GB1567336A

GB1567336A - Device for toping root crops

Info

Publication number: GB1567336A
Application number: GB5188276A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1975-12-29
Filing date: 1976-12-13
Publication date: 1980-05-14
Also published as: FR2336870A1; DK584576A; BE849211A; NL7614215A; CA1062576A; DE2658383A1; FR2336870B1; ATA976476A; LU76447A1; IT1068631B; ES454653A1

Description

(54) DEVICE FOR TOPPING ROOT CROPS Ul) I, MICHAEL LAFORGE, of 5 rue Charles de Gaulle, 51220 Hermonville, France, a French Citizen, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be par ticularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to a device for topping root crops such as beet and carrots.

When harvesting beet for example, a defoliating Operation is first carried out in which the stalks and leaves projecting above the soil are removed, and this is followed by a complementary operation to top, or sever the beet at its neck, wherein the neck is sliced from the beet so as to separate the growth of stalks from the root. Thus a root is leet in the ground free from its superstructures, and the root, which constitutes the good part of the beet, is then dug up and lifted by a lifter, and collected for processing for example in a sugar refinery.

The topping or neck severing operation is a difficult and often delicate operation The beet are usually irregularly disposed in the soil and they project above lithe soil by a height which is not uniformly constant.

The necks of the beet however are located In different positions or at different levels dependent upon the individual plants or roots.

It is therefore difficult to exactly adjust the positioning of the neck severing apparatus.

Moreover, it is advisable to avoid removing too large a part from the beet which leads to a lowering of yield. On the other hand, the technical requirements of the sugar refinery means that the beet must be perfectly leaf free or free from stalks which, during the boiling process, would constitute a disturbance generating secondary reactions.

To oveltcome these various disadvantages.

devices have been constructed using cutting or severing members associated with feelers dragged at soil level and aimed at positioning a cutting member at ,the appropriate level in relation to the head or nedk Of the tees.

However these devices do not give complete satisfaction in practice, and lead either to a too pronounced neck severing or to insufficient neck separation with part of the neck and possibly the base of the stalks being left behind to accompany the root for further processing.

According to the invention, there is provided a device for topping root crops, comprising a rotor having an axis of rotation perpendicular to the intended direction of travel of the device, the rotor having at least one blade which describes a virtual cylindrical surface during the rotation of the rotor and which extends from one end of the rotor to the other end along a helical line located on the virtual cylindrical surface, a rake disposed upstream of the rotor, referred to the direction of travel of the device, the rake having fixed teeth which are arranged parallel to one another and parallel to the direction of travel, each tooth having a curved surface slightly spaced from the virtual cylindrical surface of the rotor and conforming with the curvature of said cylindrical surface, to form a counter cutting surface for cooperation with said at least one blade, the device also including a guard member arranged downstream of the rotor.

The teeth of the rake may have a curved profile on their edges which lead in the direction of travel of the device, and may be shaped so that, on level ground, the device rests with the.teeth in contact with the ground.

Each tooth may have two curved edges of different radii of curvature which meet at a point facing away from the direction of travel. The point at which the different radii meet can be positioned substantially vertically below the axis of rotation of the rotor.

The rotor preferably has a plurality of helically extending blades which are held at their ends by supports in the form of a star.

Each star shaped support has a number of branches equal to the number of blades, and each support is mounted at one end of a comman shaft coincident with the axis of rotation of the rotor. A line joining one branch with its closest branch at the opposite end of the shaft may lie parallel to the shaft, but since the blades are helically extending, each blade is preferably held at one end by one branch and at the other end by a branch angularly offset from said one branch The guard member is preferably fixed and extends transversely, preferably parallel, relative to the direction of travel, behind the rotor, and adjacent the virtual cylinder described by the rotor blade or blades, the height of the guard member being arranged to prevent any further severing of a part of a root which has already been passed by the rake.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a topping device; Figure 2 is an underneath perspective view of the device of Figure 1; Figure 3 shows a row of topping devices; and Figure 4 is a diagrammatic detailed sectional view of a suspension member for a topping device.

The topping device shown in the drawings comprises a cutting member having essentially three blades, 1, 2 and 3 attached to a rotor formed by two star supports 4 and 41 connected by way of a shaft 5.

