Patent Application
20150096772
The disclosure relates to a reversible plough and more particularly to a reversible plough comprising a frame with a 3-point hitch attachment on a front end portion of the frame.
Reversible ploughs are well known in the prior art. They comprise a frame which is attachable to an agricultural vehicle, e.g. a tractor, and further a pivotable plough tool carrier with several plough tools like discs, blades or shares arranged on the carrier for engaging the ground. The plough tools are pivotally mounted to the carrier and can be adjusted to a desirable position in which they engage with the ground. The carrier is supported on the frame for pivotal movement on a vertically extending pivot axle and is placed in its operating positions in a horizontally diagonal oriented position, so that the tools are engaging the ground one behind another and transversely displaced to each other. When pivoting the carrier from its one operating position into its other operating position the plough tools are changing their ground engaging orientation into a reverse position. Several arrangements for automation have been made including the arrangement of hydraulic controls for changing the carrier operating position. However, hydraulic components are costly and therefore not affordable to all customers, so mechanically controlled solutions are still required. Nevertheless, there is still need for easy to use solutions, without the need to leave an operator station, comprising mechanical links for providing a control for an operator to change the carrier without any major efforts and without the need for manual, time consuming adjustments to the carrier or the plough tools. Although some solutions are already known in the prior art there is still some need for improvement with respect to facilitating maintenance, number of parts, complexity and easy operation of said mechanical links.
In order to provide an improved reversible plough with respect to the above mentioned criteria it is proposed to use a reversible plough with a frame for a 3-point hitch attachment on a front end portion of the frame. The frame comprises lower first and second attachment points for attachment to a first and second lower link of a 3-point hitch and an upper third attachment point for attachment to a third upper link of said hitch. A vertical pivot axle is located on a rear end of the frame and supports a plough tool carrier for pivotable movement around said axle. The upper third attachment point is located on a vertical pivot plate in a first upper pivot point on which the pivot plate and therefore the frame of the plough can be connected to the upper link of a 3-point hitch of a tractor. A second lower pivot point of said vertical plate is connected to a transversel pivot axis on the frame and a third upper pivot point of said vertical plate is connected to a first end of a control link. Therefore, when the upper link of the 3-point hitch moves backwards, and with it the third attachment point, then the vertical plate pivots and moves the control link backwards as well. Said control link extends towards the rear end portion of the frame and is connected to a link arrangement. The link arrangement is pivotally supported by the vertical pivot axle and further connected to the plough tool carrier.
In one embodiment of the invention the link arrangement may comprise a bushing which is arranged on the vertical axle for pivotable movement. The bushing is rigidly connected to a control plate and a control arm, both extending from said bushing towards the front end of the frame, therefore extending between the vertical axis and the control link. The control arm is connected to the plough tool carrier and moves the carrier when being pivoted by the pivot movement of the bushing and the control plate, respectively. The control plate comprises a guide slot to which the control link is slidably connected. For controlling the control plate it is proposed to arrange the guide slot in a generally transverse direction and symmetrically oriented to both sides of a longitudinal axis of the plough tool carrier. Further, the guide slot is placed a distance from the vertical axle and has a first and a second slot end arranged in distance from the vertical axle, so that the first and second slot ends are building a triangular arrangement with the center point of the pivot axle. This enables the control link to provide the bushing with a certain torque around the vertical axle when applying a force on the control plate on one of the slot ends. Due to the rigid connection between the control plate, the bushing and the control arm, said control arm will transfer the torque on the bushing into a control force for pivoting the carrier.
The slot ends may each comprise a notch for a snap-in engagement of the control link with the control plate when sliding within the guide slot from one slot end to the opposite slot end. So, when lifting the plough for pivoting the plough tool carrier a drag force is created moving the control link into the one of the slot end notches and pulling on the control plate in order to create the pivot movement of the carrier. When placing the plough back to the ground the drag force on the control link will be turned into a compression force, so that the control link will be pushed out of the notch and slidably moved along the guide slot into its next end position within the opposite slot end.
In a further embodiment the frame comprises an arcuate frame portion on which one end of the plough tool carrier is slidably supported so that the one end of the plough tool carrier moves slidably along the arcuate frame portion when pivoting from one operation position into a reverse operation position. Further, a latch mechanism is provided in order to control the start of a pivot movement when lifting the plough.
