Tillage apparatus having improved cutting and drive structure

Abstract

An improved cutting and drive structure is disclosed that is particularly useful in conjunction with tilling apparatus for sod seeding purposes. The structure includes a tillage blade or cutter wheel mounted for rotation by a drive structure that includes a rotatable drive shaft. The cutter wheel has a thin disc-like body portion and a periphery with a plurality of teeth thereon, with different teeth being offset in opposite directions from the plane of the body portion. The offset teeth which in a preferred embodiment have hard-facing on the cutting surface, have a specific configuration to allow the cutting wheel to produce a furrow in ground contacted by the wheel, with the furrow being wider than the body portion of the wheel due to the offset teeth, and this results in reduced soil compaction at the bottom of the furrow, as well as loose dirt therein to provide cover for seed deposited in the furrow. The drive structure includes a friction drive plate for rotating the cutter wheel, with the cutter wheel being fastened to the threaded drive shaft so that the cutter wheel is self-tightening.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.