Abstract: A device for removing plants or portions of plants from the plant bed includes a frame having forward and rearward ends, and first and second containment coulters attached to the frame in side-by-side alignment. The first and second containment coulters define a space between them. A rotary cutter is rotatably attached to the frame rearward of the first and second containment coulters. A portion of the rotary cutter extends into the space between the first and second containment coulters. The rotary cutter includes a plurality of teeth along a peripheral edge thereof. A shroud is attached to the frame and extends over at least a portion of the containment coulter pair and the rotary cutter. The shroud includes side walls that extend downward from the top of the shroud along at least a portion of the height of the pair of containment coulters and the rotary cutter.

Abstract: A single pass ground driven tiller and seeder apparatus includes a support frame, an elongated drive rotor journaled transversely on the frame, a tillage assembly pivotally connected to the frame and formed by a pair of rearwardly extending bearing plates and having an elongated tillage rotor journaled thereto and extending transversely therebetween, and a firming roller journaled between mounting plates pivotally connected to the bearing plates. The drive rotor is rotated by ground contact as the apparatus is drawn along by a tractor. The drive rotor is drivingly engaged with the tillage rotor so that the tillage rotor rotates at a faster speed than the drive rotor. A seed metering mechanism is supported on the frame and deposits seed in front of the drive rotor. The tillage rotor breaks the soil and incorporates the seed into the soil, after which the firming roller firms the seed bed.

Abstract: A travelling rolling digger (1) for sequential hole drilling or for producing sequential cultivated spots in soil. The travelling rolling digger (1) includes at least one drilling shaft which is rotatable by a drive mechanism about a longitudinal shaft axis and has a rotating soil penetrating edge. The drilling shaft is mounted to roll about a horizontal shaft in a soil penetrating plane while the horizontal shaft moves in a direction of travel of the traveling rolling digger. The rotating drilling shaft enters the soil at an entry angle and digs into the soil while the horizontal shaft moves in the direction of travel and the drilling shaft continuously changes its angle relative to the soil from the entry angle to a vertical position. The traveling rolling digger further comprising at least one cleaning blade (6).

Abstract: A novel drill for the aerification of turf grasses is disclosed. The drill comprises a chuck and a fluted turf drill bit held by the chuck. The chuck includes a locking mechanism which permits the chuck to rotate freely about its longitudinal axis when loaded in compression (as when the drill is inserted into the ground) but which locks, preventing rotation, when the drill is loaded in tension (such as when the drill is withdrawn from the soil). The drill bit has a smooth upper section and a fluted lower section. The smooth section decreases the probability of entangling the turf in the drill bit with subsequent lifting of the turf when the drill is withdrawn. The tip of the drill bit is adapted to provide a torque to the drill bit during insertion into the ground. Thus, the bit spirals into the ground upon insertion, but locks upon removal, thereby permitting the flutes of the bit to cut a cylindrical hole in the ground while removing soil from the hole by retaining it in the space between the flutes.

Abstract: A gardening/landscaping utility machine having a counter-rotating twin shaft system that can perform multiple types of work required for gardening/landscaping, including tilling, trench-edging, weeding, brush cutting, snow removal and lawn mowing. These processes can be accomplished by exchanging attachments from, or altering the orientation of, the counter-rotating twin shafts.

Abstract: A drilling tool magazine and a horizontal boring machine having a drilling tool magazine in which automatic and reliable handling and access to any of the drilling tools to be handled is ensured, the drilling tool magazine (10) which is particularly suitable for horizontal boring machines (5) is fitted with a plurality of tool bays (12) so as to receive tools (8) in an essentially horizontal position; these tool bays are each formed by at least one drive catch (14) movable along a conveyance path.

Abstract: A string trimmer is provided with a housing that supports a cutting head. The cutting head includes filaments that are attached thereto at one end for use in cutting associated vegetation. The cutting head is operatively rotated by power supplied from an engine. The cutting head is substantially laterally offset toward on side of the housing member and toward one end of the housing member.

Abstract: A self-contained bioremediation unit is adapted for quick coupling to a front-end loader, bulldozer or the like with no power connections between them. It carries its own engine and fuel tank for hydraulic driving of a dual horizontal auger head assembly for pulverizing, homogenizing and windrowing soil as the unit is advanced across a site. An upper auger is positioned above and forwardly of a lower auger for further pulverizing a soil first broken up by the lower auger. The unit includes its own water tank for carrying water and bacteria and a spray system for spraying the water and bacteria onto soil pulverized by the auger assembly. A hopper may be provided on the unit for dispensing fertilizer into the soil being pulverized by the auger assembly.

