Earth working rotor with improved tines

Claim 2

A tine for an earth working rotor, of the type that is Lshaped and has an elongated shank portion with opposite flat side surfaces and a hoe portion that projects to one side of the shank portion and has opposite surfaces substantially normal to said surfaces of the shank portion and a sharp leading edge, said tine being characterized by: A. the sharp leading edge of the hoe portion being provided by a bevel at the side surface thereof that is remote from the shank portion; and B. the shank portion having a bevel thereon at its side surface that faces the hoe portion, the last mentioned bevel extending a distance along the shank portion from the leading edge of the hoe portion and defining a sharp leading edge on the shank portion.

Claim 3

A tine for an earth working rotor in the form of a flat bar bent into an L-shape, with long and short arms, the long arm being securable to a rotor by which the tine is carried in one direction about the rotor axis with the long arm moving in a plane normal to the rotor axis and the short arm moving in a circular orbit concentric to the rotor axis, said tine being beveled along the entire leading portion of the short arm and along that part of the leading portion of the long arm that is adjacent to the short arm, to provide cutting edges, said tine being characterized by: A. the bevel on the short arm being at the face thereof which is radially outermost as the tine rotates about the rotor axis, so that wear at the cutting edge on the short arm does not affect the radius of the circular orbit defined by said edge; and B. the bevel on the adjacent part of the long arm being at the face thereof which is nearest the short arm, so that during operation with the tine acting upon fresh uncut soil the bevel on the long arm engages the loose soil resulting from the cutting action of the tine, thus minimizing the side thrust imposed on the tine by the reaction against the soil of said bevel on the long arm.

Claim 4

A tine for an earth working rotor in the form of a flat bar bent into an L-shape, with long and short arms, the long arm being securable to a rotor by which the tine is carried in one direction about the rotor axis with the long arm moving in a plane normal to the rotor axis and the short arm moving in a circular orbit concentric to the rotor axis, said tine being beveled along the entire leading portion of the short arm and along that part of the leading portion of the long arm that is adjacent to the short arm, to provide cutting edges, said tine being characterized by: A. the bevel on the short arm being at the face thereof which is radially outermost as the tine rotates about the rotor axis, so that wear at the cutting edge on the short arm does not affect the radius of the circular orbit defined by said edge; and B. the bevel on the adjacent part of the long arm being at the face thereof which is nearest the short arm, so that during operation with the tine acting upon fresh uncut soil the bevel on the long arm engages the loose soil resulting from the cutting action of the tine, thus minimizing the side thrust imposed on the tine by the reaction against the soil of said bevel on the long arm.

Claim 5

The tine of claim 2, further characterized in that the adjacent portions of the cutting edges on the long and short arms are curved to merge with one another around the bend which connects the arms.

Claim 6

An earth working rotor comprising: A. a shaft member having axially spaced tine carrier plates each of which has opposite flat parallel sides normal to the rotor axis; B. an even number of tines for each carrier plate, each tine being L-shaped and having a long shank with opposite flat parallel sides and a short hoe portion projecting perpendicularly from one side of the shank; C. attaching means securing the tines to their respective carrier plates with the sides of the shanks of the tines from which their hoe portions project flat against one side of the carrier plate and the hoe portions projecting across the plane of the carrier plate, and equispaced from the rotor axis and outwardly of the periphery of the carrier plate, half of the tines on each carrier plate being at one side of the carrier plate and the other half thereof being at the other side of the carrier plate; D. a sharp leading edge on the hoe portion and on the shank of every tine, said sharp leading edges of the hoe portions being formed by a bevel at the side of the hoe portion that is remote from its shank and hence radially outermost with respect to the rotor axis, and said sharp leading edges of the shanks being formed by a bevel at the side of the shank which faces the hoe portion and which is flat against the carrier plate; and E. the carrier plates being spaced from one another along the axis of the rotor a distance such that the cuts made by the hoe portions of their respective tines slightly overlap.

Claim 7

An earth working rotor comprising: A. a shaft member having axially spaced tine carrier plates each of which has opposite flat parallel sides normal to the rotor axis; B. an even number of tines for each carrier plate, each tine being L-shaped and having a long shank with opposite flat parallel sides and a short hoe portion projecting perpendicularly from one side of the shank; C. attaching means securing the tines to their respective carrier plates with the sides of the shanks of the tines from which their hoe portions project flat against one side of the carrier plate and the hoe portions projecting across the plane of the carrier plate, and equispaced from the rotor axis and outwardly of the periphery of the carrier plate, half of the tines on each carrier plate being at one side of the carrier plate and the other half thereof being at the other side of the carrier plate; D. a sharp leading edge on the hoe portion and on the shank of every tine, said sharp leading edges of the hoe portions being formed by a bevel at the side of the hoe portion that is remote from its shank and hence radially outermost with respect to the rotor axis, and said sharp leading edges of the shanks being formed by a bevel at the side of the shank which faces the hoe portion and which is flat against the carrier plate; and E. the carrier plates being spaced from one another along the axis of the rotor a distance such that the cuts made by the hoe portions of their respective tines slightly overlap.

Claim 8

The earth working machine rotor of claim 4, further characterized in that the sharp leading edges of the shank and hoe portions of each tine merge with one another in a curve which extends around the junction of the shank and hoe portions.

Claim 9

The earth working machine rotor of claim 4, wherein each tine is so disposed on its carrier plate that no part of its hoe portion extends farther from the rotor axis than does the sharp leading edge of the hoe portion.

Claim 10

The earth working machine rotor of claim 6, wherein the disposition of each tine on its carrier plate is such that the bevel which forms the sharp leading edge of the hoe portion very nearly forms a chord to the circle traced by the sharp leading edge of the hoe portion as it travels around its orbit.