Apparatus for grooming fields
AssigneeApplied Design Technology, Ltd.
InventorWilliam L. Figura
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention discloses apparatus for grooming, leveling and conditioning athletic fields comprised of a leveling trowel having beveled ends. Soil is worked using elastomeric flails disposed into contact with the surface by a rigid weight bar pivotally mounted on the upper surface of the independently pivotable flails. The grooming apparatus may be mounted with a two or three-point hitch assembly or towed by a drawbar from any utility tractor or other landscape vehicle.
Claims16
Apparatus for grooming fields comprising:
- an elongated tool bar having a forward portion, a bottom portion, a top portion, a first end, a second end, and a rearward portion;
- means for attaching said tool bar to a motor vehicle so that said forward portion is proximate to said motor vehicle and the tool bar is oriented generally perpendicular to the ordinary direction of travel of said motor vehicle;
- a leveling trowel affixed to and dependent from said tool bar so that said leveling trowel comes into contact with the field to be groomed;
- means for attaching a pivot rod to said tool bar;
- a multiplicity of elongated parallel-aligned flails pivotally disposed upon said pivot rod and extending rearward from said pivot rod, said flails each being comprised of:
- means for pivotal attachment to said pivot rod,
- an upper portion,
- a flattened, soil-contacting lower portion, and
- a multiplicity of soil-working protrusions dependent from said soil-contacting lower portion;
- and
- biasing means for biasing said flails against the soil.
A method for grooming an athletic field comprising the steps of:
- mounting a leveling trowel having beveled ends onto a self-propelled motor vehicle adapted for movement across said athletic field
- engaging said leveling trowel with the soil of said athletic field at an acute angle with respect to the direction of trowel movement across said athletic field;
- moving said leveling trowel across said athletic field by means of said self-propelled motor vehicle, and;
- working the soil with parallel aligned, pivotally mounted, downwardly biased, elastomeric flails having protrusions on their soil-contacting portions.
Apparatus for grooming fields comprising:
- an elongated tool bar having a forward portion, a bottom portion, a top portion, a first end, a second end, and a rearward portion;
- means for attaching said tool bar to a motor vehicle so that said forward portion is proximate to said motor vehicle and the tool bar is oriented generally perpendicular to the ordinary direction of travel of said motor vehicle;
- a leveling trowel affixed to and dependent from said tool bar so that said leveling trowel comes into contact with the field to be groomed;
- means for attaching a pivot rod to said tool bar;
- a multiplicity of elongated parallel-aligned flails pivotally disposed upon said pivot rod and extending rearward from said pivot rod, said flails each being comprised of:
- means for pivotal attachment to said pivot rod,
- an upper portion,
- a flattened, soil-contacting lower portion, and
- a multiplicity of soil-working protrusions dependent from said soil-contacting lower portion;
- and
- a weight bar for biasing said flails against the soil, said weight bar being oriented generally parallel to said tool bar and disposed across said upper portions of said flails generally above said soil-working protrusions;
- and
- pivotal links connecting said weight bar to said pivot rod.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.