The invention disclosed in this application is directed generally to the movement of feed material for dairy or beef cattle, and more particularly, to a bifurcated, hinged feed pusher blade to position the feed material closer to the cattle to facilitate consumption thereof.
Dairy cows are typically housed in modern facilities known as free-stall barns. The dairy cows are restrained in longitudinal rows between which is a feed alley that is normally a horizontal concrete floor having a vertical curb adjacent to the opposing rows of dairy cows and defining the edge of a feed bunker. This vertical curb is typically between 15 inches to 18 inches in height and serves as a barrier to position the feed material at a position in which the dairy cows can access the feed. This feed alley is used as a passageway along which the feed material can be delivered against the opposing vertical curbs. In conventional free-stall barns, the rows of dairy cows and the feed lane between the rows of cows are often of a length approximately 100 feet or more in length, depending on the size of the barn. In some free-stall barns, the feed alleys can have a length of 500 feet or greater.
The current procedure for delivering feed material to the dairy cows along the opposing sides of the feed alley is to distribute the feed material from a feed mixer, wagon or truck. The delivery of the feed material is not always uniform across the entire length of the feed bunker as there is no way to accurately dispense feed evenly from feed mixers, wagons or trucks. Feed material distribution is, therefore, typically greater in some areas of the bunker and less so in other areas. During the process of consuming the feed material, cattle tend to push the feed material away as the cattle access the feed material. Accordingly, the feed material needs to be pushed closer to the cows and along the vertical barrier as an ongoing process throughout the day. Conventional devices used to move the feed material toward the cattle are angled blades mounted on tractors or skid steer loaders that engage the feed material and push the feed material toward the vertical curb, in the manner a snow plow would push snow to the side.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,481,011, granted on Jan. 27, 2009, to Clinton Nesseth, discloses a scraper blade for mounting on a skid steer loader to scrape surfaces in order to move material from one location to another, such as snow from parking lots, manure from barn alleyways and grain from large storage areas to another location. The Nesseth scraper blade is formed with a linear central section oriented perpendicular to the direction of travel and affixed to a mounting apparatus that connects to the boom arms of the skid steer loader. The central blade section has pivotally attached at each opposing end thereof a wing member that is pivotally movable through a range of movement, between a first angular position extending outboard of the central blade section to a second angular position that is oriented inboard from the corresponding end of the central blade section. The wing members are moved hydraulically, but are pivotally powered by a pair of hydraulic cylinders operating in series. The wing members are mounted at a pivot axis that is forward of the central blade section and, as a result, the wing members cannot be positioned to extend in line with the central blade portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,199, granted to Philip Quenzi, et al., on Jul. 2, 2002, discloses a snow plow having a similar configuration to the Nesseth scraper blade, except that the opposing wing members are mounted to a central blade section on pivot axes that are fixed rearwardly of the forward surface of the opposing ends of the central blade section. This pivot location enables the wing members to pivot into an angular position relative to the central blade section, but oriented forwardly thereof. The wing members are powered through hydraulic cylinders that are independently operable to move the opposing wing members, and side extensions, separately. In addition, the Quenzi blade is provided with a pair of hydraulic cylinders that extend between the mounting apparatus and the central blade section in order to pivot the central blade section into an angled position about a vertical pivot. Thus, the Quenzi plow blade can be positioned in an orientation perpendicular to the direction of travel, or angled to either the right or left.
A variable geometry bucket for handling material, such as snow, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 10,132,050, granted on Nov. 20, 2018, to Forest Mandan. This bucket apparatus has a central blade section that is hinged at the center thereof to permit the left and right halves of the central blade section to be moved relative to one another from a linear configuration oriented perpendicularly to the direction of travel and angled rearwardly from the central pivot axis to form a V-shaped central blade section. In addition, a pair of wing members is pivotally connected to the opposing ends of the central blade section to be movable relative to the corresponding half of the central blade section between an orientation in line with the corresponding half of the central blade section and an orientation that is pivoted forwardly. With the multiple pivot axes, the bucket can be configured into several different orientations from a V-shaped snow plow to a box plow and to a W-shaped bucket.
A loader bucket with movable side wings is disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0059727, by Lewis D. Yoder and dated Mar. 23, 2006. The structure of the bucket is somewhat similar to that of the Nesseth scraper blade, but instead of a blade, the apparatus is formed as a bucket with pivotable side wings. The side wings are mounted on opposing ends of a central bucket section that is oriented perpendicular to the direction of travel, with the respective pivot axes being positioned at the forward edge of the central bucket section. The side wings are powered by hydraulic cylinders to move between an outwardly extending position from the central bucket section to present a wider bucket configuration, but are movable into an inward position against the central bucket section to close the front side of the bucket.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0222927, by Oscar Frey, et al., and dated Sep. 18, 2008, discloses a snow plow that is provided with opposing, pivotable side members that can be positioned in line with the angled central blade section, or forward thereof to control the discharge of snow therefrom. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0307941, by Robert Gamble II and dated Dec. 17, 2009, also teaches a central pivoted blade section with pivoted wing members mounted on the opposing ends of a snow plow. The wing members are powered by hydraulic cylinders and are mounted with the pivot axes along the forward line of the central blade section which permits only forward pivotal movement of the wing members relative to the central blade section from a laterally extending orientation to one pivoted forwardly of the central blade section.
