Ripper
Ripper
The ripper or subsoiler or scarifier is an agricultural tool that is used in the agricultural field for vertical cutting of the soil up to one meter, which does not involve mixing the layers of the soil as it does with plowing or milling .
With the working through ripper the profile of the soil is kept unchanged.
In fact, the ripper leaves the soil profile completely similar to how it was before being worked, even if you can barely notice the furrows where the knife passed; if instead we go to analyze the soil in the “fertile layer” or in the first 40-60 centimeters we will notice that the soil has been moved deeply but not on the surface bringing obvious benefits to the crop that will be planted.
The operation performed with the ripper, i.e. re-stitching can be performed for two purposes:
– Subsoiling for herbaceous crops: carried out on a ground that will host a herbaceous crop such as cereals, seed and pasture crops, it is usually carried out at a depth of no more than 50-60 centimeters.
– Repacking for arboreal crops: carried out on a ground that will host an arboreal crop such as orchards and vineyards, a real break-in is carried out in depth usually up to 1 meter, therefore requires a tractor of great power.
From the mechanical point of view, the ripper is a tool brought by the tractor, through the attachment to the 3 points of the hydraulic lift, even if there are very large and heavy variants, for deep jobs that are equipped with wheels, however applied to the lift, which fall therefore in the category of semi-mounted tools.
The ripper consists of a very sturdy metal frame to which usually 1.3 or 5 working parts are applied which are large and long metal knives inclined slightly forward.
On the market there are tools made up of plows and subsoilers mounted on the same frame, which therefore allow only one process, called araripuntatura instead of two distinct processes; the presence of the subsoiler associated with that of the plow allows to break the working sole created by the plow’s share.
A variant of the ripper is that of the subsoilers equipped with vibrating knives connected to the power take-off by means of a universal joint.