CA1089235A - Pea harvesters - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract A pea-harvesting machine is disclosed comprising a crop pick-up reel extending at least over the full width of the or the wider track dimen-sion of the machine, a first conveyor of a width corresponding to that of the pick-up reel and disposed rearwardly of the pick-up reel to receive crop therefrom, second conveyors arranged to receive crop from the first conveyor and to deliver it to a position approximately at the centre of the machine and a longitudinally-extending, third conveyor arranged to receive crop from the second conveyors for onward transmission to a threshing drum.

Description

~ 9235 This application is divided out of copending application No.
252,364, filed May 12, 1976.
This invention relates to pea-harvesters.
In pea-harvesting machines it is necessary to convey the plants ~.
cut or uprooted from the soil from a pick-up reel to a threshing drum with minimum loss of crop and minimum damage to the peas or other useful parts of the crop.
From the standpoint of reducing damage during successive passes of a harvester over a field it is desirable that a pick-up reel or other device should extend at least over the full width of the machine but clearly it is not practicable to convey the cut or uprooted plants over the length of the harvester to the thresher drum whilst maintaining the p:l.ants in a spread out cond:Ltion :in wh:ich, of course, damage is :I:ikely to be kept to a min:imum.
It :is ~es:lrablo to prov:ido a conveying system between a p:ick-up reel or other pick-up device and a thresher drum in which the plant material is concentrated to a substantially narrower width than that of the pick-up reel itself without giving rise to appreciable plant damage or loss of plant material in the system.
According to the present invention there is provided a pea-harvesting machine compri.sing crop pick-up means extending at least over the full width o:f tho or the wider traclc dimension of` the machine, a first~ longitudinally-extending, conveyor of a width corresponding to that of the pick-up means and disposed rearwardly of the pick-up means to receive crop therefrom, two transverse, second conveyors arranged to receive crop from the first conveyor and to deliver it to a position approximately at the center of the machine ,-, .

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1~89~3~i and a longitudinally-extending, third conveyor arranged to receive crop from the transverse conveyors for onward transmission to threshing means of the machine.
~ urther according to the present invention there is provided a pea-harvester comp~ising an elongate vehicle frame, a picking reel attached to the forward end of said frame and arranged to pull growing vines from the ground and carry them rearwardly, conveying means for receiving the freshly-harvested vines from said pick-up reel, a threshing drum arranged to receive the vines directly from said conveying means and separate peas from pods, and means for collecting the peas from the threshing drum.
Still further according to the present invention there is provided a pea-harvesting machine comprising crop pick-up means extending at least over thc ful:L width of tho, or the w:ider, track dimens:ion of the mach:ine, conveyor mean.s oxtonding long:itudina:Lly of the machine ancl arrangecl to roceivc crop and deliver it to thresher means of the machine and further conveyor means operative between the crop pick-up means and the longitudinal conveyor means to move crop delivered by the pick-up means laterally of the machine, the further conveyor means incorporating drive means with an axis of rotation generally parallel to the length direction of the machine.
~ pea-harvesting machine embodying the invention will now be des-cr:ibed, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a side elevation showing an outline of the integers ~-of one embodiment of harvesting machine i~:.accordance with the invention;
Figure 2 is a front view of the harvesting machine, but with a : . . . .

