Abstract:
A farm implement for replacing displaced earth into a wheel track rut includes a pair of blades and a rotatable auger carried by a frame which is moved over and along a rut. The blades scrape displaced earth laterally toward and into the rut, and the auger discharges the scraped earth to the rear of the frame.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates generally to wheeled irrigation systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to refilling the ruts created by the wheels of an irrigation system.  
         [0003]     2. Related Art  
         [0004]     Mobile irrigation systems are often used to irrigate large fields. A mobile irrigation system consists of a long feed pipe fed with water at one end and distributing water to numerous sprinkler heads. The feed pipe and sprinklers are supported by a wheeled structure that is slowly moved across the field by a motor. One particular type of mobile sprinkler system is known as a pivot irrigation system. In a pivot irrigation system, a well or other source of water at the center of the field provides water to the feed pipe. The pivot irrigation system rotates around this center, irrigating a circular field region.  
         [0005]     Repeated travel of the irrigation system wheels in the same track creates wheel track ruts in the field. Earth is displaced by the wheels and builds up beside the rut. Additionally, the soil within the rut can become compacted by the weight of the irrigation system. Because it is typically wet under the irrigation system, displaced earth and compacted soil may dry to form hard clumps. Over time, the ruts can also become quite deep, sometimes more than 12 inches deep.  
         [0006]     Wheel track ruts can cause numerous problems with farming a field. For example, the ruts can undesirably channel and redirect irrigation water. Driving harvesting equipment across the ruts can cause damage such as broken springs or axles. Plowing across the ruts can result in irregular cultivation and damage to farm equipment. To address some of these problems, pivot irrigated fields are typically worked in a circular pattern to ensure uniform cultivation. Plowing in circles is, however, inefficient, and the danger presented when necessarily crossing the ruts to reach centermost portions of the field remains.  
         [0007]     Numerous approaches to solve the problems created by wheel track ruts have been attempted. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,427,781 issued to Buhler and U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,911 issued to Bean disclose devices which may be attached to the irrigation system to push displaced earth back into the rut as the irrigation system moves around the field. Added resistance from these devices unfortunately requires additional drive power from the motor that moves the irrigation system about the field. Additionally, each wheel of the irrigation system must be configured with one of these devices. Alternately, a tractor with a scraping implement may be used to level to the ruts. The combination of deep ruts, waterlogged soil, and vegetation has, however, proven challenging. Known scraping implements are designed for different objectives and have performed poorly when used in an attempt to fill wheel track ruts.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     It has been recognized that it would be advantageous to develop a wheel track rut filler which is particularly adapted for filling wheel track ruts and can be used to restore a field to its original level surface.  
         [0009]     The invention provides a farm implement for replacing displaced earth into a rut. The farm implement includes a frame that may be attached to a prime mover and moved over the rut. The farm implement may include a pair of blades mounted to the frame and angled to scrape earth laterally towards the rut. The farm implement may also include an auger rotatably mounted to the frame between the blades and oriented to discharge earth to the rear of the farm implement.  
         [0010]     Additional features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the detailed description which follows, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which together illustrate, by way of example, features of the invention. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a wheel track rut filler viewed from near the front in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0012]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a wheel track rut filler viewed from near the rear in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0013]      FIG. 3  is side view of a wheel track rut filler in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0014]     Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated in the drawings, and specific language will be used herein to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended. Alterations and further modifications of the inventive features illustrated herein, and additional applications of the principles of the inventions as illustrated herein, which would occur to one skilled in the relevant art and having possession of this disclosure, are to be considered within the scope of the invention.  
         [0015]     As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , a wheel track rut filler in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention is indicated generally at  100 . The wheel track rut filler  100  may include a frame  102 , a pair of blades  104 , and an auger  106 . The frame  102  may include a coupler  108  for attachment to a prime mover, such as a tractor. Coupler  108  is shown in the form of a three-point hitch, although other couplers for attachment to different types of prime mover will be known to one skilled in the art.  
         [0016]     The blades  104  are attached to the frame. The blades  104  are mounted at an angle with respect to the direction of travel, creating a wider opening in the front and a narrower opening in the rear. The blades  104  may be permanently attached to the frame  102  or may be removably mounted with various fasteners. Preferably, blades  104  are installed with a removable blade edge  110  at the bottom which can be replaced or sharpened.  
