Harvesters – Seed gatherers or strippers – Moving comb
Patent
1989-07-03
1991-08-06
Melius, Terry Lee
Harvesters
Seed gatherers or strippers
Moving comb
460 24, 460 73, 460121, A01D 4530
Patent
active
050366530
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to apparatus for, and a method of, harvesting crops. It is concerned with detaching from plants, without cutting them, seeds, seed-bearing parts, seed bodies, and certain fruits and/or foliage, collecting the detached material and separating from it the wanted plant parts. The invention has particular application in the harvesting of grain crops, such as wheat, barley, oats and rice, but also has application in the harvesting of pulses, oilseeds and herbage seeds.
The invention has application also in the harvesting of nuts and other seed bodies and of flower heads, some fruiting bodies and foliage.
Commonly the harvesting of seed crops, particularly cereal and herbage seed crops, is carried out by a once-over, destructive operation which involves the cutting of the seed-bearing stems near their base. Harvesting machines, particularly combine-harvesters, are easily overloaded by large volumes of crop bulk, because these create problems of seed detachment and separation.
The in-situ stripping of seeds from the uncut crop has been attempted repeatedly and has met with varying degrees of success. In-situ seed stripping by a rotary device became known through U.S. Pat. No. 1,290,484 entitled `Standing Grain Harvester`. However, none of the early disclosures made adequate provision for satisfactorily harvesting seeds or other wanted parts from crops which are unfavourably presented, because they are either severely leaning, tangled, twisted or laid, with the wanted parts in close proximity of the ground.
The most recent disclosures of in-situ seed stripping are by the present inventor in published pending PCT Application WO 86/01972 and in published pending UK Patent Application GB 2188822A. These relate to crop stripping apparatus using crop engaging elements which are preferably resiliently mounted or made of resilient material, so that damage is avoided if inadvertent contact is made with the ground or with foreign objects on the ground.
It is among the objects of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus for, and method of, removing wanted plant parts from an uncut crop, and to overcome many of the known disadvantages of existing harvesting machinery and methods.
More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to reduce losses of wanted plant parts, particularly seeds, which can occur in some crops and conditions with existing crop engaging elements, to keep low the energy requirement of crop stripping rotors, and to minimise the detachment of unwanted material and maximise the detachment of individual seeds, as opposed to whole or part seed heads, or of other wanted parts, so that any subsequent task of separating and cleaning the wanted fraction is facilitated and the required mechanisms can be kept small and simple.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided apparatus for harvesting crop comprising: a mobile support structure for movement over the ground; moveable support means capable of being driven relative to the support structure and extending transversely across the direction of forward movement of the apparatus; transverse arrays of crop engaging elements, each cantilevered outwardly from the moveable support means; means for driving the moveable support means so that the crop engaging elements comb through the unsupported crop at a front region, to detach wanted plant parts from the uncut crop and to impel them into recovery trajectories; a crop guide cover extending over the apparatus to prevent detached crop particles becoming lost and to direct them rearwards for collection; characterised in that the crop engaging elements are elongate elements with symmetrical outer regions, each having a narrow tip, the tips of elements in succesive transverse arrays following, in operation of the apparatus, in laterally equally spaced paths parallel with their direction of movement, the inner region of each element having side regions at least one of which is fashioned to form a differently inclined and/or uneven continuation of
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