GB689320A - An improved picking conveyor for root crops - Google Patents

Abstract

689,320. Root-crop harvesters. SMITH, T. S. Feb. 27, 1951 [Feb. 27, 1950], No. 4966/50. Class 6(iii) [Also in Groups II and XXX] Apparatus for facilitating the manual separation of root crops from stones and clods of earth comprises a movable carrier in the form of a pair of endless roller chains connected together by cross bars or an endless belt provided with cross bars or projections on to which a mixture of roots, stones and clods of earth is adapted to be delivered in front of a rotary member which is driven in the same direction as that in which the end sprockets or rollers of the carrier are driven and which is mounted above the carrier with one end adjacent to the delivery point of the mixture and with its axis inclined to the direction of movement of the carrier in such a manner that most of the stones and clods of earth pass directly underneath the rotary member and most of the roots are deflected by the rotary member to a discharge station. Fig. 1 shows the application to a carrier consisting of a pair of endless roller chains 1 connected together by bars 3. The rotary member 5 .comprising a brush or roller is mounted on a shaft 9 journalled in brackets 8 on guards 7 and extends across approximately half the width of the conveyer. It may be driven by the same prime mover as the driving sprockets of the chains 1. The mixture of roots,.stones and clods of earth is delivered to the conveyer at 6 and carried towards the member 5. Most of the stones and clods of earth pass under the member 5 whilst most of the roots, such as potatoes, are rolled in and out of the stones and clods of earth when they come into contact with the member 5, and are deflected to the' other side of the conveyer and around the member 5. A partition 10 prevents the roots and stones becoming mixed after passing the member 5 Very small potatoes pass under the member 5 and large stones and clods of earth are are deflected around the end of member 5; these can easily be dealt with by the operators. The partition 10 may be replaced by a rotary shaft connected to the adjacent end of the member 5 by a universal coupling.