GB1603992A - Lawn aerator/spiking tool - Google Patents

Description

(54) LAWN AERATOR/SPIKING TOOL (71) I, CHARLES JOHN PHILIP SMITH, an Australian Citizen, of 274 Forest Road, Bexley, New South Wales, Australia, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- This invention relates to a hand operated tool for aerating/spiking turf.

The so-called aeration of turf surfaces such as those of lawns or more particularly those of bowling greens or golf greens is desirable mainly to relieve the compacting of soil when this reaches undesirable limits. Such relief is necessary to enable an exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen for the root system of the grass. This is achieved usually by removing small cores of turf and soil from a plurality of small holes made randomly over the turf area where required, in an unobtrusive manner which detracts little from the appearance of the treated surface. Apart from the abovestated vital requirement, in extremely wet weather the aeration process, by removing some cores of soil, enables a given area of turf to dry out more rapidly (rather than remain water-logged for an inordinate length of time) and therefore return to normal growth conditions. On the other hand, in extremely dry weather a similar process is desirable in order to allow access for the limited available amounts of irrigation water, which otherwise might not reach the roots of the grass. It will be appreciated that a lawn which is so dry, and hence is growing in such compacted soil that despite any attempts to water it the supplied water merely runs off, is unlikely to derive much benefit for its root system despite any amount of such watering.

However, if the same soil is provided with a series of holes which can be filled with water which seeps into the roots, a far better result may be achieved using even limited quantities of irrigation water. Finally the aerating process, by the provision of said holes, allows access by fertilizers.

Attempts have therefore been made in prior systems to carry out the process of aeration using such simple implements as garden forks, provided for example with three solid tines of known kind. However, such an expedient is not only difficult and arduous in its execution but the insertion of such a device as a solid tine into already compacted ground merely increases the compaction by forcing aside the soil displaced. At best, such arrangements are effective in creating holes but such holes do not permit the soil to "breathe" in a desirable manner.

Accordingly, further attempts in prior systems have been made to employ a forklike tool having, say, three hollow tines each with a side slit, said tool having been pushed into turf with some difficulty by means of the user's foot, owing to the fact that such piercing agents are pressed into ground against great resistance. Here, the arrangement suffers from the further disadvantage that owing to the presence of the side slits in the hollow tines the tool, when pushed into the turf a second time (and each subsequent time), causes the core of earth already in each tine to be pushed out whereupon it falls onto the turf or green in an undesirable manner.

An attempt has been made to obviate this spilling by using a device intended to avoid the task of subsequent cleaning, which is a great nuisance in the case of bowling greens, especially during the playing season. This device has comprised an open-topped shallow cup, disposed above and about each said tine in communication therewith, in the hope of collecting and retaining the shed cores.

However, this arrangement has suffered from the further disadvantage that the operator must make each insertion slowly to prevent spilling the contents over the lip of the cup by impulsive forces.

The present invention seeks to overcome the above and other disadvantages and to provide a manually operable tool which is both easy and rapid to manipulate and which keeps both the treated areas of turf and also the adjacent untreated areas thereof in a clean condition and which is relatively simple and economical in its construction.

According to the invention there is provided a turf aerating tool comprising, in combination, a hollow tube sufficiently rigid to serve as a thrust member, a pair of handpieces disposed near an upper open end of said tube and a hollow continuous tine of smaller diameter than the hollow tube mounted co-extensively with and near the lower end of the said tube, said tine having a cutting lip at its outer lower end and being in communication with the bore of said tube via the inner upper end of said tine, whereby the repetitive impingement upon the penetration within turf and/or soil by said tine in response to downward thrusts of said tool via manual force applied by an operator to said hand-pieces causes progressively the feeding of successive cores of turf and/or soil into said bore for temporary storage therein, and whereby subsequent occasional capsizing of said tool permits selective discharge of accumulated stored cores from said bore via said open end of said tube at the discretion of said operator.

