Abstract:
A furrow/ditch 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 a field row. The blades are secured on radial arms attached to 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. A ditch cleaning member is secured to distant ends of each blade, encircling the blades a distance from an end of each blade. The ditch cleaning member moves along a transverse ditch compacting soil and debris in the ditch and leveling the ditch for the water flow.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This application is a continuation-in-part of my co-pending application Ser. No. 10/860,444 filed on Jun. 3, 2004, entitled “Furrow Cleaner Apparatus,” abandoned, the priority of which is hereby claimed and the full disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein. 

   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention relates to a soil-working machine, and more particularly to an apparatus for opening obstructed furrows and ditches. 
   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. 
   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. 
   Conventionally, after a specialized tractor attachment referred to as 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. 
   Additionally, the ditches that are cut across the rows and across the furrows become clogged with debris and fail to provide the much needed drainage. Manual clearing of the ditches is expensive and time-consuming. There exists, therefore, a need for a means for cleaning furrows and ditches in the field, which can operate in dry as well as wet soil conditions. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   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. 
   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. 
   It is a further object of the present invention to provide a furrow cleaner that can be combined with a ditch clearing means and attached to a conventional farm implement, such as a tractor, to be towed across the field during operation. 
   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. 
   Each blade has a main part and a pair of opposing end portions. The end portions extend at a substantially acute angle in relation to the longitudinal axis of the main part. The end portions, when contacting the soil in the furrow, help preventing crumbling of the soil in the area where the ends of the blades contact the soil. 
   The central shaft carries 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. 
   A ditch cleaning member is secured to the edge of the main portion of each blade. The ditch cleaning member may have a ring-shaped configuration or may be comprised of a plurality of arcuate portions secured to the blades and extending transversely to the longitudinal axes of the blades. The ditch cleaning member is positioned on the wheel in a location away from the ends of the blades and contact the irrigation ditch, compacting the soil and debris in the ditch to improve the irrigation flow. 
   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 
     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. 
       FIG. 2  is a side view of the furrow/ditch cleaner in accordance with the present invention. 
       FIG. 3  is a top view of the apparatus of the present invention. 
       FIG. 4  is a front view of the furrow/ditch cleaning apparatus of the present invention. 
       FIG. 5  is a rear view of the furrow/ditch cleaning apparatus of the present invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   Turning now to the drawings in more detail, numeral  10  designates the furrow/ditch 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 (not shown). The wheel  12  comprises an elongated central shaft  20  carrying disks  22  and  24  on opposite ends thereof. Secured to the shaft  20  is a plurality of radially extending arms  26 , which can be secured to the shaft  20  to radiate from two or more locations along the length of the shaft  20 . 
   Each radial arm  26  has an inner portion  27  (closer to the shaft  20 ) and an outer portion  28  (away from the shaft  20 ). A part of the portion  28  telescopically extends within the larger size portion  27 , allowing to adjust the longitudinal dimension of each arm  26  to accommodate the wheel  12  for use in the fields with different distances between the furrow centers. Of course, depending on the manufacturing design, it may be preferred to have the arms  26  without the telescoping portions if the apparatus  10  is set for standard operations in a field. The proximal ends of the portions  27  are securely attached to the shaft  20  by detachable securing means, for instance bolts and respective nuts (not shown). Alternatively the arm portions  27  can be welded to the shaft  20 , if desired. 
   A locking pin  30  passes through corresponding openings formed in the portions  27  and  28  to retain the inner and outer portions of the arms  26  at a desired pre-determined extension from the center of the shaft  20 . In the preferred embodiment, the arms  26  can be formed from hollow tubular members, for instance rectangular tubing and the disks  22 ,  24  can be formed from flat non-corrosive plates of about 25 inches in diameter. 
   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  48 , 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 . 
   The mounting yoke  48  comprises elongated side arms  50 ,  50  detachably securable to the retainers  40  and  44  and connected by a cross member  52 , which is secured on free ends of the side arms  50 ,  51 . 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 ,  51  and the cross member  52  may be formed from a hollow tubular material, similar to the tubular material of the arms  26 . 
   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 outer portions  28  of the arms  26 . The cleaning apparatus illustrated in  FIGS. 1-5  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. 
