In A01B all relevant details of tools, method, implements or parts of agricultural machinery which are used for an action that will result in furrowing, ploughing, tilling, moving, opening, smoothing, etc, the soil (soil working) should be classified here. Some of these parts, tools, or methods may not refer directly to a blade for working the soil, but will be however directly related to the soil working action, like guiding the machine to work the soil according to a planned path or at a constant depth (which are related to steering, to the connection/hitch to the tractor, etc). Double classification in other classes, like in A01C, is allowed depending on the precise details (see the lower classification in A01B and A01C). For instance, a coulter for a seeder which has a seed pipe attached, the coulter having no specific description (no detail relevant for the soil working classification scheme), will only be classified under A01C 5/00. However, a coulter for a seeder, even if it includes a seed pipe, whose action in the soil is described in detail or has some special feature for working the soil (opening the furrow) is/may be relevant for A01B. Normally, knowledge of agricultural machines is necessary to determine the relevance. Experience in the field of agricultural machines and general knowledge of the classification in A01B, A01C and A01D should be required in order to establish a proper classification. References are not limiting but informative, to make readers aware of the existence of other potential classification for details related to soil working which may not be covered in A01B or which may be found easier in other groups.

Hand tools for gardening or for agricultural purposes.

Hand shovels for gardening or agricultural purposes.

All ploughs dig, but most of them do it in a continuous manner, they have the form of a blade or disk which is pulled under the soil in a straight line until the headland is reached. This group is for special designs, in which the ploughs perform, for example, a sidewards oscillating movement in addition to its linear displacement, or for ploughs containing tools/blades which perform some kind of additional discontinuous work on the soil.

Details about the subsoiler's or mouldboard's blades

Details about the subsoiler's or mouldboard's blades

There is no clear technical distinction between a harrow and a clod crusher. Here we classify, in order to make a distinction, harrows which are explicitly used for clod crushing and/or stone crushers for agricultural purposes (note that stone crusher is different from stone gatherer/remover, A01B 43/00). Double classification is possible for other details of the harrow. Clod crushing rollers can be also classified in A01B 29/00 attending to specific features covered there.

Details about mechanical weeding in-between rows of plants are classified, e.g. involving a tool penetrating the soil.

Specific details of tractor-implement hitches

Details relating to electrical connectors for supplying electrical power to implements

Details concerning the implement or the connection between tractor and implement

Classification here covers only details related to the implement, and not to the tractor or vehicle, which have their own classification under B62D.

When pulling soil working elements, like ploughs or subsoilers, the tractor must provide a certain tractive force while maintaining constant speed. This may be important for some soil working actons in which soil working tools rotate at a speed which is dependent on the forward speed of the tractor. Also for achieveing a homogeneous soil working with certain tools when soil compaction or resistance conditions change from one area of the field to the next. Here the resistance of the spoil to penetration of the tools is measured, and the motor is adjusted to maintain constant speed/power.

The steering referred to here is normally either automatic or semiautomatic (assisted guiding), so that the soil working follows a more precise path (following marks, or trenches created beforehand, so that soil working takes place in precisely parallel tracks, or follows a desired pattern).

In the main group (A01B 73/00) also special details about implement's wheels for transportation are classified. Telescopic frames are also classified here. Documents classified here may have extra classes depending on the type of implement.

Here documents which disclose methods for working soil that do not fit within the usual and common soil working techniques, or that involve more complexity and precision than a simple tilling. For example, a method which mentions that under certain climatic conditions the soil should be tilled in a particular manner or with a particular schedule. Or a method for working a specific type of soil in a specific manner. Or smart farming techniques and methods which cover parts of the agricultural cycle related to soil working, etc.