International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics

Volume 116 No. 19 2017, 509-514

ISSN: 1311-8080 (printed version); ISSN: 1314-3395 (on-line version)
url: http://www.ijpam.eu
Special Issue
ijpam.eu

DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF AGRICULTURAL CULTIVATOR

1
Golden Renjith Nimal, R.J, 2M.Ajmal Ali Khan
1
Asst Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bharath University, BIHER, Chennai-73.
2
UG Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bharath University, BIHER, Chennai-7
1
goldenrenjithnimal.mech@bharathuniv.ac.in

1. Introduction herbicides are not always desirable—for example,

in organic farming.[15]
A developing country like India is expected to continue The powered rotary hoe was invented by Arthur
to rely more on hand tools for the foreseeable future for Clifford Howard who, in 1912, began experimenting with
cultivation. The use of hand tools for land cultivation is rotary tillage on his father's farm at Gilgandra, New
still predominant in India because draft animals and South Wales, Australia. Initially using his father's steam
tractors require resources that many Indian farmers do tractor engine as a power source, he found that ground
not have easy access to. The need for agricultural could be mechanically tilled without soil-packing
mechanization in India must therefore be assessed with a occurring, as was the case with normal ploughing. His
deeper understanding of the small holder farmer’s earliest designs threw the tilled soil sideways, until he
activities and what values farm power generated for improved his invention by designing an L-shaped blade
them. mounted on widely spaced flanges fixed to a small-
As our population continues to increase, it is diameter rotor. With fellow apprentice Everard
necessary that we must produce more food, but this can McCleary, he established a company to make his
only be achieved through some level of mechanization. machine, but plans were interrupted by World War I. In
Manual method of seed planting, results in low seed 1919 Howard returned to Australia and resumed his
placement, spacing efficiencies and serious back ache for design work, patenting a design with 5 rotary hoe
the farmer which limits the size of field that can be cultivator blades and an internal combustion engine in
planted. However, planting machine or planter that is 1920.
normally required to produce more food is beyond the In March 1922, Howard formed the company Austral
buying capacity of small holder farmers Auto Cultivators Pty Ltd, which later became known as
These small holder farmers still continue to plant Howard Auto Cultivators. It was based in North mead, a
manually, the result of which is low productivity of the suburb of Sydney, from 1927. [14]
crops. It is therefore necessary to develop a low cost Meanwhile, in North America during the
planter that will reduce tedium and drudgery and enable 1910s, tractors were evolving away from traction engine-
small holder farmer to produce more foods and also sized monsters toward smaller, lighter, more affordable
environmental friendly. [11] machines. The Fordson tractor especially had made
In the past, various types of design have been tractors affordable and practical for small and
developed with different design approaches which have medium family farms for the first time in history.
their advantages and disadvantages and also operational Cultivating was somewhat of an afterthought in the
limitations.[12] Fordson's design, which reflected the fact that even just
2. History bringing practical motorized tractive power alone to this
market segment was in itself a milestone. This left an
The basic idea of soil scratching for weed control is opportunity for others to pursue better motorized
ancient and was done with hoes or mattocks for millennia cultivating. Between 1915 and 1920, various inventors
before cultivators were developed. Cultivators were and farm implement companies experimented with a
originally drawn[13] by draft animals (such as horses, class of machines referred to as motor cultivators, which
mules, or oxen) or were pushed or drawn by people. In were simply modified horse-drawn shank-type cultivators
modern commercial agriculture, the amount of with motors added for self-propulsion. This class of
cultivating done for weed control has been greatly machines found limited market success. But by
reduced via use of herbicides instead.[7] However, 1921 International Harvester had combined motorized
cultivating with the other tasks of tractors (tractive power

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 International Journal of Pure and Applied Special

