Patent ID: 7866270

Claim:
A tillage shank assembly comprising: an elongated, generally upright shank having a pair of opposite sides and a rear edge; a pair of plates extending along opposite sides of the shank to present upper and lower ends, said plates being coupled to the shank adjacent the lower ends and removably secured to the shank adjacent the upper ends so as to be releasably held in working positions, said plates being at least partially separable when released from the working positions, so that at least upper portions thereof are spaced further away from one another than when the plates are in the working positions, said pair of plates having rear margins projecting rearwardly beyond said rear edge of the shank to define a gap disposed between said rear margins and behind said rear edge of the shank; and at least one generally upright dispensing tube within said gap, said at least one tube and said plates cooperatively presenting interengagable structure disposed along the upper portions of the plates, said interengagable structure being engaged when the plates are in the working positions so as to vertically fix the at least one tube relative to the shank, said interengagable structure being disengaged when the plates are out of the working positions so as to permit vertical adjustment of the at least one tube relative to the plates to permit depth adjustment of the tube within said gap relative to the shank, said plates being configured to remain coupled to the shank adjacent the lower ends thereof as the plates are shifted into and out of the working positions, such that the upper portions of the plates are spread apart from one another when the plates are moved out of the working positions.