A plurality of transverse sets of front and rear gangs of hoe wheels are individually mounted on a tool bar by leaf springs which will transfer the weight of the tool bar to the gangs to provide down pressure and allow a high degree of flexibility between the sets of front and rear gangs and between the gangs of a single set so that the gangs can follow the ground contour and have excellent soil penetration.
A minimum tillage rotary hoe includes a tool bar mounted transverse to the direction of field travel. Projecting rearwardly from the tool bar are a plurality of rotary hoe support arms each having a single, uniform diameter, multi-tined rotary hoe affixed to the end thereof. The rotary hoe members are staggered to define a forward row and a rear row of hoe members, each row defining generally a separate, single axis of rotation. The axes of the rows are separated by a distance less than the diameter of the rotary hoes but greater than about 0.8 the diameter of the rotary hoes. Separation is considered critical in order to render the hoes self-cleaning. Self-cleaning of field trash is effected by movement of adjacent hoes and more particularly the tines of adjacent hoes past one another to clean out the trash.
A multiple rotary hoe including individual hoe wheels mounted in front and rear rows with an individual support arm for each wheel and all of the support arms having a common axis mounted on a single pivot shaft for independent pivoting action in response to upward and downward movements of the hoe wheels with such movements counteracted by spring means exerting downward pressure on each support arm independently of all of the remaining arms.
A plurality of transverse pairs of front and rear hoe wheels are individually mounted on a toolbar by spaced support arms and walker arms. The support arms are pivotally connected to the toolbar and extend rearwardly and downwardly therefrom and are normally urged downwardly by springs acting between the support arms and toolbar. The walker arms are pivotally mounted on the lower end of the support arms and rotatably carry a hoe wheel at each end. The structure permits the weight of the toolbar to be transferred to the rotary hoe wheels to provide a substantially constant and equal weight or downward force on each independent hoe wheel.
A no-till rotary hoe includes trash cutters for cutting field trash carried by the earthworking implements. The rotary hoe also has a walking beam mounted on a support arm with rotary hoe wheels mounted on forward and rear ends of the walking beam. The walking beam is connected to the arm about a pivot positioned to reduce the tendency of the walking beam to pivot excessively in use. A spring is used to aid in maintaining the walking beam properly oriented.
A rotary hoe implement includes upstanding spacer members for connection to a tool bar for drafting by a tractor. A rotary hoe supporting arm is pivotally connected to a lower end of the spacer member and an elongate adjustment rod extends from a rear end of the rotary hoe supporting arm to an upper end of the spacer member. A spring member is sleeved on the adjustment rod and cooperates with spring length adjusters on the rod to bias the rotary hoe downwardly into ground engagement and control the up and down movement thereof as the hoe travels over the earth surface. The rotary hoe implements are constructed or ganged together as units and are selectively mountable along the length of the tool bar for operator control.
