Patent Application
20100314144
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to tillage equipment, and in particular, to disk harrow implements having a front disk gang followed by a rear disk gang.
2. Description of the Related Art
Disk harrows are implements used to cultivate the surface of the soil. Disk harrows can be used to break up clods and lumps of soil, size and bury crop residue, and to provide a finer finish, a good tilth or soil structure that is suitable for seeding and planting operations. Disk harrows can also be used to remove weeds and to help level the surface of a rough field.
Conventional disk harrows include gangs of disk blades supported for rotation by bearings mounted on hangers that extend downwardly from a frame. The disk gangs usually have a plurality of concave disks mounted for rotation on a common axis that extends at an angle to the direction of travel of the implement. Various arrangements of disk gangs are known in the prior art.
An early disk harrow is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,588,709 to Elliott. This disk harrow had a single section frame that supported a front gang of individually mounted disk blades and a rear gang of disk blades mounted for rotation on a common axis. This disk harrow design did not use a tandem disk gang arrangement in which the right and left sides of the implement were mirror images of each other, and therefore, required turning in the same direction and working a field round and round like a plow. Moreover, Elliott's disk harrow was a single section implement that was not designed to fold between a relatively wide position for fieldwork and a relatively narrow position for transport. Elliott did not contemplate that a gang of individually mounted disk blades could provide substantial advantages in a wide tandem disk harrow having multiple sections.
Tandem disks harrows are commonly used today because they allow more flexibility in how a field is worked and because they can be made in multiple sections that can be folded for transport. Tandem disk harrows have right and left sides that are mirror images of each other, and typically have disk gangs with a plurality of disk blades mounted for rotation on a common axis. The disk gangs are arranged so that the disk blades of the leading disk gang are at an angle to move soil in an opposite direction relative to the soil moved by the disk blades of the trailing disk gang. For example, a diamond-shaped disk gang arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,820 to Baker, and an outwardly diverging disk gang arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,044,842 to Worick. In these conventional tandem disk gang arrangements, the disk gangs diverge from each other in either an outward or inward direction so that a distance between the gangs becomes quite large for a wide disk harrow implement.
The conventional arrangement of diverging disk gangs has limited the design of larger size disk harrows, which are growing in demand for use with today's larger size tractors. The conventional arrangement of disk gangs also creates challenges in maintaining transport dimensions that are as narrow and short as possible to improve public safety on public roadways. Large size disk harrows also result in an increased overall weight of the implement that must be transported from field-to-field on transport tires. The transport tires for these implements are sometimes undersized and overloaded, causing additional public safety concerns.
There is a need in the industry for an improved disk harrow design that overcomes the problems with the conventional disk harrows described above.
An object of the present invention is to provide a disk harrow design that prevents or minimizes the divergence of disk gangs on the outer ends of the disk harrow to allow larger width disk harrows.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a multisection disk harrow design that maintains transport dimensions that are as narrow and short as possible, and that allows more tires on the road during transport, to improve transport safety, reduce down time, and increase productivity.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a disk harrow having better leveling and weed kill performance for increased field output productivity and lower fuel consumption requirements.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a disk harrow having the ability to perform leveler, faster and at shallower working depths for optimal seedbed preparation and moisture conservation.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a disk harrow that simplifies the operational duties required by the operator to achieve the desired result, while preventing unwanted field ridges, excessive fuel consumption and lost soil moisture.
To achieve these and other objects of the present invention, an improved disk harrow has been developed by the Applicant having a frame supported by a plurality of depth gauging wheels, and first and second disk gangs connected to the frame. The first and second disk gangs are spaced apart from each other along a direction of travel so that one is positioned behind the other, with the first disk gang being either the front or rear disk gang, and the second disk gang being the other of the front or rear disk gang. The first and second disk gangs each comprises a group of substantially circular disk blades mounted to the frame for rotational movement. The disk blades each have a concave side and a convex side, and each gang is arranged so that the concave sides of the disk blades face at least slightly forward relative to a direction of travel. The concave sides of the first disk gang face one side of the disk harrow, and the concave sides of the second disk gang face the other side of the disk harrow.
One group of disk blades are mounted for rotational movement about a common axis of rotation that extends through a center of the disk blades. Another group of disk blades are mounted for rotation about respective individual axes of rotation that are substantially parallel with and spaced apart from each other. In some of the disclosed embodiments, the first and second disk gangs are substantially parallel with each other, which minimizes the distance required between the disk gangs. In other embodiments, the first and second disk gangs are nonparallel, but are arranged so that they do not diverge apart from each other as far as the diverging gangs of conventional tandem disks. In all of the disclosed embodiments, the common axis of the disk blades in the first disk gang are nonparallel with the individual axes of the disk blades in the second disk gang. This arrangement of the first and second disk gangs allows the disk gangs to be mounted closer together, thereby reducing the size of the frame and providing other advantages over conventional disk harrows.