One particular embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which similar references indicate corresponding parts and in which, Figure 1 shows, in perspective view, an assembled tool, Figure 2 shows, in front elevation and partly in section, a view of said tool in use at the moment of full penetration of a turf surface, and Figure 3 shows, in perspective, a detailed view of a demountable tine sub-assembly.

Upon referring to the drawings it will be seen that a thrust member comprises a metal tube 4 provided with rigidly attached and preferably welded metal hand-pieces 5 near the top end thereof and upon its outer surface, and a metal collar 6 slideably inserted within the bore 7 at the bottom end thereof. Said collar, which is initially provided with a central hole, drilled or otherwise formed, is then welded firmly to said bore in known manner. A metal co-axial disc 8, also preformed with a central hole, is then welded by means of a peripheral joint with the outer surface of tube 7 so as to be firmly attached thereto in known manner.

A slightly larger hole may then be drilled dead-centre from below via the two firstmentioned nominally central holes respectively in both the disc 8 and the collar 6. Said larger hole is thereby accurately sized and positioned to receive with a sliding fit the tine 9, which may then be fastened removably to the collar 6 by means of the bolts 10, 11 which pass freely through radial holes in the tube 4 and which engage, via their threads, tapped registering radial bores in the collar 6.

The hand-pieces 5 may be covered with suitable grips such as 12, formed from rubber or similar material in the manner of bicycle handle-bar grips.

The material of the remaining components may be mild steel, with the exception of the tine 9 which may be composed of casehardened mild steel. Alternatively, said tine may be formed from material having supe rior abrasion-resistant qualities, such as the tungsten-high vanadium steel used for earthscoops and the like.

In use, the tool is thrust via the handpieces 5 down in the direction of of the arrow 13 into a soil surface 14 which typically bears a growth of grass 15. The sharpened cutting lip 16 upon the hollow tine 9 causes the latter to penetrate beneath the surface 14 and so force, by reaction, a soil and/or grass core such as 17 up into the bore of the tine. Upon lifting said hand-pieces 15 and hence withdrawing the tool from the hole 18 thereby formed, a second impingement of the tine upon the surface 14 then captures another core such as 17 and causes the original core to move up readily into the bore 7 of the tube 4 and occupy the position 19, and so on during a succession of rapid stabbing motions, using only a moderate degree of force, a plurality of empty holes such as 20 is formed whilst the cores progressively accumulate in the bore 7 over a period of time during which a large number of holes may be so formed. When the cores eventually approach the top of the bore 7, the tool may be simply capsized at infrequent intervals whereupon the cores are discharged via the open end 16 of the tube 4 into a bucket or other suitable receptacle, thus keeping the treated turf free of debris.

To aid the upward "flow" of the cores, and also for simplicity of manufacture, it is desirable that the bore of the tube 4 should be substantially uniform in section although, if desired, the bore of the tine 9 may be tapered so as to be slightly greater at its upper end to discourage any jamming of cores therein. Also the tube 4 should be sufficiently thick to accumulate a useful number of cores before it becomes necessary to discharge them, say, every five minutes, but not so thick that the tool becomes unwieldly in use.

It will be appreciated that owing to the use of a single tine the tool may be rapidly and repeatedly inserted, thanks to the high pressure available at the cutting lip 16, even when only a small force is applied to the hand-pieces 5. Indeed, in tests leading to the invention, it has been found that a four-year old child was able to use the tool with success. This is in marked contrast with the ponderously slow and deliberate rhythmic movements which were necessary with prior systems, where insertion was aided by the operators foot to achieve full penetration. In further tests leading to the invention, it was found possible for an operator to produce three times as many holes per unit time as when using, with the same effort, a known tool equipped with three tines.

The tine 9, upon undergoing any significant wear to the cutting lip 16 or elsewhere, may be removed simply by slackening the bolts 10, 11, whereupon a new tine may be substituted and secured by again tightening said bolts.