   Each blade  60  has an elongated central part  61  and angularly inwardly turned end portions  62 ,  63 , which are oriented towards the center shaft  20 . The end portions  62 ,  63  extend at an acute angle in relation to a longitudinal axis of the central part  61  of each blade  60 . The end portions  62 ,  63  help smooth out and compact the soil at the ends of the blade  60  extensions, so that instead of a sharp depression a smoother line of compacted soil is achieved. Without the offset end portions  62 ,  63 , the line of soil moved by the ends of the blades  60  would have been at an approximately perpendicular angle to the line of the furrow and may crumble. 
   A ditch cleaning member  70  is secured to exterior edges of each blade  60 , encircling the wheel  12 . The ditch cleaning member  70  may be made as a ring-shaped unitary member, as shown in  FIGS. 1-5  or, alternatively, comprised of a plurality of separate arcuate portions attached to the blades  60 , forming an interrupted circle. The ditch cleaning member  70  is secured to the blades  60  a distance away from the end portions  62 , in an approximate location where the ditch cleaning member  70  is expected to come into contact with the ditch  72 . 
   If desired, the ditch cleaning member formed as a circular body may have telescopically extending features that can be accomplished by introducing a different diameter portions in the structure of the circular member  70  and engaging adjoining ends in a telescoping manner. Should telescoping extension of the radial arms  26  become necessary, the ring  70  can be temporarily removed from the wheel  12 , extended to achieve a desired diameter, and then re-positioned again with suitable securing means, such as bolts, nuts and the like to the extended arms  26 . 
   The ditch cleaning member  70  is designed to move along the ditch  72  ( FIG. 1 ), slightly compressing the soil and/or debris collected in the ditch  72  and improving drainage flow through the ditch  72 . As a result, the bottom of the ditch  72  becomes more level, facilitating water flow between the ditch  72  and furrows  74 . 
   A stabilizing yoke  80  is detachably securable to the mounting yoke  48  and extends on a side of the wheel  12  opposite the mounting yoke  48 . The stabilizing yoke  80  comprises a pair of parallel opposing arms  81 ,  82  connected by a transverse member  83 . The arms  81 ,  82  may be made extendable in a longitudinal direction by forming the arms with telescoping portions  84 ,  85 , as shown in  FIG. 3 . The telescopically extendable arms  81 ,  82  are designed to accommodate a possible extension of the radial arms  26 . 
   As can be seen in  FIG. 1 , the field is comprised of a plurality of rows  90  divided by furrows  74 , which extend transversely to an irrigation ditch  72 . The irrigation ditch, or cross drain,  72 , normally allows water to drain out of the furrows  74 , into the ditch  72  when no obstruction is formed in the furrow adjacent to the center ditch  72 . However under certain circumstances, the ends of the furrows and the ditch  72  become clogged with dirt build up, as schematically illustrated in  FIG. 1  and designated by numeral  92 . The build up  92  prevents water from traveling freely along the drain channel  72  and along the furrows  74 . The instant apparatus  10  is designed to rectify this problem. 
   In operation, the furrow opener  10  is attached to a tractor with the attachment assembly  14  and the cross member  52 . The wheel  12  is allowed to freely rotate about the central shaft  20  between the side arms  50 ,  51  and  81 ,  82 . As the wheel  12  rotates, the blades  60  move in turn across the bottoms of the furrows  74 , forcing the accumulated obstructing material to move to the sloping side  94  of the row  90 . Since the distances between the furrows  74  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  74 . 
   As an example, in a sugarcane field, the typical distance between the furrows  74  is about 70 inches. The arms  26  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. The length of the arms  26  can be also adjusted to accommodate the need for greater or less depth to form a compressed, smooth sidewall  94  of the row  90 . 
   The end portions  62 ,  63  smooth out the furrows  74  and the sidewalls  94  preventing crumbling of the soil that might have occurred with a sharp blade. At the same time, the ditch cleaning member  70  contacts the ditch  72  compacting the displaced soil in the ditch  72 . 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. 
   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  26  keep the blades  60  in a substantially constant pivotal position relative to the ground, when the extension of the blades  60  from the center shaft  20  is properly adjusted by the user prior to attachment of the wheel  12  to the tractor. 
   The tractor wheels moving across the field may leave a certain depression in the soil. However, the blades  60  following the tractor 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  74  and the ditch cleaning member  70  in the ditch  72 , the apparatus  10  of the present invention again clears the furrows and the ditches, returning the field to the desired position of setting irrigation channels of equal depth throughout the field. The weight of the wheel  12  is sufficient to press down the mud with the blades  60  and the ditch cleaning member  70 . 
   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.