US678103A - Cultivator. - Google Patents

Description

No. 678.")3. I Patented July 9, l90l.

r. E. DAVIS.

OULTIVATOR.

(Application filed June 8, 1900.)

3 Sheats8hoet I.

(No Model.)

No. 678,l03.' Patented My 9, I91.

F. E. DAVIS.

UULTIVATOR.

(Application flied June 8, 1900.) (No Mo m a Shoots-Slag 2.

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N0. 678,!03. Patented July 9, I90l.

r. E. DAVIS. V

CULTIVATOB.

(Application filed June 8, I900.)

(No Model.) 3 Sheets$heet 3.

UNITED STATES PATE T OFFICE.

FRANK E. DAVIS, OF LA CROSSE, WISCONSIN.

CULTIVATO R.

SPECIFIOATIQN forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 678,103, dated July 9, 1901.

' Application filed June 8, 1900. Serial No. 19,540. No model.)

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK E. DAvis, of the city of La Crosse, county of La Crosse, and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cultivators, of which the following is a'specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in cultivators, and more particularly to balanced cultivators having a swing shovelframe. By a balanced-frame cultivator I mean one having the frame proper mounted upon a rocking arched axle and provided with means whereby the wheel-journals may be thrown backward and forward, so asto bal ance the frame of the cultivator in operation and also when the shovels are out of the ground, thus preventing the tongue from flying up under the weight of the driver as in turning. By a swing-frame cultivator I mean a cultivator having its shovel-beams connected by an arch at their front ends, said arch being suspended or sustained, so as to be capable of a lateral movement to enable the shovels to be moved laterally to avoid obstacles or the plants under cultivation.

My invention more particularly has in View the following objects: First, to provide a bala'nced cultivator which is easily adjusted, so as to maintain a perfect balance and in which is provided a rigid brace for the axle under all conditions; second, to provide a laterally swinging or shifting shovel-frame and means for shifting said frame, so as to carry the shovel-beams bodily laterally with slight effort on the part of the operator; third, to com bine with such laterally swinging or shifting shovel-frame and its operating-lever a connection 'to the tongue, so that the wheels are shifted angularly to the line of draft when the shovel-beams are swung or carried laterally; fourth, to combine in a balanced cultivator with the rocking crank-axle and its adjusting mechanism a connection between said axle and the shovel-beam, whereby the rocking of the crank-axle is caused to automatically raise the shovel-beam; fifth, to the combination, with the shovel-beam frame; of braces extending from said frame to the seat or mainframe of the cultivator, which braces are'inde'pend ent of the crank-axle, wherebysaid axle may be adjusted to balance the frame without disturbing the adjustments of the shovel-beam draft-pole. the crank-axle, its adjustable braces, the laterally-swinging arch and the links connecting the horizontal portions of the arch with a until the shovel-beam starts to rise, when said spring assists in the lifting operation; seventh, to means for locking the shovel-beam frame against lateral swing and to means for changing the connections of the shovel-beams to their frame from a rigid to a pivotal connection to adapt said shovel-beams to be swung laterally upon their pivots, and, eighth,to provisions forlocking the pivoted tongue against movement while permitting the shovel-beam frame to be swung laterally.

The accompanying drawings illustrate only so much and such parts of the cultivator as are necessary to the understanding of my 1mprovements therein, and I have omitted the lifting levers and springs,whereby the shovel- .:bea ms are raised out of the ground, as such devices are well known and are applied in a great variety of ways.

In the drawings, Figure lis'a front perspective view of the cultivator the liftinglevers omitted and the draft tongue or polev broken away. Fig. 2 is a plan view with the shovel-beams omitted. Fig." 3 is a sectionalelevation taken in a plane parallel to the Fig. 4' is a perspective view of the'axle. Fig. lis a modification. Fig. 5 is a front elevation, partly broken'away,"o'f the arch, showing the manner of connectingthe shovel-beams, braces, and shifting-lever thereto. Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation of the arch, showing the'shifting-lever pivot; and Fig. 7 is an end elevation of the arch,

showing the shovel-beam connection partly in section.

In the drawings, 10 represents'the crankaxle of usual form, and 11 the ground-wheels, mounted on horizontal journals thereof.

