TAEGE BRIAN STEWART (NZ)
WOODS WILLIAM EDWARD (NZ)
TAEGE KEITH RODNEY (NZ)
TAEGE BRIAN STEWART (NZ)
WOODS WILLIAM EDWARD (NZ)
| US5724903A | 1998-03-10 | |||
| FR2658979A1 | 1991-09-06 | |||
| US20050194159A1 | 2005-09-08 |
| 1. | Ground opening apparatus which includes at least one disc which has a central hole and which is attached to a mounting, wherein said mounting includes: a first mounting arm which at a first location is pivoted to a mounting means and at a second location is connected to the disc such that the disc is free to rotate about its central hole, said first location being spaced apart from said second location; and at least one Styne spring which is mounted upon said mounting means and which is arranged to bias said mounting arm and said disc into engagement with the ground. |
| 2. | The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the or each said Styne spring is mounted upon said mounting means such that the end of the spring in contact with said mounting means is at an angle to the horizontal in the range 32° +/ 8°. |
| 3. | The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said mounting means includes a pair of parallel plates arranged to be clamped together such that said mounting means is securable to a beam of an agricultural implement. |
| 4. | The apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein one of said plates has a tube rigidly secured thereto to provide said pivotal connection between the mounting means and the or each mounting arm. |
| 5. | The apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said mounting further includes a second mounting arm which is pivoted to said mounting means, said second mounting arm being spaced apart from, but substantially parallel to, said first mounting arm; and a pair of spacing pins rigidly connected between said first and second mounting arms; the or each S tyne spring being engaged between said spacing pins so as to resiliently bias said mounting arm and said disc towards the ground. |
| 6. | The apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said mounting supports only a single disc. |
| 7. | The apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 5, wherein said mounting supports only a single pair of twin discs. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein said mounting supports a pair of single discs, with the first mounting arm supporting one disc and the second mounting arms supporting the second disc. |
| 8. | The apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein said mounting supports a pair of twin discs, with the first mounting arms supporting one pair of discs and the second mounting arms supporting the second pair of discs. |
| 9. | The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the spacing between the lower edges of the discs is in the range 80180 millimetres. |
| 10. | The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the spacing between the lower edges of the pairs of twin discs is in the range 80180 millimetres. |
| 11. | The apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the apparatus includes two Styne springs. |
| 12. | The apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the distance between the centre lines of said two springs is approximately 55 millimetres. |
| 13. | The combination of a seed drill and the apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the seed drill incorporates a crossbeam extending along the length of the rear of the drill and a plurality of apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims is secured to said crossbeam, spaced along the length of the crossbeam. |
Technical Field
The present invention relates to ground opening apparatus for use in combination with any of a variety of agricultural implements. By "ground opening apparatus" is meant apparatus to break the surface of the area of ground being worked by the agricultural implement. The apparatus of the present invention has been developed for use with a seed drill, and will be described with especial reference to this application. However, the apparatus of the present invention may be used in combination with any agricultural implement which requires ground opening apparatus.
Background Art
At present, discs are widely used for ground opening, especially in applications where the ground opening preferably is kept to the minimum needed for the operation being undertaken, e.g. drilling in seed, where the ground needs to be opened only along the lines in which seed is to be deposited by the seed drill. Discs normally are mounted singly, spaced along the length of the seed drill, with each disc corresponding to a position at which seed is to be delivered by the drill.
It is a known problem with existing disc mountings that considerable power is required to draw a set of discs across the area of ground to be worked. A further problem is that if the ground being worked is uneven, the set of discs does not follow the ground contours particularly well; this can result in unsatisfactory opening of parts of the ground.
Disclosure of the Invention
An object of the present invention is the provision of ground opening apparatus incorporating one or more discs, which reduces the amount of power required to work an area of ground.
A further object of the present invention is the provision of ground opening apparatus which is capable of following the contours of uneven ground with improved accuracy.
The present invention provides ground opening apparatus which includes at least one disc attached to a mounting which includes at least one S-tyne spring.
