vertical movement and no pivoting movement
inwards of the type described above.
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