An agricultural soil cultivation unit having at least two rows of soil working tools that are fastened to a tool carrying frame that is pivotably supported about a horizontal frame pivot axis at a machine frame supported by a chassis on the ground and liftable by a lifting apparatus into a headland position and/or transport position. It is therefore proposed in accordance with an aspect of the invention to change the working depth setting of the soil working tool rows relative to one another online in working operation to hereby be able to react to changing soil conditions in working operation and to be able to mutually compensate resulting side forces of the soil working tools.

An exemplary self-locking actuator mechanism includes a floating plate and a linear actuator. The floating plate defines a first slot that includes a first central portion, a first jog extending laterally from a first end of the first central portion, and a second jog extending laterally from a second end of the first central portion. The linear actuator includes a shaft pivotably connected to the floating plate, and is operable to drive the shaft between a first shaft position and a second shaft position to thereby move the self-locking actuator mechanism between a first locking state and a second locking state.

An agricultural implement having a center section and wings is converted from dedicated free-floating wings to provide active-down pressure upon the wings. The agricultural implement has been manufactured with hydraulic cylinders to raise and lower the wings. The hydraulic cylinders are connected at one end to the center section, and at the other end to the wings by way of pins and slots. The hydraulic cylinders, the pins, and the slots are configured so that when the wings are lowered, the wings of the agricultural implement as manufactured free-float vertically by way of unrestricted motion of the pins in the slots. Tie-plates and second pins are configured to engage the first pins and the slots, and to restrict the motion of the first pins in the slots. A pressure controlled hydraulic circuit is connected to the hydraulic cylinders and controls an amount of down-pressure applied by the hydraulic cylinders.

An agricultural implement having a center section and wings is converted from dedicated free-floating wings to provide active-down pressure upon the wings. The agricultural implement has been manufactured with hydraulic cylinders to raise and lower the wings. The hydraulic cylinders are connected at one end to the center section, and at the other end to the wings by way of pins and slots. The hydraulic cylinders, the pins, and the slots are configured so that when the wings are lowered, the wings of the agricultural implement as manufactured free-float vertically by way of unrestricted motion of the pins in the slots. Tie-plates and second pins are configured to engage the first pins and the slots, and to restrict the motion of the first pins in the slots. A pressure controlled hydraulic circuit is connected to the hydraulic cylinders and controls an amount of down-pressure applied by the hydraulic cylinders.

An articulating tongue arrangement includes a vehicle attachment section enabling attachment of the articulating tongue arrangement to a tow vehicle, an implement attachment section enabling attachment of the articulating tongue arrangement to an agricultural implement, and an articulating beam assembly located between the vehicle attachment section and the implement attachment section. The articulating beam assembly includes, in turn, a leading end portion movably coupled to the vehicle attachment section at a leading pivoting joint, a trailing end portion movably coupled to the implement attachment section at a trailing pivoting joint, and a beam assembly actuator coupled between the leading end portion and the trailing end portion of the articulating beam assembly. The beam assembly actuator is controllable to adjust an effective tow length of the articulating beam assembly, as measured along a straight line extending from the leading pivoting joint to the trailing pivoting joint.

An articulating tongue arrangement includes a vehicle attachment section enabling attachment of the articulating tongue arrangement to a tow vehicle, an implement attachment section enabling attachment of the articulating tongue arrangement to an agricultural implement, and an articulating beam assembly located between the vehicle attachment section and the implement attachment section. The articulating beam assembly includes, in turn, a leading end portion movably coupled to the vehicle attachment section at a leading pivoting joint, a trailing end portion movably coupled to the implement attachment section at a trailing pivoting joint, and a beam assembly actuator coupled between the leading end portion and the trailing end portion of the articulating beam assembly. The beam assembly actuator is controllable to adjust an effective tow length of the articulating beam assembly, as measured along a straight line extending from the leading pivoting joint to the trailing pivoting joint.

A method is carried-out by a controller architecture coupled to a beam assembly actuator, which is included in an articulating tongue arrangement connecting an agricultural implement to a tow vehicle. In an embodiment, the method includes: (i) monitoring, via the controller architecture, an effective tow length of an articulating beam assembly further included in the articulating tongue arrangement, the effective tow length measured along a straight line extending from a leading pivot joint of the articulating tongue arrangement to a trailing pivot joint of the articulating tongue arrangement; (ii) determining, at the controller architecture, an effective tow length target of the articulating tongue arrangement based upon operator input, sensor input, or a combination thereof; and (iii) transmitting commands from the controller architecture to the beam assembly actuator to maintain the effective tow length of the articulating beam assembly in conformance with the effective tow length target.

A method of controlling a mobile agricultural machine, the method comprising operating a row unit having a ground-engaging element to deliver product to a furrow formed by the row unit, receiving an indication of rotational speed of the ground-engaging element, determining that the rotational speed of the ground-engaging element is below a threshold, and controlling an action of the mobile agricultural machine based on the determination.

A system for detecting the levelness of ground engaging tools of a tillage implement including an agricultural implement including a frame and tool assemblies supported relative to the frame. The tool assemblies each include a toolbar coupled to the frame and one or more ground engaging tools coupled to the toolbar. The system further includes sensors coupled to two of the tool assemblies and configured to capture data indicative of a load acting on the one or more ground engaging tools of the tool assemblies. Additionally, the system includes a controller configured to monitor the data received from the sensors and compare at least one monitored value associated with the load acting on the ground engaging tool(s) of each of the tool assemblies. Moreover, the controller is further configured to identify the ground engaging tool(s) are not level when the monitored value(s) differ by a predetermined threshold value.

A system for identifying soil layers within a field includes a non-contact-based sensor configured to capture data indicative of a subsurface soil layer within the field. Furthermore, the system includes a computing system communicatively coupled to the non-contact-based sensor. In this respect, the computing system is configured to determine a thickness of the subsurface soil layer in a vertical direction based on the data captured by the non-contact-based sensor. Moreover, the computing system is configured to identify the subsurface soil layer as one of a compaction layer or a B-horizon based on the determined thickness.