Harvesters – Motorized harvester – Including plural operating units and drive
Patent
1982-04-09
1984-05-15
Peshock, Robert
Harvesters
Motorized harvester
Including plural operating units and drive
56157, 56192, 56DIG1, A01D 5518, A01D 5728
Patent
active
044480148
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to apparatus for the cutting of crops especially, but not exclusively, grasses, and is concerned in some respects with apparatus for cutting and conditioning crop.
In some aspects the present invention is concerned with improved arrangements of combinations of crop conditioning devices with crop cutting devices. In other aspects, the present invention is concerned with improvements in crop cutting devices themselves.
Modern crop cutting devices are usually mowers of the rotary type which sever the crop by impact, using free swinging knives attached near the periphery of discs which may be used alone (disc mowers), or which may form lower skirts of vertical drums which assist in conveying the cut crop towards the rear of the machine (drum mowers). In each case the discs which support the knives serve to convey the cut crop to the rear. Knife tip speeds have to be in the broad range of 70 to 90 meters per second, to ensure clean cutting in most crops and conditions, where impact is used. At these speeds it has been found that the power requirement for conveying the crop by the discs is very considerable. In some aspects the invention is concerned with reducing the power requirement for cutting the crop and/or for conveying the cut crop.
In some aspects the present invention is concerned with improved arrangements of combinations of crop conditioning devices with crop cutting devices. Such a device is shown in a previously published U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,165 (Klinner et al) which shows a form of drum cutting in which the main upper rotor is driven at a different rate of rotation from a lower rotor which carries the cutting knives of the cutting device. In this arrangement, conditioning devices are provided on the upper surface of the crop conveying skirt of the upper drum rotor which is rotated at a different rate of rotation from the cutting knives. In practice a problem arises with such arrangement in that it is difficult to maintain the correct close vertical clearance of the two rotary components, especially when the disc diameter is large and foreign objects are present on the surface of the field. In some aspects the present invention seeks to provide a rotary cutting apparatus of an improved and simplified nature having regard to the drum cutters described in this U.S. patent specification.
In other aspects, the present invention is directed towards means for conditioning crops. Forage crops such as grasses which are surplus to immediate requirements are usually cut and field-dried to provide animal fodder, particularly hay or silage, for the feeding of animals when fresh forage crops are not available. In temperate, especially maritime climates, the crops are at risk between cutting and harvesting (i.e. the field exposure time) because the adverse effects of light and rain and micro-organism activity can produce appreciable nutrient and dry matter losses. Accordingly, it is important to minimize the field exposure time to reduce the risk of such losses. However, the crops cannot be harvested until they have dried to a sufficiently high dry matter content for safe storage as animal fodder. In the case of hay, a dry matter content of about 80% is usually required.
The speed at which surface and sap moisture evaporate from the cut crop during field exposure depends inter alia on the physical condition of the crop. The principal barrier to moisture loss is the cuticle and the layer of epicuticular wax on the crop surface, and it is now common practice in agriculture to mechanically treat the crop in order to damage this barrier. Such mechanical treatment, which may take the form of crushing, lacerating, bruising, splitting, bending or scuffing the stem and leaves of the crop, is known as "conditioning". A variety of conditioning devices have been used or proposed, for example, as in U.K. Pat. Nos. 588439 (Chilton), 662303 (Goodall), 1303970 (Bucher Guyer), U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,165 (Klinner et al) and PCT published application No. PCT/GB79/00053--publication No. WO 79/00863 (BSRA
REFERENCES:
patent: 2625784 (1963-01-01), Kelsey
patent: 3389539 (1968-06-01), Zweegers
patent: 3608287 (1971-09-01), Gaertner
patent: 3974630 (1976-08-01), Van der Lely
patent: 3977165 (1976-08-01), Klinner et al.
patent: 4199922 (1980-04-01), Van der Lely
patent: 4314436 (1982-02-01), Van der Lely
National Research Development Corporation
Peshock Robert
Weiss John G.
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