Soil conditioner injection systems and methods of using the same
OwnerRoger Pioninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Soil conditioner injection systems that can provide a variety of benefits, including the fast and efficient amendment of soil with soil conditioner without requiring tillage and in a manner that significantly reduces or eliminates any inadvertent runoff of the soil conditioner, for example, from rain. In some examples the soil conditioner injection systems of the present disclosure include soil conditioner injectors that include a soil plug remover configured to remove a first volume of soil from a first location and a sleeved hammer configured to form a recess in soil and inject soil conditioner into the recess.
Claims16
A soil conditioner injector, comprising:
- a sleeve having a longitudinal axis, the sleeve slidably configured to move between a retracted position and an extended position for insertion into soil;
- a tool slidably disposed in the sleeve;
- a driving mechanism configured to drive the tool in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis to form a recess in the soil;
- wherein the sleeve is configured to convey pressurized soil conditioner into the recess formed in the soil;
- and
- a soil plug remover (SPR) positioned adjacent the sleeve, the SPR configured and dimensioned to move between a first position adjacent the sleeve and a second position for insertion into soil and removal of a first volume of soil.
A system, comprising:
- at least one soil conditioner injector, including:
- a soil plug remover (SPR) configured to remove a first volume of soil from a first location;
- and
- a sleeved hammer configured to form a recess in soil at the first location and inject soil conditioner into the recess;
- wherein the SPR is configured to deposit the first volume of soil on the injected soil conditioner to thereby substantially seal the soil conditioner in the recess;
- wherein the sleeved hammer includes a sleeve configured to move between a retracted position and an extended position for insertion into soil;
- wherein the sleeve includes an opening in a sidewall of the sleeve for passage of soil conditioner therethrough, the sleeve configured to direct the soil conditioner into the recess in soil formed by the sleeved hammer.
A method of injecting a soil conditioner into soil, comprising:
- removing a first volume of soil from a first location with a soil plug remover (SPR) coupled to a sleeved hammer, wherein the sleeved hammer includes a sleeve and a tool disposed in the sleeve;
- inserting the sleeve of the sleeved hammer into soil at the first location;
- driving the tool of the sleeved hammer into the soil to form a recess;
- retracting the tool towards a proximal end of the sleeve;
- injecting soil conditioner through the sleeve and into the recess;
- and
- depositing the first volume of soil on the injected soil conditioner to thereby substantially seal the soil conditioner in the recess.
A system, comprising:
- at least one soil conditioner injector, including:
- a soil plug remover (SPR) configured to remove a first volume of soil from a first location;
- and
- a sleeved hammer configured to form a recess in soil at the first location and inject soil conditioner into the recess;
- wherein the SPR is configured to deposit the first volume of soil on the injected soil conditioner to thereby substantially seal the soil conditioner in the recess;
- wherein the sleeved hammer includes a sleeve configured to move between a retracted position and an extended position for insertion into soil;
- wherein the SPR is disposed at an angle and adjacent the sleeved hammer, a distal end of the SPR configured to move between a retracted position adjacent a central longitudinal axis of the sleeve and an extended position where the distal end intersects the central longitudinal axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.