Harvesters – Cotton – Pneumatic
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-22
2001-08-14
Pezzuto, Robert E. (Department: 3671)
Harvesters
Cotton
Pneumatic
C056S016500
Reexamination Certificate
active
06272821
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to agricultural implements and, more specifically, to a device for separating relatively heavy materials from a crop being conveyed through the air duct of a cotton harvester or similar implement.
2) Related Art
Harvesters such as cotton strippers include a conveying system with an air duct for moving material from stripping mechanisms upwardly and rearwardly toward a basket or cotton cleaner on the implement. The air stream carries green bolls and debris along with the desired cotton crop, and to remove some of the unwanted material, separators are typically incorporated into an area of the duct. Examples of such separators are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,606,177 and 5,394,679 assigned to Deere & Company. Heavy material such as rocks and green bolls tends to drop downwardly through an opening in the duct and out of the stream of material being conveyed to the basket or cleaner.
Although previously available separators have reduced the amount of trash reaching the basket or cleaner, a substantial amount of undesirable material often remains in the system. When a cleaner is employed on the implement, green bolls and debris foul the saws in the cleaner. Debris such as rocks and stumps can cause considerable damage to the internal components of the cleaner if they are not separated out properly. Increased trash content decreases the crop grade and results in a lower price for the crop. In high yield cotton, green bolls and debris often gets carried up with large clumps of cotton and therefore do not have an opportunity drop out of the material stream. In addition, the large clumps of material can cause blockages in the duct.
Clumping problems are increased as material directed rearwardly from the cross auger outlet is concentrated towards one side of the outlet and separation duct rather then being uniformly distributed across the width of the duct. Typically a pair of paddles offset 180 degrees from each other propel material rearwardly through the outlet. As the material is directed into the paddle area by the auger flighting, the initial contact between the paddles and the material typically directs excessive amounts of material rearwardly along the sides of the separation duct with less material near the center of the duct. Also, each paddle must move a relatively large amount of material from a full revolution of the associated auger flighting.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved trash separator for an implement such as a cotton harvester. It is another object to provide such a separator which removes substantially more trash than most previously available separators.
It is a further object to provide an improved trash separator for a cotton harvester duct which is simple and inexpensive in construction and which separates green bolls and other trash more efficiently and effectively than at least most other prior art separator devices. It is a further object to provide such a separator which operates effectively, even in very high yield cotton, and which reduces problems caused by clumping of material.
It is a further object to provide an improved trash separator for a cotton conveying duct which is adjustable to vary the degree of separating aggressiveness and optimize selectivity of undesired material. It is a further object to provide such a separator which operates primarily on trash and green bolls and enhances flow of desirable crop material.
It is another object to provide an improved auger system for a cotton harvester. It is another object to provide such a system having an improved flighting and paddle structure. It is still another object to provide such a system in combination with a trash separator having increased selectivity and increased anti-clumping features.
A cotton harvester conveying system includes trash separating structure for removing heavy debris from a stream of harvested material. A cross auger with dual flighting moves the material to a central location where four rapidly rotating paddles direct the material rearwardly into a separation duct. Heavier trash and debris settle towards the bottom of the auger, and the paddles propel the heavier material along a lower wall of the separation duct. A wall of the separation duct includes a series of deflectors which intercept a lower portion of the rearwardly directed material so the heavy material loses momentum as it contacts the deflectors. The heavy material then drops out of the stream of conveyed material while the lighter material continues to move upwardly towards a basket or cleaner. A substantially higher percentage of unwanted heavy material is effectively removed from the stream to decrease cleaner damage and increase cotton grade. The auger and paddle structure provides improved distribution of the material in the separation duct and breaks up clumps that could otherwise cause blockages.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading the following detailed description in view of the drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4390376 (1983-06-01), Rood, Jr.
patent: 4606177 (1986-08-01), Schlueter
patent: 5311728 (1994-05-01), Schlueter
patent: 5394679 (1995-03-01), Schlueter
patent: 5466189 (1995-11-01), Deutsch et al.
patent: 1576013 (1990-07-01), None
patent: 1584811 (1990-08-01), None
Deere & Company
Pezzuto Robert E.
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