Abstract:
A furrow cleaner has a rotating wheel with elongate blades that contact the obstructing matter in the eye of the furrow and move the obstruction to the side of an adjacent row. The blades are secured on radial arms attached to parallel disks, which in turn are secured on the central shaft of the wheel. The wheel is towed by a farming implement causing the blades to enter the furrow and move across the bottom of the furrow. The distance between the blades and their extension from the central shaft is adjusted by extending the length of the telescoping arms.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     This invention relates to a soil-working machine, and more particularly to an apparatus for removing obstructing material from furrows.  
         [0002]     The furrows are irrigation channels with planting beds aligned between the ditches. The furrows have sloping sides, narrow bottoms and increasing tops. The seeds are planted on top of the rows, while the bottom of the furrow serves as a channel for allowing water to flow between transverse channels, or ditches and the furrow. Since the field oftentimes presents an uneven terrain, depressions in the soil may form along the furrows. These depressions tend to accumulate water, while soil elevations prevent water from properly draining into the ditch or from being properly delivered from the ditch to irrigate the plants.  
         [0003]     Sometimes, leaves and plant parts accumulate in the main ditches and special machines are employed to clear them. Such machines move through the field, throwing debris, dirt or sand from the cleaned path to the sides of the rows and into the furrows. As a result, the areas immediately adjacent to the main ditch become blocked by the mounds of soil, preventing water from freely flowing from and into the furrows. The water tends to accumulate in the eye of a furrow, making the soil soggy and potentially damaging nearby plants. Ideally, the furrows should maintain a constant depth in relationship to the irrigation channels and to the rows, thus allowing efficient use of water.  
         [0004]     Conventionally, after a ditch digger passed through the field, the furrows need to be cleaned. It is often done by hand, a job that is time consuming and labor intensive. Some of the older technical solutions to this problem include furrow-cleaning apparatuses that have spoked or toothed trash-clearing fingers that dig into the furrows to help remove the trash from the critical areas adjacent the irrigation ditch. While some of these machines may work satisfactorily under favorable conditions, many of such older devices have difficulty going through wet mud and clearing soggy soil from the furrow entrance.  
         [0005]     The present invention contemplates elimination of drawbacks associated with the prior art and provision of a furrow “eye” cleaner, which can operate in dry as well as wet soil conditions.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a furrow eye opening apparatus that can be employed for removing soil closing the entrance to the furrow from an irrigation ditch.  
         [0007]     It is another object of the present invention to provide a furrow cleaning apparatus that can operate in dry as well as soggy soil conditions.  
         [0008]     It is a further object of the present invention to provide a furrow cleaner that can be attached to a conventional farm implement, such as a tractor and be towed across the field during operation.  
         [0009]     These and other objects of the present invention are achieved through a provision of a furrow cleaner apparatus adapted for attachment to a towing implement, for instance a tractor. The furrow cleaner has a wheel, which rotates about a central shaft in a direction transverse to the direction of travel of the implement. The wheel has a plurality of elongate blades, which contact the soil and move obstructing material to a side of a field row. The blades move in dimensional symmetry with respect to the plane of rotation of the wheel so as to retain a constant alignment of the blades with a furrow. The depth of contact of the blades with the ground remains constant.  
         [0010]     The central shaft or wheel axle has a plurality of disks secured thereto. A plurality of arms or spokes extends from the disks in radial directions in relationship to the central shaft. The blades are attached to free ends of the radial arms and extend across several sets of parallel arms. The arms have adjustable longitudinal dimensions through a provision of telescoping portions, which allow extension of the blades to a pre-determined selected distance from the central shaft. This feature allows adjustment of the wheel for use in differently spaced rows and furrows.  
         [0011]     The wheel is secured to the tractor by a hitch and a yoke, which engages opposite ends of the central shaft. The side arms, or rails of the yoke have greater length than the length of the radial arms so as not to interfere with the proper operation of the furrow cleaner. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]     Reference will now be made to the drawings, wherein like parts are designated by like numerals, and wherein  FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the apparatus of the present invention positioned in a field.  
         [0013]      FIG. 2  is a side view of the furrow cleaner in accordance with the present invention pulled by a tractor across the field.  
         [0014]      FIG. 3  is a top view of the field with the apparatus of the present invention positioned between the furrows.  
         [0015]      FIG. 4  is a side view of the furrow cleaning apparatus of the present invention showing blades and telescoping arms of the wheel of the apparatus of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0016]     Turning now to the drawings in more detail, numeral  10  designates the furrow opener of the present invention. The furrow opener  10  comprises a wheel  12  and an attachment assembly  14  adapted for securing the apparatus  10  to a towing implement, for instance a tractor  16 . The wheel  12  comprises an elongated central shaft  20  and a plurality of disks  22  secured equidistantly along the length of the shaft  20 . Secured to each disk  22  is a plurality of radially extending arms  24 , which can be two or more in number.  
         [0017]     Each radial arm  24  has an inner portion  26  and an outer portion  28 . A part of the portion  26  telescopically extends within the outer portion  28 , allowing to adjust the longitudinal dimension of the arm  24  to accommodate the wheel  12  for use in the fields with different distances between the furrow centers. The outer portion  28  of each arm  24  is securely attached to a respective disk  22  by detachable securing means, for instance bolts  30 ,  32  and respective nuts  34 ,  36 .  
