Hydraulic loader attachment

#The present invention relates to a digger apparatus which may be removably attached to a conventional hydraulic loader. More particularly, the invention relates to an elongated scoop member with which, when attached to and operated in conjunction with a hydraulic loader, trees, bushes, and other plants can be dug up quickly. Uniquely, the invention allows plants to be removed with little or no disruption to the soil immediately below and surrounding the base of the plant. By avoiding this disruption, the plant's roots go unharmed, thereby heightening the plant's chances of survival.

#The removal of trees, bushes, and similarly sized plants for transplantation purposes has generally presented a problem to plant nurseries, landscapers, and gardeners. Conventionally, a variety of apparatus have been used in removal methods which are labor-intensive, and therefore not cost effective, and which do not guarantee that the plant will be extricated in a damage-free state. One such conventional removal method utilizes a hand shovel. Hand shoveling, however, is labor intensive. Furthermore, a hand shovel is much smaller in proportion to a medium- to large-size plant and the amount of soil surrounding the base of the plant that must be removed with it. Such a smaller size requires repeated entry of the shovel in and around the plant's base in order to loosen the plant from the soil. This increases the likelihood that the plant's most sensitive roots, which grow immediately beneath and around the base of the plant, will be damaged. Even if the plant is loosened from the soil with little damage, the fact that a hand shovel provides little leverage for lifting the plant will likely result in further disruption of the soil around the roots and therefore damage to the plant. Both high labor costs and high loss rates increase a nursery's or a landscaper's cost of doing business.

#A hydraulic loader with a standard rectanguloid-like bucket may conventionally be used to remove plants. While the use of this device, decreases the time needed to extricate medium- and large-size plants from the soil, this savings in time is eventually lost due to the shape of the conventional hydraulic loader bucket and the corresponding shape of the block of soil which is removed through the bucket's use. The rectanguloid-shaped bucket of conventional hydraulic loaders is designed to remove and transport quantities of dirt, rock etc.--not to remove plants for transplantation purposes. As a result, plants removed with the conventional bucket have their roots encased in a block of soil which, like the bucket, is rectanguloid in shape. However, as the sensitive roots of any plant reside generally only within a small radius of the base of the plant, the bulk of the soil which the conventional bucket removes is unnecessary and must be trimmed off to produce a commercially saleable and easily transportable product. Trimming requires labor which increases costs. Additionally, because conventional buckets remove more soil than is necessary, conventional buckets require greater inter-plant spacing in which to operate. This prevents a nursery or landscaper from growing plants under economically ideal, dense conditions. Finally, conventional buckets in no way accommodate and provide upright stable support for a plant during the digging, lifting, and transportation of it. The lack of this support leads to increased damage to the plant and heightens the loss rate.

#FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of the digger according to the present invention and as mounted on a conventional hydraulic loader.

#FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the digger.

#FIG. 2a is a perspective exploded view from the forward loadable side of a representative embodiment of the digger whose frame includes a baking plate and an attachment plate.

#A known hydraulic loader, illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIGS. 5a-d and generally designated by reference numeral 1, typically has a hydraulically-operated loader mechanism either on the front or on the back of the hydraulic loader. Certain farm tractors or earth movers are hydraulic loaders of this type. The traditional loader mechanism has a head or bucket formed by vertical side walls and whose open area is square or rectangular in cross-section, not shown. The conventional head or bucket is tiltably and pivotally mounted between a pair of hydraulically-activated lifting and supporting arms. The head or bucket can be moved, the extent of which movement is determined by the extendability of the loader mechanism. It is conventional and of well-known construction that a standard hydraulic loader generally moves the bucket contained conventionally thereon by a hydraulic cylinder/piston arrangement. In FIGS. 1 and 5 a-d, a Case, Uni-Loader model, which is largely typical of conventional hydraulic loaders, is illustrated. The loader mechanism includes a hydraulic cylinder and piston assembly. The piston generally is driven by a pump through conduits. The pump is driven by a piston powered by the loader, the latter of which is not shown. Lift arms and tilt linkage, not shown, on the loader cooperate to allow the loader to lift and transport. By movement of the hydraulic cylinder and piston assembly, and associated lift arms and tilt linkage, the loader's bucket moves. Depending on the loader mechanism, conventional loaders may be used to scrape, dig, and/or load material. The loader mechanism is controlled by an operator in the driver's seat.

#A digger apparatus or attachment 10 according to the present invention is generally illustrated by reference numeral 10 in FIGS. 1 through 5a-d. Digger apparatus 10 includes a scoop 30 and a frame 20. These will now be discussed.

#The frame 20 provides the support for and the means by which the scoop 30 is affixed to the hydraulic loader 1. Depending on the configuration of the hydraulic loader to which the digger apparatus 10 is to be attached, frame 20 may include a backing plate 40 and the means by which the digger apparatus 10 is attached to the hydraulic loader, including an attachment plate 50.