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pick-up reel and certain other parts omitted;
Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating certain frameworks of the machine;
Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating forces acting on the frameworks of Figure 3;
Figure 5 is a side elevation of the frameworks illustrating further features of those frameworks;
Figures 6A to 6C illustrate transverse conveyors incorporated in the machine in various attitudes dependent upon the orientation of the harv-ester as a whole; and Figures 7A to 7C illustrate the relationships of the transverseconveyors to other conveyors of the harvester, dependent upon various field conf:igurat:Lons.
Onc cmbod:iment of poa h~r-vest:ing mach:ine i.n accordance w.ith the invention will now be described in general outline with particular reference to Figure 1. The harvester is self-propelled and the various integers or units are supported on a frame (parts only of which are illustrated) on pairs of wheels 100, 102. The wheels 100 serve to drive the machine through a trans-mission (not shown) coupled to a single power source (not shown). The machine is controlled from the driving position indicated generally at plat-form 106.
~ Irning now to the operative parts of the pea harvesting machine as such, the machine includes a pick-up reel 110 which extends across the whole width of the machine and at least a certain distance beyond the wider of the wheel tracks, the reel being supported for pivotal motion about an axis '",' '" ' ' ' . '" ~ '~ ,' ' ' ' :.' 10~9235 extending longitudinally of the machine at 113 on a beam or other pick-up levelling frame 112. The reel is also supported for rotation in bearings 119 mounted on the frame 112 (see Figure 3).
Rearwardly of the reel 110 there is provided an inclined, first conveyor 130 having a width substantially equal to the width of the reel and inclined at an angle of approximately 30 to the horizontal. The upper, rear, end of the first, longitudinally-extending, conveyor 130 overlies two trans-versely-extending in-feed (second) conveyors 180, 182 each of which has an upper run inclined upwardly towards the centre-line of the machine. The 10 second conveyors 180, 182 are driven so that their upper runs are moving inward]y, that is, towards the centre-line of the machine. The inner ends are spaced from one another and overlie a longitudinally-extending, third, inclined conveyor 200 which is arranged ~or operation with the upper run moving rearwardly~ as is the first :Longitudina:l conveyor 130. The conveyor 200 is substantially narrower than the conveyor 130 and i9 pivotally mo~mted at both ends (see Figures 7A to 7C).
The rear end of the conveyor 200 overlies and is spaced a short distance only from a lower end portion of a longitudinally-extending, elevator conveyor 250 which has a substantially greater angle of inclination than the 20 conveyor 200. The conveyor 250 has a width substantially the same as the conveyor 200 and the upper end terminates just short o-f the inlet of a threshing drum 300 which is preEerably constructed in accordance with our co-pending British Application No. 21475, 72 (Serial No. 1,396,931).
Since the drum 300 does not form part of the present invention and has been fully described in the co-pending British Application 21475/72 ., -'' ; , ' ''': . ~ ., '-~: . . ' . ' . . . ' ' ' . ' ,;'' ', ' . .' ",, :~ , . , '' . : ' ' . . .
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referred to above, substantially no further details of this construction will be given but it is necessary to state that the drum has a casing which is perforate so that separated peas may fall through onto cleaning apron con-veyors 350, 352 which serve to provide an initial o-r first cleaning stage for the separated peas and extend along the whole length of the drum.
The apron conveyors 350, 352, overlie a horizontal, longitudinally-extending, pea-carrying conveyor 400, an upper run 402 of which is driven in the forwards direction. The conveyor includes rollers 404, 406. A scraper ; device, not shown, may act against the conveyor at the roller 404. Adjacent the forward end of the upper run and the forward roller 404, ducting 420 is provided which encloses a lower run 422 of a bucket elevator conveyor 450 and has an opening 424 which serves as an air intake. The ducting is con-nected with a ~an ~26 having an outlet opening 428. The ~an s~rves to draw of~ dwgt ancl other trash and roturn it to tho t`ie:ld being harvestecl. This arrangement forms a second cleaning stage.
The upper end of the bucket elevator 450 discharges onto a hori-zontal, podder, conveyor 500 the upper run of which is arranged to be driven in the forwards direction in relation to the harvester as a whole and deliver peas and any remaining dirt or other extraneous matter to an upper run of a horizontal podder chain 550 which acts as a moving sieve and also forms part ot the upper boundary of a main hopper 600. The upper run of the chain 550 also travels in the forwards direction. In order to remove any remaining dirt, ducting 552 is provided above the upper run of the chain 550 and is connected to the inlet of a fan 554, the outlet of which is connected to downwardly-extending ducting 556. Any un~hreshed pods or debris remain on _5_ ',,' the upper run of the chain 550 and do not fall into the hopper. Such pods and debris will fall into ducting 558 which lies forwardly of a vertical forward run of the chain 550 and will be returned to the in-feed conveyors 180, 182 for re-cycling. This arrangement forms a third cleaning stage.
Turning now to Figure 3, it will be seen that below the conveyor 130 there are provided two ground-level sensing rollers 154, 155, each carried by a respective screwed member 156, 158 adjustably !mounted for height on brackets 160, 162 which are fixed to the pick-up frame 132. The screwed members 156, 158 can be adjusted and locked in their adjusted positions. A
dirt scraper is mounted to co-operate with each wheel which lies closely adjacent but inwardly of the corresponding transverse end of the reel 110.
It will be appreciated the simple adjustment arrangement provides ~or easy and rapid adjustment for the ro:llers to adjust the height of the t.ines from tho ground as the reel 110 is positioned on the pick-up Erame, which itself is adjusted through the agency of the rollers. me height can be adjusted within a range of from 20 to 50 mm. depending on the height of the crop to be harvested or to prevent stones being picked up. Certain parts of the pick-up reel levelling system will be described hereinafter with reference to Figure 3, Figures 6A to 6C and 7A to 7C.
It is desirable that the pick-up reel 110 or other pick-up device should ~ollow both latera:L and fore-and-aft changes in ground contour. Num-erous systems have been proposed for controlling these changes but these have tended to be over complex which is undesirable under conditions normally encountered in agriculture. The levelling system for the reel 110 herein described is simple and robust but nevertheless is capable of accommodating ,, .
