Row crop cultivator
First Claim
1. A row crop cultivator mounted on an agricultural tool bar to be pulled by a tractor vehicle for working the soil between adjacent crop rows with a plurality of implements and forming the thus worked soil into ridges along said crop rows, said cultivator comprising:
- (a) a frame suspended from said tool bar;
(b) a pair of gauge wheels mounted in slightly spaced-apart relation on a common rotational axis, said pair of gauge wheels supporting said frame;
(c) a disk-shaped coulter blade rotatably suspended from said frame and with the leading edge surface of said diskshaped coulter blade positioned between and forward of the trailing edges of said pair of gauge wheels; and
(d) a middleworker assembly suspended from said frame by a shank, said shank having flared wing members on each side of the lower end thereof, said middleworker assembly including a point member attached to the lower leading edge of said shank forward of said flared wing members, said point member being generally aligned with and aft of said disk-shaped coulter blade, and a pair of replaceable lay share members detachably secured to said flared wing members on said shank rearward of said point member, said point member providing a downward force on said sweep when being pulled through the soil as said lay share members break up said soil and residue and said middleworker traverses the ground.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Reexamination
Accused Products
Abstract
An improved row crop cultivator for use in minimum tillage applications is described. A plurality of ganged cultivating units are mounted on a tool bar adapted to be towed behind a tractor vehicle. Each cultivating unit comprises a frame which is supported on a pair of spaced-apart gauge wheels. Also mounted on the frame for rotation within the gap between the gauge wheels is a disk-shaped coulter blade which is configured to cut through crop residue and weed debris as the material being cut is held against the ground surface by the gauge wheels. This arrangement tends to prevent improper cutting known as "hair-pinning". Trailing directly behind the coulter blade is a middleworker comprising a narrow width shank depending from the frame and having a weld point on its lower leading edge and wing-like share blades flaring rearwardly and outwardly at a predetermined angle from the lower end of the shank. The middleworker design reduces the tendency for slabs of earth to be thrown onto and thereby damaging growing row crops.
61 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A row crop cultivator mounted on an agricultural tool bar to be pulled by a tractor vehicle for working the soil between adjacent crop rows with a plurality of implements and forming the thus worked soil into ridges along said crop rows, said cultivator comprising:
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(a) a frame suspended from said tool bar; (b) a pair of gauge wheels mounted in slightly spaced-apart relation on a common rotational axis, said pair of gauge wheels supporting said frame; (c) a disk-shaped coulter blade rotatably suspended from said frame and with the leading edge surface of said diskshaped coulter blade positioned between and forward of the trailing edges of said pair of gauge wheels; and (d) a middleworker assembly suspended from said frame by a shank, said shank having flared wing members on each side of the lower end thereof, said middleworker assembly including a point member attached to the lower leading edge of said shank forward of said flared wing members, said point member being generally aligned with and aft of said disk-shaped coulter blade, and a pair of replaceable lay share members detachably secured to said flared wing members on said shank rearward of said point member, said point member providing a downward force on said sweep when being pulled through the soil as said lay share members break up said soil and residue and said middleworker traverses the ground. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A row crop cultivator stage mounted on an agricultural tool bar with other like stages to be pulled by a tractor vehicle for working the soil between adjacent crop rows, each stage comprising;
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(a) a frame suspended from said tool bar and spring biased downwardly; (b) a pair of gauge wheels mounted in parallel, slightly sapced-apart relation on a common, horizontally oriented rotational axis, said pair of gauge wheels supporting said frame at a selectable elevation relative to the ground, said elevation being adjusted at a single location; (c) a disk-shaped coulter blade adjustably suspended from said frame with the leading edge suface of said disk-shaped coulter blade positioned in the space between and a predetermined distance forward of the trailing edges of said pair of gauge wheels such that crop and weed residue is captured by said gauge wheels and pressed against the ground while being served by said coulter blade; and (d) a soil treating implement suspended from said frame by a shank, said implement being aligned with and aft of said disk-shaped coulter blade. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification