A SOIL CULTIVATING MACHINE

Abstract: The invention relates to a soil cultivating machine comprising a frame and a roller (13, 47, 48) for cultivating the soil. The roller (13) is provided with a scraping device (23) that is power-driven and the roller (13) is drivable from the tractor via a flexible drive. The flexible drive is achieved by means of the scraping device (23) that comprises a rotatable scraping member (22), which at the side facing the roller (13) has the same direction of rotation as the roller (13). The scraping device may afford a common scraping device (50) for a roller construction com­ prising two rollers (47, 48) arranged one behind the other with respect to the direction of travel of the implement. The common scraping device (50) comprises a scraper member (51) that at the side facing the respective rollers (47, 48) of the roller construction rotates in the same direction as same.

Description: The invention relates to a soil cultivating machine comprising a frame and a roller for cultivating the soil. With this type of machines, in particular when the roller is arranged behind soil working members which pre-work the soil and said roller is destined to pack the soil, the freshly worked earth, especially on heavier types of soil, easily adheres to the roller periphery, as a result of which the action of the roller is adversely affected and even may be lost completely. Now, the construction according to the invention effectively obviates the above drawback in that the roller is provided with a scraping device which is power-driven. Using this construction, it is possible to obtain a forced cleaning of the roller, whereby the scraped-off earth, in addition, is spread in comparatively small particles on the worked soil, so that the quality of the seed bed is not adversely affected. A further feature of the invention concerns a machine of the above-defined type comprising a scraping device, which scraping device is rotatable and, at the side facing the roller, has the same direction of rotation as the roller. With the aid of this provision it is possible to prevent the rotation of the roller from being impeded by the action of the scraping device. A still further feature of the invention concerns a soil cultivating machine of the above-defined type, in which the roller is drivable from the tractor via a flexible drive. "Flexible" drive must be understood to mean a drive of the roller which is effected in that the earth is removed from the roller periphery by means of the scraping device. This produces a driving force on the roller, which force increases or decreases depending on the quantity of adhering earth. A still further feature of the invention concerns a soil cultivating machine of the above-defined type, in which the roller is provided with a scraping device com­ prising a scraper member consisting of a plurality of plates extending in the direction of the roller's axis of rotation. By means of this provision it is possible to use a hollow carrier for the scraper member, which carrier can be manu­ factured easily and has a low weight. Finally, the invention concerns a soil cultivating machine comprising a roller construction cultivating the soil, said roller construction having at least two tubular members, for which a scraping device is provided. This roller design renders it possible to use one common scraping device for the two rollers, said scraping device comprising a scraper member which, at the side facing the rollers, has the same direction of rotation as that imparted to each of the respective rollers by contact with the soil. Also in this case it is possible to obtain via the common scraping device a "flexible" drive of the respective rollers by scraping-off of the adhering earth. For a better understanding of the invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a soil cultivating machine comprising a construction according to the invention; Figure 2 is a side view taken into the direction of the arrow II in Figure 1; Figure 3 is, to an enlarged scale, a view taken in the direction of the arrow III in Figure 1; Figure 4 is, to an enlarged scale, a view taken on the line IV-IV in Figure 1; Figure 5 is a view taken in the direction of the arrow V in Figure 3 and Figure 6 is a view in accordance with Figure 4 of a second embodiment of a construction according to the inven­ tion. The implement shown in the drawings concerns a soil cultivating machine, in particular one for preparing a seed bed. The machine comprises a box-like frame portion 1 which extends transversely to the direction of operative travel A and in which are supported, spaced apart equi­ distantly by preferably 25 cms, the upwardly, preferably vertically, extending shafts 2 of soil working members 3. Each of the soil