Importance

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Abstract

A gauge wheel/coulter arrangement for an agricultural row unit. A pair of closely spaced, narrow, ground-engaging wheels in side-by-side relation are mounted to rotate about intersecting axes. Specifically, the wheels are angled inwardly toward each other at the forward and lower portions of the wheels so that adjacent edges of the wheels firmly engage each other to cause the wheels to rotate in unison when drawn through a field. The region of contact between the wheels extends from a point at or below the horizontal center lines of the two wheels, downwardly and rearwardly to a point adjacent where the two wheels engage the ground. A coulter is located between the gauge wheels and bisects the angle between them. The gauge wheels engage and pin down the crop residue while the coulter cuts the residue as it is held in place and tensioned by the passing, diverging gauge wheels. The angled gauge wheels in firm contact with each other in the lower front quadrant provide a narrow, wedge-shaped front profile to avoid row crop damage, and a continuous wall to ride over residue being traversed by the wheels.

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First Claim