The shaft 5 is driven by a drive device such as for example a transmission chain 6 connected to the drive of a machine on which the device is mounted.

The chain 6 is housed in a casing 7 which forms the support for the rotor. As shown in Figure 3, each support is suspending from the rear of the machine frame and is hinged about an axis corresponding substantially to a transverse drive shaft situated at the rear uf the machine, and on which are mounted pinions (not shown) driving the transmission chain 6 which rotates the rotor.

The machine may follow a row of beat which is shown in particular in Figure 1 by the beets 8, 81, 811.

It can thus be seen that the axis of rotation 5 of the rotor is disposed transversely to the axis of travel of the machine which follows the rows of beet.

The blades 1, 2 and 3 are helically disposed starting from a branch of a support 4, to meet the staggered branch of the opposite support 41. The blades are thus helically positioned along the surface of a cylinder corresponding to their cutting path.

The rotor is associated with a rake formed from fixed teeth 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 which are positioned parallel to each other and to the axis of travel of the machine. These teeth are held between the casing 7 on one side and a side plate 14. The teeth are locked in their spaced positions by intermediate tubular pieces such as 15, 1511, while a rod passes through the intermediate pieces and through apertures formed in the tops of the teeth to lock these latter between the casing 7 and the side plate 14. A bearing 16 traversed by the shaft 5 is disposed on the rear part of the side plate 14.

A guard bar 17 is integrally formed with the rear end of the side plate 14, its other end being connected to a lug 18 on the casing 7.

An upper hood 19 prevents the severed parts of the beet from being thrown outwards.

The purpose of the teeth 10 to 13 is on the one hand to form a feeler, and by resting on the ground they enable the severing device to be positioned correctly relative to the beet to be worked. They also form a counter-cutting surface for the severing effect of the blades 1, 2 and 3. To this end, the fixed teeth 10 to 13 have an upper edge 20 which follows a profile in the form of an arc of a circle, and this arc of a circle is positioned in the immediate proximity of the virtual cylinder corresponding to the path of the cutting blades 1, 2 and 3. Only a small gap necessary for operation separates the inner edge 20 of the fixed teeth from the path of the rotary blades 1, 2 and 3 so that the tops of the beet positioned between the teeth 10 to 13 are cut.

After the cutting and neck severing of the beet heads, the rear bar 17 prevents any further undesirable cutting from taking place.

In this respect, as the machine continues to move forward with the rake situated be- tween two successive beets, there is the risk that the topping device might descend slightly and thus operate on the beet which is leaving the rake and has already been dealt with by the device. This would lead to undesired severing of part of the beet body, and this is to be avoided.

Under these conditions, the rear bar 17 rests on the beet which has already been dealt with, and prevents any excessive lowering of the topping device which might give rise to the said undesired severing of the body of the beet.

The general support casing 7 for the system may be suspended from the rear of the frame of a defoliating device. To this end, it is associated at its overhanging end with a suspension tie rod 21 (Figure 4) associated with a damping system. The lower end d the tie rod 21 is curved in the form of a hook 22 which can be engaged in one of the receiving apertures 23, 231 situated to the rear of the support 7, the choice of one or other of these apertures enabling the height of the support 7 to be adjusted.

Damping of the angular movement of the support 7 is abtained by the effect of the piston 24 situated at the upper end of the tie rod 21. The piston 24 is engaged in the cylinder 25 which is hinged at its upper end to the support frame of the defoliating device. The piston is kept in a central position in the cylinder by helical springs 26 and 26i d the opposing action.

The device described thus allows correct height adjustment of the support 7 by limiting the excess movement of this latter with the suspension device consisting of the tie rod 21 and damping cylinder 25.

The aotion of the rotor with the rotating helical cutting blades, in cooperation with the teeth 10 to 13 and guard bar 17 pro vides particularly effective action of the topping device by exactly adjusting its action so as to obtain rigorously precise severing uf the heads or necks of beet at the ap propriate and optimum level, so removing all the harmful parts which are to be re moved, while preventing any product loss.

