US-12623240-B1 - Retractable spray shield for agricultural use

US12623240B1US 12623240 B1US12623240 B1US 12623240B1US-12623240-B1

Abstract

A retractable spray shield for agricultural use has a spray barrier; a two-part storage tube; a deployment and concealment drive having a motor, a drive shaft, and a quadrilateral linkage that in one direction deploys the spray barrier from the storage tube and in a second opposed direction conceals the spray barrier within the storage tube. The quadrilateral linkage is defined by a rotating arm; a pushing arm coupled to the drive shaft; the bottom of a unit storage tube, and a transfer arm supporting the spray barrier. The spray barrier has a generally triangular and flaccid liquid barrier film, a pair of framing legs coupled to opposed edges of the liquid barrier film, and a spring configured to operatively stretch the pair of framing legs apart from each other and thereby expand the barrier film toward a planar, generally triangular geometry when deployed.

Inventors

Mark T. Hagberg

Assignees

Mark T. Hagberg

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20221010

Claims (11)

1 . In combination, an agricultural spray machine, an agricultural spray boom, and a retractable spray shield for agricultural use, the agricultural spray machine having: a drive train; a liquid tank; and a pump receiving a liquid held within said liquid tank; the agricultural spray boom having: a boom arm extending at least in part in a direction transverse to a forward direction of travel of said agricultural spray machine; and at least one spray nozzle suspended from said boom arm and in fluid communication with said pump; the retractable spray shield for agricultural use having: a liquid barrier film; a storage tube configured to receive and store said spray shield, said storage tube having a storage tube bottom and a storage tube length, said storage tube length defining a storage tube longitudinal axis, a unit holder having a length defining a unit holder longitudinal axis parallel to said storage tube longitudinal axis, said unit holder supporting said liquid barrier film, and a pintle defining an axis of rotation transverse to said storage tube longitudinal axis and coupling said unit holder to said storage tube, said pintle configured to allow said unit holder to pivot about said pintle relative to said storage tube; at least one strain relief spring opposing rotation of said unit holder about said pintle relative to said storage tube; a deployment drive rotating said liquid barrier film relative to said storage tube between a first stored position adjacent to said storage tube and a second deployed position more perpendicular to said storage tube; and a boom arm coupler adapted to couple said retractable spray shield to said agricultural spray boom and simultaneously locate said liquid barrier film adjacent to and in a spray pattern of said at least one spray nozzle when said liquid barrier film is in said second deployed position.
2 . The combination agricultural spray machine, agricultural spray boom, and retractable spray shield for agricultural use of claim 1 , wherein said storage tube has a U-shaped cross-section.
3 . The combination agricultural spray machine, agricultural spray boom, and retractable spray shield for agricultural use of claim 2 , wherein said unit holder has a U-shaped cross-section that nests within said storage tube, said at least one strain relief spring drawing said unit holder into a position extending generally parallel to storage tube.
4 . The combination agricultural spray machine, agricultural spray boom, and retractable spray shield for agricultural use of claim 2 , wherein said liquid barrier film further comprises a pair of framing legs, each of said pair of framing legs coupled to an opposed edge of said liquid barrier film.
5 . The combination agricultural spray machine, agricultural spray boom, and retractable spray shield for agricultural use of claim 4 , further comprising: a first pintle coupling a first one of said pair of framing legs to a hinge plate; and a second pintle coupling a second one of said pair of framing legs to said hinge plate.
6 . The combination agricultural spray machine, agricultural spray boom, and retractable spray shield for agricultural use of claim 5 , further comprising: a spring guide post intermediate between said first and second pintles; and a tension spring wrapped about said spring guide post and configured to operatively stretch said pair of framing legs apart from each other and thereby expand said spray shield toward a planar, generally triangular geometry.
7 . The combination agricultural spray machine, agricultural spray boom, and retractable spray shield for agricultural use of claim 1 , wherein said liquid barrier film further comprises a generally triangular and flaccid liquid barrier film.
8 . The combination agricultural spray machine, agricultural spray boom, and retractable spray shield for agricultural use of claim 1 , wherein said deployment drive comprises: a motor; a drive shaft; a quadrilateral linkage having a first lower pivot affixed to said unit holder; a second lower pivot affixed to said unit holder at a location separated along said unit holder longitudinal axis from said first lower pivot and also pivotally affixed to a transfer arm and thereby defining a first fixed distance; a second pivot affixed to said transfer arm at a location separated along a longitudinal axis of said transfer arm from said second lower pivot and thereby defining a second fixed distance; a first linkage arm extending between and coupling a pushing pivot with said second pivot and thereby defining a third fixed distance; a second linkage arm extending between and coupling said first pivot to said pushing pivot and thereby defining a fourth fixed distance; said pushing pivot additionally coupled to said drive shaft to shift said quadrilateral linkage responsive to being driven by said drive shaft.
