You are an expert at summarizing long articles. Proceed to summarize the following text:

You are an expert at summarizing long articles. Proceed to summarize the following text: 
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for picking up seaweed and other litter off a beach. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Wind, waves and tides deposit a wide variety of seaweed, debris and the like on beaches. In tourist areas, considerable effort is spent in cleaning beaches to make them tidy, attractive and pleasant. Because these cleaning efforts can be labor intensive and thereby costly, special purpose machines have been proposed to dig up part of the sand on the surface and pass it through a screening device to remove debris, as shown in U.S. Pat Nos. 2,627,712 and 4,050,518. 
   Efficiently picking up and disposing of seaweed is an altogether different proposition than screening sand to remove debris. The quantity of seaweed deposited on a beach is a function of how much seaweed is in the water and how fast the seaweed is being driven toward the beach. Fortunately, seaweed is deposited on beaches periodically, often in a seasonal pattern. The distribution of seaweed on the beach is more a function of the tides because any seaweed deposited will be between the high and low tide. In an area where tides are not large, as in the western Gulf of Mexico, seaweed will be deposited in a relatively narrow band. Similarly, in areas where tidal movements are larger but the slope of the beach is relatively steep, seaweed will be deposited in a narrow band. In locations where tidal movement is large, seaweed will be deposited in a wider band, the upper end of which is the high tide and the lower end of which is water level. 
   To date, the known technique for removing seaweed is to use a front end loader, scrape the seaweed and a few inches of sand off the surface, put the material in a dump truck and haul it to a convenient site, usually near the dune line. This type operation is relatively slow and thus relatively expensive. A typical operation comprises one front end loader, two or three dump trucks and the necessary operators and supervisors. Depending on the amount of seaweed involved, experienced crews of this size can typically clean two-tenths of a mile of beach per eight hour day. An inspection of the sand-seaweed piles shows that the major proportion of the hauled material is sand. 
   The fingers of this invention appear superficially similar to root rakes which are attached to bull dozer blades for the purpose of uprooting brush and small trees. These root rakes are typically attached to pivot connections at the top of the bull dozer blade and extend in front of the blade. 
   Other disclosures relevant to this invention are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 349,685; 891,709; 3,762,577 and 4,768,331. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   In this invention, general purpose motorized earth moving machinery is equipped with an attachment on the earth working blade that provides a series of long, tine like downwardly inclined fingers. The vehicle is driven along the beach with the earth working blade lowered so the fingers extend into the sand by at least an inch or so. If seaweed is the only litter to be picked up, the fingers may be fairly widely spaced apart, e.g. one foot. If other litter is intended to be picked up, the fingers will be spaced closer, e.g. every three inches on centers. The seaweed or other litter is pushed up the incline of the fingers by the forward movement of the vehicle, leaving the sand behind thereby separating most of the seaweed or litter from most of the sand. 
   In one embodiment of this invention, the earth moving vehicle is a scraper, preferably of the type incorporating an elevating paddle assembly. The fingers attach to the scraper blade and inclined downwardly away from the bowl. By driving the scraper along the beach with the scraper blade above the sand surface and the fingers in the sand, seaweed or other litter is separated from the bulk of the sand at the fingers and the seaweed or litter moves upwardly into the scraper bowl. The elevating paddle assembly pushes the seaweed or litter rearwardly into the bowl. When the bowl is more-or-less full, the scraper drives to a disposal area and the seaweed or litter is dumped, using the mechanism of the scraper to do so. 
   In another embodiment of this invention, the earth moving vehicle is a motor grader or maintainer. The fingers attach to the blade in a similar manner and incline downwardly from the blade. By driving a motor grader equipped with this invention along the beach with the blade at an angle, the seaweed or other litter accumulates in windrows parallel to the direction of movement of the motor grader and may be picked up in a conventional manner or the motor grader can traverse the beach again, moving the windrow landward. Because the blade is at an angle, the fingers are inclined at an acute angle to the blade so the fingers are parallel to the direction of movement of the motor grader. 
   In another embodiment of this invention, the earth moving vehicle is a front end loader. The fingers attach to the bucket in a desirable fashion, such as being received in the teeth sockets. Rather than scoop up large quantities of sand, the fingers separate most of the seaweed or other litter from most of the sand before the seaweed or litter enters the bucket. 
   A trial of this invention using a conventional elevating scraper equipped with fingers designed to pick up seaweed showed that the proportion of sand in the pile is very low, i.e. there is little or no loose sand and the only sand found in a sand-seaweed pile are sand grains sticking to the seaweed. 