This axle is journaled in suitable half-boxes 12, carried by the seat-bars 13, and the latter are connected rigidly by the cross-bar 1 L with hounds 15. Said hounds extend forward parallel to each other for a distance in front of the axle and their extremities are converged and rigidly connected together by the U- shaped strap 16. The tongue passes through the opening of this U shaped strap, and a single pivot-bolt 17 pivotally connects the evener 18 and tongue to the frame, consisting of the hounds and seat-bars. The tongue extends rearwardly behind its pivot beneath an upwardly-bent strap 19, which is connected to the hounds at its ends and terminates in front of the cross-bar 14. Said cross-bar has thereon an upwardly-arched strap 20, which affords a bearing for the pivot 21 of a shiftin g-lever 22, which is connected to the tongue through a link 23 and an arm 24, the latter extending at an angle from the tongue and having an aperture to receive the end of the link 23, so that the swinging of the tongue may be caused. By means of the mechanism just described the direction of the travel of the cultivator may be varied by manipu lation of the shifting-lever 22. The principal purpose of the shifting-lever is, however, to control the lateral movement of theshovelbeams and said beams. The mode of mounting and controlling them will therefore be next described. The shovel beams are marked 25 26, and their front ends are connected to an arch-bar 27, preferably by means of the pipe-boxes 28. (See Fig. 5 These pipe-boxes have rearwardly-extending short arms 29, having bolt-apertures 30 31, and the shovel-beams are secured thereto by two bolts 32 33, when it is desired to have the shovelbeams rigidly connected to the arch-bar. When so connected, it'is obvious that the lateral shifting of the arch will carrythe shovelbeams laterally. If, however, it be desired to render the shovel-beams independent of the swing of the arch,or, in other words, independently movable in ahorizontal plane and around vertical axes, one of said bolts may be removed and the shovel-beam thereupon swung in a horizontal plane as well as vibrated in avertical plane, turning about the end of the archbar as its axis. The arch-bar extends upwardly, and its arms'are preferably inclined rearwardly, its central portion carrying a pivot-bolt 34:, which receives the forward end of the shifting-lever22. From the foregoing description it will be understood, the shiftinglever 22 being pivoted at 21 upon a fixed part of the frame, that its vibration or sidewise swing will shift the arch laterally, carrying with it the shovel-beams. The tongue being connected to the same shifting-lever, as above described, will also be swung upon its pivot, and the combined result of these movements will be to carry the shovel-beams and the shovels thereon out of line with an obstruc tion or the plants under cultivation, and at the same time to change the course or direction of the ground-wheels. These movements are not novel, however, cultivators having been previously constructed in which a laterally shifting arch connecting the shovelbeams has been connected to the tongue, and a shifting-lever also pivotally connected to the tongue has been made to swing both the tongue and the arch. My construction, however, possesses certain advantages over that just mentioned. In the first place my shifting-lever is connected directly to the archbar, and the tongue is not directly connected with the arch, but is connected with the shifting-lever, and this connection may be removed, so as to leave the tongue free to swing upon its pivot, or the tongue may be locked to the frame, as hereinafter described, and the arch moved independently of the tongue. When both the tongue and the arch are connected to the shifting-lever in the manner shown and described, the tongue does not partake of the full swinging movement of the arch by reason of the arrangement of the pivots, the movement of the rear end of the tongue being considerably less than the side swing of the arch. The arch may be supported'in various ways, but I prefer to suspend it by means of the swinging links 36 37, these links being pivotally connected by means of the short arms 38 to the arch at the lower bends thereof. The upper ends of the links are pivotally connected to the strap 19, and thus these links are free to swing laterally while they sustain the arch and the front ends of the shovel-beams. This produces much less friction than the mounting of the arch-bar in a bearing carried by the frame. The friction of the tongue as it swings back and forth may be reduced by providing it 'with antifriction roller'39, traveling between the crossbar lland strap 20, as seen in Fig. 3. The thrust-braces 40 ll are pivotally connected at their forward ends to fixed collars 42 on the extremities of the horizontal portions of the arch 27,and at their rear ends upon downwardly-curved carry-irons4c3,

bolted to the hounds 15. These thrust-braces, it will be observed, are independent of the axle, and hence the adjustment of the axle does not in any way tend to disturb the position of the arch. The axle, however, is connected to the shovel-beams, and I preferably make this a sliding connection. This may be made, as shown in Fig. 4, by means of rods 44;, whose rear ends are looped, as shown at 45, to embrace the axle at its lower bend, and

1 their forward ends are turned and enter one of a series of apertures in an arm 46, which is rigidly secured with the pipe-box 28; but I prefer to employ the construction shown in Fig. 1, wherein rods 44 have their rear ends adapted to slide through a perforation in the clip 4,5, connected to the vertical member of the axle, and limited by the pin ll. In this construction the sliding rod has a greater lev-' erage on the shovel-beam thrown backwardly than when it is connected by means of the looped rods. The leverage may be further varied by sliding the clip up and down on the but in such case the shovel-beams would al-' ways be affected by the adjustment of the axle.