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any changes in ground contour. The system involves essentially the use of ground-level sensing rollers 154, 155 adjacent the pick-up reel 110 of the harvester, these rollers supporting only a small proportion of the weight of the pick-up reel, the remaining, major proportion of the weight being supported by one or two or more hydraulic cylinders me levelling system for the pick-up reel must not only follow field irregularities, it must also ensure a trouble-free product transfer, irrespective of the irregularities from the pick-up reel 110 to the elevator conveyor 250. As the elevator conveyor 250 is fixed on the machine frame which frame will always remain horizontal due to the levelling system of the threshing device of the harvester known per se and therefore not described herein, this means that the pick-up device as a whole must be able to follow the fore-and-aft and :Lateral s:Lopes of the t`ieLd (on which the threshing de-vice means ot` the harvestcr remains horizontal) but also to fol:Low the field irregularities on these slopes.
The levelling system includes a levelling frame pivotal at 801 on the main machine axle at 802 which axle carries at 805 a frame supporting the threshing device of the harvester. When this axle becomes inclined in de-pendence upon the side slope of the field, the frame 800 assumes the same Lnc]ination. The pivot shaft 164 is located at the front of the frame round which the pick-up reel frame 132 can pivot laterally inde~pendent:Ly of the inclination of the axle 802.
Longitudinal or fore-and-aft levelling is accomplished totally by the frame 800 with its pivot connections 801 on the main mach-Lne axle 802.
Pivots 801 for the reel-levell ng frame 800 on the main machine ,, . . .
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axle 802 are at a location which is as low as possible to prevent the friction generated at the sensing rollers creating a moment tending to dig ~he reel 110 in to the soil.
Brief reference will now be made to certain components of the hydraulic system which are illustrated in Figure 3. As the loading on the ground-sensing rollers 154, 155 must not be too high, one or two or more hydraulic actuators 808 are provided which will take up most of the weight of the pick-up device, leaving only a small proportion of the weight on the rollers 154, 155 such that ground-roller contact is always maintained. The actuators 808 are connected a~ their upper ends to the machine frame 810 and to the reel levelling frame 800 at shackles 804. The pick-up reel 110, its frame 112 and associated parts have been describcd herein w:ith reference to Figures L and 2.
The hydraulic balancing system is used ~`or :Latera:L :LevelLing of the reel and associated parts and takes into account the movements of the thresh-ing device relative to the machine frame.
The lateral levelling of the pick-up reel 110 to follow the ground irregularities is totally mechanical and is effected by the two sensing rollers 154, 155 acting through the actuators 808 and the central pivot sha~`t 164.
The forces acting on the sensing rollers 154 and 15S and on the actuators 808 are indicated in Figure 4. If W is the total weight of the pick-up reel assembly, Ws is the force applied to the ground by each sensing roller 154, 155 and FC/2 is the force exerted by each actuator 808 then W ~ Fc = 2Ws Or, in other words, each roller supports one half of the dif-. . .
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ference between the weight of the assembly and the upwards force of the actuators. Fc is chosen so that Ws is small but sufficient to ensure that the wheels follow the ground contours.
Referring now to Figures 6A to 6C and also to Figures 7A to 7C it will be apparent that whatever conditions are encountered by the machine, trouble-free product transfer can be effected irrespective of grormd irregu-larities by inter-connections between the conveyors 130, 180 and 200 as shown.
Conveyor 130 is maintained in a position relative to the pick-up reel 110 such that no product loss is encountered when product is thrown by the reel 110 on the conveyor 130 (see Figure 6B).
The transverse conveyors 180 and 182 are fixedly mounted on res-pective members of the levelling frame 800. ~s such it is only the extra lateraL adjustment oE the p:iclcing ree:L L10 itseLf which wllL cause a posi-tion ditforence betwoen conveyors 130 and 180, 182 (see Figure 6C).
The other component of the lateral adjustment is taken up at the transfer from the conveyors 180, 182 to the intermediate longitudinally-extending conveyor 200~ Owing to splitting the transverse flow into two, a good transfer of crop is ensured under all conditions.
Fore-and-aft levelling is in turn (see Figures 7A to 7C) accommo-dated at transfer from the transverse conveyors 180, 182 to the conveyor 200 and from the conveyor 200 to the clevator conveyor 250. The conveyor 200 is supported pivotally in the longitudinal direction at the higher, rearward, end on the frame of the elevator 250 and by a double ball joint (for both longitudinal and lateral movements) at the lower part of the con-veyor 200 on the frame 800.
_g_ ~089Z3Si In operation, the self-mobile harvesting machine is controlled from the platform 106 which includes a console incorporating not only the usual gauges and warning lights required for driving but also gauges, warning lights and controls relevant to the harvesting machine in itself. The pick-up reel 110, which is wider than the wider track of the two pairs of wheels 100, 102 uproots or at least tears off the vines, carries them over an arcuate path of approximately 270 and deposits the vines on to the lower end of the con-veyor 130. This carries the vines, while still spread out, on to the two centering conveyors 180, 182 which deliver the vines to the intermediate 10 conveyor 200. This, in turn, delivers the vines to the elevating conveyor -~
250 which brings the vines, substantially without loss to the inlet of the threshing drum 300. So far, all the movement, apart from that on the trans-verse movement on the conveyors 180, 182, has been genera:Lly rearwardly.
After threshing in the drwm 300 which is maintained horizontal under all conditions, the peas are received on the apron conveyors which serve to allow the peas to fall or roll downwardly while dirt and trash are carried upwardly and discharged to the ground. This provides a first cleaning stage of the threshed peas. At the junction between the horizontal conveyor 400 and the bucket elevator 422 there is a gap subjected to an upwardly-directed draught of air generated by theifan 426. Dust and other trash are carried upwardly whiLe the peas follow a trajectory on to the lower run of the buclcet elevakor 450. The air flow generated by the fan is controlled to avoid en-training peas. This is the second cleaning stage.
The bucket elevator 450 receives partially-cleaned peas and dis-charges them on to the upper, forwardly-moving, run of the conveyor 500.

