Abstract:
A rear wheel assembly replaces single large rollers normally used on the rear of forty-foot field finishing land planes. The assembly provides units having one pneumatic tired wheel mounted to swivel under a narrowed platform at the front and two pneumatic tired wheels on an axle at the rear. The wheel assembly attaches by swivel stud to original swivel stud receivers at the back frame of the land plane.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
         [0001]    Not applicable  
         STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT  
         [0002]    Not applicable  
         REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX  
         [0003]    Not applicable  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0004]    This invention relates to a pneumatic tired rear wheel assembly for a field finishing land plane. The assembly of the present invention has three wheels in a tricycle arrangement. The three wheels have pneumatic tires. A straight sided housing with an angled in front houses the wheels. There are two wheels outside at the rear of the housing and a single wheel under the housing at the front. The two rear wheels are on a stationary axle. The single front wheel swivels. Two of the devices of the present invention replace two all metal swivel rollers on the rear of a field finishing land plane. Most field finishing land planes ride on two large swiveling rollers at the rear and two large rollers yoked side by side on the front when leveling a field. The front rollers are arranged to turn with a tow bar for steering. A tractor usually tows the forty-foot long land plane during fieldwork. When moving the equipment from place to place, a truck normally replaces the tractor for towing along a road or freeway. During truck towing, two retractable pneumatic tired wheels are lowered at the center area of the land plane. This raises the rear swiveling rollers off the ground, and the land plane rides on the two pneumatic tired wheels and on the front rollers. The rollers make stabilization and alignment of the land plane difficult during fieldwork. The rollers also make road steering hard even with protruding ends of the land plane scoop raised or swung around to narrow road width required. Our experiments have shown that replacing rollers on a field finishing land plane with wheels having pneumatic tires greatly improves handling characteristics of this equipment. Replacing the two large front rollers with double pneumatic tired wheels, two wheels for each roller in the tow bar steering yoke, improves road steering considerably. Replacing the rear swiveling rollers proved more difficult. Several wheel combinations were tried using wheels with pneumatic tires. When the single rollers on the rear of the land plane were replaced with single pneumatic tired wheels, narrow tires did not support the rear as needed and wide tires did not swivel well enough. Doubling the tired wheels failed to improve anything. Two wheels in tandem were not easy to control. A four-wheeled unit worked well but proved too bulky. The best replacements for the two swiveling rear rollers turned out to be three pneumatic tired wheels in a tricycle arrangement having a single front wheel that swiveled.  
           [0005]    The present invention provides this arrangement in a three-wheel assembly that replaces single large rollers normally used on the rear of forty-foot land planes. The new rear wheel assembly has three pneumatic tired wheels mounted in a straight-sided body. The body has a triangular front section and a rounded front end. The body of the assembly is structured of a metal frame supporting sheet-metal housing. The assembly body attaches to the rear frame of the land plane by a swivel stud in a center yoke. The swivel stud fits the same cylindrical receivers to which the original rollers attach. A single wheel on the front of the assembly also swivels. With two of my wheel assemblies replacing the two rear rollers, strain on the pulling vehicle is reduced and the field finishing land plane is easier to align. Steering the land plane during road towing is greatly improved when the front rollers are replaced with pneumatic tired wheels.  
         BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    My invention is a three-wheel assembly housed in a triangular frame. The frame has a sheet-metal covered housing. Two wheels are at the wide back of the housing. A single wheel is arranged pivotal in the narrowed front of the housing. The three wheels on the assembly are fitted with pneumatic tires. An inverted U-shaped yoke straddles the housing. A swivel stud centered in the top of the yoke is sized to fit pivotal acceptors on the rear of the land plane where the rollers fasten on. Thus the rear wheel assembly of my invention can replace the rollers on the rear of the land place using the same swivel stud receivers that held the original rollers. To further enhance control of the land plane, the alignment of rollers arranged on the front of the land plane to turn with the tow bar can be replaced with an alignment of pneumatic tired wheels. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0007]    [0007]FIG. 1 shows the present invention in a side elevation view from a first side.  
         [0008]    [0008]FIG. 2 shows the invention in a top plan view.  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 3 shows the invention in a perspective view.  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 4 shows two units of the present invention in a perspective view from a second side being attached to the rear of a field finishing land plane to replace the rollers normally there. The alignment of rollers usually arranged to turn with the tow bar of the land plane at the front have been replaced with an alignment of pneumatic tired wheels.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 5 shows the field finishing land plane being towed. The present invention is attached pivotally at the rear of the land plane in the position where the rollers would normally be. An alignment of pneumatic tired wheels is shown replacing the rollers at the tow bar. For road towing the ends of the scoop have been raised, retractable wheels near the scoop have been lowered raising the two units of the present invention at the rear of the land plane free of the ground. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0012]    Referring now to the drawings where my invention is referenced generally as invention  10  and alternatively as rear wheel assembly  10 . The numbered parts in the drawings include numbers to designate critical parts of existing field finishing land plane  32 . The device of the present invention, rear wheel assembly  10 , is designed to replace original rollers  36  on field finishing land plane  32  as can be seen in FIG. 4 of the drawings.  