working members 3 includes a carrier 4 which is provided on the end of a shaft 2 that projects from the bottom of the frame portion 1 and extends at least sub­ stantially horizontally. Near its ends, each carrier 4 is provided with soil working elements 5 which extend downwardly and are afforded by tines. The ends of the box-like frame portion 1 are closed by means of plates 6 which extend up­ wardly and at least substantially parallel to the direction of operative travel A of the machine. Each of the plates 6 has near its front side a bolt 7 which extends transversely to the direction of operative travel A. An arm 8 is freely pivotal about each bolt 7, the arm extending rearwardly along the inner side of the plate 6. Each of the arms 8 can be adjusted in height by means of an adjusting device comprising a threaded spindle 9 and can be locked in a plurality of positions. At some distance before its rear end, each arm 8 has a support 10 which extends obliquely downwardly and rearwardly. Between the lower ends of the respective supports 10 there is arranged freely rotatably by means of bearings accommodated in bearing housings 11 a shaft 12 of a roller 13 which extends transversely to the direction of operative travel A. The roller 13 is designed as a packer roller and includes a tubular portion 14 which is closed at its ends by means of discs 13A and has a diameter of, preferably, approximately 35 cms. At its outer circumference, the tubular portion 14 is provided with equidistant rings 15, which preferably have a height of 1½ cms. The outermost rings 15 are located at a distance from the ends of the tubular portion 14 that is approximately half the distance between two rings (15), which distance is, preferably, approximately 10 cms. The portions of the arms 8 which are located behind the supports 10 are provided with freely pivotal supports 17 via shafts 16 extending transversely to the direction of operative travel A and being in alignment. At their rear side, each of the supports 17 includes a plate 18 which extends downwardly and by means of its lower end reaches to a point located between the axis of rotation of the roller 13 and its lower side (Figures 3 and 4); the plates 18 are bevelled at their rear bottom side. A stiffening strip 19 is disposed between the lower ends of the plates 18, which strip extends transversely to the direction of intended operative travel A. At the level of the connection of the plates 18 to the supports 17 a cross-beam 20 is provided between the plates, which beam, as is apparent from Figures 2 to 4, is box-like having, preferably, a square cross-section. The beam 20 is arranged such that its lower side extends at least substantially parallel to the lower side of the plates 18. Approximately mid-way of the portion of the plates 18 which extends from under the beam 20, a scraper member 22 which forms part of a scraping element 23 for the roller 13 is arranged rotatably via shafts 21. Hereby the supports 17, the plates 18 and the beam 20 constitute a carrier structure for the scraper member 22. The scraper member 22 comprises a hollow carrier formed by three identical plates 24, which extend in the longitudinal direction and parallel to the axis of rotation of the scraper member and are combined by means of bolts 25 in a manner as shown in Figures 3 and 4 to form a triangular box. The sides of the plates 24 extending beyond the angles of the triangular box constitute blade-shaped portions 26 which extend in the longitudinal direction of the scraper member 22. The blade-shaped portions 26 are located substantially radially and are provided in the region of the rings 15 on the tubular portion 14 of the roller 13 with a recess 27, through which the rings can pass (Figure 5). The ends of the plates 24 are secured to discs 24A, each sup­ porting a shaft 21. The scraper member 22 is arranged such that the portions of the blade-shaped parts 26 which are located between the recesses 27 extend to near the outer circumference of the tubular portion 14 of the roller 13 (Figures 3 and 4). The axis of rotation of the scraper member 22 is located at the level of that of the roller 13. At the bottom side of the beam 20 there is provided a baffle 28, which at the leading side reaches to near the rings 15 and from its front side extends at least substantially con­ centrically relative to the axis of rotation of the scraper member 22 through a circumferential angle of approximately 90°, whereafter it merges into a straight portion extending obliquely downwardly and rearwardly. The rear side of the cover 28 is situated lower than the leading side and is located at the level of the axis of rotation of the scraper member 22 (Figures 3 and 4). A tension spring 30 is arranged between the lower side of each