Abstract: A power digging means for moving one of several digging spoons of a ring stand type tree digging machine into and out of the ground includes a pair of double acting hydraulic linear motors each connected at their end portions to a ring supported stanchion, a rack integral with the back of the spoon, a rack on the stanchion, a pinion support assembly connected to lower ends of each of the hydraulic motors, and a pinion meshed with the racks and rotatably mounted in the pinion support assembly. The pinion support assembly has arms extending past and behind the stanchion rack. A roller is rotatably mounted between the assembly arms and behind the rack to hold the stanchion rack in proper meshing relation to the pinion. The positioning of the stanchion rack and the spoon rack with respect to each other is adjustable to insure proper driving engagement of the pinion and racks and to insure a proper penetration path of the spoon into and out of the ground.

Abstract: A ring stand splits to encompass a tree to be transplanted and then is formed back into a circular ring in approximately concentric relationship to the tree. A plurality of curved hollow stanchions extend upwardly from the stand, and a curved spoon is slidably mounted with respect to each of the stanchions and the stand for movement between a position above the earth and a position down into the earth to join with all of the other spoons to separate from the earth a tree ball consisting of the tree's roots and the earth surrounding those roots inside of the spoons. To power the spoons, a rack is provided on an inwardly facing portion of each of the spoons and a matching rack is provided on an outwardly facing portion inside of each of the hollow stanchions. Pinions are situated in meshing relationship to each rack, and a hydraulic linear motor is provided to move the pinions to cause a movement by the associated spoons to be twice that of the pinions.