GB2119613A - Ploughs - Google Patents

Abstract

A mounted or semi-mounted plough, preferably a multiple, reversible plough, has one or preferably plural groundworks each comprising a mouldboard (14) preceded by a sharepoint (16), with a small portion (18) of the mouldboard cut away at the top behind the sharepoint to accommodate a rotary cutter (20) which is power drivable in rotation about a generally vertical axis with a sense of rotation such as primarily to break up the soil turned by the mouldboard and secondarily to assist such soil turning. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in or relating to ploughs This invention relates to a plough.

Conventionally, a mounted or semi-mounted plough for attachment to the three point linkage of a tractor comprises a frame carrying at the front a head for attachment to said tractor linkage. The frame comprises a beam extending rearwardly from the head, this beam carrying a plurality of longitudinally spaced legs which support the so-called groundworks. The groundworks usually consists of a mouldboard or breastplate carrying a share or sharepoint at the front.

According to the invention of my copending Application No. 7939506, there is provided a plough of the above described kind, wherein the or each groundworks includes a mounted or semimounted plough for attachment to a tractor three point linkage, comprising a frame having a head for attachment to said linkage and a rearwardly extending beam having one or more legs carrying the groundworks, wherein the or each groundworks includes a rotary cutter which comprises a plurality of plural bladed rotors mounted one behind the other on a shaft rotatably supported by the leg to extend longitudinally generally parallel to the beam.

In said copending application, the rotary cutter may be used either in conjunction with a modified share and mouldboard or in place thereof. In the former case, the bladed rotors rotate about a generally horizontal axis both to break up the soil and assist the mouldboard in turning it outwardly.

I have now found that, in said same former case, an alternative arrangement of bladed rotary cutter can be equally effective, and this alternative arrangement is the subject of the present application.

According to the present invention, there is provided a mounted or semi-mounted plough for attachment to a tractor three point linkage, comprising a frame having a head for attachment to said linkage and a rearwardly extending beam having one or more legs carrying the groundworks, wherein the or each groundworks includes a partial mouldboard and sharepoint at the front, said partial mouldboard being the equivalent of a full mouldboard having a portion cut away at the top, and a bladed rotary cutter substituted for said cut away mouldboard portion, said rotary cutter being mounted for rotation about a generally vertical axis and drivable in a sense such that its blades both break up the dug soil and assist the partial mouldboard in turning it outwardly.

In my previous application, although the rotary cutters can functionally replace the action of the rear part of a conventional mouldboard in order to complete turning of a furrow slice, the cutters are in fact located forwardly of the groundworks carrying leg, not far to the rear of the sharepoint.

In contrast, in the present application, the cutter rotatable about a vertical axis is physically located in the space where the mouldboard is cut away, and is thus located, at least primarily, to the rear of the groundworks supporting leg.

Furthermore, in the present invention, a greater part of the mouldboard is retained, the cutter being provided primarily to a greater extent to break up the soil and to a lesser extent to replace the soil turning action of the mouldboard.

Rotary cutters in accordance with the present invention can readily be employed in a multiple, reversible plough, having plural groundworks on opposite sides of the beam. In such a case, the rotary cutters of the respective groundworks will all require to be driven in the same rotational sense in order to assist the turning action of the mouldboards, and this makes it relatively simple to drive the rotary cutters through right angle transmission boxes from a single driving shaft extending along the beam. This driving shaft can itself be driven from a power output on the tractor, e.g. output tapping in the tractor hydraulics system.

A practical arrangement of plough in accordance with the present invention will now be described by way of exampie with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a practical arrangement of the plough in diagrammatic side view; and Figure 2 shows the arrangement in diagrammatic rear view.

The arrangement shown in Figures 1 and 2 comprises a reversible mounted plough, i.e. a plough intended to be attached to the three point linkage of a tractor to be raised and lowered by the tractor's hydraulic system, without the supplementary support of a rear ground wheel, and which has right and left hand groundworks which are alternated when the plough is in operation so that all the furrows are laid one way.

In fact, the illustrated plough is also a multiple plough, having plural groundworks on both sides, Two groundworks on each side are common practice, but multiple ploughs may also have three or more groundworks on both sides.