The crank-axle is adjustable, so as to carry the wheels forward or back with reference to the frame for the purpose of balancing the weight of the frame and of the driver both in use and when the shovels are out of the ground. For this purpose I employ the brace-rods 47, secured to the crank-axle near its lower bend and pivotally connected to the extremities of a rocking crank-shaft 48, carried in suitable bearings 49 on the hounds 15. An adjustinglever 50 ispivoted on the frame of the machine, and its lower end is connected by a link 51 with one of the arms of the rock-shaft 48. By throwing this lever 50 forward or thus carrying the wheels forward 'or back, and this change of the base with reference to the load balances the cultivator, so as to prevent the tongue from flying up, so as to maintain the draft-tongue and the operative parts in their proper and normal positions.

By connecting the shovel-beamswith the crank-axle in the manner described it will be obvious that when the axle is rocked in a direction to carry the wheels backward until the axles strike the closed ends of the loops 45 of the connecting-rods 44 j the tendency will be to lift the shovels out'of "the ground. To further assist in this lifting operation, I connect a spring 52 to the thrust-brace 40 and the arm 46,the series of apertures in said arm enabling the tension of the spring to be varied. WVhen the shovels are in the earth, the spring is practically inactive, although it may be so adjusted as to give a slight cushioning effect to the shovel-beams; but the inactivity of the spring is due to the arrangement of its connections, which are such that it exerts little, if any, leverage upon the shovel-beam when it is at work; but the spring is normally under tension and when'through the backward movement of the axle there is a pull upon the connecting-rod 44, and thereby upon the arm 46, thus throwing the forward point of connection of the springout of line with the pivot of the shovel-beam, said spring immediately becomes effective to assist in 6o raising the shovels out of the ground.

I have shown in Fig. 2 a latch 53, which may be connected to the arm 24 so as to lock the tongue rigidly to the frame, and if the tongue be so locked and also connected through the link 23 to the shifting-lever 22 it is obvious that the tongue and arch-bar become rigidly locked with the frame. "When so locked, the shovel-beams may be pivotally connected to the arch-bar by the removal of one of the bolts, as above described, and handles may be applied to the shovel-beams for controlling them or they may be controlled by the feet of the operator.

It is obvious that the foregoing construction and arrangement of parts enables the carrying out of the objects hereinbefore set forth, and while I prefer to employ each and all of said devices in combination with each other, yet it is obvious that some of them might be used where others are omitted, and it is obvious also that theexact means of mounting or supporting the several operative parts do not constitute essential features of my invention.

I claim 1. In a balanced cultivator, the combination of an arched wheel-axle provided with ground-wheels, a main frame having pivotal connect-ion with the arched portion of said axle and provided with an operators seat in rear of said pivotal connection, a transverselyarranged crank-shaft mounted in journals in the main frame'at a pointin front of the connection of the latter with the arched portion of the axle, a rigid crank-arm upon each end of said crank-shaft, rigid operating-links connecting the free ends of said crank-arms with the wheel-axle at the respective sides of the arched portion thereof, an operating-lever pivotally mounted upon the main frame in rear of said crank-shaft, a rigid operatingrod connected with said operating-lever, and extending thence to one of the arms of the crank-shaft, and means for locking said op-.

crating-lever in various positions of adjustment, substantially as described.

2. In a cultivator, the combination with the wheel-frame, of a shovel-beam frame supported from the wheel-frame at a point in front of the wheel-axle by a connection which permits lateral movement of the shovel-beam frame relatively to the wheel-frame at such point of support, and a shifting-lever pivoted on the wheel-frame and directly connected to the shovel-beam frame, whereby the latter frame may be shifted bodily laterally to 00- cupy different parallel positions, substantially as described- 3. In a cultivator, the combination, witha wheel-frame and shovel-beams, of an arched bar connecting the forward ends of said shovel-beams and swinging links whereby the arched bar is suspended from the wheelframe, and a lever pivoted on the wheel-frame and connected to the arched bar,"substan-' tially as described. I

4. In a cultivator, the combinatiomwith a I wheel-frame and shovel-beams, of an archbar connecting the forward ends of the shovelbeams, swinging supports for said arch-bar connected to the Wheel-frame in front of the wheel-axle, v pivoted braces extending from the shifting frame to the Wheel-frame, and a shifting-lever connected directly to the arch bar whereby the arch-bar may be shifted lat erally independently of the wheel-frame, substantially as described.

