Disc trench filler for a no-till planter

• US 4,070,974 A
• Filed: 06/29/1976
• Issued: 01/31/1978
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/1976
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hugh E. Stacy Jr
• Original Assignee: Hugh E. Stacy Jr
• Inventors: Stacy, Hugh E. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Burr, Edgar S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bratlie, Steven A.
• Application Number:
  US05/700,975
• Time in Patent Office: 581 Days
• Field of Search: 111/77, 111/78, 111/85, 111/81, 111/88, 111/24, 111/84, 111/87, 111/79, 111/1, 172/538, 172/555, 172/604, 222/177, 37/142.5
• US Class Current: 111/169
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 5/06 Machines for making or covering drills or furrows for sowing or planting
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 7/20 Parts of seeders for conducting and depositing seed
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 40/22 Improving land use; Improving water use or availability; Controlling erosion
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 111/927 Parallelogram mounting

Abstract

A disc-like device, the peripheral edge of which is formed in a plurality of oppositely turned curved segments is attached to a no-till planter as used in planting seed crops in fields which have not been plowed. The disc-like device is arranged to follow the disc opener of the planter which in turn follows a wavey disc which prepares the soil for the disc opener. The configuration of the disc-like device with its outturned oppositely arranged curved segments forming its peripheral edge closes the shallow trench formed by the disc opener at the time the seeds are inserted therein.

Claims

1. In a no-till planter having a disc opener of a known width arranged to form a shallow trench in the soil of a field to be planted, a hopper and a metering device for delivering seeds from the hopper to the trench formed by the disc opener;

support means extending outwardly from said planter, a trench filler comprising a unitary disc journaled on said support means in trailing alignment with said disc opener, said disc having a peripheral edge, a plurality of individual alternately arranged opposite outwardly curving segments each integrally joined to the peripheral edge of said disc at the root of said segment, said segments each being curved in at least two planes and each being located immediately adjacent one another with said disc peripheral edge being formed entirely by said segment roots and adjacent segments are joined together solely at the roots thereof, the transverse spacing of the outermost edges of said curved segments being at least as great as the width of said disc opener and the shallow trench formed thereby so that the segments engage and move portions of the soil from the sides of the trench into the same.

2. The improvement in a no-till planter set forth in claim 1 and wherein said support means comprises a pair of trailing arms, pivots attaching said trailing arms to said planter adjacent said hopper and means on said planter adjustably engaging said trailing arms in spaced relation to said pivots.

3. The improvement in a no-till planter set forth in claim 1 and wherein said plurality of individual alternately arranged opposite outwardly curving segments are initially defined in the periphery of said disc by a plurality of slits extending radially of said disc.