Essentially, the plough comprises a head 10 for attachment to the tractor linkage, a beam 11 extending rearwardly from the head, and legs 12 projecting laterally from the beam to carry the respective groundworks. As the present plough is a multiple reversible plough, the beam 11 carries four legs 1 2 in opposed pairs.

Each leg 12 carries a mouldboard or breastplate 14, mounted on a support fixed to the leg, with a sharepoint 1 6 supported by the mouldboard at the front of the latter.

In accordance with the present invention, the mouldboard 14 is substantially of conventional kind, but is cut away at the top, as indicated at 18, to provide space for location of a rotary cutter 20.

The rotary cutter 20 comprises a plural bladed rotor, mounted in use to rotate about a generally vertical axis. The rotor in use rotates through the top of the soil furrowed by the sharepoint and partial mouldboard 14, firstly to assist in breaking up the soil into a tilth and secondly to assist the soil turning action of the partial mouldboard in throwing the soil outwardly from the plough.

The multiple plough illustrated has four such rotary cutters 20 located in the spaces cut away in the respective mouldboards 14. Referring to Figures 1 and 2, the two lower groundworks with rotary cutters 20 will be operative when ploughing in one direction; the other two will be operative when the plough is turned over for ploughing an adjacent furrow by working in the opposite direction.

It will be appreciated that the sense of rotation required for each rotary cutter 20, in order to assist the turning action of the partial mouldboard 14, is the same for all four cutters. This enables a simple drive mechanism to be employed. In the drawings, a central driving shaft 22, extending parallel and adjacent to the beam 11, is driven at its forward end from a suitable power take-off on the tractor, e.g. a tapping in the tractor hydraulics.

The two forward cutters 20 are driven from the driving shaft via a transverse shaft 24 coupled to the driving shaft 22 at a right-angle, open, transmission box 26 through which the shaft 22 extends to the rear. The two rearward cutters 20 are then driven via a transverse shaft 28 coupled to the rear end of the driving shaft 22 at a rightangle, closed, transmission box 30. Frameworks 32 mounted on the respective forward and rear pairs of legs 12 provide bearing supports for the transverse shafts 24, 28.

It has been found that the above-described arrangement will produce a surface tilth on ploughed ground which enables subsequent sowing to be effected with a minimum and possibly no further soil preparation.

Various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention. For example, as illustrated, each rotary cutter is a four bladed rotor; however, rotors with a different number of blades can alternatively be employed. Other driving means are also possible, such as an auxiliary motor on the beam 11 or even four individual motors, one for each cutter, on the respective legs 12. However, it is a notable advantage of the present invention that, when applied to a multiple plough, a simple and inexpensive drive system can be employed to drive all the cutters. Although it is possible to arrange that the action of turning the plough operatively disconnects the cutters on one side of the beam and renders the now lower cutters operative, this is not essential; all the cutters can be permanently driven during a ploughing operation.

Claims (9)

1. A mounted or semi-mounted plough for attachment to a. tractor three point linkage, comprising a frame having a head for attachment to said linkage and a rearwardly extending beam having one or more legs carrying the groundworks, wherein the or each groundworks includes a partial mouldboard and sharepoint at the front, said partial mouldboard being the equivalent of a full mouldboard having a portion cut away at the top, and a bladed rotary cutter substituted for said cut away mouldboard portion, said rotary cutter being mounted for rotation about a generally vertical axis and drivable in a sense such that its blades both break up the dug soil and assist the partial mouldboard in turning it outwardly.

2. A plough according to claim 1, wherein the rotary cutter is located, at least primarily, to the rear of the groundworks supporting leg.

3. A plough according to claim 2, wherein the rotary cutter is located, at least primarily, in the space where the mouldboard is cut away.

4. A plough according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the major part of the conventional mouldboard is retained for effective soil turning and the rotary cutter acts mainly to break up the soil.

5. A plough according to any of claims 1 to 4, being a multiple and/or reversible plough having plural groundworks, wherein the rotary cutters of the respective groundworks are all adapted to be driven in the same rotational sense.

6. A plough according to claim 5, wherein the plural rotary cutters are driven through right angle transmission couplings from a single driving shaft extending along or parallel to the beam.

7. A plough according to any of claims 1 to 6, including a driving shaft for the rotary cutter or cutters drivable from a power output on a tractor.

8. A plough according to any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the or each rotary cutter comprises a rotor having four blades.

9. A mounted or semi-mounted plough substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.