Brief Description of the Drawings
By way of example only, preferred embodiments of the present invention are described in detail, with reference to the company on drawings, in which:-
Figure 1 is a rear view of apparatus in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention, incorporating a single disc; Figure 2 is a section on line M-Il of the apparatus of Figure 1 ;
Figure 3 is a rear view of apparatus in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention, incorporating a single pair of twin discs;
Figure 4 is a side view of the apparatus of Figure 3;
Figure 5 is a rear view of apparatus in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention, incorporating two pairs of twin discs; and
Figure 6 is a side view of the apparatus of Figure 5.
Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments
Referring to Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, this shows the simplest version of the present invention:- a single disc 2 with its mounting 3. A single disc 2 is not the most preferred form of the invention, because for most applications, better results are achieved with one or more pairs of twin discs, as described with reference to Figures 3 - 6 below. However, a single disc 2 is suitable for some applications.
The disc 2 is of known type, typically a hardened steel disc having a diameter in the range 250-350 mm, and formed with a central hole for receiving a bearing (not visible) and mounting bolt 4. The disc 2 can rotate freely on the bearing.
The disc 2 is supported by the mounting 3 from the crossbeam 5 of an agricultural implement such as a seed drill (not shown). Typically, the crossbeam 5 would support a series of equidistantly spaced discs 2.
The mounting 3 includes two mounting arms 6,7, each of which is mounted at one end upon a mounting 9 which is mounted below, and parallel to, the length of the crossbeam 5. The mounting 9 is in the form of a tube which receives a bearing sleeve
(not shown) and a mounting bolt 10. Each mounting arm 6,7 can pivot freely relative to the mounting 9, in a substantially vertical plane.
The mounting 9 is rigidly secured to the underside of a mounting means in the form of a mounting bracket 10 of an S-tyne spring 11.
The S-tyne spring 11 is a standard spring of known type and provides an upper end 15 which is flat and straight, formed integrally with a first curved portion 15a which is curved around to partially encircle the portion 15. The end of the curved portion 15a remote from the end 15 is formed integrally with a second curved portion 15b, the first part of which extends below and substantially parallel to the end 15, so that the spring overall roughly forms the shape of the letter S.
The mounting bracket 10 consists of a pair of spaced plates 12,13 which are clamped one on each side of the crossbeam 5 by bolts 14. The S-tyne spring 11 is secured by the mounting bracket 10 by clamping the upper end of 15 of the S-tyne spring 11 between the lower plate 13 and the adjacent face of the crossbeam 5. The angle x between the horizontal and the upper end of the spring 11 is in the range 32° +/- 8°. The mounting angle x greatly improves the effectiveness of the apparatus, because mounting the spring 11 within this angular range helps the apparatus follow the contours of the ground better, which in turn assists in stabilizing the apparatus, but without being so rigid that the apparatus cannot accommodate the ground contours. Further, this range of mounting angles helps to reduce the stresses on the spring, and tends to reduce spring breakage.
The free end 16 of the S-tyne spring 11 is arranged to pass between two spacing pins 17,18 which extend through opposed holes in the mounting arms 6,7 to space the arms apart and secure them together. The spacing pins 17,18 restrain the end 16 of the spring 11 :- the upper end 17 limits downward movement of the apparatus, and the lower pin 18 contacts the underside of the spring and allows the spring 11 to exert a resilient downwards biasing pressure on the disc 2. The amount of pressure exerted by the spring 11 on the disc 2 can be adjusted by adjusting the position of the spacing pins 17,18, which can be located in any of the holes 19 in the mounting arms 6,7.
One of the mounting arms 6 is roughly L - shaped, and the lower end 20 of the mounting arm 6 is pivotally secured to the centre of the disc 2 by the mounting bolt 4.
The other mounting arm 7 is not attached to the disc 2 and terminates a short distance below the mounting 9.
A scraper blade 21 , for scraping excess mud from the surface of the disc 2 is supported with its length lying parallel to the plane of the disc 2.
