Cultivators

Claim 2

A cultivator comprising a frame movable over the ground and a plurality of rotatable soil-working members supported on a portion of said frame and said members being positioned in a row that extends transverse to the direction of travel, said soil-working members each including a downwardly extending tine and driving means connected to rotate said members and the corresponding tines about substantially vertical axes, said tine of each soil-working member being driven through a circular path about its axis of rotation to work a strip of land during travel, the spacing between the axes of rotation of adjacent soil-working members exceeding the working widths of the tines of adjacent members and said members being positioned to work strips of land spaced apart from one another between unworked strips, devices for depositing material on the worked strips being supported on said cultivator and each of said devices being positioned to the rear and in line with each said member, with respect to the direction of travel.

Claim 3

A cultivator as claimed in claim 1, wherein said devices are connected to a common support secured to said frame portion.

Claim 4

A cultivator as claimed in claim 2, wherein each of said devices is independently connected to said frame portion by a parallelogram linkage and said device is movable upwardly and downwardly relative to said frame portion through said linkage.

Claim 5

A cultivator as claimed in claim 1, wherein each tine comprises a soil-working portion that extends substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of its corresponding soil-working member and a fastening portion that is substantially inclined to that axis of rotation.

Claim 6

A cultivator as claimed in claim 1, wherein said frame portion comprises two substantially identical portions that are interconnected in a substantially symmetrical arrangement.

Claim 7

A cultivator as claimed in claim 5, wherein said frame portion is substantially hexagonal in cross-section.

Claim 8

A cultivator as claimed in claim 1, wherein said tines are positioned in angularly staggered relationship from one another around their corresponding axes of rotation.

Claim 9

A cultivator as claimed in claim 7, wherein the magnitude of angular staggering position of the tines of two immediately adjacent soil-working members is about 60°.

Claim 10

A cultivator comprising a frame movable over the ground and an elongated frame portion that extends transverse to the direction of travel, a plurality of rotatable soil-working members supported on corresponding upwardly extending shafts mounted on said portion and said shafts being positioned in a row that extends transverse to the direction of travel, said soil-working members each having a single downwardly extending tine, driving means connected to rotate said members and the corresponding tines about substantially vertical axes defined by said shafts, said tine of each soil-working member being driven through a circular path about its respective shaft to work a strip of land during travel, the spacing between the shafts of adjacent soil-working members exceeding the working width of the tine of either adjacent members, and said members being positioned to work strips of land spaced apart from one another between unworked strips, devices for depositing material on the worked strips being supported on said cultivator and each of said devices being positioned to the rear and in line with each said member, with respect to the direction of travel.

Claim 11

A cultivator comprising a frame movable over the ground and an elongated frame portion that extends transverse to the direction of travel, a plurality of rotatable soil-working members supported on corresponding upwardly extending shafts mounted on said portion and said shafts being positioned in a row that extends transverse to the direction of travel, said soil-working members each having a single downwardly extending tine, driving means connected to rotate said members and the corresponding tines about substantially vertical axes defined by said shafts, said tine of each soil-working member being driven through a circular path about its respective shaft to work a strip of land during travel, the spacing between the shafts of adjacent soil-working members exceeding the working width of the tine of either adjacent members, and said members being positioned to work strips of land spaced apart from one another between unworked strips, devices for depositing material on the worked strips being supported on said cultivator and each of said devices being positioned to the rear and in line with each said member, with respect to the direction of travel.

Claim 12

A cultivator as claimed in claim 9, wherein the tine of each member is eccentrically spaced from its corresponding shaft to work a strip of land that has a width substantially less than adjacent unworked strips of land.