Soil cultivating implements

Abstract

A cultivating implement has a supporting frame and elongated tined beams, extending transverse to the direction of travel, located below the frame. Each tined beam is connected to respective eccentric mechanisms mounted on two rotatable shafts that extend in the direction of travel and the shafts are supported on frame beams. One of the shafts is connected to a driving shaft via a gear box that houses a step-up gear transmission and drives the other shaft via the beams. The tined beams are moved through circular paths out of phase with respect to one another and can mount tines that crumble soil or strip-shaped tines that cut vegetation. A supporting roller is adjustably mounted on the frame to trail the tines and further work the soil.

Description

Claims

1. A soil cultivating implement comprising a frame and a plurality of elongated, side-by-side beams supported on said frame, said beams each having tine means and extending transverse to the direction of travel, said beams being interconnected to the frame with respective eccentric mechanisms on spaced apart rotatable shafts of driving means, said rotatable shafts extending generally horizontal and in the normal direction of travel, said beams being moved through generally circular paths about said shafts, the opposite ends of at least one of said shafts being rotatably supported from corresponding frame beams that extend transverse to the direction of travel, the rear end of said one shaft being journalled in a gear box and having a toothed pinion of a speed-increasing step-up transmission, said pinion being in driven connection with a larger toothed pinion mounted on a rotary driving shaft of said driving means.

2. An implement as claimed in claim 1, wherein there are three beams and each of said shafts mounts three eccentric mechanisms that are angularly spaced apart from one another by about 120.degree. around the axis of the corresponding shaft, as regards their eccentricities.

3. An implement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the longitudinal axes of said shafts are substantially parallel to one another and the respective eccentric mechanisms on the shafts that correspond to each beam occupy corresponding positions, as regards their eccentricities, on the shafts.

4. An implement as claimed in claim 3, wherein each eccentric mechanism comprises an eccentrically bored bush the longitudinal axis of which is spaced from the longitudinal axis of the bore therein by a distance of about 4 centimeters.

5. An implement as claimed in claim 4, wherein the outer surface of each bush is surrounded by a corresponding ring that is freely rotatable relative thereto on ball bearings interposed between the outer surface of the bush and the inner surface of said ring.

6. An implement as claimed in claim 3, wherein the rear of the gear box has a releasable cover, the pinions being connected to their respective shafts in a readily releasable and exchangeable manner.

7. An implement as claimed in claim 3, wherein said driving shaft includes a portion which projects from the rear of said gear box.

8. An implement as claimed in claim 1, wherein a soil crumbling roller is located to the rear of said beams and said roller is adjustably connected to the frame by a pivot connection, the axis of rotation of the roller being settable at any chosen one of a plurality of different levels relative to the level of said frame, the periphery of the roller being comprised by a plurality of elongated ground-engaging elements that extend lengthwise with respect to the axis of rotation of the roller.

9. A soil cultivating implement comprising a frame and a plurality of elongated, side-by-side beams supported on said frame, said beams each having tine means and extending transverse to the direction of travel, said beams being interconnected to the frame with respective eccentric mechanisms on spaced apart rotatable shafts of driving means, said rotatable shafts extending generally horizontal and in the normal direction of travel, said beams being moved through generally circular paths about said shafts, the longitudinal axes of said shafts being substantially parallel to one another and the respective eccentric mechanisms on said shafts that correspond to each beam occupying corresponding positions as regard their eccentricities on the shafts, each beam comprising two further beams of channel-shaped cross-section and an inner one of the two beams being nested inside the other, said inner beam having limbs with lengths about one third that of the limbs of other beam.

10. An implement as claimed in claim 9, wherein the limbs of the further beams project downwardly from the bases thereof and tine holders are located between the limbs of the inner beam.

11. An implement as claimed in claim 10, wherein each holder comprises a fastening portion which abuts against the base of the inner further beam.

12. An implement as claimed in claim 11, wherein the bottom of said fastening portion co-operates with fastenings that also secure the limbs of the further beams to one another.

13. An implement as claimed in claim 10, wherein each tine of said tine means comprises a fastening portion that is secured in a corresponding holder.

14. An implement as claimed in claim 13, wherein the tine fastening portion is polygonal in cross-section and has a recess substantially mid-way between its upper and lower ends, said recess co-operating with a wedging member fitted in a bore in a side of the holder.

15. An implement as claimed in claim 13, wherein each tine has a soil working portion that is substantially rhombic in cross-section, adjacent the lower free end thereof.

16. An implement as claimed in claim 15, wherein the sides of the soil working tine portion that is of substantially rhombic in cross-section, have grooves that extend lengthwise along the soil working portion.

17. An implement as claimed in claim 13, wherein the maximum width of each tine in one direction is about three times the width of the same tine in a direction perpendicular thereto.

18. An implement as claimed in claim 13, wherein the tines are formed of strip-shaped spring steel.

19. An implement as claimed in claim 18, wherein said tines are formed in integral pairs and a connecting portion between the two tines of each pair extends between the limbs of the inner beam.