GB1591404A

GB1591404A - Viners

Info

Publication number: GB1591404A
Application number: GB636377A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Mather and Platt Ltd
Current assignee: Mather and Platt Ltd
Priority date: 1977-02-16
Filing date: 1977-02-16
Publication date: 1981-06-24
Also published as: FR2380721A1; BE863974A; NL7801769A; YU35678A; HU187255B; FR2380721B1

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO VINERS (71) We We,MATHER & PLATT IIMITED, a British Company of Park Works, Manchester, M10 6BA, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a Patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to viners especially mobile viners whether towed or self propelled.

The invention has particular reference to the beater arrangement of the viner.

As is well known to those skilled in the art a viner comprises a riddle drum having a perforated wall structure housing a beater drum mounting along its length beater blades, the drums being rotatable at different speeds (the beater drum being the faster).

Conventionally, there is a single beater drum concentric with the riddle drum which has mounted along its surface circumferentially spaced beams which serve to mount riddle screens and also lifting of the crop for dropping onto the beater drum. As the crop passes along the drums it is subjected to both a beating action and a riddling action which separates the crop from the vines, each of which follows different paths upon separation.

It has recently been proposed to provide a beater arrangement consisting of a main central beater drum surrounded by a multiplicity of satellite beaters, a preferred number being four. In clockwise order, the satellite beaters are, at nine o'clock, a control beater, at between ten and eleven o'clock, an upfeed stripper beater, at two o'clock a down feed stripper, and, at between three and four o'clock a sieving beater.

The riddle drum of this beater arrangement has no internal projections, the crop being lifted initially by the speed of rotation of the riddle drum and thereafter being conveyed around the riddle drum by the inter-action of the central beater drum, the satellite beaters and the riddle drum.

This beater drum operates on the principle of subjecting the crop to a substantial number of impacts (for example, in excess for 200 for a given drum length) as it passes through the drum with relatively low impact velocity (for example, 21 feet per second).

The present invention is concerned with an alternative operational principle.

According to the present invention there is provided a viner comprising a crop-separation apparatus including a rotatable cylindrical riddle drum constituted by interconnected riddle screens, and a beater assembly consisting solely of a generally centrally disposed beater drum within the riddle drum and rotatable in the same direction as the riddle drum, and, there being in one of the two upper quadrants of the riddle drum, a single feeder paddle rotatable in counter-direction thereto serving to remove and direct vines from the inner surface of the riddle drum towards the beater drum.

The riddle drum preferably has no internal projections.

The disposition of the single feeder paddle is preferably at approximately eleven o'clock relative to the vertical axis when viewed from the front of the viner.

The feeder paddle strips vine from the inner wall surface of the riddle screens and propels same towards the beater drum where a substantial impact will be imparted to the crop (for example approximately 30 feet per second). The feeder paddle operates at such a speed that its effective impact velocity is such that only a minor proportion of the pods would open thus keeping the total number of effective impacts to a minimum.

The axes of rotation of the riddle and beater drums may be offset or the drums may be concentric.

The beater arrangement of the present invention operates on the principle of a small number of impacts (for example approximately 50 for the aforesaid given drum length) as the crop passes through the riddle drum with a relatively large impact velocity (for example approximately 30 feet per second).

A rotatable cleaning brush is preferably located outside but adjacent to the riddle drum at a convenient location and serves to remove any clogging vine material from the riddle screens. It will be manifest that it is vital to maintain the riddle screens as clean and dirt-free as possible otherwise crop egress will be prevented thus resulting in crop loss.

A preferred location for the cleaning brush is downstream of the feeder paddle in the sense of riddle drum rotation.

Alternative or additional riddle screen cleaning means may be employed, such, for example, as an air blower or scraper.

An example of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawing which is a transverse cross-section through a riddle and beater drum arrnagement of the present invention.

It is not proposed to describe the general viner construction which may, inter alia, be one of those as is disclosed in our Patent Specification Number 1 365 885. Such viner constructions and their variations are well known to those skilled in the art.

