Hopper and feed wheel assembly for a fertilizer spreader

• US 4,234,105 A
• Filed: 07/23/1979
• Issued: 11/18/1980
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/1979
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (Corteva, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Shell Oil Company (Shell Plc)
• Inventors: Viramontes, Jose A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Spar, Robert J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Silverberg, Fred A.
• Application Number:
  US06/059,806
• Time in Patent Office: 484 Days
• Field of Search: 222/233, 222/236, 222/238, 222/368, 222/410, 222/414, 222/623, 366/196, 111/77, 111/78, 111/34
• US Class Current: 222/233
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 15/08 with pushers or stirrers in the slots
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 7/16 Seeders with other distributing devices, e.g. brushes, discs, screws or slides
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 111/927 Parallelogram mounting

Abstract

A hopper and feed wheel assembly for a fertilizer or pesticide spreader is described. This assembly includes an open topped storage bin or hopper having a concave or "V"-shaped bottom with a flat center plat being disposed along the center or lower most point of the base, the center plate being movable according to calibrated settings to provide a gate opening for discharge of fertilizer or pesticide. To facilitate continuous discharge of fertilizer or pesticide out of the bottom gate opening with minimal break up of particles or clogging of the gate opening, the hopper is further equipped with a feed wheel made up of a rotatable shaft traversing the width of the bin and having its longitudinal axis directly above and parallel to the length of the center plate, the shaft being affixed to a longer smaller diameter rod which is attached to the shaft at its ends and extends outward from the peripheral surface of the shaft at the points of attachment and is bent back in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the shaft in a series of rod lengths which substantially traverse the length of the shaft, each rod length being joined to another by a series of reverse bends extending substantially around the periphery of the shaft.

Claims

1. A hopper and feed wheel assembly for a fertilizer and/or pesticide spreader comprising:

(a) an open-topped hopper having a tapered bottom which is equipped with a bottom discharge opening at its lower most point, said discharge opening being closeable or adjustable in any size by means of a movable plate which is located below and is affixed to the hopper bottom and which moves over the discharge opening in accordance with calibrated settings;

(b) a horizontally disposed feed wheel made up of a rotatable shaft traversing the width of the hopper and having its longitudinal axis directly above the bottom discharge opening, a longer smaller diameter rod is attached at its ends to the outside peripheral surface of the shaft inside the hopper and said rod extends outward from the peripheral surface of the shaft at the attached ends and is bent back in a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the shaft in a series of rod lengths which substantially traverse the length of the shaft inside the hopper, each of said rod lengths being joined endwise to the next adjacent rod length by a series of reverse bends extending substantially around the pheriphery of the shaft, each of said rod lengths traversing the longitudinal axis of the shaft being further bent at various points along the length such that a series of protuberances are formed on each of said rod lengths with the combined number and positioning of the protuberances on all of the rod lengths being such that all points along the rod lengths at a maximum distance from the shaft as defined by apexes of the protuberances are contacted;

the rotatable shaft being positioned in the hopper so that the apexes of the rod protuberances closely approach the bottom of the hopper as defined by the bottom discharge opening when the shaft is rotated;

(c) a means for holding the feed wheel in position in the hopper and for imparting rotation on the shaft of the feed wheel.

2. The hopper and feed wheel assembly of claim 1 wherein the shaft of the feed wheel is a hollow tube and the feed wheel is held in position in the hopper by means of a smaller diameter solid drive shaft which extends through the hopper side walls, said hollow feed wheel shaft being slid over the smaller diameter drive shaft and affixed thereto.

3. The hopper and feed wheel assembly of claim 2 wherein the means for imparting rotation to the shaft of the feed wheel includes a drive connected to at least one end of the solid drive shaft extending beyond the side of the hopper.

4. The hopper and feed wheel assembly of claim 3, wherein the feed wheel is positioned so that about a 1/8"to 5/32" gap exists between the apexes of the protuberances of the rod lengths traversing the shaft and the base of the hopper as defined by the bottom discharge opening.