GB2075958A - Improvements in rear mounted feeder boxes and the like for attachment to agricultural vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

A rear-mounted feeder box 10 for attachment to an agricultural vehicle, e.g., tractor mounted or trailed by a tow bar, has its top closed by a transverse reversible conveyor 32 capable of discharging the contents of the box over either side wall 18 at will. The floor 42 of the box can be raised and lowered by lifting mechanism, e.g. scissors linkage 48 driven by a ram or rams 56, at a rate - at least during raising - which is variable to control the rate of discharge of material by the conveyor. The backwall of the box, e.g. constituted by an array of pick-up tines (28) is hinged at its bottom edge so that it can be swung between an upright box-closing position and a generally horizontal open rearward position in which it receives material to be loaded. Loading is performed by swinging the backwall up into the closed position. All mechanisms for operating the various moving parts can be powered by the mechanical, electrical or hydraulic power take-off system on the tractor on which the feeder box is to be mounted or by which it is to be trailed. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in rear-mounted feeder boxes and the like This invention relates to rear-mounted feeder boxes and the like. A rear-mounted feeder box is a conventional piece of agricultural equipment which is primarily intended for the transport, and delivery on site, of animal feed-stuffs. It normally consists of an open-topped box having lugs or like anchorages on its front wall for attachment to the standard pickup points of the usual 3-point hitch on an agricultural tractor. This form of mounting renders the box particularly suitable for use in locations where vehicular access is restricted, either by the nature of the terrain or by the proximity of obstructions such as the walls or doorways of buildings.Stability of the tractor when carrying such a feeder box fully loaded, and the problems of loading and unloading the box, restrict the overall dimensions and hence the loading capacity. Furthermore, it is often required to discharge the load laterally over a fence or barrier, as when replenishing mangers or feeding troughs for stock. Since the range of vertical lift available on the conventional agricultural tractor 3-point hitch is relatively small, this requirement frequently leads to either manual handling of the fodder or the raising of the minimum floor height in order to accommodate a high-level lateral discharge mechanism. The former is costly in time and labour, and the latter involves a significant sacrifice in load-carrying capacity together with a potentially hazardous raising of the level of the centre of gravity of a loaded machine.

Hitherto, the problem of mechanical lateral unloading of feeder boxes has been tackled in terms of floor-level conveyors, whether of the feed screw or endless belt type. Particularly in the case of the latter, problems can arise from jamming of the material in the discharge aperture due to the weight of the material above it. For a given load capacity, this can sometimes be solved by substituting a trailed for a tractor mounted box, because some of the restrictions on overall dimensions are relaxed. Of course, there are other problems in substituting a trailed for a tractor-mounted feeder box - especially those of manoeuvrability.

The main object of the present invention is to provide a rear-mounted feeder box which can be mechanically unloaded on either side at will over the top of a barrier or fence such as is frequently encountered in front of feeding troughs or mangers - particularly in typical modern buildings in which stock are housed in individual stalls arranged in parallel rows facing each other across a feed alley flanked by mangers which are required to be replenished from a rear-mounted feeder box. In this specification, the term "rear-mounted feeder box" includes boxes which are wholly tractor mounted; boxes which are separately wheeled and trailed by a tow-bar; and semi-mounted boxes which are support at the front on the tractor and have loadcarrying casters at the rear.

It is to be understood also that the term "feeder box" does not limit the use of the box to animal feedstuffs, but serves only as a convenient and well-understood description of the general kind of container to which the present invention relates.

According to the present invention, a rearmounted feeder box has its top closed during use by a reversible transverse conveyor adapted to discharge the contents of the box over either side wall.

The contents are presented to the conveyor by means of a rising floor the lifting and lowering of which is underthe control of a lift mechanism.

Preferably, the back wall of the feeder box is carried at its lower edge on a transverse pivot, and means is provided for swinging it between a rearward open load-receiving position and an upright box-closing position. Alternatively, the top of the feeder box may be opened for the charging of material by hingeing the frame of the conveyorto a side wall at or near its top edge and providing means for swinging the conveyor between a generally horizontal operative attitude and a generally upright boxopening attitude in which it exposes the interior of the box. Conveniently, the means for actuating each of the movable components is energised from a power source on the tractor.

Referring to the drawings, a rear-mounted feeder box 10 has a rigid front wall 12 carrying brackets 14, 16 for connection to the upper and lower links respectively (not shown) of a conventional 3-point hitch on an agricultural tractor. A pair of side walls 18 are rigidly secured at right angles to the front wall 12. At the bottom, each of the front and side walls 12, 18 is secured to a rigid rectangular channel-section frame 20, to the rear edge of which are pivoted, on a transverse axis 22, a pair of brackets 24, one at each side, which are fixed to the ends of a transverse tine tube 26. The tube 26 carries an array of parallel pick-up tines 28 (only three are indicated in Figure 1 for economy of drawing) arranged in the conventional manner of a rake.The tines 28 can be swung upwards about the transverse pivot axis 22 to a vertical position (shown in broken lines at 28a in Figure 2) to constitute the back wall of the feeder box 10 by means of hydraulic rams 30 acting between each bracket 24 and the frame 20.

