Vehicle mounted soil sampler

A vehicle mounted soil sampler comprising:

• a generally vertical mast tube with a rectangular cross section;
• a hitch mount assembly including a hitch plate, clamped to said generally vertical mast tube vertically adjustable relative to said generally vertical mast tube, a hitch bar fixed to the hitch plate and telescopically receivable in a receiver hitch mounted on said vehicle;
• a support plate clamped to said generally vertical mast and vertically adjustable relative to said generally vertical mast tube;
• a motor connected to a gear box, a gear box output shaft, a shaft coupler and a drive shaft and gear journaled in a gear housing, and wherein the motor and the gear housing are both clamped to the support plate;
• an elongated gear rack with gear teeth, held substantially parallel to said generally vertical mast by the gear housing and movable parallel to said generally vertical mast, by the motor connected to the drive shaft and gear journaled in the gear housing, in a downward direction and wherein the motor drive shaft, and gear journaled in the gear housing are reversible to move to the elongated gear rack generally parallel to said generally vertical mast in an upward direction;
• at least one rack guide bearing attached to the support plate above the gear housing and engageable with the elongated gear rack to limit movement of the elongated gear rack away from the drive shaft and gear, and engageable with a first rack side and a second rack side;
• an idler gear journaled on the support plate and in engagement with the gear teeth of the elongated gear rack adjacent to the at least one guide bearing and above the gear housing, and wherein the idler gear limits movement of the elongated gear rack from the at least one guide bearing;
• a tubular soil probe including a probe upper end clamped to a bottom end of the elongated gear rack and a soil probe open end which permits movement of soil into the interior of the soil probe upon downward movement of the soil probe driven by the elongated gear rack, the drive shaft and gear journaled in the gear housing and the motor, and an open slot in the tubular soil probe;
• a spoon bar pivotally attached to a spoon mounting plate clamped to said generally vertical mast, by a horizontal pivot pin, the spoon bar including a bar lower portion with a concave surface that is movable into and out of the open slot in the tubular soil probe upon pivotable movement about the horizontal pivot pin and a spring urging the bar lower portion of the spoon bar toward the open slot;
• and
• a soil sample container supported by said generally vertical mast in a position to catch soil samples moved through the open slot of the tubular soil probe in response to upward movement of the tubular soil probe and the elongated gear rack.

A method of adjusting a vehicle mounted soil sampler comprising:

• clamping a hitch mount assembly to a generally vertical mast in a position that accommodates the height of a receiver hitch mounted on said vehicle;
• clamping a motor support plate to said generally vertical mast in a position which provides a desired space between a tubular soil probe and the ground when the tubular soil probe is in a raised position;
• clamping a spoon mounting plate to said generally vertical mast in a selected position in which a lower portion of a spoon bar is a selected distance above a bottom of a slot in the tubular soil probe and the tubular soil probe is in the raised position;
• and
• mounting an upper limit switch trigger on a selected position on an elongated gear rack that provides the desired depth of soil penetration by the tubular soil probe.