Garlic upright-positioning and planting device

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a planting device of a garlic clove planter for planting garlic cloves, and more particularly, to a garlic upright-positioning and planting device for planting garlic cloves while maintaining an upright state thereof at the time of planting the garlic cloves.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In general, operations for planting garlic are performed by transporting garlic cloves to a planting field, making furrows for planting the transported garlic cloves, planting the garlic cloves into the furrows, and covering the furrows. Heretofore, such garlic planting operations have been conducted by manual works that need tremendous human labors.

There were problems in that more time and expenses were required for the garlic planting operations conducted by the manual works. Thus, the applicant developed the garlic clove planter capable of overcoming the above problems and filed patent applications with the Korean Intellectual Property Office (see Korean Patent Application Nos. 1998-48914 and 1999-32085).

FIG. 1A

schematically shows the whole constitution of a conventional garlic clove planter disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 1999-32085. The garlic clove planter shown in

FIG. 1A

is now widely used. The garlic clove planter comprises a digging device

100

for digging and preparing the soil, in which garlic cloves will be planted, using the power transmitted from a power mechanism (not shown) such as a tractor or cultivator; a transport device

110

for seating the garlic clove from a clove storage hopper

111

, in which the garlic cloves are contained, one after another and transferring the seated garlic clove using rotational force transmitted from the power mechanism; and a planting device

120

for guiding the garlic clove transferred from the transport device

110

to be postured in an upright position perpendicular to the ground and sequentially planting the garlic clove one after another.

As shown in

FIG. 1B

, the conventional garlic planting device

120

is constructed to allow a guiding hopper

126

and planting hoppers

127

to be opened and closed through multi-component link mechanisms

123

,

124

and sector cams

125

by providing reverse driving force through a plurality of driven gears

122

which are engaged with one another by a driving chain

121

.

However, the conventional garlic planting device has a complicated structure in which a posture of the planting hopper is maintained through the plurality of driven gears engaged with one another by the driving chain.

Further, the conventional garlic planting device has a complicated structure in which in order to open the guiding hopper, a link mechanism of the guiding hopper and the sector cams of the planting hoppers are interlocked with one another.

Furthermore, the conventional garlic planting device has a complicated structure in which the planting hoppers are opened and closed by interlocking operation of their respective sector cams and link mechanisms.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, the present invention is conceived to solve the aforementioned problems in the prior art. An object of the present invention is to provide a garlic upright-positioning and planting device having a simple structure by which a garlic clove can be planted while the garlic clove is kept at its upright posture with a blunt root portion thereof directed toward the ground.

According to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the object, there is provided a garlic planting device for planting garlic cloves while maintaining an upright state thereof, which comprises at least one guiding hopper for guiding a garlic clove with a root portion thereof directed in a downward direction, and a planting means for planting the garlic clove supplied from each of the guiding hoppers. The planting means further comprises a pair of round planting plates rotatably supported at both ends of a fixed shaft; a driving sprocket fixedly coupled on an external surface of one of the planting plates for transmitting driving force from an external power source to the planting plates; a plurality of driven shafts disposed at an equiangular interval between the pair of the planting plates; a plurality of planting hoppers fixed respectively to the plurality of the driven shafts for planting the garlic clove supplied from the guiding hoppers; a sector cam fixed to one side of the fixed shaft for causing the planting hoppers to be opened and closed; and a reverse drive mechanism which is disposed in at least one of the pair of the planting plates and causes the driven shafts to be rotated in a direction opposite to a direction the planting plates rotate such that lower portions of the planting hoppers are always directed toward the ground even though the planting plates rotate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The above object and feature of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment given in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1A

is an overall schematic view showing the whole constitution of a conventional garlic clove planter;

FIG. 1B

is a schematic view showing the coupled and operational state among respective components of a conventional garlic upright-positioning and planting device;

FIG. 2

is an overall schematic view of a garlic upright-positioning and planting device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3

is a right side view of the garlic upright-positioning and planting device shown in

FIG. 2

;

FIG. 4

is a partial front view of the garlic upright-positioning and planting device shown in

FIG. 2

;

FIG. 5

is a cut-away view illustrating an operating principle of the garlic upright-positioning and planting device shown in

FIG. 2

; and

FIGS. 6A and 6B

are conceptual views illustrating a principle of upright positioning the garlic clove in the garlic upright-positioning and planting device shown in FIG.

2

.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2

is an overall perspective view of a garlic upright-positioning and planting device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The garlic upright-positioning and planting device shown in

FIG. 2

is constructed to be generally used in the conventional garlic clove planter as shown in FIG.

1

A.

As shown in

FIG. 2

, the garlic upright-positioning and planting device

200

is constructed to include a guiding means for guiding a garlic clove to be transferred in an upright state, i.e. with a blunt root portion thereof directed downwardly, and a planting means mounted to a lower part of the guiding means for planting the upright guided garlic clove.

