(under the class definition) Apparatus comprising an earth working means and a means for acting on the earth severed from the ground or loosened by the earth working means to classify, separate or assort it according to its physical characteristics and return at least a portion of such earth to the ground.
(1) Note. The classifying, assorting, or separating means must be in addition to and distinct from the earth working
means which severs the material from the ground.
(2) Note. The classifying, assorting, or separating means is generally of the type found, per se, in Class 209, Classifying, Separating, and Assorting Solids.
(3) Note. A mere pulverizing or comminuting is not considered separating.
SEE OR SEARCH THIS CLASS, SUBCLASS:
511, for fenders for preventing soil thrown about by the apparatus from contacting plants, the fender being of the perforated or screening type to permit fine soil to pass. SEE OR SEARCH CLASS
171, Unearthing Plants or Buried Objects, appropriate subclasses for means for unearthing plants or objects from the ground and separating them from the earth. The subject matter of Class 171 is characterized by means which discriminate between an object and the earth. In Class 172 the discrimination is between different portions of the earth itself, as between large clods or granules and small clods or granules. For example, a Class 172 device may separate large granules of earth mixed with stones from small granules of earth, while a Class 171 device would separate stones from earth.
299, Mining or In Situ Disintegration of Hard Material,
7+, for apparatus for mining material followed by separation.
