Soil sampler apparatus and method

A machine for sampling soil, comprising:

• (a) a drive assembly comprising a track, a roller chain, or a belt, and further comprising a plurality of idler wheels or a plurality of sprockets;
• (b) a sampler assembly attached to said track, roller chain, or belt such that said sampler assembly rotates about said wheels or sprockets with said track, chain, or belt, said sampler assembly comprising a hollow probe that is extendable with respect to said track, chain, or belt and an ejector that is extendable longitudinally within said hollow probe;
• (c) a sample collection bin disposed to receive a soil sample from said hollow probe;
• and
• (d) a longitudinal guide in communication with said sampler assembly, wherein said guide is operable to extend and retract said probe as said probe passes over the soil, thereby forcing said probe into and out of the soil, and wherein said guide is further operable to extend said ejector longitudinally within said probe as said probe passes over said sample collection bin, thereby depositing a sample into said sample collection bin.

A soil sampler, comprising:

• (a) a frame;
• (b) a rotational drive assembly mounted to said frame, said rotational drive assembly comprising a rotational drive member;
• (c) a compressible probe carriage that is attached to said rotational drive member;
• (d) a hollow probe attached to said compressible probe carriage;
• and
• (e) a guide attached to said frame, wherein said guide is in communication with said probe whereby said probe is operable to extend and retract as said rotational drive member rotates with respect to said guide.

A method for collecting soil samples using an automatic soil sampling apparatus comprising a frame, a rotational drive member mounted to the frame, a probe carriage attached to the rotational drive member. a probe extendibly attached to the probe carriage, a probe follower linked to the probe, a guide comprising a probe follower track, wherein the probe follower rides within the probe follower track, and an electronic control system, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) mapping a field of interest using GPS information;
• (b) dividing the field of interest into multiple sample areas;
• (c) moving the automatic soil sampling apparatus over the field of interest by means of the rotational drive member such that at least one core is collected from each of the sample areas by means of extending the probe from the probe carriage into the sample area and thereby scooping the core from the sample area;
• and
• (d) depositing each of the cores into one of a plurality of sample containers by means of moving the probe follower along the probe follower track and thereby inserting the probe follower within the probe and pushing the core from within the probe into a sample container which is selected based upon the sample area in which the soil sampling apparatus occupies at a given time.