Soil working and seed planting apparatus

Claim 1

A soil working and seed planting apparatus comprising: (a) a frame connectible to a prime mover and having a leading edge portion and a trailing edge portion; (b) soil working means rotatably mounted on said frame intermediate said leading edge portion and said trailing edge portion and comprising an elongated shaft extending transversely of the direction of travel of said frame, a plurality of longitudinally spaced discs mounted on said shaft, and a plurality of circumferentially spaced tines on each of said discs, each of said tines extending radially outwardly from a respective one of said discs and respectively having a body with a forwardly curved end portion angled toward said trailing edge portion when said tines are positioned in earth contact for contemporaneously forming a plurality of longitudinally and laterally spaced pockets in the soil surface and soil mounds on the soil surface, said earth working means being driven solely by contact of said tines with the earth as the apparatus is translated over the earth, said body being shaped for entering the soil before the forwardly curved end portion when said apparatus is translated rearwardly for self-cleaning saidtines; (c) seed dispensing means mounted on the frame leading edge portion and driven by said soil working means and operative for dispensing seed in response to rotation of said soil working means; and (d) roller means rotatably mounted on the frame trailing edge portion for leveling the soil mounds and moving soil over the seed in response to forward movement of said frame, said roller means having a periphery defined by a plurality of longitudinally extending and circumferentially spaced rods; said roller means including a plurality of longitudinally spaced generally circular discs each having a peripheral edge, said rods being spirally mounted on the said peripheral edge and extending radially outwardly thereof for smoothly leveling said soil mound and preventing contact of said discs with the soil surface.