GB864181A - Machine for harvesting root crops - Google Patents

Abstract

864,181. Harvesting root-crops. GUREL, S. Aug. 18, 1959 [May 1, 1959], No. 15029/59. Class 6(3). [Also in Groups II and XXX] A potato harvester has a cutter 23 Fig. 1, which removes haulms and foliage from the drill and a share 28 which digs the drill and feeds potatoes &c. on to a slotted elevator 29 where small stones and earth fall between the slats on to the ground. Potatoes, large stones and cut haulms and foliage fall on to conveyer 30 having square openings whereby potatoes and extraneous matter fall through the openings on to the lower run of an elevator 31, Fig. 4. Large stones, roots &c. remain on conveyer 30 and are discharged at the rear. Buckets 32 on the elevator 31, which are raised into position by a cam 34 engaging followers 33, Fig. 4, carry the potatoes and stones upwardly for discharge on to a downwardly inclined flight of a conveyer 35. Potatoes and round stones roll over a conveyer 36 to a conveyer 37, whereas flat stones are retained on conveyer 36 and are discharged at the rear. From conveyer 37 the potatoes and stones pass down slides 40 to two conveyers 38 and are then fed to the troughs 42 of a conveyer 41 which travels at a speed preventing bunching of the feed. The latter is fed to a similarly troughed conveyer 43 moving faster than conveyer 41 whereby the stones and potatoes are spaced apart along the troughs before being delivered to a conveying and separating device 47 whereby the stones are separated. Resilient fingers 45 Fig. 14 located in the paths of the feed from the troughs of conveyer 43 to the device 47 apply a braking effect to the potatoes and stones which fall singly on to them. From each trough of the conveyer 43 the singly fed stones and potatoes fall to a horizontal trough 52 comprised by resilient fingers 51 extending from the adjacent runs of two conveyer bands 48, Figs. 6 and 8. In the latter embodiment the bands engage sprockets 49 rotating about vertical axes ; in the embodiment of Fig. 11 the bands are engaged by sprockets 50 having horizontal axes. Thus, stones deflect the fingers and fall on to a transverse conveyer 55 whereas potatoes are carried by the finger to a transverse conveyer 56 which feeds them to an elevator. Conveyers 37, 38, 41, 43, 47, 55 and 56 are mounted in a frame 58 pivoted at 59 to the chassis for oscillation about a horizontal axis, to ensure that the various troughs do not tilt sideways when the harvester travels over undulating ground.