Patent ID: 7143837

Claim:
In a soil conditioning rotary reel having a plurality of support plates spaced along an axial support shaft, and a plurality of bars affixed to said support plates to form a reel, the improvement comprising: said support shaft has first and second opposing ends; said plurality of generally support plates are circular and affixed to and uniformly spaced along the length of said support shaft, said plurality of support plates including two end plates, one adjacent to but spaced from each said first and second ends of said support shaft, each said support plate including a plurality of generally radially directed slots regularly spaced along the periphery thereof; said plurality of elongate bars are affixed to each support plate, said bars having a formed transverse cross sectional shape and each fitting into one of said plurality of slots on each said support plate such that a relatively thin generally flat edge of the bar is directed generally radially outward; each said bar containing a helical twist and said slots in said support plates positioned relative to one another on adjacent support plates such that said bars form a helical cutting edge across the width of the reel; the angle of attack of each said bar is in the range of approximately 20 to 30 degrees to a line transverse to the direction of travel at 270 degrees, where 180 degrees is the direction of travel, 0 degrees is opposite the direction of travel, 90 degrees is upward and 270 degrees is toward the ground; and a generally inverted u-shaped support yoke affixed to said first and second ends of said support shaft such that said reel may rotate freely within the support yoke.