Abstract:
A soil working implement is dragged behind a towing vehicle. The implement includes a hitch part and a soil working part. The soil working part may be pivoted about the hitch part by extending or retracting a longitudinal linkage member interposed between the hitch part and the soil working part. Wheels are mounted on the implement and may be raised and lowered relative to the implement by an operator-actuated mechanism, to thereby permit the soil working part to be raised off of the ground by lowering the wheels to thereby facilitate movement of the implement from one treatment area to another, whereupon the wheels may be raised to permit the soil working part to engage the soil.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/990,330, filed Nov. 16, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,478,682 which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/675,395, filed Sep. 30, 2003 now abandoned. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a soil working implement that is pulled behind a towing vehicle. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Landscaping professionals and caretakers responsible for maintenance of a dirt arena commonly must loosen and then smooth and grade soil. Reference is made to my prior art U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,806,605; 5,515,625 and 6,739,404, which discloses such implements. As shown in these patents, these implements have been mounted on the lift arms of a skid steer loader or to a three-point hitch of a tractor, both of which are equipped with hydraulic actuating systems which can easily raise and lower the implement so that the implement can be used to scarify, rake and grade soil and then raised to permit transfer of the implement without damage to the implement. 
     Arena caretakers commonly use smaller implements that are pulled by smaller vehicles; for example, garden tractors. These vehicles are commonly not equipped with hydraulic lift systems and thus are incapable of raising and lowering the implement to permit easy movement of the implement in to and out of an arena, or to move the implement across hard surfaces. Reference is made to my copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/990,330, which discloses such an implement. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to an implement that is towed behind a tractor, for example, a small garden tractor. The implement includes a hitch frame carrying a hitch for connection with the tractor. A transverse frame is pivotally mounted on the hitch frame. An extendible linkage is connected between the frames for adjusting the angular position of the transverse frame relative to the hitch frame. A plurality of transversely spaced, downwardly projecting scarifying teeth are mounted on the transverse frame for penetrating the soil for scarifying the soil as the implement is pulled over the soil, and a plurality of transversely spaced tines are also mounted on the transverse frame for engaging and working the soil as the scarifying teeth scarify the soil. Accordingly, the degree of loosening and smoothing of the soil by the scarifying teeth and by the tines respectively may be adjusted. A pair of retractable supporting wheels is mounted on a wheel supporting structure or frame pivotally mounted on the transverse frame, and an operator-actuated mechanism is connected between the wheel supporting structure and the hitch frame. The operator-actuated mechanism moves the wheels between a ground engaging position supporting the tines and the teeth in an inoperative position displaced from the soil when the implement is to be moved over a surface which is not to be scarified or smoothed, and a retracted position in which the wheels are displaced from the soil to permit the tines and the teeth to engage and work the soil. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a view in perspective of an implement made pursuant to the teaching of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a top plan view of the implement illustrated in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded view in perspective of the implement illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 2 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a side view of the implement illustrated in  FIGS. 1-3 , illustrating the implement with the wheels thereof in the lowered, ground-engaging position; and 
         FIG. 5  is a view similar to  FIG. 4 , with the wheels of the implement in the raised position permitting the scarifying teeth and the tines to engage the soil. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to the drawings, a drag behind soil working implement  10  includes a hitch part or frame  12  and a soil working part  14 . Soil working part  14  includes a transverse frame member  16  carrying raking tines  18  and scarifying teeth  20 . Hitch part  12  includes a longitudinal hitch bar  28 , a hitch  30 , and an extensible and retractable turnbuckle  34 . Implement  10  is hitched to a tow vehicle  11  (shown partially in broken lines) by securing hitch  30  to the tow vehicle&#39;s hitch in any convenient manner such that the tow vehicle can drag the implement behind it over a path of soil. 
     Focusing now on soil working part  14 , frame member  16  is generally a piece of angle structural steel having a generally vertical upwardly oriented leg  38  and a generally horizontal rearwardly oriented leg  40 . Tines  18  are secured along the length of horizontal leg  40  with fasteners  42 . Tines  18  are longitudinally oriented in a plane extending behind frame member  16  and transversely spaced from each other to allow soil to pass between adjacent tines while also smoothing the soil when pulled over the soil. A plurality of scarifying teeth  20  are located along frame member  16  transversely spaced from each other and downwardly oriented for penetration into the soil to scarify the soil when dragged across the soil. Each tooth  20  is carried within a tooth bracket  22  carried by the vertical leg  38  of frame member  16 . Each bracket  22  is generally a length of structural tube steel with a plurality of vertically spaced opposed aligned holes  42  through opposite sides of the bracket walls. Each tooth  20  includes a mounting bar  44  for mounting to brackets  22  and a tooth portion  46  for penetration into the soil. Mounting bar  44  is a length of bar stock steel with holes through it for insertion into bracket  22 . Tooth portion  42  is removably mounted to mounting bar  44  with a fastener  50 , which allows a worn tooth to be easily replaced with a new one. Each tooth  20  is secured within each bracket  22  by aligning a hole on bar  44  with one of the aligned sets of bracket holes  42  and then inserting a retaining pin  48  through the aligned set of holes. A hitch bracket  26  is carried by frame member  16  and extends above the frame member. Hitch bracket  26  includes a pair of aligned pin holes  52 . An aligned hitch bracket  24  is carried on each opposite side of hitch bracket  26  by a selected pair of brackets  22 . Brackets  24  are equally and oppositely laterally spaced from bracket  26 . Each bracket  24  includes a pair of aligned pin holes  54  for accepting a retaining pin. 
