GB2194875A - Harvesting equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

Row combining apparatus for use in combination with a forage crop mowing machine (13) comprises a power driven sweeping rotor (24) having blades or paddles (32) immediately behind the mower to throw the cut crop laterally of the path of travel along an open bottomed shroud (16) which projects to the offside of the machine. A movable flap (38) at an intermediate position along the shroud causes one row of cut crop to be deposited near to the path of travel of the machine while, when the flap is raised, a second row will be deposited on or immediately adjacent to the first row from the end wall (40) at the extremity of the shroud. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Harvesting equipment This invention relates to harvesting equipment for agricultural crops, in particular the harvesting of forage crops as for the production of silage.

Known harvesting procedures for such crops commonly involve three successive operations in the field. Firstly the standing crop is mown e.g. using a tractor mounted drum-type rotary mower which deposits the cut crop as a single swath behind its path of travel.

A side rake or other haymaker is then used to combine two or more swaths into a single row across the field to facilitate speedy and economical collection of the crop. Finally, in the case of silage production, a forage harvesting machine is used to pickup the combined row, chop the crop, and transfer it to a trailer or other collecting vehicle, normaily towed by the forage harvester.

In some cases, to facilitate wilting of the crop, a further crimping operation is included either by means of a crimper on the mowing machine itself or possibly by operation on the deposited swath which may mean that the same area of field has to be traversed successively by four different machines.

The object of the present invention is to facilitate the harvesting process in a simple and economical manner so as to reduce the number of successive operations required and the amount of equipment needed with substantial savings in labour and other operating costs and in the time involved, and with possible improvement in the quality of the crop harvested.

According to the invention there is provided row combining apparatus for use in harvesting forage or other crops in combipation with a mowing machine which operates to discharge a swath of cut crop along the path of operative travel of the machine, said apparatus including a sweeping element operatively mounted at the rear of the machine and driven during said forward travel to transfer the cut crop laterally of said path and a guide formation associated with the sweeping element to channel the transferred crop for deposit in a row to one side of said path, the operation of the guide formation being selectively adjustable to control the lateral positioning of the row relative to said path whrereby it can be deposited on or immediately adjacent to a previously deposited parallel row or swath.

Preferably the sweeping element is rotatably driven about a horizontal axis extending longitudinally of the path of travel and includes radially projecting blades, vanes, tines or the like which engage the cut crop and throw it laterally to one side of said path in use.

Conveniently the sweeping element is powered from the drive means of the mowing machine in common with cutter blades thereof.

It is also preferred that the guide formation is in the form of an open-bottomed shroud projecting laterally behind the mowing machine in use to the offside i.e. away from the standing crop as yet uncut.

While the selective lateral positioning of the deposited row may be selectively adjustable to a number of predetermined positions or may be infinitely adjustable throughout a predetermined range of travel, conveniently two preset positions are provided for, a further position which is conveniently determined by a distal end wall of the shroud at maximum spacing from said path of travel, and a nearer position conveniently determined by movable diverter means at an intermediate position along the shroud which is operable to intercept the laterally moving swath to deposit it in more immediate relationship to said path of travel.

The apparatus of the invention may be provided as an attachment for removable mounting on an existing or other mowing machine, or it may be provided along with the machine at the time of manufacture either as an integral or dismountable part thereof.

The shroud or other guide formation may include a hinged or retractable distal portion to facilitate transport or storage.

While the movable diverter means referred to above is a convenient way of providing the variable row positioning it is to be understood that other means of providing for row position adjustment are within the scope of the invention, for example the effective length of the shroud or other guide formation could be selectively variable e.g. by providing telescopic sections; and or the guide formation could take the form of a duct of square or other section having downwardly or rearwardly directed discharge ports or openings controlled by respective closure elements.

An example of the invention is now more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: Figure 1 is a rear elevation of a row combining attachment mounted for operation on a mowing machine; Figure 2 is a plan view thereof and Figure 3 is a bird's eye view illustrating the operation of the attachment in the field.