Various configurations for the frame, support wheels, and disk gangs are also disclosed in this application.
Numerous other objects of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in this art from the following description wherein there is shown and described exemplary embodiments of the present invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modification in various obvious aspects without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description should be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive.
The present invention will become more clearly appreciated as the disclosure of the present invention is made with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:
A tandem disk harrow according to embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to
A five-section tandem disk harrow 10 according to the present invention is shown in
A portion of the disk harrow 10 is shown in plan view in
In
The front disk gang 12 has a left side 12L and a right side 12R, with the right side 12R having a structure that substantially mirrors the left side 12L. The rear disk gang 13 also has a left side 13L and a right side 13R, with the right side 13R having a structure that substantially mirrors the left side 13L. The left and right sides of the front disk gang 12 are arranged such that together they form a first V-shape in plan view. The left and right sides of the rear disk gang 13 are arranged such that together they form a second V-shape in plan view. The apex of each of the V-shapes points toward a leading end of the disk harrow 10 in the
Each of the disk gangs 12, 13 comprises a plurality of substantially circular disk blades 12D, 13D mounted to the frame 11 for rotational movement. For purposes of this application, a “disk gang” refers to a group of at least three disk blades 12D, 13D arranged side-by-side in spaced relationship relative to each other and facing in substantially the same direction. The disk blades 12D, 13D each have a concave side and a convex side. The disk blades 12D, 13D of both the front and rear disk gangs 12, 13 are arranged so that the concave sides of the disk blades face at least slightly forward relative to a direction of travel. This arrangement allows the disk blades 12D, 13D to cut into and turn soil as the disk harrow 10 traverses a field.
The front disk gang 12 has a first group of disk blades 12D on one side of the centerline C (e.g., the left side), and the rear disk gang 13 has a second group of disk blades 13D that follow behind the first group. The disk blades 12D of the first group are arranged with their concave sides facing substantially toward one side of the disk harrow (e.g., the left side), and the disk blades 13D of the second group are arranged with their concave sides facing substantially toward the other side of the disk harrow (e.g., the right side). The front and rear disk gangs 12, 13 on the other side of the centerline C of the disk harrow 10 are similarly arranged and substantially mirror the first and second groups of disk blades 12D, 13D, respectively.
The first group of disk blades 12D are mounted for rotational movement about respective individual axes of rotation 12A. The individual axes of rotation 12A are generally horizontal, and are also substantially parallel with and spaced apart from each other. Each of the disk blades 12D is individually mounted to the frame 11 for rotation about its own bearing 20. In the embodiment shown in
The second group of disk blades 13D are mounted for rotational movement about a common axis of rotation 13A. The common axis of rotation 13A for the second group of disk blades 13D is generally horizontal, and is also nonparallel with the individual axes 12A of the first group of disk blades 12D. In the embodiment shown in
The depth gauging wheels comprise at least a first set of wheels 14 arranged in front of the front disk gang 12, and at least a second set of wheels 15 arranged behind the rear disk gang 13. The depth gauging wheels 14, 15 function to maintain a desired depth of the disk gangs 12, 13 relative to a field surface with the disk harrow 10 in its unfolded configuration, and to support the center section 21 of the frame 11 for transport with the disk harrow 10 in its folded configuration.
In the
The hitch assembly 16 comprises a tongue 22 having a hitch coupler 23 at its leading end for connecting the disk harrow 10 to a vehicle, such as an agricultural tractor 17. The hitch assembly 16 is pivotally connected at its rearward end to a leading end of the frame 11 by respective right and left pivot pins 24. As illustrated in
The frame 11 of the disk harrow has multiple sections that allow the frame 11 to be folded between a first configuration with a relatively narrow width for transport (
The multiple sections 21, 25, 26 are pivotally attached to each other by pivot connections 27, 28. The pivot connections 27, 28 have pivot axes that extend in a generally horizontal plane parallel with the longitudinal centerline C of the disk harrow 10. A first set of hydraulic actuators 27H are connected between the center frame section 21 and the inner wing sections 25 to move the inner wing sections 25 between their folded and unfolded configurations relative to the center section 21. A second set of hydraulic actuators 28H are connected between the inner wing sections 25 and the outer wing sections 26 to move the outer wing sections 26 between their folded and unfolded configurations relative to the inner wing sections 25.