Abstract: A gardening utility machine having a counter-rotation twin shaft system can perform multiple types of work required for gardening (tilling, soil removal, weeding, raking and shredding of leaves), snow/ice removal and for power de-thatching and mowing of lawn grass. This can be done by exchanging attachments on the counter-rotating twin shafts: if tines are installed on the twin shafts, soil tilling, weeding can be done; if auger blades with or without digging bits are in place instead, the machine can simultaneously till and remove soil or can remove ice/snow, or rake and shred leaves; if the front shaft is installed with a spiked roller and the rear shaft, a shearing reel, then the machine can power de-thatch and mow grass at the same time, and additional grass clipping mulching ability can be performed if a fan blower equipped with a mulching fan blade and a retractable bedknife is in place.

Abstract: A gardening utility machine having a counter-rotation twin shaft system can perform multiple types of work required for gardening (tilting, soil removal, weeding, racking and shredding of leaves), snow/ice removal and for power de-thatching and mowing of lawn grass. This can be done by exchanging attachments on the counter-rotating twin shafts: if tines are installed on the twin shafts, soil tilling, weeding can be done; if auger blades with or without digging bits are in place instead, the machine can simultaneously till and remove soil or can remove ice/snow, or rack and shred leaves; if the front shaft is installed with a spiked roller and the rear shaft, a shearing reel, then the machine can power de-thatch and mow grass at the same time, and, additional grass clipping mulching ability can be performed if a fan blower equipped with a mulching fan blade and a retractable bedknife is in place.

Abstract: A soil cultivating machine comprises a cultivating member having discs and a tined roller, both of which are power-driven. Holes are provided in the discs and the periphery of each disc is divided into plate tine members by recesses. Tines extending from the tined roller extend between adjacent discs. In operation, the discs cut the soil into strips, and these strips are then engaged by tines of the tined roller. Further equipment, such as a seed drill, cultivator, or roller or a combination of these may be hitched to the machine.

Abstract: To prevent the development of clods on the soil surface when using a soil layer cultivator for the deep loosening of a field or the like, a pressure roller is provided to travel over the soil surface rearwardly of the elements effecting the deep loosening of the soil. The pressure roller is made up of several sections mounted on a common shaft with the individual roller sections located between support posts on a frame tube which posts support the loosening elements. The roller sections may be hinged individually or in groups to the frame tube. The rollers may roll freely over the soil surface or a forced drive for the roller sections can be provided.

Abstract: A machine for planting seeds includes a rotary soil lifting device which lifts broken-up soil, a tamping roller which tamps the remaining broken-up soil, an arrangement for placing seeds onto the upper surface of the tamped layer of the ground, and an arrangement for conveying the soil lifted by the soil lifting device past and upwardly of the tamping roller and for depositing this soil onto the tamped surface and onto the seeds placed thereon as a layer of uniform thickness. A compacting roller may be used to compact the soil of this layer after the formation of the latter, and the machine includes breaking-up tools of the fixed or rotating type mounted at the front region of the machine for breaking up the soil prior to and to a depth sufficient for the performance of the lifting operation by the soil lifting device. The conveying arrangement may include two hoods which together define a passage through which the lifted soil advances upwardly of and beyond the tamping roller.

Abstract: An improved cutting unit specially suited for grooming turf includes a frame supporting a conventional horizontally mounted driven reel having a number of spirally arranged blades. The cutting unit is supported on the ground by front and rear rollers. The front roller is a slotted expunger roller having numerous annular slots along its axis. Immediately behind the expunger roller is mounted a knife roller which includes numerous vertically oriented knife blades aligned with the circular slots of the expunger roller. As the expunger roller rolls along turf, horizontally lying plant material is pulled or puckered up by the expunger roller into the circular slots. The knife roller, driven at a high rate of speed about its own axis, pulls up and slices through the pulled up plant material.

Abstract: A walk from behind soil tilling machine including ground wheels upon which the machine may be moved and two rows of ground penetrating and pulverizing tines located to the rear of the ground wheels transversely to the line of machine movement. The tines of the rear row have a larger cutting diameter than the tines of the forward row, and the rows of tines are driven in counter-rotating directions such that upon forward movement of the machine the tines of the forward row break the surface of the ground and penetrate the earth to a determined relatively shallow depth and the tines of the rear row thereupon penetrate the earth to a further determined depth, with the forward and rear rows of tines cooperating to completely pulverize both depths of penetrated soil, thereby permitting thorough tilling of the soil to normal garden depth with a single passage of the machine.

Abstract: A soil cultivating implement has an elongated frame portion and a plurality of rotatable members mounted at the lower ends of respective elongated shafts. Each member includes a carrier and tools on radial arms are connected to the carrier. The carrier is fastened to a nonrotatable tube through a hood and flange arrangement that prevents stalks and the like from fouling the shaft housed within the tube. The tools can be rigid tines or resilient strip-like blades which are angled downwardly in the direction of rotation. Guides in the form of rods can be mounted to coextend with the tools, upwardly to the rear so that soil loosened by the tools is displaced upwardly by forces that crumble the displaced soil before the latter falls rearwardly. Drive to shafts is effected through a gear box on the frame portion and further shafts that have pinions in mesh with those on the soil working member shafts. A further implement can be linked to the frame portion and driven via a rear shaft of the gear box.