support 17 and a lug 29 con­ nected to the rear side of the supports 10 in the region of the bearing of the roller 13. The tension spring 30 draws the carrier structure formed by the supports 17, the plates 18 and the beam 20 together with the scraper member 22 supported thereby by means of a stop 31 provided at the front side of each plate 18 against an adjusting bolt 32. The adjusting bolt 32 is supported in a portion of the lug 29, which portion is folded outwardly at a right angle (Figure 3). By means of said adjusting bolt 32 the distance between the blade-shaped portions 26 of the scraper member 22 and the outer cirumference of the tubular portion 14 of the roller 13 can be accurately set. Inside the box-like frame portion 1, each of the shafts 2 of the soil working members 3 is provided with a pinion 33, the arrangement being such that the pinions on the shafts of adjacent soil working members are in driving connection with each other. Near the centre, the shaft 2 of a soil working member 3 is extended. The extension reaches into a gear box 34 arranged at the upper side of the box-like frame portion 1. Inside the gear box 34, the extension is in driving connection via a bevel gear wheel transmission and a speed variator 35 arranged at the rear side with a shaft 36, which shaft extends in the direction of operative travel A and projects at the front side to beyond the gear box 34 and at the rear side to beyond the speed variator 35, respectively. At the rear side, the shaft 36 reaches into a gear box 37, inside which said shaft is in driving connection via a bevel gear wheel transmission with a shaft 38 which extends transversely to the direction of operative travel A and is bearing-supported in the gear box. At the side which, seen in the direction of operative travel A, is the left-hand side, the shaft 38 extends to beyond the gear box 37. The end of the shaft 38 projecting from the gear box 37 is connected to one end of a telescopic shaft 39, which end includes a universal joint. The other end of the shaft 39 also includes a universal joint and is arranged at the end of a shaft 40. The shaft 40 is bearing-supported in a box 41 provided on the outer side of the plate 18 (Figure 5). Inside the box 41, the shaft 40 accommodates a pulley 42, around which is passed a belt 43 which is also passed around a pulley 44. The pulley 44 is provided on a shaft 21 at that end which, seen in the direction of operative travel A, is the left-hand end of the scraper member 22. At its front side, the frame portion includes a trestle 45 which has a three-point connection for coupling the machine to the three-­ point lifting hitch of a tractor. The machine described in the foregoing operates as follows: During operation, the machine is coupled to the three-point lifting hitch of the tractor by means of the trestle 45 and the shaft 36 projecting at the front side from the gear box 34 is connected to the power take-off shaft of a tractor via an intermediate shaft 46. When the tractor travels in a direction indicated by the arrow A, the soil working members 3 are driven from the power take-off shaft via the intermediate shaft and the above-described trans­ mission, whereby two adjacent soil working members rotate in opposite direction and cultivate by means of their soil working elements 5 at least adjoining strips of soil. The working depth of the soil working members 3 is set by means of the roller 13, it being possible to readjust the roller via the arms 8 with the aid of the threaded spindle 39. During operation, the scraper member 22 of the scraping device 23 is rotated in a direction as indicated by an arrow in Figures 3 and 4 via the shaft 36, the bevel gear wheel transmission in the gear box 37, the telescopic shaft 39 and the belt transmission in the box 41. In this arrangement, the scraper member 22 rotates such that the scrapers formed by the blade-shaped portions 26 move at the side facing the roller upwardly from the bottom along the outer side of the tubular portion 14, i.e. in the same direction as the outer side of the tubular portion 14 moves. During this movement, any earth adhering between the rings 15 at the outer side of the tubular portion 14 and at the inner side of the rings 15 is scraped-off, which earth is discharged to the rear with the aid of the blade-shaped portions 26 along the inner side of the cover 28 over the scraper member 22. Due to the forced drive of the scraper member 22 preferably having a rotational speed of 350 revs/min and the design and arrangement of the cover 28 it is then possible to achieve a crumbling of the scraped-off earth via the cover, so that the earth which is ultimately deposited on the newly-formed seed bed is dis­ persed into fine particles and does not adversely affect the germination