It would be desirable to provide a feed pusher blade that is adapted for efficiently placing feed material into feed bunkers for access by dairy cows positioned along the side of the feed bunker.
It is an object of this invention to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a bifurcated pusher blade to move feed material for farm animals such as cattle to position the feed material closer to the cattle to facilitate consumption thereof.
It is another object of this invention to provide a selectively positionable wing member pivotally connected to a main blade member.
It is an advantage of this invention that the pivotally adjustable wing member can be oriented to place the feed material as desired by the operator.
It is a feature of this invention that the wing member is selectively positionable by manipulation of a hydraulic cylinder interconnecting the main blade and the wing member.
It is another feature of this invention that the pusher blade is constructed in a V-shape with a main blade and associated wing member extending rearwardly from a central centerpiece member at opposing angles to the longitudinal direction of travel.
It is another advantage of this invention that the pusher blade is operable on opposing sides of a feed alley to push feed toward opposing lines of dairy cattle simultaneously.
It is still another feature of this invention that the main blades can be pivotally connected to the centerpiece to provide an angular adjustment of the main blades and associated wing members relative to the direction of travel.
It is still another object of this invention that the pusher blade can be mounted on the mounting apparatus for any prime mover, including quick attach devices on skid steer loaders and three-point hitches on tractors.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a single blade configuration of the pusher blade having a pivotally positionable wing member.
It is yet another feature of this invention that the single blade configuration of the pusher blade can be mounted for rotation between left and right facing orientations.
It is yet another advantage of this invention that the single blade configuration of the pusher blade can be selectively operated on opposing sides of a feed bunker.
It is still another feature of this invention that the bifurcated pusher blade configuration can be utilized in a cable powered feed bunker scraper.
It is still another object of this invention to provide pusher blade for moving feed material to facilitate consumption by farm animals, such as cattle, which is easy to use, simple to manufacture and assemble, and simple and effective to use.
These and other objects, features and advantages will be found by providing a bifurcated feed material pusher blade having a main blade with a selectively positionable wing member secured to the distal end of the main blade. The bifurcated pusher blade can be formed with two main blades connected at a forward end to a centerpiece and oriented at opposing angles relative to the direction of travel during operation. The two wing members can be independently adjustable relative to the main blades by manipulation of hydraulic cylinders. The two main blade members can be pivotally connected to the centerpiece to permit angular adjustment of the two main blades relative to the direction of travel. The frame supports extending between the two opposing main blades can be telescopic, either manually or powered by hydraulic cylinders for angular adjustment on the go, to facilitate the angular adjustment of the main blades.
The advantages of this invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed disclosure of the invention, especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:
Referring to
The configuration of the bifurcated feed pusher blade 10 has fixed length frame members 15, 19 interconnecting the opposing main blade members 25 such that the opposing blade assemblies 20 are not angularly adjustable. However, as can be seen in
Referring again to
A hydraulic cylinder 32 is mounted on each of the opposing main blade member 25 and connected to a corresponding pivot bracket 33 to affect pivotal movement of the wing member 30 between a home position in alignment with the main blade member 25, as depicted in
With reference to
Referring now to the second embodiment of the feed pusher blade shown in
The preferred frame 12 configuration is different from the first embodiment with fixed blade assemblies 20 shown in
Referring now to
Switching the single blade member 20 between the left and right delivery orientations involves the prime mover (not shown) lifting the pusher blade 50 sufficiently vertically above the surface of the ground to allow the rotation of the single blade assembly 20 to about the rotation shaft 56. The mounting plate 57 is then rotated about the rotation shaft 56 through 180 degrees of rotation to position the single blade assembly 20 on the right side of the mounting apparatus 13.
In operation, the feed pusher blade 10, 50 will push and distribute feed material in the feed bunker (not shown) through operation of the trailing wing member 30. Pivoting the wing member 30 through a selected angle of deflection relative to the main blade member 25 enables the operator to deliver feed material to locations within the feed bunker as needed to facilitate access thereto by the dairy cows. The first alternative embodiment of the pusher blade 50 will operate to either the left or right of the mounting apparatus 13 by virtue of the ability to rotate the single blade assembly 20 about the rotation plate assembly 55. In all of the embodiments of the pusher blade 10, 50, the main blade member 25 can be fixed into a predetermined angular orientation relative to the direction of travel or be configured so as to be angularly positionable relative to the direction of travel. In all configurations and embodiments, the wing member 30 is pivotable about the vertical hinge pivot axis 26 carried at the rearward end of the main blade member 25.
Referring now to
The other alternative embodiment shown in
It will be understood that changes in the details, materials, steps and arrangements of parts, which have been described and illustrated to explain the nature of the invention will occur to and may be made by those skilled in the art upon a reading of this disclosure within the principles of the scope of the invention. The foregoing description illustrates the preferred embodiment of the invention; however, concepts, as based upon the description may be employed in other embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the following claims are intended to protect the invention broadly, as well as in the specific form shown.
This application claims domestic priority on U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/081,027, filed on Sep. 21, 2020, the content of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63081027 | Sep 2020 | US |