This invention relates to a vehicle for direct laying underground of flexible pipes or cables and has particular, but not exclusive, application to the laying of irrigation pipe lines such as sub-surface drip irrigation pipe lines in lawns, industrial areas and sporting grounds. Description of the Prior Art

There are known several types of vehicles or machines of the kind described above, but these vehicles incorporate heavy complicated hydraulic components which add considerably to the weight of the machine thus requiring the use of a powerful vehicle, normally an agricultural tractor.

Also the known prior art includes inventions comprising a cutting blade reciprocally, mounted in front of a ripper/digger implement, for the purpose of cutting roots and dislodging stones, such as disclosed, for example, in WO 93/05242 or a cutting blade mounted for to and fro movement in front of a ripper/digger implement as disclosed in German Patent No. 3317053.

These prior constructions suffer from the disadvantage that the cutting blades utilise considerable energy and include many wearing parts requiring constant replacement and hence require a high-powered vehicle having an extremely strong and reinforced framework mounting the cutting blades and rippers to withstand the forces applied to the blades and rippers. BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of the prior known vehicles and provide a vehicle such as a tractor of lesser power than normally required to which the implements for preparing a trench to accommodate the pipe line or cable are connected in a simple operator controlled manner.

A further object of the invention is the provision of means allowing ease of cutting of the trench by the cutting implements and thus obviating the requirement of a powerful tractor.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision of cutting and trenching

implements connected to the tractor and operable in a manner allowing the pipeline or cable trench to be cut at one or other of the sides of the tractor near walls or on the edge of an embankment or the like.

With these objects in view there is provided according to the invention a vehicle for direct laying underground of flexible pipes or cables comprising an agricultural type tractor, the three point linkage at the rear thereof supporting a coulter disc and a plough type ripper implement located rearwardly of the disc, said plough type ripper implement including guide means for the pipe or cable to be laid in a trench formed by said plough type ripper implement, shaker or vibrator means driven by the tractor power take-off and mounted on a support member for said disc and plough for transmitting vibratory movement to said disc and plough. According to a further aspect of the invention there is provided a ground engaging roller member hingedly mounted on said support member at the rear thereof.

According to another aspect of the invention there may be provided on an upwardly extending frame at the rear of the tractor a reel member for accommodating a supply of the flexible pipe or cable to be conducted through said guide means in the plough and laid in the prepared trench.

According to yet another aspect of the invention there is mounted on the tractor chassis between the front and rear wheels and at one side of the tractor a further coulter disc and plough type ripper implement, the movement of said implements being operator controlled by linkage and hydraulic ram means with a hydraulic vibrator member attached to said linkage for the purpose as above described. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the pipe and cable laying vehicle;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the vehicle showing the trenching action of the forward implements;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the vehicle showing the trenching action of the rear implements;

Figure 4 is a perspective view from the rear of the forward trenching implements;

Figure 5 is a perspective view from the rear of the rear trenching implements;

Figure 6 is a sectional plan view of the rear vibrator means driven from the tractor power take-off; and

Figure 7 is a side sectional view taken along the line 7-7 of Figure 6. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE. PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As shown in the drawings number 1 denotes an agricultural type tractor having front wheels 2 and rear wheels 3. The conventional three point linkage at the rear of the tractor comprises two lower arms 4 and upper arm 5 connected to shaft 6 in turn connected to lower arms 4 by adjustable links 7.

The outer rear ends of lower arms 4 are connected to a support framework 8 from which depends a freely rotatable coulter disc 9 and behind it a fixed plough type ripper 10. A roller member 11 is pivotally mounted on rearwardly extending framework arms 12 and limited in its hinging movement by arcuate slots 13 engaged by pins 14 on hinged arms 16 connected at their outer ends to roller member 11.

Located on the upper side of support framework 8 is a shaker or vibrator member 17 driven by the power take-off shaft 18 of the tractor. A forwardly extending arm 19 is attached to the upper side of shaker or vibrator 17 and is hingedly attached to the rear end of upper arm 5 through a selected one of a number of apertures 20 for a purpose to be hereinafter described.

Extending upwardly from the rear of the tractor is an inverted U-shaped framework 21 supporting a reel 22 holding a supply of flexible pipe or cable 23 to be led to plough ripper 10 through guide rings 24 and 25 attached to the rear of casing 26 of vibrator 17 and through guide tube 27 at the rear of plough ripper 10.

In the second embodiment of the invention a further coulter disc 28 and plough ripper 29 are hingedly attached at one side of the tractor 1 on the chassis framework and an auxiliary framework 30 through link members, said disc 28 and plough 29 being movable upwards and downwards by hydraulic ram 31. Attached to the link members is a hydraulically operated vibrator 32.

In this embodiment the flexible pipe or cable is led through a guide tube 33, through a ring member 34 and into and through guide tube 35 at the rear of plough 29.

In operation of the rear disc and plough the three point linkage is lowered to enable the freely rotatable coulter disc 9 to enter the ground and cut a slit and also any roots in a rotary slicing action, which also results in a self-shaφing action of the disc cutting edge, and provide ease of entry of plough 10 to a predetermined depth, and on forward movement of the tractor the pipe or cable 23 freely runs off reel 22 and is laid in the trench formed by plough 10. As the tractor moves further the roller 11 in engagement with the ground surface closes and smooths out the edges of the slit formed in the trenching operation to bring the surface back to its original or near original configuration.

During the trenching operation the actuation of the shaker or vibrator 17 ensures greater ease of penetration and movement of disc and plough and therefore requires a tractor of less power than normal for the conventional use of such disc and plough.

A similar operation takes place in the operation of forward disc 28 and plough 29 under vibratory action by hydraulic vibrator 32 and instead of using a roller, the following rear wheel 3 of the tractor acts to close and smooth the edges of the trench slit.

Referring to Figures 6 and 7 these figures illustrate a preferred embodiment of the shaker or vibrator 17. This shaker 17 in the form of a box construction 26 comprises a drive shaft 36 being coupled to the power take-off shaft 18 of the tractor, said shaft 36 being coupled to a freely mounted shaft 37 at their outer ends by drive chains 38 through sprockets 39. Mounted on shaft 36 at its mid point are a pair of offset weights 40 and 41 and mounted on shaft 37 at locations on either side of weights 40 and 41 are a pair of similar offset weights 42 and 43. Rotation of drive shaft 36 by reason of the location of weights 40, 41, 42 and 43 sets up a shaking or irregular vibratory action in the shaker 17 which is transmitted through support framework 8 to the dependent disc 9 and plough 10 which allows for ease of entry of the disc and plough into and through the ground.

The provision of the apertures 20 on arm 19 are for the purpose of adjusting the direction of lowering or lifting of the rear implements relative to the ground.

It will be appreciated that the present invention may take the form of a tractor

vehicle with only the rear set of implements or only the forward set of implements or the combination of both sets.