GB2399267A - Agricultural spreader - Google Patents

Abstract

Apparatus 50 for spreading material 15 comprising a container 60 for the material 15 having an outlet 4 through which the material 15 is spread, and a conveying mechanism 10, 12 including a moveable pusher 10 to convey the material 15 in the container 60 to the outlet 4. This apparatus 50 is suitable for spreading agricultural material 15 such as muck 15. There may be rotating beaters 20 which distribute the material.

Description

1 "Apparatus for Spreading Material" 3 This invention relates to apparatus

for spreading 4 material, and especially for spreading agricultural material such as muck.

7 Various forms of muck spreaders are well known and 8 commonly comprise a trailer for containing the muck 9 having conveyors to move the muck to the rear end of the trailer where a pair of beaters revolve on 11 upright axles to shred and disperse the muck carried 12 by the conveyors from the open rear end of the 13 trailer. Conventional conveyors include moving 14 tracks.

-i4<'i Art to the present invention there is provided 17,ijapparat'us for spreading material comprising a tó;,:,qotainer,for the material having an outlet at the 19 rear end thereof through which the material is r: . : I: ''spread, and a conveying mechanism to convey the 21 material in the container to the outlet, wherein the 22 conveying mechanism comprises a movable pusher that 1 is adapted to move the material in the container 2 towards the outlet.

4 Typically the movable pusher is pushed by a drive mechanism such as a ram device. Typically the ram 6 device moves a section of the wall of the container 7 in order to push or pull the material towards the 8 outlet. Typically the apparatus has a dispersing or 9 beating mechanism to disperse the material as it leaves the outlet. Typically the beating mechanism 11 comprises a pair of beaters in the form of moving 12 blades mounted on axles. Typically the axles extend 13 from the base of the container upwards across the 14 outlet so that the material passing the beating mechanism is dispersed by the blades as they move on 16 the axles. Typically the axles are disposed on a 17 slanting axis so that the upper ends of the axles 18 extend some way into the container. The positioning 19 of the beating mechanism at an angle (or at least the blades thereof) has the advantage that the 21 material dispersed by the rotating blades through 22 the outlet is thrown upwardly and is therefore more 23 likely to travel a greater distance when passing 24 through the outlet of the container than it would if the blades were not angled.

27. The pusher typically forms a front wall of the 28 container, and in preferred embodiments of the 29 invention substantially the whole front wall of the container is moved by a hydraulic ram to push the 31 material in the container towards the rear of the 32 container and the beating means. In practice, it is 1 acceptable for a portion of the wall to move the 2 material, and other pushers for the hydraulic ram 3 can be employed if desired.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the 6 pusher moves relative to a separate front wall of 7 the container.

9 In either embodiment the pusher may be substantially perpendicular to the base of the container, or 11 inclined with respect to the base.

13 According to the present invention there is also 14 provided apparatus for spreading material comprising a container having an outlet for the material, a 16 dispersing mechanism for dispersing the material 17 from the outlet, and a conveying mechanism for 18 conveying the material in the container to the 19 outlet, the conveying mechanism comprising a movable pusher that is adapted to move the material in the 21 container towards the outlet, and wherein the 22 dispersing mechanism comprises one or more moving 23 beaters that move on an axis perpendicular to the 24 floor of the container.

26 The container typically has wheels, skids, tracks or 27 similar and is adapted to be towed, for example by a 28 tractor, and can have hydraulic connections to the 29 tractor hydraulic circuit in order to power the conveyor and/or the dispersing means. Alternative 31 drive means from the power take off can be used to 32 drive other embodiments of pushers, and for example, 1 acceptable embodiments of the invention can be 2 constructed having a pusher driven by a worm drive 3 or similar alternatives.

Use of a pusher driven by a hydraulic ram or worm 6 drive or similar device permits a spreading 7 apparatus without reliance on the movable tracks and 8 the disadvantages that they entail.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described 11 by way of example and with reference to the 12 accompanying drawings, in which: 14 Fig. 1 is a side schematic view of a first embodiment of an apparatus for a spreading 16 material; 17 Fig. 2 is a similar view of a second 18 embodiment; 19 Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a hydraulic ram for a conveying mechanism; 21 Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a third 22 trailer; 23 Fig. 5 is a perspective view from behind the 24 fig. 4 trailer; and Fig. 6 is a side perspective view of the fig. 4 26 and 5 trailer in operation.

28 Referring now to the drawings, apparatus for 29 spreading the material comprises a container in the form of a trailer 1 having a base 2, sidewalls (not 31 shown), an end wall 3 and an outlet 4 in the form of 32 an open end of the trailer 1. The trailer has 1 wheels 5 and tow bar 6 for connection to a tractor 2 as is conventional in the art.

