Minimum tillage planter

Claim 1

A minimum tillage planter comprising a supporting frame, attaching means coupled to said supporting frame for attaching said planter to a tractor for travel over the ground, a coulter, means mounting said coulter forwardly and below said frame for making an incision in the ground as said frame travels over the ground, said coulter including an annular disk and a pair of gauge bands mounted on opposite sides of said disk for limiting the depth of penetration of said coulter into the ground, a seed opener share, means mounting said seed opener share from said frame; said seed opener share including a forwaRd assembly comprising a vertically disposed platelike member having a knifelike leading edge thereto and being spaced behind and in alignment with said annular disk for increasing the depth of the incision in the ground, an inclined concavo-convex member fixedly attached to said vertical member and being directed downwardly and forwardly therefrom towards a pointed terminus thereof for tending to bury itself ever deeper into the ground thus beginning to form a subterranean pocket in the ground and applying a downward pulling force to said planter as it is caused to travel over the ground by the tractor, and a pair of wing-like members respectively being fixedly attached forwardly thereof to said vertical member and being integrally attached to said concavoconvex member, said wing-like portions sloping downwardly and outwardly from said vertical member for completing the forming of said pocket and having rearward extending portions defining a broad horizontally extending slot; a rearward assembly comprising a pair of laterally spaced platelike vertical members for spreading the ground outwardly along the incision to form an opening in the ground extending upwardly from said pocket, said vertical members having forwardly converging spaced apart margins thereto defining a narrow vertically extending slot for receiving the rearwardmost margin portion of said vertical member of said forward assembly, said broad slot of said forward assembly receiving said vertical members of said rearward assembly, and a wing support member fixedly attached to said vertical members for contiguously engaging the underside of portions of said forward assembly to support said forward assembly, said wing-like members and said wing support member being provided with aligned apertures for receiving attaching means to removably attach said forward assembly to said rearward assembly; and means for depositing seeds into said pocket through said opening in the ground.