Patent ID: 7874374

Claim:
A tine for a turf aerator for aerating turf, wherein the turf aerator movably mounts and drives the tine in a manner that pushes or punches the tine downwardly into the ground to form an aeration hole in the turf, lifts the tine out of the aeration hole so formed, and then periodically repeats the process to form additional aeration holes, which comprises: a) a tine elongated along an axis of elongation; b) wherein at least a portion of the tine is hollow having a predetermined cross-sectional area measured in a plane perpendicular to the axis of elongation, wherein the hollow portion of the tine includes a lower section having a predetermined length along the axis of elongation and having an open mouth that first contacts the ground as the tine is pushed or punched downwardly into the ground, wherein the lower section of the tine has an open gap along one side of the lower section with the gap extending along a substantial portion of the length of the lower section and with the gap having a predetermined width measured in a plane perpendicular to the axis of elongation, wherein the hollow portion forms an aeration core out of the turf which core is received within the hollow portion as the tine is pushed or punched downwardly into the ground to form the aeration hole; and c) a wall located at least partially in the lower section of the hollow portion of the tine, the wall extending sufficiently across one dimension of the predetermined cross-sectional area to split or divide the predetermined cross-sectional area into at least two substantially separate cross-sectional areas that are each smaller than the predetermined cross-sectional area, wherein the portion of the wall in the lower section of the tine is located in a plane that extends along the axis of elongation of the tine and that also extends along a centerline of the gap such that the wall portion in the lower section of the tine is placed on edge relative to the gap to be exposed by the gap in the lower section, and wherein the entirety of the on edge wall portion in the lower section of the tine has a wall thickness measured in a plane perpendicular to the axis of elongation that is substantially narrower than the width of the gap.