Patent ID: 7044233
Filing Date: 2006-05-16
Classification: A01B,A01K,Y02A

Abstract:
1. A combined digger and mushroom compost compacting assembly comprising a digger unit, said digger unit comprising a digger housing having at least one side wall, a drive shaft mounted at said side wall, a digger drive motor in said digger housing operatively connected to said shaft, a plurality of digger tines mounted around and extending outwardly from said shaft for digging into the compost in a mushroom bed as said assembly is moved longitudinally from one end of the mushroom bed to an opposite end of the bed, a compacting unit, said compacting unit comprising a compacting housing having at least one side wall, at least one compacting roller rotatably mounted to said side wall for compacting the compost after said digger tines have dug into the compost as said assembly is moved longitudinally from the one end of the mushroom bed to the opposite end, and detachable mounting structure detachably securing said digger unit to said compacting unit to create two conditions of said digger unit and said compacting unit with respect to each other, one of said conditions being when said digger unit and said compacting unit are connected together and move jointly during operation of said assembly when said assembly is moved longitudinally on the bed and the other of said conditions being when said digger unit and said compacting unit are completely separated from each other and can be manually moved separately one at a time to a different mushroom bed and then be reconnected to each other back to said one condition for further operation on the different mushroom bed, in combination with a mushroom bed, a drive mechanism mounted to said mushroom bed and engaged with one of said digger unit and said compacting unit, said drive mechanism jointly moving both said digger unit and said compacting unit in said one condition, and said drive mechanism solely moving said one of said digger unit and said compacting unit in said second condition.