5. In a cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame having a rocking crank-axle, shovel-beams connected at their forward ends by a shiftable frame, a shifting-lever connected to said frame and braces extending from said shovel-beam frame to the main frame and adapted to hold the shovel-beam frame in position while permitting the crankaxle to be rocked, substantially as described.

6. In a cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame and shovel-beams, of an archbar connecting the forward ends of the shovelbeams, swinging supports for the arch-bar, a shifting-lever directly connected to said archbar, and a pivoted tongue to which the shifting-lever is also connected, substantially as described.

7. In a cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame and shovel-beams, of a laterallyshiftable shovel-beam frame, a shifting-lever directly connected to said shovel-beam frame, a pivoted tongue and a link affording a removable connection between said tongue and the shifting-lever, substantially as described.

8. In a cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame and shovel-beams, of a laterally shiftable shovel-beam frame, a shifting-lever directly connected to said shovel-beam frame, whereby it may be shifted independently of the Wheel-frame, and a pivoted tongue also connected to the shifting-lever, and means for locking the tongue and thereby the shifting-lever and shiftable frame, substantially as described.

9. In a cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame and shovelbe'ams, of an arched bar connectingthe forward ends of said beams, swinging links for suspending said arched bar from the wheel-frame, a pivoted tongue and a shifting-lever directly connected to the arched bar and a link connecting said shifting-lever to the tongue, substantially as described.

10. In a wheel-cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame having a rocking crankaxle, shovel-beams connected at their forward ends and means for laterally shifting said shovel-beams bodily, braces connecting the forward ends of the shovel-beams with the wheel-frame independently of the crank-axle, connections between the crank-axle and the front ends of the shovel-beams, and means for rocking the crank-axle and thereby automatically raising the shovelbeam, substantially as described.

11. In awheel-cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame and its rocking crankaxle, a rockshaft journaled to the main frame, rigid rods connecting the ends of said rocking shaft with the cranks of the axle, shovel-beams swinging upon a horizontal axis and links pivotally connected to the axle and to the shovel-beam eccentrically to their pivots, and means for rocking the crank-axle, whereby the shovel-beams are automatically lifted and the frame is balanced,substantially as described.

12. In a cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame and shovel-beams, of a laterally-shiftable shovel-beam frame, a shiftinglever connected to said shovel-beam frame, a pivoted tongue, a link whereby said tongue may be also detachably con nected to the shifting-lever, and means for locking the tongue rigidly to the wheel-frame to permit the shovel-beam frame to swing laterally. independently of the tongue, substantially as described.

13. In a cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame and shovel-beams, of a shovelbeam frame connecting the forward ends of the shovel-beams, and suspended from the wheel-frame, a shifting-lever directly connected to the shovel-beam frame, and a pivoted tongue also connected to the shifting-1w ver, and means for locking the tongue rigidlyand thereby the shifting-lever and shiftable frame, substantially as described.

14. In a cultivator, the combination, with a Wheel-frame and shovel-beams, of an arched bar connecting the forward ends of the shovelbeams, and capable of being swunglaterally, braces extending from the arched bar to the wheel-frame and springs connected to said braces and eccentricallyto the journal-boxes of the shovelbeams, substantially as described.

15. In a cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame and shovel-beams, of a shovelbeam frame mounted upon the main frame so as to be shifted laterally thereof, means for shifting said frame laterally and for locking said frame against lateral movement, said shovel-beams being normally rigidly attached to their frame, and means for converting said attachment toa pivotal connection, substantially as described.

16. In a wheel-cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame having a rocking crankaxle, shovelbeams, an arched bar having journals upon which the shovel-beams are mounted, swinging links for suspending the arched bar from the wheel-frame, a shifting? lever pivoted upon the main frame and connected directly to the arched bar, a pivoted tongue, and a link connecting the tongue and the shifting-lever, braces extending from the arched bar to the wheel-frame and rods having a sliding connection with the crank-axle and connected to the shovel-beams eccentrically to their pivots,substantially as described.

FRANK E. DAVIS.

WVitnesses:

O. C. LINTHICUM, A. I-IIRsHHEIMER.

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