In this example the row combining attachment 10 is shown mounted to the rear of a drum-type rotary mower 12 of known kind used for cutting grass or other forage crop for silage production.

Mower 12 is mounted to the rear of and powered from a tractor 14 (Figure 3), its rotary blades 13 have a path of cut offset beyond the nearside of the tractor to carry it into the standing crop (the nearside being regarded as the side adjacent to said crop).

Attachment 10 comprises a guide formation in the form of an elongated housing or shroud 16 formed of sheet metal or the like being generally rectangular in section and having an open bottom. It is mounted on mower 12 with the bottom spaced a short distance above ground level and extending across and laterally outward of the path of travel of the mower so that its distal end portion 18 extends to the offside behind the tractor. A ground engaging skid 20 may be provided at the distal extremity and said distal part is hinged so that it will ride over uneven ground and can also be folded to facilitate storage and transport.

An inboard part 22 of shroud 16 lies immediately behind the mower cutter drums within the path of travel so that it receives the crop cut by the mower in operation.

Part 22 is somewhat narrower in longitudinal section than the remaining parts of the shroud and is taller to accommodate a sweeping element in the form of a rotor 24 jour nalled on a horizontal axis extending longitudinally of said path of travel. part 22 is hinged so that it can be raised for access to the rotor, e.g. if any blockage or jamming should occur.

Rotor 24 is power driven by Vee belts 26 connected by way of intermediate pulleys 28 to the power takeoff connection 30 to tractor 14 i.e. it is driven in common with the mower cutters 13.

Rotor 24 includes, in this example, four radially extending blades or paddles 32 at equiangular positions about a central shaft 34 and they are driven clockwise as viewed from the rear, their cylinder of revolution passing close to ground level so that they kick or project the cut crop laterally to the offside within and along the shroud 16.

The blades or paddles may be resilient and or resiliently mounted as a protection against damage e.g. if they strike the ground or an obstruction and their distal ends are conveniently cranked at an angle away from their direction of rotation to facilitate the throwing clear of the crop and also as a further protection against damage. It will be appreciated that various forms of sweeping element could be employed and/or that it could have various numbers and types of radially extending acting formations e.g. spring tines or the like.

An intermediate part 36 of shroud 16 extending between the offside of part 22 and the distal end portion 18 is provided with diverter means in the form of an angularly movable diverter flap 38 pivoted on a transverse axis at the top inboard end of part 36 so that it can be shifted between lowered and raised positions. Its movement between said positions is selectively controlled by the driver of the tractor through suitable operating mechanism, e.g. a linkage operated by a single acting hydraulic ram, the flap being spring loaded downwards. Preferably the linkage is arranged to move a distal end part 38a of the flap to a steeper angle than its major part 38b when the flap is at the fully lowered position.

With the flap 38 in the lowered position seen in Figure 1 it extends diagonally downwards to block passage through the intermediate part 36 so that the projected crop is intercepted and diverted downwards to be deposited on the ground in a row close to but just to the offside of the path of travel of the mower blades. This nearer position of row deposit is generally indicated at A on the drawings.

With flap 38 raised the projected crop will be thrown the full length of the shroud 16 to strike a curved end wall 40 at the extremity of distal portion 18 so that it is deposited on the ground in a row at a further position indicated generally in the drawings by letter 8 spaced at a substantial distance from the path of travel of the mower.

The lower edge of the rear wall of the shroud 16 may be cut away at positions A and/or 8 to provide clearance for the deposited rows as the attachment 10 travels forward.

A rotatably driven roller 40 carried on the shaft of pulleys 28 extends across shroud 16 immediately upstream of the upper and inboard end of flap 38 to prevent any build up of crop in this area.

The operation of this example of the invention will now be described with reference to Figure 3. The tractor 14, mower 12 and attachment 10 shown in heavier lines at the top of Figure 3 are in the process of making a first cut along the standing crop 60 in the field.

During this cutting passage the flap 38 is lowered so that the first swath cut by mower 12 is transferred to and deposited at position A to form a first row 62.