         [0017]     The auger  106  is rotatably attached to the frame, for example, with bearings  112 . The auger is rotated by a drive source, for example, a hydraulic motor  114 . The hydraulic motor  114  can be driven by tractor hydraulics. Alternately, the auger  106  may be coupled to a tractor power takeoff. Other methods of rotating the auger  106  will occur to one skilled in the art. The rotation and pitch of the auger  106  are selected so the auger  106  will force material to the rear of the wheel track rut filler  100 .  
         [0018]     The wheel track rut filler  100  may be pushed or pulled by a prime mover. For example, when pulled by tractor, the tractor and wheel track rut filler  100  may be positioned to straddle the rut. The tractor three-point hitch may be used to adjust the wheel track rut filler to place the blade edge  110  at the original ground level. As the tractor pulls the wheel track rut filler  100  along the rut, blades  104  scrape displaced earth laterally towards and into the rut. The auger  106  smoothes the replaced earth and helps to move earth to the rear of the wheel track rut filler  100 . The auger  106  also helps to break up dirt clods that are caught between the blades. By positioning auger  106  slightly above the original ground level, a slight berm may be left where the rut was. The slight berm will be compacted back to the original ground level the next time the irrigation system travels along the berm.  
         [0019]     The wheel track rut filler  100  may also be equipped with various accessories, such as a guide wheel, coulters, fill hopper, or carriage wheels.  FIG. 2  illustrates a wheel track rut filler equipped with a guide wheel  116  and coulters  118  in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. The guide wheel  116  is attached to the frame  102  and positioned forward of the blades  104  to ride within the rut to help keep the frame  102  centered over the rut. Coulters  118  may be positioned to cut slightly into the surface of the earth to separate vegetation that has grown into the area adjacent to the wheel track rut. Coulters  118  may prove particularly helpful when refilling ruts before harvest where the vegetation is heavy or viny by preventing excessive damage to crops. Preferably, the guide wheel  116  and coulters  118  are attached to the frame in such a way that they may be adjusted. Possible attachments include bolting and fixing with a hitch pin. Various methods of attaching the guide wheel  116  and coulters  118  to the frame will be apparent to one skilled in the art.  
         [0020]      FIG. 3  illustrates a side view of wheel track rut filler equipped with a fill hopper  120  and carriage wheels  122  in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. The carriage wheels  122  are positioned to hold the blade edge  110  at the original ground level  140 . For deep wheel track ruts, it may be necessary to add fill material to completely fill the rut. Fill hopper  120  may be loaded with a fill material, for example, sand. The fill hopper  120  has an orifice  126  located in line with the guide wheel  116  so that material discharged from orifice  126  will enter the rut. An orifice control  124  controls the rate of discharge of material from the fill hopper  120 . The orifice control  124  is connected via connecting rod  128  to guide wheel  116 . Guide wheel  128  rides in the rut, and thus extends below the original ground level  140 . When guide wheel  116  drops into a deeper portion of the rut, connecting rod  128  will cause the orifice control  124  to open wider discharging additional fill into the rut. Preferably, the connecting rod  128  is adjustable so that the rate of discharge relative to the guide wheel  116  position can be varied by the user.  
         [0021]     Carriage wheels  122  are rotatably mounted to each side of the frame to provide additional stability for the frame. Preferably, when using a fill hopper  120 , the frame  102  will be equipped with carriage wheels  122  to prevent overturning. Optionally, the carriage wheels  122  may be mounted to a rotating sub-frame assembly so that they can be retracted.  
         [0022]     A wheel track rut filler  100  may be operated in the configuration shown in  FIG. 1 , or may be equipped with any combination of the accessories as shown in  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 .  
         [0023]     By using the disclosed invention to fill wheel track ruts, farm fields may be worked more efficiently and evenly. Rather than plowing the fields to avoid the wheel track ruts, the wheel track ruts may be filled and the field plowed in a more efficient straight pattern. By filling the wheel track ruts before harvest, less stress will be placed on harvesting equipment.  
         [0024]     It is to be understood that the above-referenced arrangements are illustrative of the application for the principles of the present invention. Numerous modifications and alternative arrangements can be devised without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention while the present invention has been shown in the drawings and described above in connection with the exemplary embodiments(s) of the invention. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications can be made without departing from the principles and concepts of the invention as set forth in the claims.