and belt work) to create the Farmall, the general-purpose

tractor tailored to cultivating that basically invented the
category of row-crop tractors [27-30].
In Australia, by the 1930s, Howard was finding it
increasingly difficult to meet a growing worldwide
demand for exports of his machines. He travelled to
the United Kingdom, founding the company Rotary Hoes
Ltd in East Horndon, Essex, in July 1938. Branches of
this new company subsequently opened in the United
States of America, South Africa, Germany, France, Italy, Figure 1.2. A cultivator pulled by a tractor in Canada in
Spain, Brazil, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. It 1943
later became the holding company for Howard Rotavator
Co. Ltd. The Howard Group of companies was acquired 2.1 Different types of agricultural cultivators
by the Danish Thrige Agro Group in 1985, and in
December 2000 the Howard Group became a member of 2.2.1 Primitive cultivating equipment
Kongskilde Industries of Soroe, Denmark.[8]
When herbicidal weed control was first a. Plough: Tillage is the basic operation in farming. It is
widely commercialized in the 1950s and [6]1960s, it done to create favorable conditions for seed placement
played into that era's optimistic worldview in which and plant growth. This is done mainly with a plough.[7]
sciences such as chemistry would usher in a new age of A full history of the evolution of plough is not available.
modernity that would leave old-fashioned practices (such Farmers have been using plough since time immemorial.
as weed control via cultivators) in the dustbin of history. The primitive model might have been a crooked twig or a
Thus herbicidal weed control was adopted very widely, branch of a tree. The basic components of the plough are
and in some cases too heavily and hastily. In subsequent a shoe, a share, a body, a handle and a beam.[8]
decades, people overcame this initial imbalance and came The shoe and body make one piece in the case of ploughs
to realize that herbicidal weed control has limitations being used in Kullu, Solan, Shimla, Sirmour, Lahaul &
and externalities, and it must be managed intelligently. It Spiti and Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. The Joint
is still widely used, and probably will continue to be between the shoe and the body is purposely avoided with
indispensable to affordable food production worldwide a view to make the plough more rigid and robust, so that
for the foreseeable future; but its wise management the implement can work on gravely soils with stones and
includes seeking alternate methods, such as the other obstacles which are encountered during the course
traditional standby of mechanical cultivation, where of ploughing. [10]
practical.

Figure 1.3

b. Leveller: The plank of the leveller is made of any

locally available wood and shafts are generally made of
bamboo sticks. [9]Extra weight is added to all type of
Figure 1.1. 1949 Farmall C with C-254-A two-row planks by placing stones on it or having person (s) ride
on it. As the name suggests, levellers are used for
cultivator
levelling land

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 International Journal of Pure and Applied Special

a. Row crop cultivators

The main function of the row crop cultivator is weed

control between the rows of an established crop. Row
crop cultivators are usually raised and lowered by
a three-point hitch and the depth is controlled by gauge
wheels.
Sometimes referred to as sweep cultivators, these
commonly have two center blades that cut weeds from
the roots near the base of the crop and turn over soil,
while two rear sweeps further outward than the center
blades deal with the center of the row, and can be
anywhere from 1 to 36 rows wide[14]
Figure 1.4

2.2.2 Industrial Use

To the extent that cultivating is done commercially today

(such as in truck farming), it is usually powered
by tractors, especially row-crop tractors. Industrial
cultivators can vary greatly in size and shape, from 10
feet (3 m) to 80 feet (24 m) wide. Many are equipped
with hydraulic wings that fold up to make road travel
easier and safer. [12]Different types are used for
preparation of fields before planting, and for the control
of weeds between row crops. The cultivator may be an
implement trailed after the tractor via a drawbar;
mounted on the three-point hitch; or mounted on a frame Figure 1.5.Home made sweep. Notice the inner and outer
beneath the tractor. Active cultivator implements are "sweep" blades
driven by a power take-off shaft. [13]While most
cultivator are considered a secondary tillage implement, 2.2.3 Garden Cultivators
active cultivators are commonly used for primary tillage
in lighter soils instead of plowing. The largest versions Small tilling equipment, used in small gardens such as
available are about 6 m (20 ft) wide, and require a tractor household gardens and small commercial gardens, can
with an excess of 150 horsepower (110 kW) (PTO) to provide both primary and secondary tillage. For example,
drive them. Field cultivators are used to a rotary tiller does both the "plowing" and the
complete tillage operations in many types of "harrowing", preparing a smooth, loose seedbed. It does
arable crop fields.[15] The main function of the field not provide the row-wise weed control that cultivator
cultivator is to prepare a proper seedbed for the crop to teeth would. For that task, there are single-person-push
be planted into, to bury crop residue in the soil (helping able toothed cultivators.[18-20]
to warm the soil before planting), to control weeds, and
to mix and incorporate the soil to ensure the growing a. Variants and trademarks
crop has enough water and nutrients to grow well during
the growing season. The implement has many shanks Rotary tillers are a type of cultivators. Rotary tillers are
mounted on the underside of a metal frame, and small popular with home gardeners who want large vegetable
narrow rods at the rear of the machine that smooth out gardens. The garden may be tilled a few times before
the soil surface for easier travel later when planting. In planting each crop. Rotary tillers may be rented from tool
most field cultivators,[11] one-to-many hydraulic rental centers for single-use applications, such as when
cylinders raise and lower the implement and control its planting grass .A small rotary hoe for domestic gardens
depth. was known by the trademark Rototiller and another,
made by the Howard Group, who produced a range of
rotary tillers, was known as the Rotavator.[21-26]

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 International Journal of Pure and Applied Special

b. Rototiller [7]. Ganeshram V., Achudhan M., Synthesis and

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