A lawn which is aerated with a "single corer/catcher" tool in accordance with the invention may achieve a uniformly lush growth having a smooth or even appearance or, if desired, it may be given selective treatment according to the condition of particular areas. For example, a bowling green in good general condition might be cored at approximately 10 cm. spacing, whereas an ordinary lawn may be cored at 15 cm. spacings where in good order but at 5 cm. spacings where the soil is compacted.

The coring process, even if carried out very intensively, is relatively harmless in the sense that it does not detract greatly from the appearance of a lawn. Thus, a newly formed hole does not remain empty for long, because the surrounding soil gradually expands into it. Also, the adjacent roots tend to be freed to take a different growth direction. In this connection, the only disadvantage of too intensive coring (apart from unnecessary work) may be to cause the mean level of the lawn to be "walked" down to a lower mean level than the original level. This effect, however, may be turned to advantage if it is desired to level off any bumps or hillocks deliberately, especially if such coring is repeated over a period (say, monthly), incidentally without any necessity to remove the turf itself.

Other uses for the invention include:- (a) The taking of soil samples. For example, 20 or 30 samples from different areas of a lawn or field, mixed together, may constitute a useful average sample.

(b) Marking out proposed new garden bed boundaries, using lines of holes as a guide, with flags or other suitable markers in addition, if desired.

(c) Weeding. Weeds having a tap-root may be killed selectively by cutting the root with the tine without disturbing closely adjacent growth, and without the necessity for the operator to kneel or even stoop.

(d) Removal of unwanted paths across lawns or fields. Such paths, which are usually formed not by squashing the grass but by over-compacting the soil below it, may be abated by coring as above described.

(e) Sprigging, or the selective planting of small patches of grass of the running variety, such as couch in a worn patch in a turf wicket. Thus, when the cricket season is imminent, a small hole made by coring may have a runner inserted therein, which soon spreads outwards. It is emphasised that a core hole is much better for this purpose than an ordinary hole made by a solid implement, because the latter tends to glaze the walls of the hole whilst compacting them, thereby rendering it more difficult for the runners roots to "take".

If desired, to increase the efficiency of the tool at some penalty in ease of penetration of the turf, the number of tines may be proliferated, each said tine being fitted co-extensively with the lower end of the tube 4 via a structure (not shown) analogous with the collar 6 and disc 8.

WHAT I CLAIM IS: 1. A turf aerating tool comprising, in combination, a hollow tube sufficiently rigid to serve as a thrust member, a pair of handpieces disposed near an upper open end of said tube and a hollow continuous tine of smaller diameter than the hollow tube mounted co-extensively with and near the near the lower end of said tube, said tine having a cutting lip at its outer lower end and being in communication with the bore of said tube via the inner upper end of said tine, whereby the repetitive impingement upon and penetration within turf and/or soil by said tine in response to downward thrusts of said tool via manual force applied by an operator to said hand-pieces causes progressively the feeding of successive cores of turf and/or soil into said bore for temporary storage therein, and whereby subsequent occasional capsizing of said tool permits selective discharge of accumulated stored cores from said bore via said open end of said tube at the discretion of said operator.

2. A turf aerating tool as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said tine is demountable from locking means which removeably fasten said tine in position with respect to said lower end of said tube.

3. A turf aerating tool as claimed in Claim I or Claim 2, wherein said tube possesses a bore of substantially uniform cross-section.

4. A turf aerating tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the bore of said tine is tapered so as to be larger at its end attached to the hollow tube.

5. A turf aerating tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said tine is formed from or coated with abrasionresistant metal.

6. A turf aerating tool as claimed in Claim 5, wherein said metal is case-hardened mild steel.

7. A turf aerating tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said hand-pieces are covered by resilient sleeve like gripping means.

