Unearthing plants or buried objects – With above-ground means for detachment of plant part – Conveyer feed to or from cutter
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-11
2002-11-26
Batson, Victor (Department: 3671)
Unearthing plants or buried objects
With above-ground means for detachment of plant part
Conveyer feed to or from cutter
C171S141000, C171S011000, C171S020000, C171S062000, C171S110000, C056S327100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06484810
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The field of the present invention relates generally to mechanical harvesters for use in harvesting crops. More specifically, the present invention relates to such harvesters that may be moved along the ground and which are particularly suitable for harvesting bulb crops such as onions, beets, radishes, turnips, garlic and the like. Even more specifically, the present invention relates to such mechanical harvesters that are able to separate the useful crop from its associated plant material, such as roots and tops, and place the processed crop into bags or sacks.
2. Background
As is well known, the harvesting of bulb crops such as onions, beets, radishes, turnips, garlic and the like (also collectively referred to herein as “onions”) present particular problems that make harvesting of such crops more difficult and expensive than many other types of crops. Typically, the useful bulb portion of these crops grow in the soil with roots growing down from the useful portion and top plant material growing upward above the soil. To harvest the crops, the entire plant must first be extracted from the ground and then the roots and tops must be cut off. Harvesting these crops by hand is a very expensive, labor intensive process requiring a significant number of laborers to extract the crops and then separate the bulb from the roots and tops. As a result, mechanical harvesters for harvesting these crops have been in use for a number of years. Unfortunately, many of the mechanical harvesters have had problems with nicking, cutting or bruising of the bulb or failing to cut-off the roots and tops in the proper location relative to the bulb (in those machines which are even configured to cut-off both roots and tops).
In regards to the previous onion field harvesting machines that are configured to extract onions and remove the tops and roots therefrom, U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,589 to Hagiz on Feb. 15, 1983, U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,296 to Kruithoff on Jun. 28, 1988, U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,549 to Shuff on Mar. 30, 1993, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,363,634 to Saito on Nov. 15, 1994, and others disclose various methods of air flow generation and direction to orient the onion tops and roots in a manner such that they may be severed from the onion bulb. In the inventions listed above the onions are removed from the soil by a conveyor apparatus and then positioned by various means of air flow generation and direction so as to direct the tops and roots into severing devices that shear or cut the onion appendages by mechanisms having rotating or reciprocating blades. These prior mechanical harvesters have achieved some degree of success. However, because onions do not grow uniformly and typically vary in size, shape and bulb diameter, mechanical harvesters that utilize air flow generators to orientate the bulb for cutting generally are only partially effective at cutting tops and roots at uniform lengths. Often the onions harvested by these machines require the onions to be topped by use of an additional device prior to the harvesting operation, require the tops of the onions be significantly dried out prior to harvest, or require additional manual trimming and clipping prior to the curing and/or grading processes.
Other bulb or root crop harvesting machines use gathering mounts and lifting frame assemblies to convey the crops by their leafy appendages to various cutting devices that separate the leafy materials and the roots from the useful crop. U.S. Pat. No. 4,173,257 to Mortensen and Browning on Nov. 6, 1979, as well as many earlier patents, disclose such root crop harvesters of this nature. These devices rely on the lifter assemblies to convey the vegetables up through the severing devices in order to accomplish the leafy material separation. The patent to Spiegel, U.S. Pat. No. 2,368,895 dated Feb. 6, 1945, discloses a carrot and onion harvester. As is typical with the Mortensen and Browning root crop harvester the topping bar assemblies are well known in the art and are widely described as to form and function. Although the topping bar assemblies are very successful at removing the tops by a crimping or pinching action, these, devices typically result in a less than clean severed cut at the ends of the leaves and the top of the root crop. Such cuts are typically less desirable or not acceptable for fresh market onions due to the unfinished appearance of the onion bulb.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,589 to Hagiz on Feb. 15, 1983, U.S.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,597,909 to Lauridsen on Aug. 10, 1971, and others disclose machines for harvesting onions and the like having various lifting and cutting mechanisms that also utilize bagging or sacking devices for placing the finished product directly in the bag or sack for market. These bagging or sacking devices typically employ delivery devices consisting of upright chutes or collection bins that collect topped onions for later placement into sacks or bags. By design, these chutes and bins are used to direct the onions. As a result, they provide numerous opportunities for damage to occur to the onion from onion to onion and onion to machine contact. Mechanical damage or excessive bruising is not acceptable for fresh market onions and can be a market or cosmetic defect that lowers the price and reduces the marketability of the onions, thereby causing economic loss to either or both the harvester and grower. In addition, the mechanical damage is often a pathway for pathogens to enter the bulb of the onion.
It can be appreciated, therefore, that what is needed is a mechanical harvester for harvesting bulb crops, particularly onions, that effectively and efficiently harvests the onions from the field and provides for improved culling and cutting of the onions, particularly the removal of the tops and roots. The desirable harvester would reduce the amount time and labor necessary to harvest onions and be suitable for harvesting onions when the tops are still green (requiring less field drying time). To accomplish this, the desired harvester should not rely on blown air to orientate the onion for cutting.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The mechanical harvester for harvesting onions of the present invention solves the problems and provides the benefits identified above. That is to say, the present invention provides a harvester for harvesting onions that results in improved extraction of the onions from the field, improved removal of the unwanted root and top portions from the onion and placement of the cut onions in bags or sacks, while substantially reducing the amount of time and labor necessary to harvest the onions.
In the primary embodiment of the present invention, the harvester of the present invention primarily comprises a harvester frame, comprised of a plurality of frame members, having a top portion and a pair of opposing sides. The harvester is suitable for being towed behind a tractor or other apparatus or for being modified to be self-propelled. At the front end of the harvester is a crop extracting mechanism comprising a lifting bar for extracting the onions from the field and flapper wheel for coaxing the onions into a one or more conveyor assemblies. In the preferred embodiment, the flapper wheel first assists in the placement of onions on a lifting conveyor assembly and then on an inclined elevator assembly, each of which has a conveyor system that allows small, unmarketable onions and any debris to fall through the conveyor onto the ground below the harvester. The lifting conveyor assembly is hydraulically connected to the frame so that the operator of the unit can raise or lower the lifting assembly so as to transport the harvester between fields and/or to place the lifting bar on the upper portion of the soil when harvesting. The conveyor systems deliver the onion plants to a cutting assembly which removes the roots and tops from the onion bulb. After cutting, the onions are transported rearward to an inspection assembly for final culling of unmarketable onions and debris and then to a sacking assembly where the onion bulbs are
Bendix Richard D.
Krier Orchel D.
Batson Victor
Ryan Richard A.
LandOfFree
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