9 . The combination agricultural spray machine, agricultural spray boom, and retractable spray shield for agricultural use of claim 8 , wherein said hinge plate is pivotally coupled with said transfer arm.
10 . The combination agricultural spray machine, agricultural spray boom, and retractable spray shield for agricultural use of claim 9 , further comprising at least one spring biasing a position of said hinge plate relative to said transfer arm.
11 . The combination agricultural spray machine, agricultural spray boom, and retractable spray shield for agricultural use of claim 1 , wherein said agricultural spray machine further comprises: an operator cab configured to support an operator and provide actuatable operator controls; and an electrical system configured to selectively provide electrical power to said deployment and concealment drive responsive to activation of at least one of said operator controls.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention pertains generally to fluid spraying, and more particularly to a retractable spray shield for agricultural use that deflects the flow from at least one spray nozzle. 2. Description of the Related Art Modern agriculture has for most of a century advanced in productivity more than many other industries. Most consumers are generally unaware of these significant advances. However, the consumer has benefitted greatly, in particular because of the lower-than-inflation price changes in many agricultural products through this long time period. Most agricultural operations today incorporate extremely technically advanced machinery, seed, and chemicals that allow one person to do the work that even only a few decades ago required many. One particularly common and exemplary machine is the tractor, which has increased greatly in size, power, and in the many diverse attachments that are used to facilitate operations. The commercial production of many agricultural crops involves the spraying of one or more chemicals such as herbicides, fertilizers, insecticides, or fungicides. The products being sprayed may be used to improve the health of the desired crop, or to eliminate or reduce detrimental interaction with diseases, pests, and competing weeds. To reduce the time required to apply these products to the crop, very large sprayers have been produced that carry a large liquid tank, a pump having a fluid inlet coupled into the liquid tank, at least one boom arm typically extending generally transversely to the direction of travel, and a plurality of spray nozzles supported by the boom and coupled through liquid supply lines to the pump outlet. The sprayer may be an attachment to a tractor, or an entirely separate machine. A person operating the sprayer will typically be able to control the pump to turn on or off the spray, and in many cases to control the pump pressure, which in turn controls the rate of delivery of the liquid to the crop. Through the use of this equipment, spraying of liquid chemicals is both time efficient and controllable to the needs of a particular crop, field, or even location within a field. As a result, a relatively precise amount of chemical may be applied rapidly to a large area. As may be appreciated, the quantity of spray delivered to a crop can be relatively precisely controlled beneath the boom. When multiple passes are made across a field, for each pass the end of the boom arm can be located offset by the right amount from the previous pass to provide just the right amount of overlap in the spray coming out beyond the end of the boom. However, the sprayer will only pass over the edges of the field once. Consequently, adjacent to the edges of the field a tractor operator will normally make sure the last row of crop will be under the last sprayers, to ensure adequate liquid is delivered to this final row. Unfortunately, this also means that spray will be delivered beyond the last row of crop, typically on to adjacent plants. As may be appreciated, these adjacent plants are not a part of the desired crop, and so may include an adjacent field containing a different crop, a grass covered ditch, a neighboring property under different ownership, or undesirable weeds. In the case of the application of an herbicide with the overspray falling onto a different crop, a grass covered ditch, or a neighboring property, those adjacent plants undesirably may be killed or seriously harmed by the spray. In the case of undesirable weeds, and since these weeds are not immediately under the boom and are instead being treated with overspray, the concentration of application is generally less than that intended for application to the field. As a result, the overspray may not be sufficient to kill the weeds, and so may instead lead to the development of weeds resistant to the spray. These weeds may then encroach upon the desired crop, hurting the yield or value of the harvested crop. Similar deficiencies may be encountered in the case of insecticides and fungicides, such as where adjacent insects may develop insecticide resistance. In the case of a fertilizer overspray, adjacent weeds may be undesirably strengthened and stimulated. Consequently, and for a variety of reasons, it is desirable to reduce or eliminate overspray adjacent to the edges of a field, while not interfering with the spray within the middle of the field. To reduce the overspray, artisans have designed various shields that are designed to enclose a single row of crop. The spray nozzles are mounted to spray into the interior of the shield, and thereby avoid spray into the between row spaces and to prevent overspray. Exemplary U.S. patents and published applications, the teachings which are incorporated herein by reference, include: U.S. Pat. No. 3,445,961 by Elsworth, entitled “Agriculture spraying machines”, which illustrates a pair of plastic guides that gently squeeze t