Solid material comminution or disintegration – Apparatus – Rotary striking member with circumferential or tangential flow
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-14
2001-03-20
Rosenbaum, Mark (Department: 3725)
Solid material comminution or disintegration
Apparatus
Rotary striking member with circumferential or tangential flow
C241S101762, C241S285300
Reexamination Certificate
active
06202950
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a crop material processor and more particularly to a crop material processor with controlled discharge of the disintegrated baled crop materials.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Crop materials, such as straw, hay or other like forage, or animal bedding, are often baled for storage and transportation. In some instances, it is necessary to break the bale apart in order to spread the crop material for animal bedding or to dispense the crop material as feed.
A machine to disintegrate bales of crop material is sometimes known as a baled crop material processor. A typical machine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,292 which issued to Frey on May 16, 1989. A baled crop material processor basically comprises a container for receiving the bales, a disintegrator often in the form of a roller with cutters or flails for chopping or shredding the material from the bale, a mechanism including manipulator rollers to direct the bale to the disintegrator and a discharge slot such that the crop material is discharged from the bail processor. Any number of manipulator rollers are possible, however, the disintegrator is located between and below two of the manipulator rollers. The baled crop material is supported and rotated by the rollers. As the crop material bale rotates the disintegrator breaks apart the outer portion of the baled crop material first and then proceeds to break apart the crop material towards the centre of the bale until the crop material is completely broken apart. As the baled crop material is disintegrated, the loose crop material is driven by the flails to be discharged from the machine through the discharge slot. Usually, it is desired to use the discharged crop material as feed in the form of windrows or in feed bunks, or then again to use the discharged crop material as animal bedding which requires that it be scattered.
Often, the problem is to be able to control the discharge of the crop material for these different purposes in a machine. Known crop material processors often include a discharge door that must be partially dismantled to adjust the discharge of the crop material for forming windrows, for discharging into feed bunks or for scattering as animal bedding. This adjustment of the discharge door is not easy to use and therefore is a time consuming and strenuous work for the operator, particularly if he is working alone.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a baled crop material processor with a discharge control mechanism that adjusts the discharge of the disintegrated baled crop material from the processor.
These and other objects are achieved in a baled crop material processor for disintegrating baled crop material comprising a container for receiving and containing the crop material, the container having a bottom, a front wall, a back wall, a left side wall and a right side wall; a disintegrator mounted inside the container for disintegrating the baled crop material and discharging the disintegrated crop material from the processor; means for supporting and manipulating the crop material for disintegration primarily by the disintegrator; an opening at the bottom of one of the side walls through which the disintegrated crop material is discharged; a discharge door pivotally mounted adjacent to the discharge opening, the discharge door being pivotally positioned between extreme upper and lower positions for deflecting the crop material discharged from the discharge opening at an angle dependent on the positioning of the discharge door; and a controller for controlling the pivotal motion of the discharge door to define the deflection angle, of the discharged crop material.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, the controller comprises an actuator coupled to the discharge door for pivoting the discharge door and a driver mechanism coupled to the actuator for operating the actuator. The controller may further include a spring biasing mechanism coupled to the actuator to assist the driver in operating the actuator.
The actuator may comprise at least two flanges spatially mounted on the container, an axial member rotatably mounted between the flanges, at least two leverage members fixed to the axial member, at least two linking arms, each linking arm movably connected between one of the leverage members and the discharge door, and a clevis fixed to the axial member to impart a rotating motion to axial member by the driver.
With regard to another aspect of the invention, the driver may be a handle mounted on the clevis for rotating the clevis and openings spatially located on the flange to receive the handle to lock the clevis into position or alternately, the driver may be a hydraulic cylinder or an electric linear motor controlled by the operator.
In a further aspect of the present invention, the processor may include an elongated deflector pivotally mounted adjacent to the bottom of the discharge opening for assisting to direct the discharged crop materials. In addition, a flap may be mounted on the outside edge of the discharge door to further direct the discharging material. The flap is made from a pliable and yet durable material such as rubber.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the deflector and the discharge door may be linked together to operate in unison either being raised and lowered together or in opposite directions. In addition, the upper position of the discharge door is such that it does not contribute to the overall width of the processor.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4448361 (1984-05-01), Marcy
patent: 4830292 (1989-05-01), Frey
patent: 5033683 (1991-07-01), Taylor
patent: 5090630 (1992-02-01), Kopecky et al.
patent: 5340040 (1994-08-01), Bussiere et al.
patent: 5601241 (1997-02-01), Brewster
patent: 5622323 (1997-04-01), Krueger et al.
Advertisement “Model BP-25 Bale Processor” Hesston The Prime Line, Hesston Corporation.
Advertisement “Load and Feed Big Bales from Your Tractor or Pickup” DewEze Super Slicer, DewEze Mfg. Co.
Advertisement “Bale Processor” Vermeer Manufacturing Company.
Internet Advertisement “8610 Bale Processor” Case IH Agricultural Equipment.
Advertisement “EZ Feed 280” for Highline Mfg. Inc.
Advertisement “Bale Processor” from Jiffy by Westward Products Ltd.
Bridgeview Mfg. Inc.
Killworth, Gottman Hagan & Schaeff LLP
Rosenbaum Mark
LandOfFree
Crop material processor with controlled discharge does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Crop material processor with controlled discharge, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Crop material processor with controlled discharge will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2451692