In use, a series of discs 2, each suspended as described above, is spaced along the length of the crossbeam 5. Each disc 2 is individually biased by the required amount by the corresponding spring 11. If necessary, the force exerted by each of spring 11 can be individually adjusted by repositioning of the mounting pins 17,18 as necessary. The embodiment shown in Figures 1 and 2 illustrates the use of a single spring 11 only, but if preferred, a pair of S-tyne springs may be used for each disc:- the length of the mounting pins 17,18 is sufficient to allow for two springs between the mounting arms 6,7, and the length of the plates 12,13 of the mounting 10 can be extended to allow space to clamp two springs to the crossbeam 5 for each disc.
As the apparatus is drawn over the ground, the discs 2 open the ground in known manner. Each disc 2 is free to rotate relative to the mounting arm 6. The mounting arms 6 and 7 of each disc 2 can pivot freely relative to the corresponding mounting 9, so that each disc can rise or fall as necessary to follow the ground contours. However, each disc 2 is biased into contact with the ground by the corresponding spring 11.
Referring to Figures 3 and 4, in a second embodiment of the invention the single disc 2 of Figures 1 and 2 is replaced by a single pair of twin discs, 30,31 , which are supported one on each side of the lower end 20 of the mounting arm 6. As described with reference to disc 2, the discs 30,31 are rotatably mounted on the mounting arm 6 by means of a mounting bolt 32 which passes through central apertures in the discs 30,31 and through a corresponding aperture through the lower end 20 of the mounting arm 6. The mounting bolt 32 may be surrounded by a bearing sleeve (not visible).
A seed chute 22 may be positioned between the discs if required.
The remainder of the mounting is identical to that described with reference to Figures 1 and 2, and the same reference numerals are used. The upper end 15 of the spring 11 is mounted at the same angular range as described with reference to Figures 1 and 2, i.e. the angle x is in the range 32° +/-8°.
The pair of twin discs 30,31 consists of two identical discs the planes of which are inclined towards each other to an included angle p which lies in the range 8-15°, preferably about 10°. The arrangement of the discs is such that the discs are touching or nearly touching at the point of ground contact. The outer disc 30 is set slightly in front of the outer disc, as shown in Figure 4. The general set-up of the twin discs is well-known and will not be described in detail.
Twin discs are preferred to a single disc because the discs in the twin arrangement tend to stabilize each other.
The embodiment shown in Figures 3 and 4 can be adjusted and used in the manner described with reference to Figures 1 and 2. As in the embodiment shown in Figures 1 and 2, either a single spring 11 or a pair of springs 11 may be used.
Referring to Figures 5 and 6, in this embodiment two pairs of twin discs 40,41/42,43 are supported from the crossbeam 5 by a mounting 45. Each of the pairs of twin discs is as described with reference to twin discs 30,31 shown in Figures 3 and 4.
The mounting 45 is similar to the mounting 3 shown in Figures 1 - 4, but instead of using mounting arms 6 and 7, two mounting arms 46 each identical to mounting arm 6 are used, with one pair of twin discs supported at the lower end of each of the mounting arms by means of a bolt 47,48 in the same manner as the single pair of twin discs 30/31 as described with reference to Figures 3 and 4. Each of the mounting arms 46 is configured in the same manner as mounting arm 6, and is pivotally secured to the mounting 9 as described with reference to Figures 1 - 4.
The mounting bracket 10 is enlarged in width compared to the mounting bracket 10 shown in Figures 1 - 4, so that two S-tyne springs 11 can be accommodated. Each of the springs 11 is arranged in the manner described with reference to Figures 1 - 4, with the angle x in the range 32° +/-8°.
The apparatus described with reference to Figures 5 and 6 operates in substantially the same manner as that described with reference to Figures 1 - 4, except that the use of two pairs of twin discs further stabilizes the apparatus in operation, compared to the single pair of twin discs described with reference to Figures 3 and 4.
A further possible variant of the present invention, which is not illustrated, would be to use two single discs arranged in the manner shown in Figures 5 and 6, i.e. each pair of twin discs 40/41 and 42/43 is replaced by a single disc 2.
It would also be possible to support two pairs of twin discs or two single discs side-by- side but using separate mountings rather than a common mounting.
If two pairs of twin discs, or two discs, are used, then preferably the spacing y between the pairs of discs/discs is in the range 80 - 180 millimetres. If two S-tyne springs 11 are used, preferably the spacing z between the springs is approximately 55 millimetres.