4 The trailer 1 has a movable pusher 10 which is urged by a hydraulic ram mechanism 12 placed between the 6 movable pusher 10 and the end wall 3. The pusher 10 7 is moved away from the end wall 3 by the hydraulic 8 ram mechanism 12 and the pusher 10 pushes the 9 material 15 on the base of the trailer 1 towards the outlet 4. Across the outlet 4, a pair of beaters 20 11 (only one shown in the side view of fig. 1 and 2) 12 are provided in side-by-side arrangement and sloping 13 from the base of the trailer upwards and inwards of 14 the container. In certain embodiments the beater 20 can adopt a vertical configuration as shown on the 16 dotted line 20'. Each beater 20 has an axle on 17 which are mounted a number of blades 21 which 18 revolve around the axis agitating and chopping the 19 material 15 as it comes in contact with the revolving beaters 20, and dispersing the material 15 21 out through the outlet 4 of the trailer 1. The 22 beaters 20 are angled as shown in fig. 1 in order to 23 disperse the chopped material 15 upwards so that it 24 covers a greater surface area upon being ejected from the outlet 4. When the beater 20' is in the 26 upright configuration as shown in the dotted lines 27 in fig. 1, the blades (not shown on beater 20') can 2 8 themselves be angled upwardly in order to achieve 29 the same effect, but this is not necessary.

31 In operation, the pusher 10 pushes the material 15 32 towards the rear of the trailer 1 and the outlet 4 1 until it contacts the revolving beaters 20, 2 whereupon the blades 21 chop the material 15 into 3 smaller portions and disperse it upwards and 4 outwards from the outlet 4 in order to cover the surrounding area.

7 In the embodiment shown in fig. 2, the trailer is 8 similar except that the upright pusher 10 is 9 replaced by an angled pusher 10' which is disposed at the same angle as the beaters 20 in order to urge 11 the material 15 into the vicinity of the blades 21 12 of the beaters 20. The modified pusher 10' is urged 13 by a hydraulic cylinder 12 but instead of forming a 14 pusher within the container of the trailer, the pusher 10' itself forms the end wall of the fig. 2 16 trailer. The hydraulic cylinder 12 is mounted on a 17 frame 11 attached to the base 2 of the fig. 2 18 trailer.

The hydraulic cylinder 12 can have its own hydraulic 21 power supply and circuit as shown in fig. 1, or can 22 be connected by a hose 13 as shown in fig. 2 to the 23 hydraulic supply of e.g. a tractor or other self 24 powered vehicle. The beaters 20 are typically powered by the rotary power take off point of the 26 tractor via a power take off (PTO) shaft 75, 27 although any suitable power means may be used.

29 Figs. 3, 4, 5 & 6 show a further embodiment similar to the fig. 2 schematic having a moving rear wall 31 driven by a hydraulic ram from the front of the 32 trailer to the outlet at the rear, where rotating 1 beaters having blades thereon eject the material in - 2 the trailer through the outlet as shown in fig. 6.

4 The beaters typically rotate at a speed of around 385RPM and the hydraulic cylinder typically extends 6 the pusher from fully retracted to fully extended in 7 around 4 minutes. At this speed, the trailer 8 described can eject material at a rate of 9 approximately 2 tonnes per minute.

In the above example, it takes approximately 3 11 minutes to discharge the whole load of material from 12 the trailer. - 14 The ram device can be hydraulically or pneumatically operated. The typical run stroke of the piston is 16 around 109" in the above example, and this moves the; 17 rear wall to within an inch or so of the blade on 18 the beaters. An optional rubber wiping seal 70 19 around the periphery of the movable wall ensures that the majority of the material is pushed towards 21 the outlet and to the beaters.

23 Modifications and improvements can be incorporated 24 without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims (1)

1 CLAIMS 3 1. Apparatus for spreading material comprising a 4 container

for the material having side walls, a front end, a rear end and an outlet at the rear end 6 of the container through which the material is 7 spread, and a conveying mechanism to convey the 8 material in the container to the outlet, the 9 conveying mechanism comprising a movable pusher which also forms a moveable front wall and is 11 adapted to move the material in the container 12 towards the outlet.

14 2. Apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the moveable front wall is adapted to substantially 16 prevent material from exiting the container from the 17 front end of the container.

19 3. Apparatus according to either of Claims 1 or 2, wherein the pusher is driven by a hydraulic ram.

22 4. Apparatus according to either of Claims 1 or 2, 23 wherein the pusher is driven by a worm drive.

5. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, 26 wherein the conveying mechanism pushes the pusher 27 towards the outlet.

29 6. Apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the conveying mechanism pulls the pusher 31 towards the outlet.

1 7. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, 2 which comprises a dispersing mechanism to disperse 3 the material as it leaves the outlet.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the 6 dispersing mechanism comprises a pair of beaters in 7 the form of moving blades mounted on axles.

9 9. Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the beaters extend from the base of the container across 11 the outlet so that the material passing the beating 12 mechanism is dispersed by the blades.

14 10. Apparatus according to claim 8 or claim 9, wherein the axles are angled with respect to the 16 base of the container.

18 11. Apparatus according to any of one of claims 8 19 to 10, wherein the blades are angled with respect to the base of the container and/or with respect to the 21 axle of the beater.

23 12. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, 24 wherein the pusher is inclined with respect to the base of the container.

27 13. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, 28 wherein the container has wheels, skids, tracks or 29 similar and is adapted to be towed.

31 14. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, 32 wherein the container is adapted to be towed by a 1 tractor and the container has hydraulic connections 2 to the tractor hydraulic circuit in order to power 3 the conveyor and/or the dispersing means.

15. Apparatus for spreading material substantially 6 as hereinbefore described with reference to the 7 accompanying drawings.