   The method of this invention is inserting a series of inclined fingers carried by a motorized vehicle into the sand of a sandy beach, driving along the beach and separating seaweed or other litter from the sand on the fingers while transporting the seaweed or litter upwardly along the fingers. 
   It is an object of this invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for removing seaweed or other litter from a beach. 
   Another object of this invention is to provide a machine for removing seaweed or other litter from a beach. 
   A further object of this invention is to provide an attachment for a general purpose earth moving machine to convert it for removing seaweed or litter from a beach. 
   These and other objects and advantages of this invention will become more apparent as this description proceeds, reference being made to the accompanying drawings and appended claims. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a side elevational view of a scraper equipped with a seaweed removing attachment of this invention, certain parts being broken away for clarity of illustration; 
       FIG. 2  is a view similar to  FIG. 1  illustrating the scraper dumping seaweed collected in the bowl; 
       FIG. 3  is an isometric view of one end of the earth working blade of the scraper of  FIGS. 1 and 2 , showing the attachment of the blade to the scraper bowl; 
       FIG. 4  is a side view of  FIG. 3 , showing the attachment of the blade to the scraper bowl; 
       FIG. 5  is an isometric view similar to  FIG. 3  showing a seaweed removing tine of this invention secured to the blade of the scraper; 
       FIG. 6  is an isometric view of the seaweed removing tine shown in  FIG. 4 ; 
       FIG. 7  is a top view of a drag bar used to smooth the furrows created by the seaweed removing attachment of this invention; 
       FIG. 8  is a view of an indicator, looking rearward from an operator&#39;s station, showing the depth of seaweed removing fingers in the sand beach; 
       FIG. 9  is an isometric view of a modified finger arrangement that places the fingers close together to pick up other litter from a beach; 
       FIG. 10  is an isometric view similar to  FIG. 9  except that the blade and blade support are shown in phantom lines for purposes of illustration; 
       FIG. 11  is an isometric view of a detail in the assembly of  FIGS. 9 and 10 ; 
       FIG. 12  is a view of part of a front end loader equipped with a seaweed removing attachment of this invention; 
       FIG. 13  is a view of part of a motor grader equipped with a seaweed removing attachment of this invention; and 
       FIG. 14  is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a motor grader blade equipped with a seaweed removing attachment of this invention, taken substantially along line  14 — 14  of  FIG. 13 , as viewed in the direction indicated by the arrows. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1-7 , there is illustrated a seaweed removing device  10  of this invention which uses a general purpose earth working device known as a scraper  12  which has been converted to efficiently remove seaweed  14  from a sandy beach  16  bordering a body of water which periodically deposits litter on the beach. The scraper  12  may be any suitable type and is illustrated as comprising a bowl  18  mounted on a wheeled frame  20  pulled by a tractor (not shown). Conventional scrapers comprise either an apron or an elevating paddle assembly  22  on the front of the bowl  18 . The paddle assembly  22  conveniently piles seaweed up in the bowl  18  as will be more fully apparent hereinafter. Conventional scrapers include means for emptying the bowl  18 , either in the form of a pusher which is normally hydraulically driven forwardly in the bowl or by providing a retractable bowl bottom wall or floor  24 . 
   Many types and sizes of conventionally available scrapers are usable in this invention, such as are made by Caterpillar Inc. of Peoria, Ill., Clarendon Manufacturing and Distribution Co. of Clarendon, Tex. and Deere &amp; Co., Inc. of Moline, Ill. More complete descriptions of conventional scrapers are found in publications of the manufacturers. A particularly desirable scraper is a Clarendon Model  24  because it is a 4 cubic yard scraper that can be towed behind a modest farm tractor. 
   Conventional scrapers  12  include an earth working blade  26  removably attached to the forward end of the bowl  18  for cutting a few inches of material from the surface of the earth. In this invention, a plurality of tines or fingers  28  are attached to the blade support  30 , either with the blade  26  on or off. It is preferred to leave the blade  26  on because any wear that occurs is on the blade  26  rather than on the support  30 . It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that different manufacturers may have different blade support designs but all blade supports have the ability to remove and therefore replace the blade  26 . All blades  26  include openings  32  receiving threaded fasteners such as bolts or machine screws  34  captivating the blades  26  to the blade support  30 . An important feature of this invention is to use the openings  32  to attach the tines  28  of this invention. 