On top of the front and side walls 12,18 is mounted a reversible transverse endless discharge conveyor 32 driven by a motor 34 and which forms the top closure or lid of the feeder box 10. The chains or belt of the conveyor carry bars or teeth 36 for collecting and transporting material presented to the lower flight 38 of the conveyor. The material thus picked up is carried through a discharge aperture or gap 40 between the lower conveyor flight 38 and the top of the appropriate side wall 18, depending on the direction of travel of the conveyor 32. A chute 41 can be affixed to the appropriate side. The contents of the feeder box are presented to the lower flight 38 of the discharge conveyor 32 by means of a power lift The drawings originally filed were informal and the print here reproduced is taken from a later filed formal copy.

floor 42 which is a close sliding fit between the front, side and back walls 12, 18,28a of the closed feeder box 10. The floor 42 is in the form of a shallow inverted tray, at least the front and back walls 44 (Figure 2) of which are of channel section, of the same size as the members of the bottom frame 20, both sets of channels providing tracks for guide rollers 46 (Figure 1) journalled on the free ends of scissor lift arms 48. These scissor lift arms are anchored at their other ends by pivots 50, 52 to the rectangular frame 20 and the floor tray 42 respectively, and are pivotal ly interconnected at their cross-over point 54.

One or more hydraulic rams 56 lift and lower the floor 42, at least the rate of lift being controllable to adjust the rate of discharge of the conveyor 32.

In operation, the empty feeder box is loaded by swinging the back wall tines 28 down to ground level and driving them into the pile of silage or other fibrous feed, and then swinging them up to the upright position 28a (Figure 2) to charge the feeder box 10.

To unload the box, the conveyor 32 is started in the required direction, and the discharge chute 41 fitted as required. The floor lift rams 56 are then energised to raise the floor 42 until the top layer of the material in the feeder box 10 is picked up by the conveyor bars 36 on the lower flight 38 and pushed through the gap 40. The rate at which the ram or rams 56 force the floor 42 upwards determines the rate of discharge of material down the chute 41. The fact that the conveyor 32 operates on the free surface of the material in the feeder box 10 means that there is little or no tendency for the layer being discharged to jam in the gap 40, as can happen in containers having bottom discharge conveyors when they have a full load of material, due to the dead weight of the material on the conveyor.When the feeder box has been unloaded, the floor42 is lowered in readiness for the next loading operation.

In fully mounted feeder boxes, the length of the box measured in the direction of length of the tractor has to be kept short, and a single discharge conveyor belt 38 spans the space between the front and back walls 12, 28 of the box. Where the feeder box is trailed and its length increased, it will normally be convenient to retain about the same width of discharge conveyor, and means must then be provided to move material to be discharged longitudinally into the path of the discharge conveyor bars or teeth 36. This is preferably a longitudinal conveyor of a kind similar to the discharge conveyor 32, picking up material as it is raised by the rising floor and propel ling it into the path of the bars or teeth 36 on the lower flight 38.

As an alternative to a hinged back wall 28 for facilitating loading of the box 10, the discharge con veyor32 itself can be mounted on the top of either side wall 18. The conveyor 32 can then be swung up into an upright attitude in which it exposes the interior of the box. When loading is complete, the conveyor is swung down to close the box. This open ing and closing action is preferably power oper ated.

In a further alternative construction, the conveyor may be hinged to the front wall.

Claims (7)

1. A rear-mounted feeder box having its top closed during use by a reversible transverse conveyor adapted to discharge the contents of the box over either side wall thereof; means for facilitating loading of the material into the box; a rising floor, and means for raising the floor to present the free surface of the contents of the box to the conveyor and lowering itto a box-charging position; and means for driving the conveyor at will in either direction.

2. A feeder box according to claim 1 wherein the means for facilitating loading ofthe material into the box comprises a back wall hinged at or adjacent the lower rearward edge of the box and means for swinging it between its upper box closing position and a lower rearward position to receive material to be charged into the box.

3. A feeder box according to claim 1 wherein the means for facilitating loading of the material into the box comprises means for swinging the conveyor about an axis at the top of a side wall ofthe box between its horizontal operative attitude and an upright attitude in which it exposes the interior of the box.

4. A feeder box according to claim 1,2 or 3 wherein any or each of the means for driving the conveyor, for opening and closing the box, and for raising and lowering the floor consists of a mechanism adapted to be energised by a power source on a conventional tractor.

5. A feeder box according to any preceding claim wherein the mechanism for raising and lowering the floor is variable in speed of operation, at least during raising of the floor to control the rate of discharge of the contents of the box.

6. A feeder box according to claim 2 and any other preceding claim wherein the back wall of the box consists of an array of parallel tines.

7. A rear-mounted feeder box substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.