The present invention relates to a land roller, and in particular to a multi-plex land roller including five individual horizontally and longitudinally spaced apart rollers for flattening and leveling agricultural land. The rollers are supported by a pivoting, articulated frame mechanism which allows easy transport of the heavy roller system on ground wheels for purposes of general transportation and ease of implementation into a working arrangement for leveling and rolling land.
Land rollers, as they are known, are used for soil compaction and terrain flattening. For example, land rollers are used in the compaction of terrain at building sites for the laying of slab foundations and flattening and compaction of the underlying soil prior to roadway construction. Land rollers are also used by farmers prior to planting and ploughing to develop a consistent surface leveling and uniform soil density to aid in the planting, growing and cultivation of the plantings.
Known rollers are generally coupled with tractors or other earth working equipment and are necessarily of substantial size and weight to accomplish the task of rolling a partially-prepared surface in preparation for further work. By reason of their size, these rollers do not lend themselves to convenient use in close quarters or travel along roadways or maneuvering in anything but a large open area. Generally, short radius turns are not possible and it is difficult to lift such rollers because of the weight of the rollers themselves. The length and width of a tractor and roller contributes to unwieldily roller operation particularly where a surface must be rolled adjacent a building, curb, fence, etc., in which instances care must be taken to avoid damaging such structure by a roller swinging thereagainst throughout the turning axis of the tractor.
It is desirable to have as wide a swath as possible covered by the rollers in each pass for efficiency sake. However, the wider the rollers become, the more unwieldily they become. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a roller which may track closely behind the tractor during use, and when not in use the rollers themselves may be raised up in their entirety in order to facilitate transportation of the rollers.
Land rollers are utilized to roll, flatten and level large swaths of land generally for agricultural purposes, for instance for making planting beds for haying, grasses and silage. The more rollers one can pull behind a tractor in a transverse manner, i.e. approximately 90° to direction of travel of the tractor, the more area which can be flattened and/or leveled in a single pass. The issue and difficulties which arise relate to the fact that in order to transport such heavy and wide agricultural rollers to a particular spot, the rollers must be rotated or folded into a more compact arrangement for travel.
In a transport arrangement of an embodiment of the present invention the rollers and the frame are generally carried on a series of ground wheels which raise the frame, and hence the rollers supported thereby out of contact with the ground. Also, in many cases the device must also allow the rollers to be swung via the frame into a parallel position relative to the direction of travel of the tractor in order sufficiently narrow the device to facilitate transport on a road.
An object of the present invention is to provide a multiplex land roller which utilizes five rollers including a center roller, two inner wing rollers and two outer wing rollers where the inner and outer rollers are pivotally connected to a center frame extension and at least partially put into operation via a hydraulic mechanism for spreading apart the frame members between a travel position and a working position.
Turning to
The support braces 4 in conjunction with the hitch pole 1 define the variable angle V therebetween them, and the center hydraulic 13 extends from a pivot connection on the hitch pole 1 to a second pivot connection on the center frame 7 substantially across, and so as to define, variable angle V. It is by actuation of the center hydraulic 13 that the variable angle V can be controlled by essentially rotating the support braces 4 and inherently the center frame 7 about the swing axis A and thereby adjust the positioning of the center frame 7 and a center roller 9 supported on the center frame 7 relative to the hitch pole 1.
The center frame 7 supports a center roller 9 depending downwardly therefrom along a center rolling axis R which is fixed in regards to the center frame 7, but as explained above, according to the arrangement of the support braces 4, rotates in a parallel manner around the swing axis A. As can be appreciated, the center frame 7 and the center rolling axis R can be adjusted by the center hydraulic 13 to essentially rise up and down by rotating about the front swing axis A, which as explained in further detail below, permits the raising and lowering of the center roller 9 relative to the ground.
As seen in
The top plan view of
Just like the center frame 7, each inner wing support 25 rotatably supports an inner wing roller 27 thereunder which rotates about an inner wing roller axis W depending a fixed distance from the respective support 25. At a far end of each of the inner wing supports 25 is a perpendicular extension arm 29 pivotally supporting an outer wing support 31. The perpendicular extension arm 29 is fixed relative to the respective inner wing support 25, and has at a point along the extension arm 29 a pivotal connection 30 defined by an axis X radially spaced from and perpendicular to the inner wing roller axis W for supporting the outer wing support 31. Each outer wing support 31 is axially offset from and parallel aligned relative to a transverse plane with the inner wing support 25. The transverse plan being defined as the plane in which the land roller is viewed in
Each outer wing support 31 accordingly supports an outer wing roller 35 depending therefrom which is similarly axially offset from and parallel aligned with the adjacent inner wing roller 27 relative to the transverse plane as seen in
This arrangement permits a desired degree of freedom of the outer wing support 31 and outer wing roller 35 relative to the center roller 9, inner wing support 25 and roller 27. This is important because with the great width of this land roller in the field position, e.g. in the range of 60-80 or more feet, there maybe significant elevation and slope differences along the width. The more independent the rollers are from one another, the easier it is for the land roller to maintain the center, inner wing and outer wing rollers in complete contact with the ground to produce the effective soil compaction desired. The same holds true for the substantial length of the land roller in the transport position where the relative independence of the outer wing supports and rollers 31, 35 can permit easier travel of roadways and undulating terrain.