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~r -~089Z35 Over the mouth of the hopper 600, the conveyor discharges peas and any remaining dirt and trash on to the upper run of the moving sieve 550 (horizontal podder conveyor). me fan 554 lying above the hopper opening j serves to draw off any remaining dust, trash, etc., and also actively and continuously prevents the apertures of the sieve from becoming blocked, part-; icularly under wet conditions. Any unthreshed pods or pieces of dirt will carry over into the spaces enclosed by the cover 558 to be thrown again on the upper runs of the transverse infeed conveyors 180, 182 below for re-cycling. The chain 550 prevents any large pieces of dirt falling into the hopper. This arrangement forms the third cleaning stage.
It will be apparent from the description hereinbefore that crops received from the reel 110 are delivered by a series of conveyors including two transversely moving conveyors 180, 182 which serve to concentrate the CI'Op which is loosely distributed during its passage along the aonveyor 130 that the crop i9 concentrated ready for delivery to the thresher drum inlet and is conveyed by conveyors which have a transverse width substantially less than the overall width of the machine as a whole. As will be apparent par-ticularly from the Figures 6A to 6C and 7A to 7C the relative positions of the conveyors 180, 182 and conveyor 200 do not affect the efficiency of the delivery system irrespective of the ground slopes over which the machine is passing.
Although the harvester described and claimed herein is primarily intended for harvesting peas, other crops can be harvested which require separation of parts in the field.

