GB900224A - Automatic appliance for cutting and gathering leaves and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

900,224. Harvesting tea. TARPEN ENGINEERING CO. Ltd. Nov. 26, 1959 [Sept. 18, 1958], No. 29929/58. Class 6(3). A device for cutting and gathering vegetation, especially tea, comprises a chassis 1 arranged to pass over the vegetation and carrying a skid 4 and a cutter 36 separately adjustable vertically relatively to one another and to the chassis, and a power-lift device 40 for adjusting the cutter-height, actuated through a relay 45 controlled by the skid as it rides over the vegetation. As shown in Fig. 2, the chassis is rigidly attached to a tractor TC and includes a cantilever 2 on which is mounted a double-acting hydraulic jack 40 connected to a parallel linkwork 25, 26 supporting the cutter 36. The cutter may be rotary or (as shown) reciprocating and it includes a reel 36a to sweep the tea-leaves rearwardly into a hopper 63, the arrangement being that described in Specification 618,339. The skid 4 is suspended by a parallel links 5, 6 from the chassis and is counterbalanced by a weight 20 on a lever 21 pivoted on the cantilever 2 and connected to the skid by a vertical rod 23. The rod 23 is connected to both the ram 40 and the relay 45 by a floating lever 56, the relay comprising a multiport valve controlling the admission of fluid to, and the exhaust from, the ram. In Fig. 3 control is exercised by a skid 100 through a lost-motion connection, which permits a limited floating of the skid 100, to a second skid 101, directly attached to the cutter-head 102. The crop is fed by an endless elevator 117 to a hopper 118 carried on the linkwork 112, 114 and tippable by a hydraulic cylinder 136, the main control-ram 106 being also connected to the linkwork. In another modification, Fig. 7 (not shown) the relay is electromechanical.