WHAT I CLAIM IS: Il. A device for topping root crops, comprising a rotor having an axis of rota tion perpendicular to the intended direction of travel of the device. the rotor having at least 'one blade which describes a virtual cylindrical surface during the rotation of the rotor and which extends from one end of the rotor to the other end along a helical line located on the virtual cylindrical sur face, a rake disposed upstream of the rotor, referred to the direction of travel of the de vice, the rake having fixed teeth which are arranged parallel to one another and parallel to the direction d travel, each tooth having a curved surface slightly spaced from the virtual cylindrical surface of the rotor and conforming with the curvature of said cylin drical surface, to form a counter cutting sur face for cooperation with said at least one blade, the device also including a guard member arranged downstream of the rotor.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the teeth of the rake have a curved profile on their edges which lead in the direction of travel of the device, and are shaped so that the device rests on level ground with the teeth in contact with the ground.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein each tooth has two curved edges of different radii of curvature which meet at a point facing away from the direction of travel, said point being positioned substantially vertically below the axis of rotation of the rotor.

4. A device as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the rotor has a plurality of helically-extending blades held at their ends by supports in the form of a star, each with a number of branches equal to the number of blades, the supports being mounted at opposite ends on a common shaft coincident with the axis of rotation of the rotor, each blade being held at one end by one branch and at the other end by a branch angularly offset from said one branch.

5. A device as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the guard member is fixed and extends transversely relative to the di rection of travel, behind the rotor, and ad jacent the virtual cylinder described by the rotor blade or blades, the height of the guard member being arranged to prevent any further severing of a part of a root which has already been passed by the rake.

6. A device as claimed in claim 5, where in the guard member is a bar extending parallel to the axis of rotation of the rotor.

7. A device for topping root crops, sub stantially as herein described, with reference to and as shown in the accompanying draw ings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **.

Damping of the angular movement of the support 7 is abtained by the effect of the piston 24 situated at the upper end of the tie rod 21. The piston 24 is engaged in the cylinder 25 which is hinged at its upper end to the support frame of the defoliating device. The piston is kept in a central position in the cylinder by helical springs 26 and 26i d the opposing action.

The device described thus allows correct height adjustment of the support 7 by limiting the excess movement of this latter with the suspension device consisting of the tie rod 21 and damping cylinder 25.

The aotion of the rotor with the rotating helical cutting blades, in cooperation with the teeth 10 to 13 and guard bar 17 pro vides particularly effective action of the topping device by exactly adjusting its action so as to obtain rigorously precise severing uf the heads or necks of beet at the ap propriate and optimum level, so removing all the harmful parts which are to be re moved, while preventing any product loss.

WHAT I CLAIM IS: Il. A device for topping root crops, comprising a rotor having an axis of rota tion perpendicular to the intended direction of travel of the device. the rotor having at least 'one blade which describes a virtual cylindrical surface during the rotation of the rotor and which extends from one end of the rotor to the other end along a helical line located on the virtual cylindrical sur face, a rake disposed upstream of the rotor, referred to the direction of travel of the de vice, the rake having fixed teeth which are arranged parallel to one another and parallel to the direction d travel, each tooth having a curved surface slightly spaced from the virtual cylindrical surface of the rotor and conforming with the curvature of said cylin drical surface, to form a counter cutting sur face for cooperation with said at least one blade, the device also including a guard member arranged downstream of the rotor.
2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the teeth of the rake have a curved profile on their edges which lead in the direction of travel of the device, and are shaped so that the device rests on level ground with the teeth in contact with the ground.
3. A device as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein each tooth has two curved edges of different radii of curvature which meet at a point facing away from the direction of travel, said point being positioned substantially vertically below the axis of rotation of the rotor.
4. A device as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the rotor has a plurality of helically-extending blades held at their ends by supports in the form of a star, each with a number of branches equal to the number of blades, the supports being mounted at opposite ends on a common shaft coincident with the axis of rotation of the rotor, each blade being held at one end by one branch and at the other end by a branch angularly offset from said one branch.
5. A device as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the guard member is fixed and extends transversely relative to the di rection of travel, behind the rotor, and ad jacent the virtual cylinder described by the rotor blade or blades, the height of the guard member being arranged to prevent any further severing of a part of a root which has already been passed by the rake.
6. A device as claimed in claim 5, where in the guard member is a bar extending parallel to the axis of rotation of the rotor.
7. A device for topping root crops, sub stantially as herein described, with reference to and as shown in the accompanying draw ings.