Harvesters – Standing-grain gatherers – Rotating reel – horizontal axis
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-28
2001-01-09
Will, Thomas B. (Department: 3671)
Harvesters
Standing-grain gatherers
Rotating reel, horizontal axis
C460S142000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06170244
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to harvesting reels and in particular to a reel having a segmented cam for orienting the pickup fingers of the reel and for providing a cam path that provides greater engagement of the fingers with the crop.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,558, to provide a pick up reel for a harvester where the fingers maintain a constant attitude relative to the ground. The path of the fingertips generates a cylinder. A plurality of transversely spaced spiders is attached to the reel shaft having arms that carry rockshafts at their outer ends. The rockshafts are coupled via crank arms to eccentric spiders at the ends of the reel. Fingers depend from each rockshaft and the rockshafts are rotated relative to the spider arms during rotation of the reel so that the fingers maintain a constant attitude relative to the ground.
A similar mechanism is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,870. There, the linkage mechanism that controls the orientation of the fingers provides a fingertip path that is non-cylindrical. The orientation, or attitude, of the fingers relative to the ground, however, remains constant through the crop engagement region.
Both of the above patents control the finger orientation by a disk that is eccentric to the reel pivot axis. Links extend radially outward from the disk and are coupled to the crank arms that are fixed to the rockshafts. With such a mechanism, the fingertip path is fixed and cannot be adjusted by the user. Some harvesting reels, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,558, do provide a mechanism by which the attitude of the fingers can be adjusted by the user to provide greater or lesser degrees of lift to the crop. While the attitude of the fingers relative to the ground can be adjusted, the fingertip path is always cylindrical.
Other finger orientation control mechanisms are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,007,235, 5,566,536 and 5,595,093. These patents all show cams to control the finger attitude. The cams can be circular or irregular in shape to produce varied finger paths and attitudes. One drawback in the prior art is the inability to change the finger path or attitude for changing conditions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a control mechanism for the fingers that enable the fingertip path to be selectively varied.
It is a feature of the invention that the fingertip path has greater engagement with the crop to pick the crop up and deposit the crop further back on the platform.
It is an advantage of the invention that the cam is constructed of multiple cam segments. This enables one cam segment to be replaced if worn or to change the finger path without the need to replace the entire cam.
The present invention provides for an enlarged cam mounted at one or both ends of the reel. The cam defines a cam path for cam followers that are attached to crank arms that are fixed to rockshafts. Typically, a cam is provided at each end of the reel. However, it is possible to utilize a single cam at one end of the reel.
The cams form endless cam paths about the reel shaft. Cam followers move along the cam paths. The cam followers are mounted to the crank arms that are fixed to the rockshafts carrying the pickup fingers. Radially extending arms on the reel shaft carry the rockshafts. As the reel rotates, the radially extending arms move the rockshafts in a circular path about the reel shaft. The cam followers follow behind the rockshafts and are varied in position relative to the rockshafts by the cam paths, thus causing rotation of the rockshafts. The cam path determines the fingertip path. Different cam paths can be used to provide different fingertip paths. In a preferred embodiment, the cams are each made of multiple cam segments joined together at their ends. Removable fasteners are used to join the cam segments so that one or more cam segments can be selectively removed and replaced. This enables a portion of the fingertip paths to be varied, particularly the portion of the path through the crop pick-up zone where the fingers engage and pickup the crop and deposit the crop onto the harvesting platform. The cam can be molded of plastic resin for ease in manufacture of complex cam shapes and to reduce weight compared to a cast metal cam. In the crop engagement region, the cam is more subject to wear. By manufacturing the cam of multiple segments, only the segments affected by wear need to be replaced.
The cams are mounted to spokes that extend radially from the reel support structure. The cams are preferably coupled to the spokes by removable fasteners to enable the cams to be easily removed from the spokes.
A preferred cam path includes a crop engagement region having various zones and different finger attitudes in the different zones. An approach zone in front of the cutterbar orients the fingers so that the fingertips move in a generally horizontal path to sweep the ground in front of the cutterbar. A lift zone follows in which the rockshafts rotate to lift the fingertips over the cutterbar and crop dam. The lift zone is followed by a release zone in which the rockshafts rotate in the opposite direction to drop the crop onto the platform floor and to provide clearance between the fingers and the platform auger.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2694894 (1954-11-01), Linscheid
patent: 3472008 (1969-10-01), Hurlburt
patent: 3940910 (1976-03-01), D'Acremont
patent: 4008558 (1977-02-01), Mott
patent: 4353201 (1982-10-01), Pierce et al.
patent: 5007235 (1991-04-01), Nickel et al.
patent: 5566536 (1996-10-01), Krafka et al.
patent: 5595053 (1997-01-01), Jasper et al.
patent: 5768870 (1998-06-01), Talbot et al.
patent: 5987861 (1999-11-01), Duncan et al.
patent: 0 280 790 (1988-09-01), None
Database WPI Section PQ, Week 199134 Derwent Publications Ltd., London, GB; Class P12 AN 1991-251390 XP002141465 & SU 1 598 904 A (SHMARIN N S), Oct. 15, 1990.
Coers Bruce Alan
Jensen Roderick James
Deere & Company
Kováacs ÁArpáad Fáabiáan
Will Thomas B.
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