The guiding means comprises a plurality of guiding hoppers

210

which are fixed to a supporting rod

201

secured to a main body (not shown) of the garlic clove planter, respectively, at predetermined intervals in a longitudinal direction of the supporting rod.

Further, the planting means comprises a pair of round planting plates

220

which are positioned with a space disposed therebetween, a driving sprocket

230

which receives driving force from an external power source and is coupled at the center of one of the planting plates

220

, a fixed shaft

240

which connects the centers of the planting plates

220

with each other, and a plurality of driven shafts

250

which are disposed at an equiangular interval to connect the planting plates

220

with each other. Furthermore, the planting means comprises a plurality of planting hoppers

260

which are fixed to the plurality of driven shafts

250

, respectively, to be positioned below the plurality of guiding hoppers

210

, and a reverse drive mechanism which is disposed in the planting plate

220

with the driving sprocket

230

coupled therewith and causes the planting hoppers to be rotated in a reverse direction in response to rotation of the planting plates

220

such that lower portions of the planting hoppers

260

are always directed toward the ground even if the planting plates

220

rotate.

FIG. 3

is a right side view of the garlic upright-positioning and planting device shown in

FIG. 2

, and

FIG. 4

is a partial front view of the garlic upright-positioning and planting device shown in FIG.

2

.

As shown in

FIGS. 2 and 3

, each of the guiding hoppers

210

of the present invention includes two halves

211

,

212

and is fixed to the supporting rod

201

through supporting portions

202

secured thereto. The two halves

211

,

212

are constructed in such a manner that lower portions of the guiding hoppers are opened through a pair of sector gears

213

engaged with each other and again closed by restoring force of a tension spring

214

connected with two halves

211

,

212

(see FIG.

6

A). The guiding hopper

210

has open upper and lower portions. The open upper portion of the guiding hopper is formed to have such a size that the garlic clove can be sufficiently introduced into the hopper. The lower portion of the guiding hopper is formed with a round slot having such a size that a pointed sprouting bract portion of the garlic clove can protrude toward the outside but the blunt root portion of the garlic clove cannot protrude therethrough. Further, a downward protruding portion

215

having a predetermined length is formed at an end of the half

212

of the guiding hopper

210

.

As shown in

FIGS. 3 and 4

, the fixed shaft

240

is secured to a fixing stand (not shown) of the main body of the garlic clove planter, and a sector cam

241

having a predetermined size is then fixed to one side of the fixed shaft

240

.

Each of the planting hoppers

260

serves to plant the garlic clove, which is guided thereinto and supplied thereto through the guiding hopper

210

, into the ground, as shown in

FIGS. 2

to

4

. Further, one side of the planting hopper is fixed to the relevant driven shaft

250

such that the planting hopper is positioned vertically right below the guiding hopper

210

. At this time, a plurality of the planting hoppers

260

are fixed to the relevant driven shaft

250

at an equidistant interval in a longitudinal direction of the driven shaft. Furthermore, the protruding portion

215

of the guiding hopper

210

is positioned below an upper end of each planting hopper

260

when the upper end comes into contact with the protruding portion. Therefore, the right upper end of the planting hopper

260

advances while pushing the protruding portion

215

as the planting plate

220

rotates. Consequently, the garlic clove seated in the guiding hopper

210

can fall into the relevant planting hopper

260

.

Further, each planting hopper

260

has an open upper portion, and a movable half

261

for discharging the garlic clove at a lower portion of the planting hopper. The movable half

261

is hinged to a fixed half

262

to be opened and closed with respect to the fixed half

262

. The movable half

261

is constructed to be automatically closed by means of restoring force of a tension spring

263

connected with the fixed half

262

. Moreover, a roller

264

is connected to an upward extension of the movable half

261

(see FIG.

4

). The roller

264

is positioned on one side of the planting hopper

260

. That is, the planting hopper

260

is constructed such that the movable half

261

is opened when predetermined force generated by the sector cam

241

secured to the fixed shaft

240

is applied to the roller

264

and the planting hopper is then returned to an original position by means of the restoring force of the tension spring

263

when the predetermined force is removed.

Furthermore, it is preferred that the planting hopper

260

be constructed in such a manner that the distal end of the fixed half

262

of the planting hopper

260

extends further below that of the movable half

261

. Such construction ensures that the garlic clove can be planted in the upright state while the fixed half

262

of the planting hopper

260

coming close to the ground by means of rotation of the planting plate

220

makes grooves on the ground and the movable half

261

, which is opened and simultaneously lifted in proportion to an advancing speed of the planter, does not touch the garlic clove to be planted into the grooves (see FIG.

3

).

FIG. 5

is a cut-away view showing the operating principle of the garlic upright-positioning and planting device shown in FIG.

2

. As shown in

FIGS. 2

to

5

, a reverse drive mechanism of the present invention is placed in the center of the planting plate

220

, and includes a stationary gear

271

secured in a fixed position regardless of the rotation of the planting plate

220

, three idle gears

272

engaged with the stationary gear

271

, and pairs of driven gears

273

respectively engaged with relevant idle gears

272

and having the same gear ratio as the stationary gear

271

.

