Material spreading apparatus

Abstract

A versatile and easily serviceable material spreading apparatus of the type for movement over a ground surface while broadcasting a material along a path on the ground surface. The apparatus includes a belt cartridge which can be slid into or pulled out of a chassis compartment having ledges for supporting the cartridge. The belt cartridge provides an upper flight on which material is carried from a hopper supported on the chassis to a broadcasting unit carried at one end of the chassis. A plurality of broadcasting units each of which has an attachment component, which in combination with a mating attachment component carried by the chassis, permits quick fastening and removal of each unit relative to the chassis. One of the broadcasting units mounts an elongated rotatable member below a drop-off end of the upper flight of the belt cartridge, and the rotatable member is driven in a direction so that the upper rotating periphery of the rotating member propels the material upward and away from the chassis. The rotating member has strips of bristles which spiral around a core of the member towards opposite ends thereof so that the material also has imparted to it from bristles of the rotating member a direction of flight having a side-ways component to thereby increase the width of the path of distribution.

Description

[0001] This invention relates to a material spreader for broadcasting granular material, such as sand, top soil, fertilizers, and the like over the ground surface, and particularly for top dressing turf.BACKGROUND OF INVENTION[0002] Material spreaders, whether of the pull type or self propelled, are in common use for applying dressings to turfs such as ground surfaces used for various athletic activities, and especially on the various ground surfaces forming golf courses. Such spreaders commonly include a hopper and a moving belt which passes under the hopper for carrying material which has been dumped into the hopper to a point exterior of the hopper where the material is engaged by means, such as a rotating brush, for transferring the material from the belt to the ground surface.[0003] In order to maintain the maximum quality of turf conditions on golf courses, various techniques of best applying different materials are developing. Known spreaders, are usually equipped with a conv...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008] It is an object of another aspect of the present invention to provide a top dressing apparatus which is of simple and economical design and may be readily modified for applications of different materials suitable for achieving the best type of grooming methods of the turf.

[0011] According to one aspect of the apparatus, there is provided a chassis, a hopper carried on the chassis for containing the material and defining an opening for metered flow of the material from the hoper, a conveyor system for receiving the material from the opening of the hopper and delivering the material to one end of the chassis, and a material broadcasting unit attached to the one end of the chassis for receiving the material from the conveyor system and distributing the material over the path on the ground surface. The conveyor system may be in the form of a self-contained belt cartridge which includes a framework having a pair of side rails, a continuous belt and mounting means carried between the side rails and drivingly supporting the continuous belt to provide an upper material carrying flight movable in a direction from one end of the cartridge to the other. The chassis has means forming ledges for removably mounting the belt cartridge in an operative position within the chassis.

[0012] As indicated above, the conveyor system in top dressers and the like is one part of the apparatus requiring more frequent maintenance and servicing. In the above described embodiment of the invention, where the conveyor system is in the form of a self contained cartridge which can be easily taken from its mount on the chassis, its removal as a complete unit for servicing separate from the remainder of the apparatus significantly simplifies care of the apparatus.

[0014] By providing broadcasting units having different distributing characteristics, top dressing can be carried out in a more effective manner under different conditions, and it is desirable, therefore to have available different units which can be readily substituted, and particularly where it is possible to lift one unit off and install another by hand by way of a quick connect mechanism.

[0016] The broadcasting unit just described provides a type of distribution more suitable for top dressing turf under varied conditions and appears more effective with a wide variety of materials.

Problems solved by technology

While this type of broadcasting of the material has advantages under some conditions, such as that of filling holes left after aerofication by use of a heavy application, such broadcasting is certainly not most desirable under all conditions.

Generally personnel utilized in turf grooming are not sufficiently skilled in machine maintenance and servicing to undertake work involving any mechanical complexity, and therefore, if major changes are required or are of a time consuming nature, it would be usual practice to use the machine for top dressing only in the manner for which the machine was basically designed.

Also, available top dressers now in use on golf course turf groomers are not overall constructed for ready service and maintenance.

One component of such machines, for example, requiring routine servicing and repair or replacement of parts, is the moving belt which carries the material from the hopper and the related parts for mounting and driving the belt, due to this components continued exposure to abrasive particles, dust and the like.

In known structures, this component's particular location requires a major dissembling of the overall machine for removal of the belt and associated parts, thus resulting in work usually beyond the ability of the available staff at a golf course.

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