Patent Application
20160262298
The disclosure relates to rock picking devices and more particularly pertains to a new rock picking device for being pulled along a ground surface such that rocks positioned on or in the ground surface are picked up by the device for movement to another area.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a frame that has a front side, a back side, a first lateral side and a second lateral side. A pair of wheels is rotatably attached to the frame. A housing for receiving and carrying a plurality of rocks is mounted on the frame. A hitch connector attached to the frame has a free end positioned distal to the housing and an attached end positioned proximal to the housing. A rake is pivotally coupled to the frame adjacent to the front side. The rake engages rocks such that the rocks are moved upwardly into the housing. The rake has a distal end and a proximal end relative to the housing. The rake is positionable in a deployed position positioned adjacent to or below and engaging the ground surface or in a stored position vertically spaced from the ground surface. A lift mechanism is attached to the rake and is actuated to selectively move the rake between the stored and the deployed positions. A shovel is rotatably mounted to the rake and moves rocks up the rake and into the housing. A drive assembly is mechanically coupled to the shovel and is turned on to rotate the shovel relative to the rake.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A housing 30, or bucket, is provided which is configured to receive and carry a plurality of rocks 24. The housing 30 is pivotally mounted on the frame 12. The housing 30 includes a bottom wall 31 and a perimeter wall 32 that is attached to and extends upwardly from the bottom wall 31. A front wall 33 of the housing 30 is substantially open or may include a large notch therein for allowing rocks to pass through the perimeter wall 32. The perimeter wall 32 further includes a rear wall 34, and a first lateral wall 35 and a second lateral wall 36. The bottom wall 31 has a plurality of openings therein configured to allow debris smaller than a predetermined size to fall through the bottom wall 31. As can be seen in the Figures, the bottom wall 31 may comprise a mesh material with openings having a greatest diameter being less than 2.5 inches. The housing 30 is pivotable adjacent to a juncture of the bottom wall 31 and the rear wall 34 such that the front wall 33 is lifted upwardly away from the frame 12 when the housing 30 pivots relative to the frame 12. This movement will dump rocks 24 outwardly over the rear wall 34 as the housing 30 is tilted rearwards. The rear wall 34 may be angled rearward from the bottom wall 31 to a top of the rear wall 34 to facilitate the dumping of the rocks 24 therefrom.
A pivot mechanism 38 is attached to the frame 12 and to the housing 30. The pivot mechanism 38 is actuated to move the housing 30 to a fill position having the housing 30 in a generally horizontal orientation or to a dump position with the housing 30 is tilted rearward from the frame 12. The pivot mechanism 38 may include a bucket piston 39, which is hydraulically actuated, coupled to the frame 12 and to the housing 30. The bucket piston 39 is fluidly coupled to a compressor 40. Valves 41 are operationally coupled to a control 42 for allowing fluid from the compressor 40 to move the hydraulic piston. While the apparatus 10 generally utilizes compressed fluid for operations herein and below, it should be understood that pneumatic actuation or electric motors may be utilized instead.
A rake 44 is pivotally coupled to the frame 12 adjacent to the front side 14 by a pivot rod 45, wherein the frame 12 may be considered as including additional walls for attachment thereto as can be seen in the Figures, though the rake could instead be coupled to the housing 30. The rake 44 is configured to engage rocks 24 such that the rocks 24 are moved upwardly into the housing 30. The rake 44 has a distal end 46 and a proximal end 47 relative to the housing 30 and the rake 44 is angled upwardly from the distal end 46 to the proximal end 47 such that rocks 24 move up the rake 44 and into the housing 30. The rake 44 is positionable in a deployed position that is positioned adjacent to or below and engaging a ground surface 48 or in a stored position vertically spaced from and above the ground surface 48. However, the rake 44 may remain in a downward angle even in the stored, fully lifted position. The rake 44 may be selectively positionable between the deployed and stored positions. More particularly, the rake 44 may be moved to a position directly adjacent to the ground surface 48 or up to 6.0 inches below the ground surface 48. Thus the rake 44 may pull rocks 24 upwardly which are extending into or slightly below the ground surface 48. The rake 44 may include a plurality of spaced plates 49 extending from the proximal end 47 to the distal end 46. The plates 49 each lie in vertically oriented planes that are oriented parallel to each other. The plates 49 are spaced from each other a distance of between 1.0 inches and 4.0 inches to allow soil and smaller particles and rocks to flow through the rake 44. The distal ends 46 are pointed and the plates 49 each have a bottom surface 50 which is convexly arcuate. The plates 49 may have upper surface 51 which is concavely arcuate. A distance from the distal ends 46 of the rake 44 to the back side 15 of the frame 12 is less than 6.0 feet.
A pair of guide walls 52 may be attached to the rake 44. The guide walls 52 are positioned on opposite outer sides of the rake 44 and prevent rocks 24 from falling laterally off of the rake 44 as the rocks 24 move from the distal end 46 to the housing 30. The guide walls 52 flare outwardly as the guide walls 52 extend upwardly from the plates 49.
A lift mechanism 53 is attached to the rake 44. The lift mechanism 53 is actuated to selectively move the rake 44 between the stored and the deployed positions. The lift mechanism 53 may include a hydraulically actuated rake piston 54 attached to the frame 12 and to the rake 44. The rake piston 54 is fluidly coupled to the compressor 40, while conventional valves 41 and the control 42 are used to control the rake piston 54.
A shovel 60 is rotatably mounted to the rake 44 and is configured to move rocks 24 up the rake 44 and into the housing 30. The shovel 60 comprises an axle 61 that is rotatably attached to the rake 44 and traverses the upper surface 51 of the rake 44. An paddle arm 62 is attached to the axle 61 and a pair of opposed ends 63 positioned opposite of each other are each located distal to the axle 61. As can be seen in
As can be seen in the Figures, the axle 61 may be attached to a pair of pivot arms 70, which are in turn coupled to opposite sides of the rake 44. The pivot arms 70 are pivotally coupled to the rake 44 which allows the shovel 60, including the axle 61 and paddle arm 62, to lift upwardly relative to the rake 44. When one of the opposed ends 63 engages a rock that becomes lodged against the distal end of the rake 44, the pivot arms 70 permit the shovel 60 to effectively “jump” over rock and prevent a jam between the rake 44 and the shovel 60. The pivot arms 70 are pulled downward by gravity and may be seated in brackets 72 attached to the rake 44 when they are at their lowest point. The pivot arms 70 furthermore prevent damage the shovel 60 should it engage particularly firm areas of ground surface 48.
In use, the frame 12 is coupled to an all-terrain vehicle 22, commonly known as a 4-wheeler or quad, with the hitch coupler 19 such that the frame 12 can be pulled along a ground surface 48 where rocks 24 are to be collected. The rake 44 is pivoted downward so that it may engage and cause the rock(s) to move onto the plates 49. If the ground surface 48 is comprised of relatively loose soil, the rake 44 may be tilted so that it extends into the ground surface 48 as well to lift rocks 24 upwardly out of the soil. When rocks 24 are positioned on the rake 44, the shovel 60 is turned on so that as it rotates the rock(s) 24 is moved into the housing 30 for transfer to a different location. Once the housing 30 is full or at the completion of the task, the user will take the housing 30 to an area where the housing 30 can be tilted rearwardly as shown in
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
