Vehicle-Mounted Plant Extractor with Knife-Like Cutting Member

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing technologies for extracting cedar and juniper plant species from cultivated or pasture lands face challenges in minimizing re-growth due to incomplete root removal and excessive soil disturbance, leading to increased costs and reduced reliability.

Innovation Solution

A plant extracting apparatus mounted on a conventional land vehicle, featuring a frame with a knife-like extracting member that can be angled and inserted into the ground to cut and lift roots, minimizing soil contact and disturbance, and including additional cutting edges and root damaging means for varying plant sizes.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If hydraulically operated extractor and mast with support structures are used, then the extracting capability is improved, but manufacturing and maintenance costs increase and reliability decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveextracting capabilityVSAvoiddevice reliability

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces expensive, complex hydraulic systems with simple, durable steel extracting members that are rugged and maintenance-free. The extracting members are designed as simple structural components rather than complex mechanical systems, eliminating hydraulic fluid leaks and pump failures.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #27Cheap short-living objects (Disposable)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent extracts only the essential function of root cutting and plant lifting from complex hydraulic systems, implementing it through simple steel members with cutting edges that engage the ground and plant roots directly without intermediate hydraulic mechanisms.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

2Adaptability or versatility

If hydraulically operated extractor and mast with support structures are used, then the extracting capability is improved, but manufacturing and maintenance costs increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveextracting capabilityVSAvoidmanufacturing cost

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

Inventive Principle:

Principle #27Cheap short-living objects (Disposable)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent combines the functions of cutting, lifting, and extracting into a single integrated steel member with cutting edges, eliminating the need for separate hydraulic cylinders, masts, and control systems, thereby simplifying manufacturing.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

3Productivity

If conventional extracting devices with wide contact area are used, then the extracting capability is improved, but soil disturbance increases and valuable grass covering is damaged

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveextracting capabilityVSAvoidsoil disturbance

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies local quality by concentrating the extracting force through a narrow, focused cutting edge that penetrates deep into the ground to sever roots, while the rest of the device maintains minimal contact with the surrounding soil and grass cover, thus preserving the vegetation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The extracting device is segmented into a narrow cutting portion that contacts the ground and wider upper portions that transport the extracted plant, allowing the harmful soil contact to be confined to a small, localized area while maintaining effective extracting capability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

4Manufacturing precision

If tooth like projections with narrow openings are used, then small bushes can be grasped, but larger stems or trunks cannot be accommodated

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvegrasping precisionVSAvoidplant size accommodation

Core Design Contradiction:

Manufacturing precisionVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements universality by designing the extracting member with a continuous cutting edge that can accommodate plants of all sizes - small bushes are cut by the edge while larger stems are engaged by the same edge at different positions, eliminating the need for size-specific configurations.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The extracting member is designed to dynamically adapt to different plant sizes through its geometry - the narrow cutting edge penetrates to cut roots for small plants, while the wider upper portion can engage and lift larger trunks, allowing a single device to handle variable plant dimensions effectively.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Data Source

PatentUS7610698B2Apparatus for extracting plant specie and a method thereof

Publication Date: 2009.11.03 MAY JOSEPH A

AI summary

An apparatus for extracting plant species of varying heights and varying diameters adapted to be mounted on a conventional land vehicle includes a frame and an extracting member rigidly attached to and extends outwardly from a bottom edge of the frame. The extracting member includes a first elongated extracting portion having a knife-like free end, a pair of second extracting portions each positioned adjacent a respective edge of the first elongated extracting portion and having a cutting edge formed generally perpendicular to the respective edge of the first elongated extracting portion, and a pair of third extracting portions each connecting an end of the cutting edge of the second extracting portion with a respective end of the bottom edge of the frame. A pair of elongated member are attached to the rear surface of the frame for attaching it to the land vehicle.