GB1375399A - - Google Patents

Abstract

1375399 Apparatus for cutting leaf and stalk crops E WEICHEL 29 Nov 1971 [30 Nov 1970] 55380/71 Heading A4C Apparatus for cutting leaf and stalk crops comprises a rotating cutting tool 1, driven by a shaft (3) Figs. 1, 3 (not shown) through bevel gearing (2). A blade (9) of the tool moves in the direction shown and cuts through the material 4 on a rotatable storage platform 12, the cut material 6 sliding through the concave surface of the cutting tool and eventually leaving the platform to be transported away on a conveyer (not shown). The cutting tool is guided horizontally from the periphery of the platform by an extension arm 13 pivoted about a shaft 11 and driven by a motor 14, a device 17 being used to vary the height of the arm. A guide bar 15, parallel to the arm 13, ensures a constant angle of engagement of the cutting tool on the edge of the rotating pile of material 4, the speed of movement of the arm being adjustable by a device on the motor 14. An alternative arrangement of the apparatus uses a scanning cylinder 18, including a wheel 19, rolling at a selected distance from the cutting tool thus enabling the depth of penetration of the tool to be selected. A further embodiment Fig. 3 (not shown) comprises a plurality of successively aligned cutting tools (1)-(1 3 ) driven by a motor (21). The blades of the tools may be positioned individually around driving shafts (3) to set the required cutting angle and are vertically and horizontally movable about a vertical shaft which carries the motor (21) and extension arm 13. The cutting apparatus may be mounted on a mobile device so that material may be cut from the top or side of the piled material, cut from silos or compressed bales. Furthermore, using a set of aligned cutting tools also allows the cutting of material fed to the apparatus along a rectilinear path.