Patent ID: 6871709

Claim:
A strip-till primary tillage implement comprising: a main frame having a forward end and an opposing rearward end and adapted to be pulled across the ground by a tractor in a direction of travel generally parallel to a line between said forward and rearward ends, said main frame including a toolbar having a length extending across the width of the implement transversely to the direction of travel of the tractor; a working unit including: a coupler adjustably attached to said toolbar and selectively locatable along the length of said toolbar, said coupler having a rigid main body portion; a tillage shank affixed at a first point to said main body portion of said coupler and extending downwardly toward the ground, culminating in a tillage point, said tillage shank adapted to engage the ground to till and raise soil; a pair of gathering blades, one on each side of said tillage shank, rotatably attached to a bracket arm pivotably affixed at a second point to said coupler, said gathering blades positioned adjacent and slightly rearward of said tillage shank to gather substantially all the soil turned up by said tillage shank and redirect it toward the path of said shank into a berm as it is drawn across the ground, said second point being located rearward of said first point such that said gathering blades substantially maintain their relative position with said tillage shank no matter how the depth of the tillage point varies as the implement is drawn across the ground; and a conditioning rotary reel affixed to said coupler and extending rearwardly and downwardly therefrom to contact the ground behind said pair of gathering blades to condition the soil gathered by said blades, said conditioning rotary reel rotatable on a support shaft having a first end and a second end, wherein said bracket arm is biased downwardly toward the around by an adjustable compression spring working between said coupler and said bracket arm, wherein said tillage shank is biased downwardly by an adjustable compression spring working between said coupler and said shank, and said tillage shank is pivotably affixed at said first point, wherein said conditioning rotary reel is affixed to a generally inverted u-shaped support yoke rotatably affixed to said first end and said second end of said support shaft such that said reel may rotate freely within the support yoke, and wherein said yoke is affixed to and depending generally downwardly and rearwardly from an elongate reel arm, which is itself pivotably connected to an elongate support arm rigidly affixed to and extending rearwardly from said coupler.