   As shown in  FIGS. 3-4 , a typical blade support  30  includes a backing member or plate  36  affixed at an obtuse angle  38  to the bottom  24  of the scraper  12 . A series of gussets  40  are welded to the underside of the bottom  24  and to the plate  36  along the open end of the scraper bowl  18  thereby stiffening the plate  36  and the bowl bottom  24  adjacent the plate  36 . Between the gussets  40  are pairs of openings  42  which align with the openings  32  to receive the bolts  43  and thereby clamp the blade  26  to the plate  36 . It will be seen that the bolts  43  have to be longer than the bolts  34  to accommodate the additional thickness of the plate  50 . 
   In this invention, the tines  28  are attached to the blade  26  and/or the blade support  30  by removing the bolts  34 , placing the tines  28  on the blade  26  or the blade support  30  and installing the new bolts  43 . It will be apparent that the blade  26  may be removed if desired. To this end, the tines  28  comprise a ground engaging or earth working end  44 , a support end  46  receiving the bolts  43  and a hook or slot forming member  48  for receiving the blade  26  and/or the plate  36 . The tine  28  is typically made of metal to provide a strong, durable implement. Looked at in another way, the finger comprises an earth working tip, a support end, a main body section extending from the tip to the support end and a slot forming member  48 . The support end  46  includes a flat plate  50  having openings  52  sized and spaced to align with the openings  32 ,  42  and receive the bolts  43 . One or more gussets or braces  54  strengthen the plate  50  and allow the bolts  43  to extend through the tines  28  and receive nuts (not shown). The hook or slot forming member  48  is spaced from an edge  56  an appropriate distance to receive the blade  26  and/or plate  36  and thereby brace the tine  28  against forces tending to rotate the tine  28  in the direction shown by the arrow  58  in FIG.  5 . It will be evident that the design of the blade supports  30  and the size and spacing of the fasteners  34  of different manufacturers may differ substantially. Thus, it may be necessary to provide different designs of the support end  46  of the fingers  28  to accommodate the different designs of different manufacturers. 
   As illustrated in  FIG. 6 , the plate  50  is above the plane of the bottom of the slot provided by the slot forming member  48 . This means, as illustrated, the slot is large enough to receive the blade  26  and the support plate  36 . To make the finger  28  fit more snugly on the blade  26  and support plate  36 , the slot may be made narrower with the plate  50  being recessed so it is more-or-less flush with the bottom of the slot. 
   Seaweed is obviously plant material and tends to be long and slender. Thus, the fingers  28  may be relatively widely spaced and still pick up most of the seaweed. The blade supports  30  of conventional scrapers typically space the openings  32  in the range of 6″-18″ apart laterally along the width of the bowl  18 . Fortuitously, this spacing works well for picking up seaweed with the fingers  28 . 
   With the tines  28  attached to the forward end of the bowl  18 , the seaweed removing device  10  is driven along a sand beach  16  littered with seaweed. The scraper bowl  18  is lowered by manipulation of hydraulic cylinders on the scraper  12  in a conventional manner to lower the tines  28  so they pass a few inches into the sand. Seaweed  14  on the beach  16  rides up the incline of the edges  60  provided by the ground engaging ends  44  of the fingers  28  thereby leaving most of the sand behind on the beach  16 . Thus, the tines  28  have a separating function to remove most of the seaweed  14  and leave behind most of the sand. The paddle assembly  22  is actuated at an appropriate time to push seaweed upwardly over the pile of seaweed in the bowl  18  so the bowl  18  fills in much the same manner that the bowl would be filled with earth material in a conventional operation. When the bowl  18  is full, the operator raises the bowl  18  so the fingers  28  come upwardly out of the sand. The operator then drives to a convenient dump location and discharges the seaweed from the bowl  18  as shown in FIG.  2 . In the conventional paddle assembly scraper  12  shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , this is accomplished by retracting the bottom wall or floor  24  and driving through the dump area, typically operating the paddle assembly  22  in reverse to facilitate forward movement of the seaweed. 
   A trial of this invention has been conducted as described. A 4000′ long and 8′ wide swath of beach was cleaned in 70 minutes. The scraper bowl had a capacity of 13 cubic yards and was filled a number of times. The loads of seaweed were simply driven to the dune line and dumped in a long path. An inspection of the seaweed piles showed very little free sand was discharged at the dump locations. There was some sand sticking to the seaweed but the proportion of transported sand to seaweed was a small fraction of prior art cleaning techniques. It is apparent that the length of time necessary to clear a beach of seaweed depends, in part, on the volume of seaweed per unit area because the device  10  has to drive to the dump location and discharge the load before starting again on the beach. This same factor obviously affects conventional cleaning techniques. People experienced in cleaning seaweed from beaches using conventional techniques estimate that a 13 cubic yard capacity bowl  18  equipped with the seaweed removing fingers  28  of this invention is capable of cleaning many miles of beach per day compared to two tenths of a mile per day with conventional techniques. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  7 , a drag bar assembly  62  is provided on the end of the device  10  to smooth the furrows dug in the sand beach  16  by the fingers  28 . The drag bar assembly  62  comprises a frame  64  pivoted onto the rear of the device  10  by a pivot connection  66 . A pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder  68 , under the control of the operator, is used to raise and lower the frame  64  and thereby position a drag element  70  on the surface of the sand beach. The drag element  70  may comprise a rigid pipe  72  connected to the frame  64  by chains  74  or may simply comprise a chain. 