The preferred beater and riddle arrangement of this invention, however, comprises a riddle drum 1 formed of interconnected riddle screens 2 and having no internal vine lifting means.

Adjacent riddle screens 2 are interconnected by shallow T-section bars 3 with the stems of the T directed radially outwards. This riddle drum 1 is driven at each end in the direction of arrow A by a V belt engaging a drive wheel 4 and powered by a common shaft (not shown).

Inside the riddle drum 1 is a beater drum 5 having beater paddles 6.

The axis of the beater drum 5 is offset relative to the axis of the riddle drum 1 and as can be seen lies mainly in the upper and lower right hand quadrand of the riddle drum 1 but may lie at other dispositions relative to the riddle drum axis. The beater drum 5 is driven in conventional manner as is well known to those skilled in the art in the direction of arrow B.

In accordance with the present invention a single feeder paddle 7 is provided in one of the two upper quadrants of the riddle drum 1, and in this example, it lies in the upper left hand quadrant of the riddle drum 1, this feeder paddle 7 having stripper blades 8. The feeder paddle 7 lies at about eleven o'clock relative to the axis of the riddle drum 1 and is driven in the direction of arrow C by any convenient means.

The path of movement of the crop is indicated by the dotted line and the impact points are clearly discernible from the figure.

The riddle drum 1 and the beater drum 5 rotate anticlockwise and the feeder paddle 7 rotates clockwise in this example. If the rotational directions were reversed the single feeder paddle 7 would be at the one o'clock position.

A cleaning brush 9 is conveniently rotatably driven clockwise as indicated by arrow D downstream of feeder paddle 7 in the direction of riddle drum rotation to ensure removal of any clogging vine material or dirt from the riddle screens 2.

Vine is fed from the viner pick up means into the riddle and beater drum arrangement in a spread, thinned-out condition and the speed of rotation of the riddle drum is selected to ensure that the thin layer of harvested vine is carried up to the paddle beater 7.

The feeder paddle 7 serves to strip the harvested vine from the riddle drum screens 2 and direct it towards the beater drum 5 where it is subjected to an impact due to the action of the beating paddles 6.

As a result of this impact the separation of crop from vine is effected and the separated mass is flung against the screens 2 where loose peas are sieved as indicated by arrows E. The remaining mass of vine is held to the riddle drum screens 2 by the rotational speed of the riddle drum 1 and the cycle is repeated. A rearward progression is caused by the helix angle of the beater drum 5 until the fully threshed crop is discharged from the rear open end of the riddle drum.

Merely as an example the rotational speeds of the three main components of the riddle and beater arrangement of the present invention are: Riddle drum 40 r.p.m.

Beater drum - 165-220 r.p.m.

Feeder paddle - 200 r.p.m.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A viner comprising a crop-separation apparatus including a rotatable cylindrical riddle drum constituted by interconnected riddle screens, and a beater assembly consisting solely of a generally centrally disposed beater drum within the riddle drum and rotatable in the same direction as the riddle drum, and, there being in one of the two upper quadrants of the riddle drum, a single feeder paddle rotatable in counter-direction thereto serving to remove and direct vines from the inner surface of the riddle drum towards the beater drum.

2. A viner as claimed in Claim 1 in which the riddle drum has no internal projections.

3. A viner as claimed in Claim 2, in which the riddle drum is constituted by adjacent arcuate riddle screens with adjacent screens interconnected by shallow T-section bars with the stems of the T directed radially outwards so that the riddle drum is devoid of internal projections.

4. A viner as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3, in which the beater drum is mainly disposed in quadrants of the riddle drum other than that occupied by the feeder paddle.