The pivot connections 27 between the center section 21 and the inner wing sections 25 are located at relatively low points on the frame sections 21, 25. This allows the inner wing sections 25 to flex relative to the center section 21 without creating a large gap between the disk blades 12D, 13D adjacent to the pivot connections 27. By keeping the pivot connections 27, and hence the pivot axes, closer to the cutting surfaces of the disks 12D, 13D, the flex movement of the inner wing sections 25 relative to the center section 21 creates only a small change in the gap between the disk blades 12D, 13D adjacent to the pivot axes.
Similarly, the pivot connections 28 between the inner wing sections 25 and the outer wing sections 26 are also located at relatively low points on the frame sections 25, 26 to minimize the change in spacing between the disk blades 12D, 13D adjacent to the pivot connections 28 as the sections 25, 26 flex relative to each other. The pivot connections 28 between the wing sections 25, 26 also have a structure that allows the outer wing sections 26 to pivot a full 180 degrees to fold onto the inner wing sections 25 when the disk harrow 10 is moved from its unfolded configuration for field work to its folded configuration for transport.
A tool bar 29 is provided across the back end of each of the frame sections 21, 25, 26 of the frame 11. A conventional finishing attachment, such as a coil tine or spike tooth harrow (not shown), can be attached to the tool bar 29 in a known manner to redistribute residue and smooth the field surface behind the disk gangs 12, 13.
Other disk harrow embodiments that incorporate at least some of the features of the present invention are also contemplated. For example,
In this embodiment, the front and rear disk gangs 51, 52 are spaced apart from each other along a direction of travel so that the rear disk gang 52 follows behind the front disk gang 51. However, it should be understood that an alternative embodiment of the disk harrow could be made in which the disk gang 51 follows behind the disk gang 52. The disk gangs 51, 52 would still be spaced apart from each other along a direction of travel in this alternative design, with the disk gang 51 following behind the disk gang 52.
In
In
In
The disk harrow embodiments described above provide several significant advantages over conventional disk harrows. For example, the disk harrow 10 has improved leveling performance in both even and uneven field conditions. The combination of the substantially free floating hitch assembly 16, depth gauging wheels 14 in front of the front disk gangs 12 across all of the sections 21, 25, 26 of the disk harrow 10, close proximity of the front disk gang 12 to the rear disk gang 13, and flexibility between multiple sections of the frame 11 give the disk harrow 10 improved ground hugging performance.
The disk harrow 10 also has the ability to disk at shallower depths without weed skips while allowing higher operating speeds, improves fuel economy, and increases field production.
The disk harrow 10 also provides simpler operation coupled with reduced frame and hitch fatigue failures. The substantially free floating hitch assembly 16 eliminates the need for front to rear leveling adjustments and thereby avoids the stress on the frame and hitch members that are induced by conventional leveling systems.
The multiple section design of the present invention can be used to provide a disk harrow 10 having five or more sections with true field flexing between each of the sections. The close proximity of the front disk gang 12 to the rear disk gang 13 allows a much more compact frame 11 to be used, even for extremely wide disk harrow widths.
The disk harrow 10 also has an arrangement of wheels 14, 15 that results in more tires on the road for safer transport of large, heavy implements. For example, the disk harrow 10 illustrated in
The V-shape formed by the left and right portions of the disk gangs 12, 13, together with the apex of the V-shape being positioned at the leading end of the disk harrow 10, gives the disk harrow 10 the ability to turn in any direction while the machine is in operation without causing ridges.
The present invention provides a multisection tandem disk harrow that prevents or minimizes the divergence of the gangs on the outer ends of the disk harrow. This disk harrow design allows larger size disk harrows to be built to accommodate the ever growing larger size of new tractors, while at the same time maintaining transport dimensions that are as narrow and short as possible to improve public safety.
Along with a more compact front to rear blade arrangement and a safer, smaller set of transport dimensions, the present invention also provides better leveling and weed kill performance for increased field output productivity and lower fuel consumption requirements. The disk harrow can also be used efficiently in a secondary tillage operation prior to spring or fall seeding because it has the ability to perform leveler, faster and at shallower working depths, which is critical for optimal seedbed preparation and moisture conservation. The present invention also provides sufficient tire flotation and front gang depth gauging, which result in a disk harrow that works well in both heavy primary and light secondary operations.
While the invention has been specifically described in connection with specific embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that this is by way of illustration and not of limitation, and the scope of the appended claims should be construed as broadly as the prior art will permit.