8. A turf aerating tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein a plurality of said tines is mounted co-extensively with said tube.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (9)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. tool equipped with three tines. The tine 9, upon undergoing any significant wear to the cutting lip 16 or elsewhere, may be removed simply by slackening the bolts 10, 11, whereupon a new tine may be substituted and secured by again tightening said bolts. A lawn which is aerated with a "single corer/catcher" tool in accordance with the invention may achieve a uniformly lush growth having a smooth or even appearance or, if desired, it may be given selective treatment according to the condition of particular areas. For example, a bowling green in good general condition might be cored at approximately 10 cm. spacing, whereas an ordinary lawn may be cored at 15 cm. spacings where in good order but at 5 cm. spacings where the soil is compacted. The coring process, even if carried out very intensively, is relatively harmless in the sense that it does not detract greatly from the appearance of a lawn. Thus, a newly formed hole does not remain empty for long, because the surrounding soil gradually expands into it. Also, the adjacent roots tend to be freed to take a different growth direction. In this connection, the only disadvantage of too intensive coring (apart from unnecessary work) may be to cause the mean level of the lawn to be "walked" down to a lower mean level than the original level. This effect, however, may be turned to advantage if it is desired to level off any bumps or hillocks deliberately, especially if such coring is repeated over a period (say, monthly), incidentally without any necessity to remove the turf itself. Other uses for the invention include:- (a) The taking of soil samples. For example, 20 or 30 samples from different areas of a lawn or field, mixed together, may constitute a useful average sample. (b) Marking out proposed new garden bed boundaries, using lines of holes as a guide, with flags or other suitable markers in addition, if desired. (c) Weeding. Weeds having a tap-root may be killed selectively by cutting the root with the tine without disturbing closely adjacent growth, and without the necessity for the operator to kneel or even stoop. (d) Removal of unwanted paths across lawns or fields. Such paths, which are usually formed not by squashing the grass but by over-compacting the soil below it, may be abated by coring as above described. (e) Sprigging, or the selective planting of small patches of grass of the running variety, such as couch in a worn patch in a turf wicket. Thus, when the cricket season is imminent, a small hole made by coring may have a runner inserted therein, which soon spreads outwards. It is emphasised that a core hole is much better for this purpose than an ordinary hole made by a solid implement, because the latter tends to glaze the walls of the hole whilst compacting them, thereby rendering it more difficult for the runners roots to "take". If desired, to increase the efficiency of the tool at some penalty in ease of penetration of the turf, the number of tines may be proliferated, each said tine being fitted co-extensively with the lower end of the tube 4 via a structure (not shown) analogous with the collar 6 and disc 8. WHAT I CLAIM IS:

1. A turf aerating tool comprising, in combination, a hollow tube sufficiently rigid to serve as a thrust member, a pair of handpieces disposed near an upper open end of said tube and a hollow continuous tine of smaller diameter than the hollow tube mounted co-extensively with and near the near the lower end of said tube, said tine having a cutting lip at its outer lower end and being in communication with the bore of said tube via the inner upper end of said tine, whereby the repetitive impingement upon and penetration within turf and/or soil by said tine in response to downward thrusts of said tool via manual force applied by an operator to said hand-pieces causes progressively the feeding of successive cores of turf and/or soil into said bore for temporary storage therein, and whereby subsequent occasional capsizing of said tool permits selective discharge of accumulated stored cores from said bore via said open end of said tube at the discretion of said operator.

2. A turf aerating tool as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said tine is demountable from locking means which removeably fasten said tine in position with respect to said lower end of said tube.

3. A turf aerating tool as claimed in Claim I or Claim 2, wherein said tube possesses a bore of substantially uniform cross-section.

4. A turf aerating tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the bore of said tine is tapered so as to be larger at its end attached to the hollow tube.

5. A turf aerating tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said tine is formed from or coated with abrasionresistant metal.

6. A turf aerating tool as claimed in Claim 5, wherein said metal is case-hardened mild steel.

7. A turf aerating tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said hand-pieces are covered by resilient sleeve like gripping means.

8. A turf aerating tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein a plurality of said tines is mounted co-extensively with said tube.

9. A turf aerating tool substantially as

described herein with reference to or as illustrated in the drawings.