   Referring to  FIG. 8 , another feature of this invention is illustrated. Experienced scraper operators typically adjust the position of the earth working blade  26  and the speed of the scraper  12  in response to a judgment of the load on the scraper motor. For example, if the scraper motor is struggling, it means that too deep a cut is being made so the bowl  18  is raised or it means the scraper is going too fast so the scraper is slowed. Similarly, if the scraper motor is coasting, it means that too shallow a cut is being made so the bowl  18  is lowered or it means the scraper is going too slow and the scraper speed is increased. This time honored technique doesn&#39;t work well when removing seaweed because the load on the scraper motor is never very much. 
   As shown in  FIG. 8 , an indicator  76  is provided having a mast or brace  78  fixed to the bowl  18  so it is rigid with the blade support  30 . The brace  78  may be fixed to the bottom wall  24  or to some component that is fixed to the blade support  36  or may be fixed to a side wall  80  of the bowl  18  so that when the bottom wall  24  is lowered to an earth engaging position, the distance between the blade support  36  and a pointer  82  is known. The indicator  76  preferably includes an adjustable joint  84  for purposes more fully apparent hereinafter. 
   Mounted on a main arm  86  or other fixed point on the frame  20  is a member  88  having a second pointer or mark  90  cooperating with the pointer  82 . It will be apparent that the relationship between the pointers  82 ,  90  is an indication of the depth of the fingers  28 . The indicator  76  may be calibrated simply by plunging the fingers  28  into the sand to what is a desired depth and adjusting the joint  84  so the pointers  82 ,  90  align. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 9-10 , there is illustrated a modification of the seaweed removing device  10  so it is also capable of picking up litter off the beach  16 . The problem with using the device  10  of  FIGS. 1-7  to pick up litter is that the fingers  28  are so far apart that most of the litter passes between the fingers  28  along with the sand and is not moved up the incline of the edges  60  into the bowl  18 . 
   To overcome this defect and provide more closely spaced fingers  28  that are connected to the blade support  30 , an assembly  92  is provided as shown in  FIGS. 9 and 10 .  FIG. 9  will be seen to be similar to  FIG. 5  except that at least one additional finger  28 ′ is provided between the fingers  28 , the finger  28 ′ not being secured by fasteners  43  to the blade  26  and blade support  30 . 
   The fingers  28 ,  28 ′ may be identical if that is convenient or the finger  28 ′ may be made with the support end  46  missing. Making the fingers  28 ,  28 ′ identical has an advantage because the plate  50  will abut the back of the support plate  36  thereby assisting to prevent rotation of the finger  28 ′ even though it is not bolted up. The fingers  28 ,  28 ′ include a passage  94  receiving a rod  96  extending along the width of the blade  26  sufficient to pass through all of the fingers  28 ,  28 ′. The ends of the rod  96  are stabilized in any convenient manner, as by the provision of nuts or keepers  98  on the ends. Thus, the rods  96  support the intermediate fingers  28 ′ from moving downwardly off the blade  26 . Suitable pipe shims  100  are positioned between the fingers  28 ,  28 ′ and prevent the fingers  28 ′ from moving laterally along the rod  96 . It will be seen that any reasonable number of intermediate fingers  28 ′ may be placed between the fingers  28  by selecting pipe shims  100  of suitable lengths. The hooks  48 ′ of the fingers  28 ′ prevent the fingers  28 ′ from rotating in the direction shown by the arrow  102 . 
   By using the additional intermediate fingers  28 ′, the spacing between the fingers may be made close enough to pickup man-made litter or debris. The narrower spacing between the fingers does not detract from the ability of the device  10  to pick up seaweed because the fingers are spaced apart sufficiently so that unconsolidated sand passes between the fingers. Thus, a minimum spacing between the edges of the fingers is on the order of about 1″. 
