Tillage implement

Claim 1

A dust free tillage implement for preparing soil ready for planting in one pass across a field, said implement comprising in combination: (a) a framework attachable to a draught vehicle; (b) a plurality of spaced apart rippers suspended from said framework and spanning across the path of said implement for fracturing the ground; (c) a rotary tiller for mulching the soil and discharging it airborne toward the rear of said implement, said tiller including a rotating shaft, a plurality of shanks spaced along and radial to said shaft and a point disposed at the extremity of each said shank; (d) means for rotatably supporting said shaft at an elevation proximate the elevation of the surface of the soil being tilled; (e) motive means for providing power to rotate said shaft in the direction of travel; (f) a row former disposed rearward of said rotary tiller for deflecting and directing the airborne soil into one of a plurality of rows and for effecting a seal between the rear of said implement and the soil, said row former including a hood for defining each row, said hood including a pair of side plates having lower edges which slope upwardly and rearwardly downstream of the leading edge of the row being formed, and a deflection plate for defining each trough intermediate adjacent rows, each of said deflection plates being oriented to build up upstream a mound of soil for buffering the impact thereagainst of the airborne soil discharged from said rotary tiller and avoiding the abrasive effect which would other wise be presented by the impact of the airborne soil thereagainst; and (g) shroud means disposed along the lateral sides of said implement for effecting a seal between the sides of said implement and the soil; whereby, said implement performs in one pass the conventional separately performed operations of mulching residue and growing vegetation, prediscing, ripping, plowing, discing, leveling and furrowing out rows.