of the seed. In the event of an excessive quan­ tity of adhering earth, a first scraping action can be pro­ vided by the strip 19. Because of the specific arrangement of the scraper member 22 and its direction of rotation it is achieved that via the earth to be scraped-off a driving force is exerted on the roller 13, so that here a flexible drive for the roller is provided from the tractor via the scraper member. "Flexible" must here be understood to mean the fact that the drive of the roller is dependent on the quantity of earth to be scraped-off. If no earth sticks to the roller, a drive of the roller is obtained only by its contact with the soil, but no drive via the scraper member. The driving force exerted on the roller via the scraper member increases pro­ portionally to the increase of the quantity of earth to be scraped-off. As normally always some earth will stick to the roller, a drive of the roller is obtained almost always, which drive may have a rotational speed of approximately 60 revs/min. The positive drive of the roller 13 stresses the action of the roller. The circumferential velocity of the scraper member 22 may be approximately twice that of the roller 13. The position of the scraper member 22 can be adjusted such with the aid of the adjusting screw 32 and the stops 31 provided at the front side of the plates 18 that, during operation, the blade-shaped portions 26 move at a greater or lesser distance along the outer circumference of the tubular portion 14 of the roller 13. This renders it also possible to vary the driving force for the roller 13. If hard objects, like stones, are caught between the scraper member 22 and the roller 13, the whole of the scraper member 22 and its carrier construction can deflect rearwardly against the action of the tension spring 30 about the shafts 16 con­ stituting a pivotal axis. Hereby the shafts 16 are disposed at least substantially above the axis of rotation of the roller 13, and by means of the spring 30 it is accomplished that the scraper member 22 returns rapidly to its initial position. Figure 6 shows a roller construction which is mounted by means of the arms 8 to support the frame portion 1 and at the same time has for its object to cultivate the soil. Two rollers 47 and 48 are disposed one behind the other, which, but for their diameters, are of the same structure as the roller 13. The frontmost roller 47 has a diameter which is smaller than that of the roller 13, whilst the rearmost roller 48 has a diameter which is approximately half that of the roller 47. The spacing between the axes of rotation of the rollers 47 and 48 is such that between the rings 14A and 14B of the respective rollers a space is pro­ vided which corresponds substantially to the height through which a ring extends, i.e. approximately 1½ cms. The rollers are disposed freely rotatably between supports 49 which are attached to the arms 8. The roller construction shown includes a scraping device 50. The scraping device 50 com­ prises a scraper member 51 which is rotatably supported by a carrier structure which substantially corresponds to that for the scraper member 22 of the scraping device 23 shown in Figures 1 to 5. The scraper member 51 includes a tubular carrier 52, on which there are mounted blade-shaped portions 53 which are arranged radially at circumferential angles of 120°. The blade-shaped portions 53 of the scraper member 51 arranged above, and in a plan view between, the rollers 47 and 48 are provided with recesses for the rings 14A and 15A and operate in the same way as the blade-shaped portions 26 of the scraper member 22. At the side facing the respective rollers 47 and 48, the scraper member 51 rotates in the same direction as the rollers 47 and 48, which obtain said rota­ tion from the travel over the soil. Also in this situation, the two rollers can be driven "flexibly" during scraping-off of the adhering earth, i.e. the force driving the rollers increases or decreases in dependence on the quantity of earth sticking thereto. Using the construction described in the foregoing, it is possible to remove effectively any earth sticking to a roller, which is in the form of a packer roller and also serves as a support of the machine and for setting the working depth of the soil working members, while at the same time a drive of the roller can be obtained via the scraper device. In this connection, the driving force, which is exerted from the tractor via the scraper member 22, respect­ ively 51, on the roller 13, respectively on the rollers 47 and 48, is dependent on the quantity of earth to be scraped-­ off. The roller 13, respectively the rollers 47 and 48, can be combined with any type of soil cultivating machine or be used as an autonomous unit for cultivating the soil.

