AU593879B2

AU593879B2 - A comb type header with air assisted conveying

Info

Publication number: AU593879B2
Application number: AU67466/87A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Don J. Quick
Original assignee: Massey Ferguson Australia Ltd
Current assignee: Massey Ferguson Australia Ltd
Priority date: 1986-01-16
Filing date: 1987-01-09
Publication date: 1990-02-22
Anticipated expiration: 2007-01-09
Also published as: AU6746687A

Description

A':3TRA,:AA PATENTS ACT 1952 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

FOR OFFICE USE Form Short Title: Int. CI Applicatior Number: o7L.661 Lodged: C'bdplete Specification-Lodged: Accepted: Lapsed: Published: Priority: section 49, *4 2OmWt tor prfit, ii .9 t ff4 'ReI.ated Art: I 4* *1*4*4 4 *tNJ ne of Applicant; ,Address of Applicant: Actual Inventor: BF COMPLETED BY APPLICANT MASSEY-FERGUSON AUSTRALIA LIMITED 2 Devonshire Roadi, Sunshine Victoria Australia Don J. Quick Address ior Servtc6: Complete Specification CLEMENT HACK CO., 601 St. Kil~da Road, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia.

for the Invention nntitled: A COMB TYPE HEADER WITH

CONVEYING

AIR ASSISTED The following staement is a full d'-criptlion of this Invention, including the best mofhad of performing It known to me.,- PP/CPIF/2/80 -11 YIII~- IW- 2 oa n o QA04 0 000 o 0 0 00 OA 0 0 0 00 o 0 o 0 0 A COMB TYPE HEADER WITH AIR ASSISTED CONVEYING 5 Technical Field 04 o The invention relates to comb type headers for severing small grain heads from the ground and conveying the severed heads into the threshing, separating and cleaning mechanisms of an agricultural combine harvester. More specifically the invention is in a comb type header which uses air as an assist for conveying severed heads away from a knife.

3 Background Art There is a tendency for severed crop material to sit on the floor of a header between the knife and the auger in some crop conditions. A number of people have attempted to use air to convey the crop material into the auger. Some of these air systems have had limited success on open type headers. Comb type headers are also referred to as closed headers at times.

Disclosure of the Invention The invention provides a header for severing small grain heads, said header having a cutting means for cutting small grain heads, duct means for directing air to the cutting means, the cutting means having a passage for discharging the air received from the duct means in a rearward direction so as r~t 15 to convey severed heads and other crop material to a conveying t ff-r means which removes the severed heads and other crop material from the header.

The invention also provides a header for severing small grain heads and other crop material, said header having a plurality of fingers which include stationary cutting surfaces and knife supporting surfaces, the fingers having an internal passage which receives air and discharges the air in a rearward direction adjacent an upper surface of one or more cutting knives disposed on said knife supporting surfaces, each finger including a finger back and an elongated finger portion attached to the upper surface of the finger back and extending forwardly from the finger back, a lower cover plate attached to each finger back which together with said finger back defines said passage such that air exiting said passage is directed rearwardly to move severed heads and other crop material to a conveying means.

Preferably the comb type header has a frame and an auger trough. The frame includes attaching members on its rear wall for attaching the comb type header to an elevator to the cylinder of a combine harvester. A plurality of fingers are secured to the forward edge of frame and project forwardly are secured to the forward edge of frame and project forwardly 4" 4 therefrom. The fingers include stationary cutting surfaces and knife supporting surfaces. The stationary cutting surfaces co-operate with the knife to sever heads of grain from the stalks. Ducts are connected to the frame to direct air to the fingers. Each finger has an internal passage which receives the air and discharges the air in a rearward direction adjacent the upper surface of the knife. The frame includes a plate which extends upwardly and rearwardly from the firgers to a point where the plate joins the front edge of the auger trough.

The fingers include a finger back, and an elongated spring steel finger attached to the upper surface of finger back and extending forwardly from the finger back. Upper and lower ledger plates are rigidly secured to each finger back.

