GB1156662A - Machine for Harvesting Tall Crops - Google Patents

Abstract

1,156,662. Sugar cane harvesters. MASSEY-FERGUSON (AUSTRALIA) Ltd. 6 July, 1966 [15 July, 1965], No. 30037/65. Heading A1F. A machine for harvesting tall crops, e.g. sugar cane, comprises a crop gathering unit including a sub-frame having a ground-engaging skid and adapted to follow ground contour variations, a rotatable conical member the small diameter end of which is the leading end, the member being mounted on the sub-frame and having its axis so inclined upwards and rearwards and being so dimensioned that on any vertical line through the axis and cutting the curved surface of the member the distance between the upper and lower points at which the line cuts the surface is larger than the distance between the lower point and the skid, and a vertical wall mounted on the sub-frame and being below the conical member in working positions of the gathering unit. The conical member 26 is driven by a motor (52) (Fig. 2, not shown) which also drives a cutter (55). The skid 28 is movable relative to the conical member by a hydraulic ram 40. When chopper housing 38 is raised, and the ram is retracted, a bell crank 50 is moved clockwise about its pivot by lever 44 to raise the skid to a transport position (shown in chain lines). Movement of the sub-frame when in a working position about shaft 27 is permitted by a lost motion connection between the bell crank lever 50 and lever 44. Two sub-frames with associated conical members and vertical walls define therebetween a throat converging towards a pair of rotary cutters (not shown).