Truck mounted fertilizer applicator using fluid conveying

• US 5,125,583 A
• Filed: 07/09/1990
• Issued: 06/30/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/1986
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Blue Leaf IP Incorporated (CNH Industrial N.V.), CNH Industrial America LLC (CNH Industrial N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Tyler Limited Partnership
• Inventors: Strand, Glen L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kashnikow, Andres
• Assistant Examiner(s): Weldon, Kevin P.
• Application Number:
  US07/551,654
• Time in Patent Office: 722 Days
• Field of Search: 239/654, 239/655, 239/664, 239/166, 239/167, 239/665, 239/675, 239/671, 239/672, 406/144, 406/25, 406/32
• US Class Current: 239/655
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 15/04 using blowers
• CPC Class Codes: A01M 9/003 Pneumatic field dusters, e.g. self-propelled, drawn or tractor-mounted

Abstract

A truck mounted particulate material applicator which entrains metered amounts of the particles in a fluid for conveying the material outwardly along tubes forming boom assemblies. The metering assembly and the booms are mounted in the mid portion of the truck wheel base for minimizing bouncing, and excess shock loads on the booms during travel, and also for providing a centrally located distribution point for the metering assembly. The present device includes a unique manifold for entraining particulate materials such as inorganic fertilizer or grains in fluid flow streams within tubes in which they form the boom assemblies. Each tube carries the metered air entrained material a different distance from the center to cover a wide path. Separate tubes are directed toward the rear of the truck to spread the material in the path of the truck.

Claims

1. A mobile vehicle mounted spreader for particular material comprising:

a vehicle having an operator'"'"'s cab, a frame mounting the cab, and a particulate material storage compartment mounted on said frame, said storage compartment being mounted to the rear portions of said frame;

a metering assembly and an air distribution assembly cooperating for providing a metered amount of particulate material into a fluid stream, said metering assembly being mounted between the cab and said storage compartment and adjacent an upper portion of the storage compartment;

boom means having separate vertically aligned tubes for carrying a plurality of fluid streams laterally from the vehicle frame, said separate tubes being coupled to the air distribution assembly so that each fluid stream carries a quantity of metered particulate material;

said boom means being foldable from a position extending rearwardly along the sides of said storage compartment to a position extending laterally from the vehicle frame;

said metering and air distribution assembly including a vertically oriented plenum chamber extending vertically in alignment with the respective boom means, a blower for introducing air into said plenum chamber, a plurality of outlets from said plenum chamber, a mixing chamber coupled to each of said outlets, said mixing chambers leading to the respective ones of the tubes of the boom means, said outlets and mixing chambers aligning with respective tubes of the boom means and being below the metering assembly; and

said metering assembly comprising a metering hopper, an auger conveyor for conveying material from said storage compartment to the metering hopper, a pair of conveyor belts forming the bottom of said metering hopper, each of said conveyor belts having an upper length moving from substantially the center portions of the metering hopper to the outer ends thereof, means to divide the material carried on said belts into individual portions, and means coupled to the means to divide for depositing each of the individual portions into one of the mixing chambers, whereby air from the blower passes through the mixing chamber to carry the metered material into the respective tubes of said boom means.

2. The apparatus as specified in claim 1 wherein said mixing chambers each comprise generally laterally and outwardly extending tube members each having a central axis, and separate nozzle means extending into each of said tube members, each of said nozzle means having an axis generally perpendicular to the axis of the associated tube members and being connected to carry one of the portions of metered material from the metering means.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said nozzle means each has an outlet opening to the interior of the respective tube member and partially facing in the direction of fluid flow in the tube member.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said nozzle means comprise second tubes extending into the respective tube member, the ends of the second tube on the interior of the associated tube member being cut at an angle to provide an opening facing in the direction of air flow through the tube member.

6. An apparatus for conveying and metering particulate material to mixing chambers of an air distribution system including a pair of boom assemblies having a plurality of generally vertically aligned conveying tubes thereon comprising:

a material storage tank having an upper edge and a bottom edge;

a metering hopper separate from the storage tank having means to meter material from the metering hopper into a plurality of metered portions which form separate metered streams of material, the metering hopper being above the bottom edge of the material storage tank and above an upper one of the vertically aligned conveying tubes of each of the boom assemblies, the stream of material falling downwardly past the boom assemblies and each stream being associated with one of the conveying tubes;

a conveyor for conveying material from said storage tank upwardly to the metering hopper;

means for establishing a stream of air into each of the conveying tubes including a vertically extending plenum for each boom assembly and a fan below each plenum for supplying air; and

means to direct each of the falling separate streams of material to a separate one of the streams of air.

5. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the mixing chamber has an inlet portion coupled to the plenum chamber which reduces in size from the plenum chamber at location between the plenum chamber and nozzle means.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said means to meter material from the metering hopper comprises two separate metering sections, one delivering material to each of the pair of boom assemblies to provide a metered amount of material for each of the individual tubes of the respective boom assemblies.

8. The apparatus as specified in claim 7 including means to separately control material movement in each of the separate metering sections.

9. The apparatus as specified in claim 8 wherein said separate metering sections comprise moveable belt members having surfaces for carrying material from the metering hopper to divider means for dividing the material from the surfaces of the belt into individual portions.

10. The apparatus as specified in claim 6 and a level control for sensing material level in the metering hopper for controlling the conveyor to prevent overfilling of the metering hopper.