Walk aerator with ground following coring head, inboard wheels, assembled multi-part crankshaft, integral core deflectors, and shortened coring head depth

A walk aerator for punching a plurality of holes in the ground, which comprises:

• (a) a frame supported for movement over the ground by a plurality of wheels;
• (b) a handle assembly for allowing a walking operator to guide and steer the frame;
• (c) a coring head carried on the frame, the coring head having a plurality of side-by-side tine assemblies that are vertically reciprocal for punching holes in the ground, wherein the coring head is vertically adjustable up and down on the frame;
• and
• (d) a ground following control system responsive to changes in ground contour for vertically moving the coring head up and down on the frame to maintain a substantially constant depth of the holes regardless of the ground contour over which the frame is traveling.

An aerator for punching a plurality of holes in the ground, which comprises:

• (a) a frame supported for movement over the ground by a plurality of wheels;
• (b) a coring head carried on the frame, the coring head having a plurality of side-by-side tine assemblies that are vertically reciprocal for punching holes in the ground, the tine assemblies being vertically reciprocated by a plurality of drive arms with one drive arm reciprocating one tine assembly;
• and
• (c) a crankshaft for reciprocating the drive arms up and down, wherein the crankshaft has a plurality of crank arms with each crank arm being connected to an upper end of one drive arm, and wherein the crank arms forming the crank shaft are separate from one another and are removably assembled together to rotate as a single crankshaft.

An aerator for punching a plurality of holes in the ground, which comprises:

• (a) a frame supported for movement over the ground by a plurality of wheels;
• (b) a coring head carried on the frame, the coring head having a plurality of side-by-side tine assemblies that are vertically reciprocal for punching holes in the ground, the tine assemblies being vertically reciprocated by a plurality of drive arms with one drive arm reciprocating one tine assembly, and each tine assembly comprising at least one hollow coring tine for punching a hole in the ground and for ejecting a soil core from the top of the tine;
• and
• (c) a curved core deflecting surface formed on the lower end of each drive arm and extending upwardly and longitudinally relative to each tine for deflecting the soil core ejected from each tine, wherein the curved core deflecting surface is formed integrally on each drive arm.

A walk aerator for punching a plurality of holes in the ground, which comprises:

• (a) a frame supported for movement over the ground by a plurality of wheels;
• (b) a handle assembly for allowing a walking operator to guide and steer the frame;
• (c) a coring head carried on the frame, the coring head having a plurality of side-by-side tine assemblies that are vertically reciprocal for punching holes in the ground, the tine assemblies being vertically reciprocated by a plurality of drive arms with one drive arm reciprocating one tine assembly;
• (d) a linkage for connecting each drive arm to the coring head, the linkage comprising a pivotal connecting link connected at a first end to the drive arm and at a second end to a first end of a biasing link, the biasing link having a second end resiliently and pivotally connected to the coring head, the first end of the connecting link connecting to the drive arm on one side of the drive arm and the tine assembly, the connecting link then extending across the drive arm so that the second end of the connecting link connects to the biasing link on an opposite side of the drive arm and the tine assembly to decrease front to back depth of the coring head.