Roller system for cover crop termination
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture
InventorsTed Stanley Kornecki, Randy L. Raper
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cover crop termination system includes a smooth drum and a crimping arm assembly operatively connected to the drum through a cam mechanism including a cam follower. The crimping arm assembly includes a plurality of crimping assemblies having crimping bars which crimp the cover crop after it has been rolled in order to prevent resprouting of the crop.
Claims20
A crop crimping device comprising:
- a crop roller for rolling over targeted crops;
- at least one cam mechanism attached to the crop roller so that the crop roller rotates the cam mechanism;
- at least one cam follower engaging a perimeter of the cam mechanism;
- and,
- a crimping arm assembly attached to the cam follower so that the crimping arm assembly is raised and descends as the cam follower travels around a perimeter of the cam mechanism, the crimping arm thereby crimping the targeted crops.
A system for rolling and crimping cover crops, the system comprising:
- a crop roller;
- at least one cam assembly disposed adjacent to the crop roller, the cam assembly comprising:
- (a) a cam mechanism attached to the crop roller,
- (b) a cam follower engaging a perimeter of the cam mechanism;
- and
- (c) a cam follower linkage having a first end and a second end, the first end being attached to the cam follower;
- a crimping arm assembly operatively associated with the cam assembly and the crop roller, the crimping arm assembly comprising:
- (a) at least one crimping arm mechanism pivotally attached to the second end of the cam follower linkage;
- (b) a slide attached to the at least one crimping arm mechanism;
- and
- (c) at least one crimping bar attached to the slide;
- whereby as the crop roller rolls over targeted crops, the cam mechanism causes the at least one crimping arm mechanism to oscillate so that the crimping bar crimps the targeted crops.
A method of making a crop roller, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a crop roller for rolling over targeted crops;
- attaching a cam mechanism to the crop roller so that the crop roller rotates the cam mechanism;
- deploying a cam follower on a perimeter of the cam mechanism so that as the cam mechanism rotates, the cam follower follows the perimeter of the cam mechanism;
- and,
- connecting a crimping arm assembly to the cam follower so that the crimping arm assembly is raised and descends as the cam follower travels around the perimeter of the cam mechanism, the crimping arm thereby crimping the targeted crops.
A method of rolling and crimping a field of crops, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a cylindrical crop roller for rolling over targeted crops;
- attaching a cam mechanism to the crop roller so that the crop roller rotates the cam mechanism thereby causing a cam follower to vertically raise and lower an attached crimping arm and associated crimping assembly, the crops being crimped when the crimping assembly is lowered;
- connecting the crop roller to a motive means;
- and,
- propelling the motive means across a field of the targeted crops so that the targeted crops are simultaneously flattened by the crop roller and crimped by crimping assembly.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.