5. A viner as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 4, comprising downstream of the feeder

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

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. A rotatable cleaning brush is preferably located outside but adjacent to the riddle drum at a convenient location and serves to remove any clogging vine material from the riddle screens. It will be manifest that it is vital to maintain the riddle screens as clean and dirt-free as possible otherwise crop egress will be prevented thus resulting in crop loss. A preferred location for the cleaning brush is downstream of the feeder paddle in the sense of riddle drum rotation. Alternative or additional riddle screen cleaning means may be employed, such, for example, as an air blower or scraper. An example of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawing which is a transverse cross-section through a riddle and beater drum arrnagement of the present invention. It is not proposed to describe the general viner construction which may, inter alia, be one of those as is disclosed in our Patent Specification Number 1 365 885. Such viner constructions and their variations are well known to those skilled in the art. The preferred beater and riddle arrangement of this invention, however, comprises a riddle drum 1 formed of interconnected riddle screens 2 and having no internal vine lifting means. Adjacent riddle screens 2 are interconnected by shallow T-section bars 3 with the stems of the T directed radially outwards. This riddle drum 1 is driven at each end in the direction of arrow A by a V belt engaging a drive wheel 4 and powered by a common shaft (not shown). Inside the riddle drum 1 is a beater drum 5 having beater paddles 6. The axis of the beater drum 5 is offset relative to the axis of the riddle drum 1 and as can be seen lies mainly in the upper and lower right hand quadrand of the riddle drum 1 but may lie at other dispositions relative to the riddle drum axis. The beater drum 5 is driven in conventional manner as is well known to those skilled in the art in the direction of arrow B. In accordance with the present invention a single feeder paddle 7 is provided in one of the two upper quadrants of the riddle drum 1, and in this example, it lies in the upper left hand quadrant of the riddle drum 1, this feeder paddle 7 having stripper blades 8. The feeder paddle 7 lies at about eleven o'clock relative to the axis of the riddle drum 1 and is driven in the direction of arrow C by any convenient means. The path of movement of the crop is indicated by the dotted line and the impact points are clearly discernible from the figure. The riddle drum 1 and the beater drum 5 rotate anticlockwise and the feeder paddle 7 rotates clockwise in this example. If the rotational directions were reversed the single feeder paddle 7 would be at the one o'clock position. A cleaning brush 9 is conveniently rotatably driven clockwise as indicated by arrow D downstream of feeder paddle 7 in the direction of riddle drum rotation to ensure removal of any clogging vine material or dirt from the riddle screens 2. Vine is fed from the viner pick up means into the riddle and beater drum arrangement in a spread, thinned-out condition and the speed of rotation of the riddle drum is selected to ensure that the thin layer of harvested vine is carried up to the paddle beater 7. The feeder paddle 7 serves to strip the harvested vine from the riddle drum screens 2 and direct it towards the beater drum 5 where it is subjected to an impact due to the action of the beating paddles 6. As a result of this impact the separation of crop from vine is effected and the separated mass is flung against the screens 2 where loose peas are sieved as indicated by arrows E. The remaining mass of vine is held to the riddle drum screens 2 by the rotational speed of the riddle drum 1 and the cycle is repeated. A rearward progression is caused by the helix angle of the beater drum 5 until the fully threshed crop is discharged from the rear open end of the riddle drum. Merely as an example the rotational speeds of the three main components of the riddle and beater arrangement of the present invention are: Riddle drum 40 r.p.m. Beater drum - 165-220 r.p.m. Feeder paddle - 200 r.p.m. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A viner comprising a crop-separation apparatus including a rotatable cylindrical riddle drum constituted by interconnected riddle screens, and a beater assembly consisting solely of a generally centrally disposed beater drum within the riddle drum and rotatable in the same direction as the riddle drum, and, there being in one of the two upper quadrants of the riddle drum, a single feeder paddle rotatable in counter-direction thereto serving to remove and direct vines from the inner surface of the riddle drum towards the beater drum.

paddle in the direction of riddle drum rotation a cleaning means for the riddle drum.

6. A viner as claimed in Claim 5, comprising a rotatable cleaning brush external of the riddle drum and serving as the cleaning means.

7. A viner, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.