S "15 The ledger plates have shear edges which co-operate with a reciprocating knife to sever cr.ap material. A lower cover plate is attached to each finger back to create an air passage. This air passage receives air from an air manifold adjacent the rear edge of each finger and directs the air to an exit opening. The exit opening is below the rear portion j of the elongated spring steel finger. The air which passes through each exit opening moves rearwardly adjacentthe upper surface of the knife. The air moves severed heads and other crop material, along the upper surface of the plate which extends upwardly and rearwardly from the fingers, and into the S auger trough.

A reel may be mounted on the frame above the fingers. The bats on the reel sweep across the upper surface of the fingers and assist the movement of the crop material into the auger trough.

Brief Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the comb type header with the end wall removed to show the working parts; Fig. 2 is an enlarged top view of a finger back; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the finger back of Fig. 2; and 5 Fig. 4 is a bottom view of the finger back of Figs.

2 and 3.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention The coib type header 10 has a frame 12, a rear wall 14, end walls 16 and an auger trough 18. Attaching members including hooks 20 are attached to the rear portion of the header frame 12 for attaching the comb header to an elevator to the cylinder of a combine harvester.

An auger 22 is rotatably journaled on the end walls 16. The auger 22 is rotated about the axis of the auger tube 24 so that the auger flighting 26 conveys crop material along the upper surface of the auger trough 18 and discharges the crop material rearwardly through an opening in the rear wall 14.

A finger support bar 28 is secured to the header frame 12 in front of and below the auger trough 18. The finger support bar 28 extends from one end wall 16 to the other end wall 16.

A plurality of fingers 30 are clamped to the finger support bar 28 by bolts 32. The finger 30 can be slid along the finger support bar 28 when the bolts 32 are loosened to adjust the space between adjacent fingers Each finger 30 has a finger back 34. Surfaces 36 and 38 on the upper rear portion of the finger back 34 contact the finger support bar 28. The head 40 of the bolt 32 contacts the rear edge of the finger support bar 28 and the inclined surface 42 on the finger back 34. A wedging action between the head 40, inclined surface 42 and finger support bar 28 pulls the surfaces 36 and 38 into secure contact with the finger support bar 28 to secure the finger back 34. A sAlot 44 is provided in each finger back 34 for the passage of -=a-bolt 32.

The upper forward surface 46 of the finger back 34 is generally flat and horizontal. Elongated spring steel fingers 48 are secured to the surface 46 by fasteners in 1. i 6 apertures 50 and 52. The spring steel fingers 48 extend a substantial distance forward from the finger back 34 and a short distance to the rear of surface 46 as shown in Fig. 1.

A pair of apertures 54 and 56 are provided in the surface 58 for securing a lower ledger plate 60 to the surface 58. An upper ledger plate 62 is secured to a surface 64 by fasteners that pass through apertures 66 and 68. The upper ledger plate 62 extends rearwardly some distance from the surface 64 as shown in Fig. 1.

A knife 70 is reciprocally supported on the fingers The knife 70 includes a knife bar 72 with attached knife sections 74. The sections 74 move back and forth in the slot between the upper ledger plate 62 and the lower ledger plate at0 o 60 and the knife bar 72 moves along the surface 76 of the ,15 finger back 3' and to the rear of the lower ledge plate 0 When the knife bar 72 is reciprocated back and forth, the 00 cutting edges of the knife sections 74 co-operate with the side edges of the ledger plates 60 and 62 to sever crop material.

20 An air manifold 78 is secured to the header frame 12 0a a to the rear of finger support bar 28. The air manifold 78 extends from one end wall 16 to the other. At least one duct extends from the air manifold 78 to an air box 82. The air 0o box 82 includes a flange 84 which is connected to a blower outlet when the comb header 10 is connected to a combine harvester.

0o Apertures (not shown) in the forward wall of the air manifold 78 connect each finger 30 to the air manifold 78. If desired, rubber sealing rings may be provided between the rear surfaces of the finger backs 34 and the adjacent wall of the air manifold 78 to prevent leaks.

The finger backs 34 could be provided with an integral air passage if desired. However, as shown in the drawing, an air passage is formed by covering the bottom of each finger back 34 with a cover plate 86. The cover plate 86 is held in place by the bolt J2 and by a fastener which passes through the aperture 88 in the finer back 34 as shown in Fig.