Abstract: An implement assembly includes two elongated frame portions with respective coupling members that are linked to one another. Either frame portion can be leading or trailing and in a preferred arrangement, the leading frame portion has tined soil working members that work overlapping strips of top soil while the trailing frame portion has tined tools that work subsoil in non-overlapping paths. A common transmission can be fixed to either respective gear box that rotates the members and the tools. In either arrangment, the transmission is connected to the driving gears for both the members and the tools which can be rotated at different speeds from that of the members. A ground engaging wheel can be positioned at either side of the center of the assembly to bear on ground that is located between neighboring tools and/or members. The member can work paths of soil having different widths from those of the tools.

Abstract: An electrical heating cable which limits power output once an established temperature limit is reached. The cable includes a high-resistance element and a temperature-sensitive variable resistance element electrically connected in series between two electrical conductors otherwise insulated from each other by insulating material. The temperature-sensitive resistance undergoes a substantial positive increase in resistivity when the temperature of the cable nears the established temperature limit. The increase in resistivity substantially reduces the heat-generating current flowing in the cable to limit the power output.

Abstract: A cultivating machine has one or more working members that are driven to rotate about upwardly extending axes. Each working member is connected to a drive transmission to turn and, spaced apart soil working members mounted for free rotation about respective axes, are moved through the soil. At least two of the soil working members are different from one another and capable of workingthe soil in different ways. One member can be a group of tines that are freely rotatable about an upwardly extending axis and an adjacent member can be a disc that rotates about a horizontal axis. Each member includes a stub shaft that is journalled in a universal mount so that the members can be released and exchanged to meet varying soil conditions. The mount has a pivot connection and a setting device to retain the soil working member at various working angles. Also, the stud shaft is adjustable within a sleeve of the mount.

Abstract: A cultivating implement has one or more forward cultivating rotors that are driven to work the top soil. During this working, stones and debris are unearthed. At the rear of the cultivating members, one or more rows of soil working members are moved through the soil and these members are soil engaging members with edges that contact the stones and push the stones down into the subsoil. The soil engaging members can be discs with edges having projections and the discs can be driven to rotate in the same or opposite direction as the rotor. Alternatively, the soil engaging members can be bars that extend down into the soil. In either case, a sieve of rods or bars can be positioned behind the rotor to allow fine soil to pass while stones are guided downwardly in front of the fine soil. The lower ends of the soil engaging members can be interconnected with a horizontal shaft on which the discs are mounted. A protective hood overlies the rotor as well as the soil engaging discs or bars.

Abstract: A cultivator has a beamed frame with a coupling member that can be attached to the lower points of a lift device on a tractor. The cultivator has an assembly of blades mounted on a horizontal shaft which is driven via a forward transmission connected to the p.t.o. of the tractor. A power driven roller is turned by a rear transmission that is interconnected to the forward transmission by a telescopic shaft. The roller is mounted on a supporting structure including overhead beams that extend forwardly to a pivot connection on top of the coupling member. The roller is vertically displaceable and mounted on pivoted arms of the structure. Hydraulic assemblies can raise and/or lower the roller relative to ground wheels on the structure, for transport. A delivery mechanism including a hopper with a connectable feeder drive is supported on the structure in front of the roller. The roller can be driven to aid the forward travel of the implement.

Abstract: An agricultural implement combination has a forward cultivator with soil working blades that rotate about a horizontal axis extending transverse to the direction of travel and a rear harrow having tined soil working members that rotate about upwardly extending shafts positioned in a row also extending transverse to the direction of travel. The cultivator and harrow each have a coupling member and their coupling members are linked by pairs of arms that cross one another when the implement is viewed from the side. A driving system includes a separate transmisson with change speed gearing for the cultivator and the harrow and the input shaft of the cultivator is connectable to a prime mover p.t.o. A telescope shaft connection bridges the two transmissions so that the blades of the cultivator and the tined members of the harrow can be driven from a single p.t.o. The harrow preferably has a supporting roller at the rear to smooth the soil worked first by the cultivator and then by the harrow.

Abstract: Disclosed is a tilling apparatus characterized by a regulating drive connection between the towing tractor drive axle and the tiller shaft, the tiller tines having a modified arcuate configuration which provide a pocketed, rather than a furrowed or channeled, tilling depth profile.

Abstract: A cultivator has two elongated rotors rotatably mounted on horizontal axes and in driving engagement with driving means to work the soil at different depths. A forward rotor is secured to the frame and a ground engaging roller is mounted in front of the rotor. A rear rotor has a central multi-sided support on which spacer rings and soil working plates are slideably received. The rear rotor is vertically adjustable with respect to the forward rotor so that the soil can be worked at different layers in one pass.