     On hitch part  12 , hitch  30  is carried on one end of hitch bar  28 . Hitch  30  is preferably a single point hitch such as a typical tongue and groove hitch or other such hitch that does not provide for orientational control of the implement. A turnbuckle bracket  36  is carried at the opposite end of hitch bar  28  and is adapted to be pivotally secured to one end of turnbuckle  34  with a pin  37 . A mounting bar  32  is carried on each opposite side of hitch bar  28  at a medial point along hitch bar  28  and extends angularly behind and horizontally aligned with the bracket end of the hitch bar. A brace  56  extends across hitch bar  28  and between mounting bars  32  to provide lateral stability to implement  10  when being towed. The free end  33  of each mounting bar is pivotally secured to hitch brackets  24  with a removable retaining pin  58 . Turnbuckle  34  is pivotally secured to bracket  36  at one end with pin  37  and pivotally secured to bracket  26  at its other end with pin  39 . Turnbuckle  34  is preferably of the known type including an outer sleeve threaded about a pair of longitudinally aligned extended threaded members that may be longitudinally extended or retracted by twisting the sleeve about the extended threaded members. Other longitudinally extensible links could be used, such as a hydraulic cylinder for example. Soil working portion  14  may be pivoted on hitch portion  12  about retaining pins  58  by extending or retracting turnbuckle  34 . 
     The implement  10  is supported for movement from place to place with the soil working part raised by a pair of wheels  60 ,  62 . Wheels  60 ,  62  are mounted on wheel supporting structure or frame generally indicated by the numeral  63 . Structure  63  includes a pair of side frame members  64 ,  66  connected by a transverse frame member  68 . The wheels  60 ,  62  are mounted on opposite ends of the transverse frame member  68 . The side frame members  64 ,  66  are pivotally connected to a corresponding one of the brackets  24  by corresponding pins  58 . A conventional hand crank actuator generally indicated by the numeral  70  is mounted between the hitch part or frame  28  and the wheel supporting structure  63  via bracket  71  on the actuator  70  (which is pivotally connected to bracket  36  by the pin  37 , which also pivotally secures the turnbuckle  34  to bracket  36 ). The actuator  70  is also pivotally connected to transverse frame member  68  by bracket  74  and pin  76 . Actuator  70  is an extensible member (such as a conventional jackscrew mechanism), and can be lengthened or retracted by rotation of a hand crank  72  to thereby raise and lower the wheels  60 ,  62  relative to the implement  10 . Although illustrated as a hand crank mechanism, other appropriate actuators, such as hydraulic actuators, may be used. 
     In use, implement  10  is hitched to a towing vehicle, such as a truck, tractor, lawn tractor, four wheeler, etc., and dragged over the soil in a path behind the towing vehicle. The weight of the implement  10  causes its scarifying teeth  20  to penetrate into the soil to loosen the soil, and its rake tines  18  follow to smooth the furrows created by the scarifying teeth. The penetration depth of teeth  20  into the soil may be adjusted by raising or lowering the teeth within brackets  22 . The penetration depth of teeth  20  may also be controlled by varying the angle of attack of the teeth into the soil. The angle of attack of teeth  20  into the soil may be adjusted by pivoting the soil engaging part  14  about the hitch part  12  through the use of turnbuckle  34 . An acute angle of attack will cause the teeth to pull the entire implement down into the soil as it is dragged across the soil whereas an obtuse angle of attack will not urge teeth deeper into the soil. Soil engaging part  14  may be pivoted between limits where either only the scarifying teeth  20 , only the rake tines  18  engage the soil, or intermediate positions where both the teeth and the tines engage the soil. Teeth  20  may also be completely removed from brackets  22  so that only the rake tines  18  engage the soil to smooth the soil without first scarifying it. As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , the implement  10  may be transported from place to place by operating hand crank  72  to lower wheel supporting structure  63  until the wheels  60 ,  62  engage the ground, and by thereafter continuing to turn hand crank  72  to raise the hitch part  28  and soil working part  14 , thereby raising the tines  28  and scarifying teeth  20 , to permit the implement to be moved by the tractor pulling the implement from one area where soil is treated to a subsequent area where soil is to be treated. Upon arrival at the subsequent treatment area, the hand crank  72  is operated to raise the wheels  60 ,  62  to the position illustrated in  FIG. 5 , to thereby permit the tines  18  and scarifying teeth  20  to again engage the soil to scarify and smooth the latter. 
     The detailed description hereinbefore related is only meant to exemplify the invention to enable those skilled in the art to make and use it. The subject invention is not to be limited to the details given above for the preferred embodiment, but may be modified within the scope of the impending claims.