7 4. The air which enters each finger 30 moves forwardly through the lower rear portion, up through the opening shown in Fig. 4 and finally through the aperture 92 shown in Fig. 2. The air then moves rearwaraly across the top of the knife 70 as indicated by the arrow 94 in Fig. 1.

A header floor plate 96 extends rearwardly and upwardly from the rear edge of the knife 70 to the auger trough 18 and from one side wall 16 to the other side wall 16.

The rear edge of the header floor plate 96 joins the auger trough 18 and is integral with it. The upward and rearward inclination of the header floor plate 96 insures that air moves from the fingers 30 along the upper surface of the floor plate 96 as indicated by the arrows 94. The entire floor plate 96 is swept by air. This insures that in a light stand of crop, crop material moves up the floor plate 96 to the auger trough 18 and is not lost.

The floor plate 96 also makes it possible to position the knife 70 below the auger trough. The low position of the knife makes it possible to run the knife very close to the ground when conditions require that the crop be cut as low as possible.

I A reel with reel bats 98 and pick-up fingers 100 is provided to sweep across the top of the fingers 30. The tips Sof the pick-up fingers 100 move generally along the arcuate path 102. In heavy crops, the movement of the reel bats 98 and the pick-up fingers 100 tends to carry severed crop i materia: into the auger trough.

i t 1.

Claims

1. A header for severing small grain heads, said header having' a cutting means for cutting small grain heads, duct means for directing air to the cutting means, said cutting means having a plurality of fingers, said fingers having an upper surface and a bottom surface, a passage for receiving the air from the duct means and for directing the air I rearwardly along the rear of the bottom surface of the fingers and over the cutting means so as to convey severed heads and other crop material to a conveying means which removes the severed heads and other crop material from the header.

2. The header of Claim 1, wherein the cutting means also includes a knife, and wherein each finger has a stationary cutting surface and knife supporting surface, the stationary cutting surfaces, in use, co-operating with a knife to sever the grain heads, and said passage being disposed in the fingers for receiving the air and discharging the air rearwardly adjacent an upper surface of said knife.

3. The header according to Claim 2, wherein said fingers I comprise a finger back having ani elongated spring steel finger attached to an upper surface of said finger back and extending forwardly from the finger back, upper and lower ledger plates secured to each finger back, said ledger I plates having sheet edges which co-operate with said knife to sever the grain heads. 9 9

4. The header according to Claim 3, wherein said fingers also include a lower cover plate which together with said finger back defines said passage for discharging the air in a rearward direction.

The header according to Claim 4, whereir. said duct means includes an air manifold adjacent to a rear edge of each finger which directs air to an exit opening, the exit opening being below the bottom surface of said elongated spring steel finger so that air can pass from said air manifold to the passage in said fingers and out of the exit opening so that the air moves rearwardly adjacent an upper surface of said knife, 6

6. A header according to any one of Claims 2 to wherein a reel is mounted above said fingers, said reel having bats which sweep across the upper surface of the fingers and assist the movement of severed heads an crop material into the conveying means.

7. A header according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said conveying means comprises an auger.

8. A header for severing small grain h(ads and other crop material, said header having a plurality of fingers which include stationary cutting surfaces and knife supporting surfaces, the fingers having an internal passage which receives air and discharges the air in a rearward direction adjacent an upper surface of one or more cutting knives disposed on said knife supporting surfaces, each finger including a finger back and an elongated finger portion attached to the upper surface of the finger back and extending forwardly from the finger back, a lower cover plate attached to each finger back which together with said 10 finger back defines said passage such that air passes under the finger portion and exits said passage and is directed rearwardly to move severed heads and other crop material to a conveying means,

9. The header according to Claim 8, wherein the conveying means comprises an auger A header for severing small grain heads and other crop material substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED THIS 8TH DAY OF AUGUST, 1989 MASSEY-FERGUSON AUSTRALIA LIMITED By Its Patent Attorneys: GRIFFITH HACK CO., Fellows Institute of Patent Attorneys of Australia