         [0018]     A locking pin  38  passes through corresponding openings formed in the portions  26  and  28  to retain the inner and outer portions of the arms  24  at a desired pre-determined extension from the center of the disks  22 . In the preferred embodiment, the arms  24  can be formed from hollow tubular members, for instance rectangular tubing and the disks  22  can be formed from flat non-corrosive plates of about 25 inches in diameter.  
         [0019]     A retainer  40  is secured on an end  42  of the central shaft  20 . A second retainer  44  is secured on the opposite end  46  of the shaft  20 . The retainers  40  and  44  are designed to engage with a mounting yoke, which secures the wheel  12  to the tractor  16 . The retainer  40  and  44  may be detachably secured on the ends  42  and  46  of the shaft  20 .  
         [0020]     The mounting yoke comprises elongated side arms  50  extending from the retainers  40  and  44  and connected by a cross member  52 , which is secured on free ends of the side arms  50 . The attachment assembly  14  is detachably engageable with the cross member  52 , allowing to pull the wheel  12  along the field. The side arms  50  and the cross member  52  may be formed from a hollow tubular material, similar to the tubular material of the arms  24 .  
         [0021]     Extending in a parallel relationship to the central shaft  20  is a plurality of elongated blades  60 , each of which is secured to free ends of the inner portions  26  of the arms  24 . The blades  60  each have a V-shaped cross-section; an apex  62  of each blade  60  is oriented outwardly in relation to the central shaft  20 . The cleaning apparatus illustrated in  FIGS. 1-4  shows a wheel  12  having five blades  60 . Of course, a different number of the blades may be used, depending on the particular design of the furrow cleaning apparatus.  
         [0022]     The attachment assembly  14  comprises a pair of parallel rods  64  and  66  secured in a spaced-apart relationship to the cross member  52 . A hitch connector  68  is mounted between the rods  64  and  66  allowing the farm implement, such as a tractor  16 , to pull the wheel  12  along the field.  
         [0023]     As can be seen in  FIG. 1 , the field is comprised of a plurality of rows  70  divided by furrows  72  extending transversely to an irrigation ditch  74 . The irrigation ditch, or cross drain,  74 , normally allows water to drain out of the furrows  72 , into the ditch  74  when no obstruction is formed at the end of the furrow adjacent to the center ditch  74 . Such unobstructed furrow is shown in  FIG. 1  and is designated by numeral  76 . However under certain circumstances, the ends of the furrows become clogged with dirt build up, as schematically illustrated in  FIG. 1  and designated by numeral  78 . The build up  78  prevents water from traveling freely along the drain channel  74  and along the furrows  72 . The instant apparatus  10  is designed to rectify this problem.  
         [0024]     In operation, the furrow opener  10  is attached to the tractor  16  with the attachment assembly  14  and the cross member  52 . The wheel  12  is allowed to freely rotate about the central shaft  20  and the side arms  50 . As the wheel  12  rotates, the blades  60  move in turn across the bottoms of the furrows  72 , forcing the accumulated obstructing material  78  to move to the sloping side  80  of the row  70 . Since the distances between the furrows  72  may differ, the operator, prior to using the wheel  10 , adjusts the length of the arms  24  such that the distance between adjacent arms  24  is approximately equal to the distance between the centers of the adjacent furrows  72 .  
         [0025]     In a sugarcane field, the typical distance between the furrows  72  is about 70 inches. The arms  24  may have an approximate length of about 59-60 inches, such that the blades  60  move across the bottoms of the furrows with the revolution of the wheel  12 , forced to advance along the field by the tractor  16 . The length of the arms  24  can be also adjusted to accommodate the need for greater or less depth to form a compressed, smooth sidewall  80  of the row  70 . The cleaning action of the furrow-cleaning machine of the present invention includes the depth control of the furrows while retaining the size of the rows relatively compacted to prevent erosion by water.  
         [0026]     The furrow cleaning apparatus  10  of the present invention is easily manufactured and maintained since it is made of lightweight tubular material that can be easily propelled along the field with conventional farm implements. The radial arms  24  keep the blades  60  in a substantially constant pivotal position relative to the ground, when the extension of the blades  60  from the center central disks  22  is properly adjusted by the user prior to attachment of the wheel  12  to the tractor  16 .  
         [0027]     The tractor wheels  82  moving across the field may leave a certain depression in the soil. However, the blades  60  following the tractor  16  will remedy this problem and open the furrows again. The apparatus  10  can be used following a ditch digger operation, or following heavy rain, or when needed. By moving the blades  60  in the furrows  72 , the apparatus  10  of the present invention again clears the furrows, returning the field to the desired position of setting furrows of equal depth throughout the field. The weight of the wheel  12  is sufficient to press down the mud with the blade  60 , with the angle of the blade  60  helping push the dirt to the side of the row.  
         [0028]     Many changes and modifications may be made in the design of the present invention without departing from the spirit thereof. I, therefore, pray that my rights to the present invention be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.