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US 9,516,800 B2Granted
Aeration apparatus and methods
AssigneePlanetAir Turf Products, LLC
InventorDavid R. Maas
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A soil aeration apparatus can include an aeration rotor comprising at least one set of aeration tines configured for movement in a planetary motion about an axis. The apparatus can further include the aeration rotor being configured to remove soil plugs from a ground surface and break the soil plugs into soil particles when the aeration rotor is rotated.
Claims28
A soil aeration apparatus comprising:
- an aeration rotor comprising a carrier and a plurality of aeration tines supported by the carrier, wherein the rotor is configured to drive the aeration tines to penetrate soil and remove soil plugs from the soil when the aeration rotor is rotated;
- and
- a shield defining a rotor cavity and at least partially surrounding the aeration rotor positioned in the rotor cavity, wherein the shield defines at least one tine port sized and positioned to allow for ingress and egress of the aeration tines during rotation of the rotor, and wherein the shield defines a plurality of sifting ports sized small enough to contain soil plugs within the rotor cavity and large enough to allow soil particles from broken soil plugs to pass through the sifting ports out of the rotor cavity, wherein the shield defines a second tine port sized and positioned to allow for ingress and egress of the aeration tines during rotation of the rotor, wherein the aeration tines extend out of the shield only at the first and second tine ports during rotation of the rotor.
A soil aeration apparatus comprising:
- an aeration rotor comprising a carrier and a plurality of aeration tines supported by the carrier, wherein the rotor is configured to drive the aeration tines to penetrate soil and remove soil plugs from the soil when the aeration rotor is rotated;
- and
- a shield defining a rotor cavity and at least partially surrounding the aeration rotor positioned in the rotor cavity, wherein the shield defines at least one tine port sized and positioned to allow for ingress and egress of the aeration tines during rotation of the rotor, and wherein the shield defines a plurality of sifting ports sized small enough to contain soil plugs within the rotor cavity and large enough to allow soil particles from broken soil plugs to pass through the sifting ports out of the rotor cavity, wherein the shield comprises a front shield positioned forward of the aeration rotor and a rear shield positioned behind the aeration rotor, wherein each of the front and rear shields define a plurality of the sifting ports sized small enough to contain soil plugs within the rotor cavity and large enough to allow soil particles from broken soil plugs to pass through the sifting ports out of the rotor cavity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.