During the next cut in the position shown in lighter lines at the bottom of Figure 3 the tractor 14 is travelling along the path previously travelled by the mower 12 with the first row 52 on its immediate offside.

During this second cut the diverter flap 38 is raised so that the second swath is projected the full length of shroud 16 to be deposited at position B as a second row 64.

This second row is thus placed along the first row 62, i.e. the two swaths are effectively combined and are ready to be picked up together by the single passage of a forage harvester in the usual way.

It is to be noted that the action of the rotor 24 will also have a crimping or bruising effect on the crop so that it is conditioned for wilting at the same time as the swaths or rows are combined for picking up. Thus the three or pssibly four operations necessary in the field hitherto are reduced to two operations only, mowing followed by harvesting.

If any residue of the crop should be carried round with the rotor 24 instead of being dis charged along the shroud 16, it will be discharged through an opening 60 (Figure 1) in the top of the nearside wall of inboard part 22 so that it is deposited on the area of growing crop which will next be traversed by the mower, thus it will then be picked up.

Typically position A will be spaced about one meter to the offside of the rotor axis and position 8 is some 2.4 meters to the offside thereof, i.e. crop from an area some 4 meters in width is gathered together for collection by two passages of the mower.

The attachment is of simple construction, economical to provide, and will effect a very substantial saving in labour, running costs and time resulting in an efficiency of production which it has only been possible to achieve in the past using very large and expensive harvesting machines.

Claims (16)

1. Row combining apparatus for use in harvesting forage or other crops in combination with a mowing machine which operates to discharge a swath of cut crop along the path of operative travel of the machine, said apparatus including a sweeping element operatively mounted at the rear of the machine and driven during said forward travel to transfer the cut crop laterally of said path and a guide formation associated with the sweeping element to channel the transferred crop for deposit in a row to one side of said path, the operation of the guide formation being selectively adjustable to control the lateral positioning of the row relative to said path whereby it can be deposited on or immediately adjacent to a previously deposited parallel row or swath.

2. Apparatws as in Claim 1 wherein the sweeping element is rotatably driven about a horizontal axis extending longitudinally of the path of travel.

3. Apparatws as in Claim 2 wherein the sweeping element includes radially extending acting formations which engage the cut crop and throw it laterally to the one side of said path of travel in use.

4. Apparatus as in Claim 3 wherein said acting formations are radially projecting blades or paddles.

5. Apparatus as in Claim 3 or 4 wherein said acting formations are resilient and/or resiliently mounted.

6. Apparatus as in Claim 3, 4 or 5 wherein said acting formations have their distal ends cranked at an angle away from their direction of rotation.

7. Apparatus as in any preceding claim wherein the guide formation is an open-bottomed shroud located behind the mowing machine in use and projecting laterally tg said one side of said path of travel.

8. Apparatus as in Claim 7 wherein the shroud is adapted to control the lateral positioning of the row at two preset positions, a further position determined by a distal end wall of the shroud at maximum spacing from said path of travel, and a nearer position determined by diverter means at an intermediate position along the shroud.

9. Apparatus as in Claim 8 wherein the diverter means is in the form of an angularly movable diverter flap pivoted within the shroud.

10. Apparatus as in Claim 9 wherein said flap has a distal end part which is moved to a steeper angle than a major part of the flap when the latter is at a fully lowered position.

11. Apparatus as in any one of Claims 7 to 10 wherein a distal or laterally outer part of the shroud is hinged to the ramaining part permitting folding of the shroud for storage or transport.

12. Apparatus as in Claim 11 wherein said distal part includes a ground engaging element so that it will ride over uneven ground.

13. Apparatus as in any preceding claim including a rotatably driven roller within and across the guide formation in a region where the cut crop might otherwise lodge or build up.

14. Apparatus as in preceding claim including an opening in the operatively nearside of the guide formation for discharge of any cut crop carried by the sweeping element but not discharged along the guide formation.

15. Row combining apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

16. The combination of apparatus as in any preceding claim and a mowing machine.