Patent ID: 8291991

Claim:
A walk-behind soil aerator, comprising: a frame having front, rear, left and right sides; a plurality of wheels operatively supporting said frame on the ground; an engine mounted on the frame; left and right tine assemblies mounted on the frame, each of said tine assemblies having a plurality of tines thereon; a differential mounted on the frame, said differential having first and second output shafts which rotationally drive the left and right tine assemblies, respectively; drive means operatively connected between said engine and said differential and including means for transferring power from said engine to said differential; and control means accessible by an operator walking behind said frame, said control means including means for continually adjusting a rotational speed of said drive means from a higher speed and through progressively reduced speeds to being completely stopped while said engine is operating at a constant speed; wherein the rotational speed of said drive means may be fixed at each of a plurality of said progressively reduced speeds during a plurality of rotations of said wheels.