Rear mounted rotary tiller

Claim 1

A rotary tiller mountable on the two, parallel lower lift links of a three-point hitch of a tractive vehicle for direct drive by the vehicle power takeoff shaft having a rear end disposed between, above, and forwardly of the rear ends of said links, said tiller comprising: a support; a ground-working rotor carried by said support for rotation about a horizontal axis extending transversely of the normal path of travel of the tiller; a gearbox unit on said rotor having output means drivingly coupled therewith and rotatable about said axis of rotation thereof, said gearbox unit further including an input shaft coupled with said output means, disposed normal to said axis, and projecting upwardly and forwardly from said axis; and a pair of mounts on said support above and forwardly of the rotor and on opposite sides of the axis of rotation of said input shaft for rigidly attaching the tiller to said links, said mounts including link-engaging pivotal coupling means and structure for holding said support against pivoting movement relative to said links about said coupling means when the links are raised and lowered whereby to permit raising and lowering of the tiller between ground-working and transport positions without changing the angle between said links and the axis of rotation of said input shaft, said input shaft having coupling means at its upper forward end adapted for connection to the vehicle power takeoff shaft through an intermediate drive shaft having an axis of rotation which remains sufficiently aligned with the axis of rotation of the input shaft during raising and lowering of the tiller between said ground-working and transport positions to transfer driving power to said input shaft and thereby permit the rotor to remain in operation during such raising and lowering of the tiller.