Claims: 1. A soil cultivating machine comprising a frame and a roller for cultivating the soil, characterized in that the roller (13, 47, 48) is provided with a scraping device (23, 50) which is power-driven. 2. A soil cultivating machine as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the roller (13, 47, 48) is drivable from the tractor via a flexible drive. 3. A soil cultivating machine as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the scraping device (23, 50) is rotatable and, at the side facing the roller (13, 47, 48), has the same direction of rotation as the roller. 4. A soil cultivating machine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, during opera­ tion, the roller (13, 47, 48) is drivable via the scraping device (23, 50). 5. A soil cultivating machine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the scraping device (23) includes a scraping member (22) having a hollow carrier formed by a plurality of plates (24) extending in the direction of the axis of rotation. 6. A soil cultivating machine as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that the plates (24) are detachably inter­ connected, said plates (24) forming at one side a blade-­ shaped portion (26). 7. A soil cultivating machine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a scraper member (22, 51) of a scraper device (23, 50) is rotatably supported in a carrier construction which is provided pivotally with respect to the roller (13, 47, 48), and that a spring (30) is provided which maintains the scraper member (22, 51) in the desired position. 8. A soil cultivating machine as claimed in claim 7, characterized in that the carrier structure bears against an adjustable stop (32), by means of which the spacing between the blade-shaped portions (26, 53) of the scraper member (22, 51) and the outer circumference of the roller (13, 47, 48) can be set. 9. A soil cultivating machine as claimed in claim 8, characterized in that the roller (13, 47, 48) includes a tubular portion (14, 14A, 14B), on which rings (15, 15A, 15B) are disposed equidistantly from each other, and that the blade shaped portion (26, 53) of the scraper member (22, 51) have recesses (27), which blade-shaped portions (26, 53) extend between the rings (15, 15A, 15B) to near the outer circum­ ference of the tubular portion (14, 14A, 14B) of the roller (13, 47, 48). 10. A soil cultivating machine as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 9, characterized in that the flexible drive of the roller (13, 47, 48) is obtained by the scraping device (23, 50) via the adhering earth to be removed by the scraper member (22, 51), whilst the quantity of earth to be scraped-­ off determines the driving force for the roller (13, 47, 48). 11. A soil cultivating machine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 5 to 10, characterized in that the scraper member (22, 51) is driven at a rotational speed of approximately 350 revs/min. 12. A soil cultivating machine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that two tubular portions (14A, 14B), each associated with a roller (13, 47, 48), are arranged behind each other and a common scraping device (50) is provided for both rollers, whilst the rotating scraper member (51) rotates in the same direction as the rollers at its side facing the rollers. 13. A soil cultivating machine as claimed in claim 12, characterized in that the common scraping device (50) is arranged above the tubular portions (14A, 14B) of the respective rollers (47, 48). 14. A soil cultivating machine as claimed in claim 12 or 13, characterized in that the tubular portion (14B) of the rearmost roller (48) has a smaller diameter, and each tubular portion (14A, 14B) is provided with rings (15A, 15B). 15. A soil cultivating machine as claimed in any one of claims 12 to 14, characterized in that the common scraping device (50) includes a scraper member (51) which is driven such that at the side facing the tubular portions (14A, 14B) of the respective rollers (47, 48) it rotates in the same direction as the tubular portions. 16. A soil cultivating machine as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 or any one of claims 12 to 15, characterized in that a scraper member (51) which includes a tubular carrier (52), on which radially extending blade-shaped portions (53) are provided. 17. A soil cultivating machine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the drive for the scraping device (23, 50) includes a telescopic shaft (39). 18. A soil cultivating machine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a plurality of power-driven soil working members (3) which are arranged in a row extending transversely to the direction of operative travel, behind which the roller (13) or roller structure (47, 48), respectively, is arranged for setting the working depth of the soil working members (3) and the scraping device (23, 50) is drivable via the same drive as that by means of which the drive of the soil working members (3) is obtained.

Inventors: VAN DER LELY, CORNELIS
Applicants: C. VAN DER LELY N.V.
Application year: 1987
Main classification: A01B29
IPC codes: A01B29, A01B49