Apparatus for distributing granular material
AssigneeHighway Equipment Company
InventorGeorge B. Wall
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Spreading apparatus for attachment to a vehicle for distributing granular materials such as fertilizer and the like, using air as the distributing medium. The spreading apparatus includes a rear-mounted boom and an air system in which the material distribution passageways are substantially straight from the discharge of the fans to the point of material introduction to the discharge nozzles along the boom. This is achieved by the use of two blowers that move air in opposite directions through a cross-over tube array into which the already-divided material is introduced into individual air passageways leading to the discharge nozzles mounted along the boom. The boom itself is designed so that it can be quickly and easily folded and pivoted for storage or transport.
Claims10
Spreading apparatus for distributing material and adapted to be mounted on, a vehicle of the type having storage means for the material to be distributed and means for conveying the material from the storage means and discharge unit, said apparatus comprising a boom assembly moveable from a spreading position to a transport position, said boom assembly including a central section, a right section extending outwardly from the right side of the vehicle and transversely of the direction of movement of the vehicle, a left section extending outwardly from the left side of the vehicle and transversely of the direction of movement of the vehicle, each of the right and left sections being pivotally connected to the center section about an axis that is generally horizontal when the boom assembly is in a spreading position, each of the right and left sections being independently moveable relative to the center section about the pivotal connection with the center section, means for mounting the central section of the boom assembly on the vehicle for pivotal movement of the boom assembly from the spreading position upwardly and forwardly to the transport position, power means to control the pivotal movement of the boom assembly, power means for independently moving the right and left sections upwardly and downwardly when the boom assembly is in the spreading position and for moving the right and left sections forwardly when the boom assembly is in the transport position, and means for conveying material discharged from the material storage means to selected points along the boom assembly to distribute the material.
Apparatus for distributing material and adapted to be mounted on the rear of a vehicle of the type having storage means for the material to be distributed and means for conveying the material from the storage means through a discharge opening, said apparatus comprising a boom assembly, means for mounting the boom assembly on the vehicle so that the boom assembly extends outwardly from the vehicle to right and left sides of the vehicle, said boom assembly supporting a plurality of separate air ducts each having an inner end positioned near the discharge opening and each extending outwardly along the boom assembly in substantially a straight line to a discharge end, some of the ducts extending to the right side of the boom assembly and some of the ducts extending to the left side of the boom assembly, the inner ends of the ducts extending to the right side being spaced apart in a generally horizontal plane to receive alternate ones of the inner ends of the ducts extending to the left side, the discharge ends of the ducts being positioned at spaced selected intervals along both the right and left sides of the boom assembly, means at each of the discharge ends of the ducts for directing the material generally rearwardly, first air moving means discharging into the inner ends of the ducts extending to the left side, second air moving means discharging into the inner ends of the ducts extending to the right side, said first and second air moving means each being positioned so that the direction of air flow is in substantial alignment with the respective ducts into which the air is discharged, material dividing means adapted to be positioned near the discharge opening of the material storage means of the vehicle and directly over the inner ends of the air ducts to receive the material from the storage means and direct the material by gravity into the air ducts at a point downstream from the respective air moving means, and separate material tubes connected between the material dividing means and the inner ends of all the ducts, one such material tube for each duct.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.