Harvesters – Seed gatherers or strippers – Moving comb
Patent
1992-04-09
1994-02-15
Suchfield, George A.
Harvesters
Seed gatherers or strippers
Moving comb
56220, 56364, A01D 4530
Patent
active
052856224
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to means for, and a method of, securing and protecting crop engaging elements in apparatus for harvesting seed, forage and industrial crops. It is concerned with minimising wear and distortion in the principal regions of the elements where abrasion is greatest and damage occurs most commonly.
The invention has particular application in known apparatus employing high-speed rotors comprising outwardly projecting crop engaging elements attached to inner support means for harvesting certain wanted fractions of grain crops like barley, oats, rice and wheat, also pulses, oil seeds, herbage seeds, flower heads, fruiting bodies and the foliage of forage and other herbage crops. The rotors are provided with cooperating crop guide means so that, when the apparatus is moved through the uncut crop, the elements comb out the wanted plant parts and convey them rearwardly for collection.
Because of the risk of crop engaging elements occosionally striking the ground or foreign objects lying on the ground, elements are usually fashioned from resilient materials, such as natural or synthetic rubbers, semi-rigid plastics and other synthetic compounds. Individual elements may be flat or contoured in their crop engaging regions and may have a variety of profiles.
For convenience of attachment and functional reasons, resilient elements are usually shaped to be flat at the inner mounting region, and they may be formed into laterally extending arrays joined together in strip form. In operation, wear is almost invariably greatest at the inner region between laterally adjacent crop engaging elements, but it can be considerable also in the outer region, particularly at forwardly projecting leading edges or tips.
It is among the objects of the present invention to provide improved means for, and a method of, securing resilient crop engaging elements to mounting members and/or protecting the elements against excessive wear and damage in the most susceptible regions in order to extend service life and maintain efficient operation.
Other objects of the present invention are to increase the convenience and speed of mounting and of replacing crop engaging elements, to increase lateral stiffness for counteracting centrifugal effect between laterally adjacent fastening points, to add to the inner crop engaging profile features which are capable of contributing to the effectiveness of the elements, and to reduce costs by saving on the mass of material provided in the mounting region.
For clarity, in the disclosures which follow, resilient crop engaging element is defined as a member projecting outwardly from a mounting region and adapted for combing through uncut crop, for stripping off wanted plant parts by engagement with the side and inner regions which border recesses between laterally adjacent elements, and for impelling the stripped-off plant parts rearwardly for collection. Each element comprises an inner crop engaging region extending outwardly over a short length of the element where crop density and friction are often greatest, an outwardly adjacent or overlapping intermediate yielding region where bending can take place freely, and an outer or distal region adapted for entering into and dividing naturally disposed uncut crop and guiding it into the inter-element recesses.
For clarity also, in an array of resilient crop engaging elements the inner boundaries, which surround the inter-element recesses between and along the side regions of the inner crop engaging regions of laterally adjacent elements, comprise the inner crop engaging profiles on the stripping rotor. Inner crop engaging regions may extend outwardly preferably between one-tenth and one-half of the length of the elements. Intermediate yielding regions may extend outwardly preferably from one-tenth to over four-fifth of the length of the elements. Inner crop engaging profiles may have different shapes comprising straight and/or curved outlines.
Sustained effectiveness in operation of flexible crop stripping elements depends on maintenance o
REFERENCES:
patent: 2481652 (1949-09-01), Fort
patent: 3859777 (1975-01-01), Doering
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