With respect to
A vertical pivot axle 22 is located on a rear end of the frame 12 and supports a plough tool carrier 24 for pivotable movement around said axle 22.
As best shown in
Said control link 38 extends towards the rear end portion of the frame 12 and is connected to a link arrangement 40, as shown in detail in
The control plate 44 comprises a guide slot 48 to which the control link 38 is slidably connected by a bolt 50 slidably placed in the guide slot 48 and supported by a fork-shaped end 52 of the control link 38.
As best shown in
Each of the slot ends 58, 60 comprises a notch 64, 66 for a snap-in engagement of the control link 38 with the slot ends 58 or 60, respectively. In other words, when the bolt 50 of the control link 38 is sliding along the guide slot 48 and moving from one slot end 58, 60 to the opposite slot end 60, 58, respectively, the bolt so snaps into the notch 64 or 66 on arrival. Therefore, when lifting the plough 10 for pivoting the plough tool carrier 24 a drag force is created moving the control link 38 into the one of the slot end notches 64, 66 and pulling on the control plate 44 in order to create the pivot movement of the plough tool carrier 24. When placing the plough 10 back to the ground the drag force on the control link 38 will be turned into a compression force, so that the bolt 50 on the control link 38 will move out of the notch 64 or 66 respectively, and slide along the guide slot 48 into a position within the opposite slot end 60 or 58, respectively.
The plough tool carrier 24 comprises several pivot supports 68 along the longitudinal axis 54 supporting plough tools 70 in form of discs. On the end of the plough tool carrier 24 a further support 72 is located for supporting a gauge wheel 74. The pivot supports 68 are connected to each other with pivot arms 76 attached to a control link 78 for keeping the orientation of the support pivots 68 aligned to each other. The control arm 46 is attached to the pivot support 68 in front of the vertical pivot axle 22, so that the control arm 46 can act on the pivot support 68 with a control force for pivoting the plough tool carrier 24 around the vertical pivot axle 22.
The frame 12 further comprises an arcuate frame portion 80 on which a front end 82 of the plough tool carrier 24 is slidably supported so that the front end 82 of the plough tool carrier 24 moves slidably along the arcuate frame portion 80 when moving from one operating position into a reverse operating position.
As best shown in
Reversing the plough 10 can be initiated by lifting the frame 12 on its 3 point attachment 14. When lifting from the ground the lower links of the 3-point hitch on the tractor (not shown) move up. The upper link of the 3-point hitch moves automatically away from the front end of the frame 12 towards the tractor. The bolt 50 of the control link 38 is thereby placed in one of the slot end notches 64, 66. The control link 38 will be pulled and a force will be created due to gravity of the plough 10. This force creates a torque around the vertical pivot axle 22 as described above. When releasing the latch mechanism 84, the torque will cause the plough tool carrier 24 to pivot around the vertical pivot axle 22. When the plough tool carrier 24 reaches its reverse position the latch mechanism 84 will be activated towards the blocking position and the plough 10 will then be lowered. The upper link of the 3-point hitch will automatically move back turning the former drag force into a compressing force and moving the control link 38 towards the control plate 44, where the control link 38 starts to slide along the guide slot 48 from the one slot end 58, 60 to the opposite slot end 60 or 58, respectively. When the plough 10 starts to be lifted again for reaching the next reverse position, the same movements will take place in just opposite direction starting with the bolt 50 of the control link 38 in slot end notch 66 or 64, respectively.
When pivoting the plough 10 from one operating position into the reverse operating position the gauge wheel 74 will be turned automatically from its one operating side to the reverse operating side. Therefore a control link 110 is placed between the frame 12 and a first pivot arm 112 of a pivot plate 114. A second pivot arm 116 extends from said pivot plate 114 and engages a guide slot arm 118 which is pivotally supported on the rear end of the plough tool carrier 24 and slidably guided by the pivot arm 116. The support 72 of gauge wheel 74 is connected to said pivot arm 116 on the guide slot arm 118. According to the movement of the plough tool carrier 24 the control link 110 will pull on the first pivot arm 112 when the pivot plate 114 starts moving with the rear end of the plough tool carrier 24 and pivots the second arm 116. The second arm 116 will slide towards the pivot of the guide slot arm 118, thereby pivoting it around the end of the plough tool carrier 24 and turning it towards the reverse operating position.
Having described the reversible plough 10, it will become apparent that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the accompanying claims.