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Claims (10)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A pea-harvesting machine comprising crop pick-up means extending at least over the full width of the or the wider track dimension of the machine, a first, longitudinally-extending, conveyor of a width corresponding to that of the pick-up means and disposed rearwardly of the pick-up means to receive crop therefrom, two transverse, second conveyors arranged to receive crop from the first conveyor and to deliver it to a position approximately at the centre of the machine and a longitudinally-extending, third conveyor arranged to receive crop from the transverse conveyors for onward transmission to threshing means of the machine.

2. A pea-harvester comprising an elongate vehicle frame, a picking reel attached to the forward end of said frame and arranged to pull growing vines from the ground and carry them rearwardly, conveying means for receiving the freshly-harvested vines from said pick-up reel, a threshing drum arranged to receive the vines directly from said conveying means and separate peas from pods, and means for collecting the peas from the threshing drum.

3. A pea-harvester according to claim 2 wherein said conveying means includes an elevating conveyor spaced inwardly from the sides of said frame and transfer means for receiving vines from said reel, and for urging them inwardly toward the longitudinal centerline of said frame and rearwardly into said elevating conveyor.

4. A pea-harvester according to claim 2 wherein said frame includes a front axle pivotal about the longitudinal axis of the frame and wherein said reel is mounted for pivotal movement about said axis relative to said axle.

5. A pea-harvesting machine comprising crop pick-up means extending at least over the full width of the, or the wider, track dimension of the ma-chine, conveyor means extending longitudinally of the machine and arranged to receive crop and deliver it to thresher means of the machine and further conveyor means operative between the crop pick-up means and the longitudinal conveyor means to move crop delivered by the pick-up means laterally of the machine, the further conveyor means incorporating drive means with an axis of rotation generally parallel to the length direction of the machine.

6. A machine according to claim S wherein the longitudinally-extend-ing conveyor moans comprise two portions, one portion lying immediately rear-wardly of the pick-up means and the other portion Lying between the further conveyor means and the thresher means.

7. A machine according to claim 5 or claim 6 wherein the further conveyor means serve to support the crop moved thereby.

8. A machine according to claim 5, wherein the further conveyor moans is divided into two parts disposed on each side of the centreline of the machine.

9. A machine according to claim 8, wherein each said part of the further conveyor means is angularly adjustable to compensate for movement of the pick-up means.

10. A machine according to claim 5 wherein longitudinally-extending conveyor means includes a forward portion movable with the pick-up means, an intermediate portion, lying at least in part, below the further conveyor means, and a rearward, elevating portion, the intermediate portion being pivoted through a two-part linkage to a frame of the machine at its forward end and being pivotally linked to the elevating portion at its rearward end.