Serrated Soil Tine Layout for Digging in Tight Garden Areas
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing soil manipulators lack a configuration of serrated tines that allow for efficient digging and raking in both upright and lowered postures, particularly in small or hard-to-reach areas.
Innovation Solution
A soil manipulator with a base plate and a set of serrated tines attached to a shaft, where the tines can be configured to intersect the base plate's plane, allowing for efficient cutting and manipulation of soil in various positions, and the device can be manufactured from a single slab with specific forming steps to achieve the desired configuration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If traditional soil manipulators are used, then mechanized tillage can be performed, but they cannot access small or hard-to-reach areas
Solution Approach 1:
The soil manipulator is divided into separate functional components: a handle, a shaft, and a head with multiple tines. This segmentation allows the device to be compact yet functional, enabling access to small areas while maintaining effective soil manipulation capability through the distributed tine structure
Solution Approach 2:
The tines are configured to extend in multiple directions and at various angles from the head plate, creating a three-dimensional arrangement. This dimensional configuration allows the tines to reach into small or hard-to-access areas while keeping the overall device footprint small
2Productivity
If serrated edges are added to tines for better soil cutting, then digging efficiency improves, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The serrated edges are integrated directly into the tine structure during forming, combining the cutting function with the tine body. This merging eliminates the need for separate serration attachment steps, maintaining digging efficiency while simplifying the manufacturing process
Solution Approach 2:
The tines are formed with serrated edges by modifying the geometric parameters of the tine cross-section. By changing the edge geometry from smooth to serrated during the forming process, improved soil cutting capability is achieved without adding complex manufacturing steps
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple tine configurations are provided for different postures, then versatility in digging and raking improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The head assembly with multiple tines configured at different angles serves multiple functions: digging, raking, and soil manipulation in various postures. This universal design allows a single device configuration to handle diverse gardening tasks without requiring multiple specialized tools
Solution Approach 2:
The tines are arranged to accommodate dynamic user positions, with configurations that work effectively whether the user is standing, kneeling, or sitting. The angular arrangement of tines allows the device to adapt to different operational dynamics and user postures
Data Source
AI summary
A soil manipulating device for digging and raking soil includes a base plate, which defines a first plane and which has a first edge that is attached to a first end of a shaft. A set of tines is attached to and extends from a second edge of the base plate. Each tine defines an associated second plane and has opposed edges, which are serrated. At least one of the tines has an associated second plane which intersects the first plane. The shaft can be grasped in one or both hands of a user, positioning the user to insert the tines into soil to manipulate the soil by using the tines to cut into the soil. Various embodiments of soil manipulators can be used to perform a variety of digging and raking tasks while in a substantially upright posture and in a lowered posture, such as while sitting or knelling.