The stationary gear

271

is coupled with the fixed shaft

240

secured to a fixing stand to be kept stationary regardless of the rotation of the planting plate

220

. In addition, each of the idle gears

272

is rotatably secured in the planting plate

220

, so that it rotates together with the stationary gear

271

in the same rotating direction as the planting plate

220

.

Each of the driven gears

273

is also rotatably secured in the planting plate

220

, so that it rotates through the engagement with the idle gear in a direction opposite to the rotating direction of the planting plate

220

. The driven gear

273

is coupled with the driven shaft

250

to which the planting hopper

260

is secured. With the reverse drive mechanism constructed as such, even though the planting plate

220

rotates, the lower portion of the planting hopper

260

is always directed to the ground.

FIGS. 6A and 6B

are conceptual views showing the principle of positioning the garlic cloves in the upright state in the garlic upright-positioning and planting device shown in FIG.

2

.

FIG. 6A

shows the state where the garlic clove

280

is seated in the guiding hopper

210

with the blunt root portion of the garlic clove

280

directed downward.

FIG. 6B

shows the inverted state where the garlic clove

280

is seated in the guiding hopper

210

with the pointed sprouting bract portion of the garlic clove

280

directed downward.

If the planting hopper

260

rotates under the condition that the garlic clove

280

is seated in the guiding hopper

210

in the upright state as shown in

FIG. 6A

, a right upper end of the planting hopper

260

pushes the downward protruding portion

215

and opens the guiding hopper

210

so that the garlic clove

280

falls into the planting hopper

260

in the upright state. However, if planting hopper

260

rotates under the condition that the garlic clove

280

is seated in the guiding hopper

210

in the inverted state where the bract portion of the garlic clove

280

protrudes outward as shown in

FIG. 6A

, the right upper end of the planting hopper

260

pushes the bract portion of the garlic clove

280

and opens the guiding hopper

210

. Accordingly, the garlic clove

280

rotates 180 degrees about the bract portion thereof and then falls into the planting hopper

260

in the correct upright state.

Hereinafter, the operational relationship of the garlic upright-positioning and planting device constructed as described above will be explained in detail.

As shown in

FIGS. 2

to

5

, the planting plate

220

rotates as the driving sprocket

230

rotates by means of driving force transmitted from an external power source, and the idle gear

272

placed in the planting plate

220

rotates in the same rotation direction as the planting plate

220

. Further, the driven gear

273

engaged with the idle gear

272

rotates in the direction opposite to the rotation direction of the planting plate

220

. Thus, although the planting hopper

260

secured to the driven shaft

250

rotates in the same rotation direction as the planting plate

220

, the lower portion of the planting hopper

260

is always directed toward the ground.

At this time, the planting hopper

260

rotates while the right upper end thereof pushes the downward protruding portion

215

of the guiding hopper

210

. Then, as shown in

FIGS. 6

a

and

6

b

, the lower portion of the guiding hopper

210

is opened in opposite directions by the sector gear

213

. Subsequently, the garlic clove

280

seated in the guiding hopper

210

falls into the planting hopper

260

in the upright state regardless of a posture of the garlic clove. After the garlic clove

280

is discharged in such way, the guiding hopper

210

is automatically closed by the restoring force of the tension spring

214

.

The planting hopper

260

with the garlic clove

280

seated in the upright state therein continuously rotates, and then, the fixed half

262

makes the grooves when coming into contact with the ground. Thereafter, the roller

264

of the planting hopper

260

comes into contact with the sector cam

241

secured to the fixed shaft

240

, and thus the movable half

261

is opened. The garlic clove

280

discharged through the movable half

261

is planted in the upright state into the grooves. After the garlic clove

280

has been discharged in such way, the movable half

261

of the planting hopper

260

is closed by the restoring force of the tension spring

263

.

According to a series of planting processes, the garlic clove is planted in the upright state.

As described above, the garlic upright-positioning and planting device of the present invention has a simple structure in which a driving chain is eliminated and the posture of the planting hopper is maintained by one stationary gear and the plurality of driven gears.

Further, the garlic upright-positioning and planting device of the present invention has a simple structure in which an exclusive link mechanism for the guiding hopper is eliminated, the guiding hopper is interlocked with the planting hopper to be opened, and even if the root portion of the garlic clove has been inverted, this posture of the garlic clove can be corrected just before the garlic clove falls into the planting hopper.

Moreover, the garlic upright-positioning and planting device of the present invention has a simple structure in which a cam and link mechanism is eliminated in the planting hopper and is replaced with the sector cam.

Although the technical details of the garlic upright-positioning and planting device of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, they illustrate the most preferred embodiment of the present invention only by way of example. Thus, the present invention is not limited thereto.

While the invention has been shown and described with respect to the preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.