   Referring to  FIG. 12 , there is illustrated a motorized wheeled or tracked front end loader  104  having a bucket  106  mounted on suitable pivoted arms  108 . The bucket  106  includes a bottom wall  110  having a blade support  112  providing an attachment for a detachable earth engaging blade  114 . The blade  114  is secured to the blade support  112  by a series of laterally spaced threaded fasteners  116  passing through aligned openings  118 ,  120  in the blade  114  and blade support  112 . The similarity between the blades and blade supports of the scraper  12  and the front end loader  104  will be apparent. 
   A plurality of laterally spaced fingers  122  are preferably attached to the blade  114  and blade support  112  although the blade  114  could be removed if desired. The fingers  122  provide a ground engaging end  124 , a support end  126  receiving the suitable fasteners  116  and a hook or slot forming member  128  for receiving the blade  26  and/or the blade support plate  36 . Thus, in its simplest form, the fingers  122  could be identical to the fingers  28 . The disadvantage would be that the bucket  106  would have to be tilted to incline the fingers  28  which would reduce the capacity of the bucket  106 . To overcome this disadvantage, the ground engaging end  124  of the finger  122  is preferably at an obtuse angle  130  relative to the support end  126 . Although any suitable angle may be selected, conveniently, the angle  130  is about 135°. For a seaweed only pick up function, the fingers  122  should be about 6-18″ apart. It will be apparent that intermediate fingers, as shown in  FIGS. 9-11 , may be used between the fingers  122  to provide a litter pick up function. For a seaweed or little pick up function, the fingers  122  should be closer together, but not closer than about 1″ between edges. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 13-14 , there is illustrated part of a conventional motorized wheeled motor grader  132  that has been modified to pile seaweed and/or litter in a windrow. The motor grader  132  is of a conventional type having a blade assembly  134  mounted on a central hub  136  for rotation about an axis  138 . The central hub  136  typically has gear teeth  140  on the circumference that mesh with a suitable motor (not shown) for rotating the hub  136  and thereby positioning the blade assembly  134  at a desired angle  142  to the direction of travel  144  in order to windrow seaweed or other litter. Suitable arms  146  connect to blocks or pivot connections  148  for tilting the blade assembly  134  about a horizontal axis extending in the direction of travel as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. A conventional motor grader  132  also has the capability of tilting the blade assembly  134  about a horizontal axis  150  perpendicular to the direction of travel, the horizonal axis  150  typically being forward of the blade assembly  134 . 
   As shown in  FIG. 14 , a conventional motor grader blade assembly  134  includes a mold board  152 , a replaceable earth working blade  154  with a blade support  156  and fasteners connecting the blade  154  to the mold board  152 . To convert the motor grader  132  to a seaweed windrowing device, a series of fingers  158  are attached to the blade support  156 , using fasteners  160  preferably without removing the blade  154 , in the manner previously described. It will be seen that lowering the fingers  28  into the sand beach  16  and driving along the direction of travel  144  will cause seaweed to stack up in a windrow at the rearward edge of the blade assembly  134 . By placing intermediate fingers between the fingers secured to the blade support  156 , as in  FIGS. 9-11 , the motor grader  132  can be modified to windrow man-made litter along with seaweed. 
   An important feature of this invention is that the fingers  158  extend in the direction of travel  144  rather than perpendicular to the blade assembly  134  or perpendicular to the blade support  156 . To this end, a forward or ground engaging end  162  of the finger  158  extends at the angle  142  relative to the blade assembly  134 . This means the fingers  158  are positioned parallel to the direction of travel and act like tines or fingers. If the fingers  158  were perpendicular to the blade assembly  134 , all of the fingers taken together would act like a blade in front of the blade assembly  134  and create substantial drag on the motor grader  132 , interfere with the seaweed or little windrowing operation and provide no beneficial effect. 
   For a seaweed only windrowing function, the fingers should be about 6-18″ apart. It will be apparent that intermediate fingers, as shown in  FIGS. 9-11 , may be used between the fingers to provide a litter pick up function. For a seaweed or little pick up function, the fingers should be closer together, but not closer than about 1″ between edges. 
   It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that bull dozers have the capability of angularly adjusting the blade relative to the direction of travel. Thus, the fingers  158  may be attached to a bull dozer blade and aligned with the direction of travel in the same manner that they are attached to a motor grader blade. 
   Although this invention has been disclosed and described in its preferred forms with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred forms is only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of operation and in the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

Summary:
Seaweed is picked up from the surface of a beach with general purpose earth moving machinery by installing a series of fingers extending forwardly and downwardly from the blade or bucket of the machine. By driving the machine forwardly along the beach, the fingers pass through the sand and seaweed on the beach travels up the incline of the fingers. The fingers accordingly act as a separator to separate most of the seaweed from most of the sand. Several embodiments of each moving machines are adapted for seaweed handling or removal.