         [0013]    At FIG. 1 in the drawings, rear wheel assembly  10  is shown in a side elevation view from a first side. Two perspective views of rear wheel assembly  10  in FIG. 4 show a second side. Although rear wheel assembly  10  could be manufactured from a variety of materials now known and from products of future development, rear wheel assembly  10  in this embodiment has a metal frame (not visible) supporting a sheet-metal housing designated wheel assembly body  12 . For attachment to the rear frame of a field finishing land plane  32 , an inverted U-shaped wheel assembly swing yoke  14  is arranged to support wheel assembly body  12  as a pivotal hanger. A first arm of inverted U-shaped swing yoke  14  fastens to wheel assembly body  12  by swing yoke attachment axle  16 . Axle  16  passes completely through wheel assembly body  12  and attaches to a second arm of swing yoke  14  on the other side. Swing yoke attachment axle  16  is positioned at the ascertained center of gravity allowing wheel assembly body  12  to swing freely in a position nearly paralleling ground line  48 . Centered in the top of swing yoke  14 , is swivel stud  18 . Swivel stud  18  fits the existing swivel stud receiver  34  on field finishing land plane  32  as shown in FIG. 4. Swivel stud receiver  34  is the same tubular holder that fits the swivel stud on original rollers  36 .  
         [0014]    As can be seen in the FIG. 1 drawing, the sides of assembly body  12  angle upwards at the front then straighten out into a small rounded platform supporting front wheel swivel stud receiver  22 . Front wheel swivel stud  20  on the top cross member of front wheel inverted L-shaped single arm yoke  26  is retained pivotal in front wheel swivel receiver  22  by retaining collar  24 . Front wheel inverted L-shaped single arm yoke  26  has the longer arm attached to only one side at the hub of pneumatic tired front wheel  28 . The angled front-end platform of assembly body  12  provides opened wheel housing allowing single pneumatic tired wheel  28  installed there to swivel completely around free of any restrictions. Two other pneumatic tired wheels  28  are affixed by axle  30  (see FIG. 4.) at the widened rear end of wheel assembly body  12 . For towing alignment, single front wheel  28  swivels when all wheels  28  on wheel assembly body  12  are in contact with ground surface  48 .  
         [0015]    The top plan view of invention  10  in FIG. 4 shows wheel assembly body  12  to have straight sides that angle inward at a front section to end in a rounded nose supporting front wheel swivel stud receiver  22 . The single pneumatic tired front wheel  28  that swivels can be partly seen and its position is indicated by dotted lines. Front wheel inverted L-shaped single arm yoke  26  is partly shown and illustrated by dotted line below front wheel swivel stud  20 , front wheel stud receiver  22 , and swivel stud retainer collar  24 . The top of assembly body swing yoke  14  is shown crossing over the upper section of assembly body  12  towards the front where assembly body  12  angles inward to form a rounded nose. Assembly body swivel stud  18  is in the center of assembly body swing yoke  14 . The two side arms of yoke  14  and where they fasten to assembly yoke axle  16  are shown. Dotted lines indicate the position of yoke axle  16  passing through assembly body  12 . Two pneumatic tired wheels  28  can be seen affixed to axle  30  at the rear of assembly body  12 . Axle  30  is indicated by dotted lines.  
         [0016]    As parts numbers describing assembly body  12  previously for FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 appear in FIGS. 3, 4, and  5 , descriptions of these parts are not duplicated. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the present invention  10  primarily illustrating rear wheel assembly body  12  and visible parts from the same side as was seen in FIG. 1. Rear wheel assembly  10  is shown in two perspective illustrations from the opposite side in FIG. 4. Also, a drawing of an original field finishing land plane  32  is shown in a perspective view in FIG. 4. An elevation side view of land plane  32  equipped with two of the rear wheel assemblies  10  of this invention being towed by truck  46  is shown in FIG. 5. In the perspective view at FIG. 4 of land plane  32 , the original upper rear roller  36  is about to be replaced by the present invention, rear wheel assembly  10 . The original land plane swivel stud receiver  34  will be used to attach rear wheel assembly  10  by inserting assembly swivel stud  18  into land plane original stud receiver  34  and locking it there with swivel stud retainer collar  24 . Other important parts of land plane  32  include retractable pneumatic tired wheels  38 . Wheels  38  can be raised for fieldwork when a tractor normally tows land plane  32 . During field leveling, the center section of the scoop and the extended ends  40  are aligned. Land plane  32  rides on the three wheels  28  each of the two rear assemblies  10  and the four-ganged tow bar steering wheels  28  at the front. The center scoop is on the ground. For fieldwork, a tractor would normally tow land plane  32 . During movement from field to field along a road or highway, land plane  32  would be attached by tow bar  42  to truck  46 . Hydraulic lines  44  from truck  46  would operate raising and lowering of wheels  38 . Wheels  38  would be down and land plane  32  would be riding on retractable center wheels  38  and front-ganged wheels  28 . Both attached units of the present invention, rear wheel assemblies  10 , would be raised free of ground  48 . Taillights and stoplights on the rear frame of land plane  32  would be operated from truck  46  by taillights and rear signal power and control line  50 .  
         [0017]    A reading of described and numbered parts in this specification and considering them relative to like numbered parts shown in the appended drawings should provide a clear picture of the present invention.  
         [0018]    The detailed description of a particular embodiment of this invention in the foregoing specification is not intended to limit changes I may make which fall within the scope of my claims, however, this does not included changes by others who claim new invention in similar devices when their claim or claims fall within my claim scope.