In the travel state or position as shown in
Observing
When the land roller must be moved from the field position to the transport position the user actuates the hydraulics system shown in
Also, in order to facilitate the movement of the land roller from a transport position as seen in
In the travel position, the trailing wing supports 25, 31 and rollers 27, 35 are carried over-center, meaning essentially straight back and parallel with the direction of travel of the land roller. Therefore, the wing spreaders 46 provide a boost to the process of moving the device from the travel or transport position to the field position. In order to start a transition from transport to field position, a driver may back up the land roller and at the same time activates the hydraulics cylinders L, M which operate the wing spreader arms 46. The spreader arms 46 rotate outwards about their pivot attachment with the center frame extension 15 and the bearing at the free ends 42 thereof, which provides an initial boost and assist to spread by pushing the inner wing supports 25, and hence the outer wing supports 31, off-center and outward to the limited angle a.
This limited angle a is dependent of course upon the length of the spreader arms 46. Once this limited angle a is surpassed, i.e. when the inner and outer wing supports 35, 31 and rollers 27, 35 are sufficiently off-center, it is relatively easy to complete the deployment of the inner and outer rollers 27 and 35 into the field or working position with all the rollers parallel as the driver continues backing up. Then, once the rollers are parallel with one another and locked into the field position, the operator lower all the rollers 9, 27 and 35 to the ground, incidently raising the ground wheels 19, 37, and backs up the entire land roller. It is also possible to leave the ground wheels 19 and 37 in contact with the ground without lowering the rollers and back up the land roller to also spread the wing supports 25, 31 outward to the limited angle a. The weight and the friction of the rollers 27 and 35 with the ground thus force the land roller to extend to its full width.
Generally, once the wing supports 25, 31 and rollers 27 and 35 are aligned approximately parallel with center roller 9, the user stops backing up and then fully retracts the transport ground wheels 19, 37 to lower the wing rollers 27, 35 entirely to the ground. A swing and truss arm 51, 53 may be provided between the center frame 7 and the far end of the inner wing support 25 to facilitate the dynamic motion of the wing supports relative to the frame 7 and the tractor. A locking bar 55 may be provided on the center frame 7 to assist in maintaining the swing and truss arm 51, 53 and hence the rollers 27, 35 in the desired field position as seen in
Once the land roller is backed up and lowered into the working position, it is important that the supports 25, 31 and rollers 27, 35 making up the wings of the land roller can flex approximately up to 20° up or down relative to one another while the land roller is pulled forward over the ground. Once the wing supports and wing rollers are in the working field position, it is to be appreciated that besides the swing and truss arms 51, 53, their own dynamic rotation and mass maintain the rollers 27, 35 in a relatively parallel arrangement. Importantly, the center frame hydraulics 13 which may be one or two or more cylinders connecting the A-frame hitch pole to the center frame 7, allows the driver to adjust the relative land roller hitch pole 1 height to match the tractor hitch height again to facilitate the “float” of the land roller across the contours of the ground surface.
In the field or working condition, the land roller has the float position as dictated by the hydraulic controls. The float is based on the drivers ability to push her hydraulic levers forward and the actuated cylinders will collapse where a force or weight is applied to the cylinder piston to a desired point. When she pulls the hydraulic lever backwards the cylinders extend to a desired length and the operator lets go of the hydraulic lever locking the cylinder at the desired length. The float position is when the lever is pushed all the way forward to a position allowing the oil to free flow back and forth and a fixed pressure is not locked, i.e. maintained by the tractor hydraulic valve. In other words, when the land roller is pulled by a tractor in the field, the driver would put this the center frame hydraulic 13 connecting the hitch pole 1 to the center frame 7 in a float position and the A-frame hitch pole 1 will contour as if the rollers did not exist, i.e. the cylinder or roller 9 will have little if any effect on the vertical motion of the hitch pole 1. When the driver finds it necessary to move the machine into the travel or transport condition, she would take that cylinder out of float, and essentially lock the hitch pole 1 to the center frame 7 at a desired angle so that the cylinder can be lifted off the ground via the front ground wheels 19 as previously described.
In order to allow independent movement and have some flex at the pivotal connection between the inner and outer supports 25 and 31 so that the land roller can more accurately follow the contours of the topography in either the transport or field position, there must potentially be allowed some play along the linkage arm 45. Observing
Since certain changes may be made in the above described improved pipe support without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention herein involved, it is intended that all of the subject matter of the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted merely as examples illustrating the inventive concept herein and shall not be construed as limiting the invention.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60944987 | Jun 2007 | US |