JP5148558B2 - Tea branch and leaf transfer device and tea cutting device having the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a tea branch and leaf transfer device in a tea cutting device that performs plucking of tea leaves, pruning of trunks, and the like, and a tea cutting device including the same. The present invention relates to an improvement of a transfer device that smoothly transfers and accommodates tea leaves and leaves and obtains a clean cut surface.

For example, as a plucking device that plucks tea leaves, there is a relatively large riding-type plucking device. This is one that can accommodate a large amount of tea leaves, such as one that has a large-capacity container mounted as a container for picked tea leaves, or that has a plurality of tea bags attached in a suspended state to form a container. Many.
In such a plucking device, for example, as shown in FIG. 14, a blower pipe with a branch nozzle N for transferring tea leaves is arranged on the front side of the cutting blade 22 ′. In general, wind was sent to transfer tea leaves A to the accommodating section 4 '. Further, the transfer path for transferring the tea leaves A from the cutting blade 22 ′ to the storage portion 4 ′ is connected so as to face the horizontal transfer portion X extending substantially rearward of the cutting blade 22 ′ and thereafter the upper portion of the storage portion 4 ′. In general, the ascending transfer part Y is provided (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

However, in such a transfer mode (blow mode), the horizontal transfer part X is required, so that the length of the transfer device 5 ′ and thus the front and rear of the plucking device becomes long, and the handling property of the plucking device is reduced. .
For this reason, the present applicant has earnestly studied a new transfer method for transferring tea leaves after cutting by the action of the back wind sent into the duct from the rear side of the cutting blade, and various patents. An application has been reached (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
In Patent Document 2, for example, as shown in FIG. 15, not only the tea leaves A after cutting are simply transferred by the back wind W, but also the front plate 31 ′ (front adjustment plate 310 ′) of the transfer duct 6 ′. Is formed so that it can be slid up and down, and the opening (opening height) of the transfer start portion 35 'can be changed, so that the tea leaves A can be surely cut and the subsequent transfer can be performed smoothly. Yes.

  However, even in such a transfer method, further improvements have been demanded in the following points. That is, in the above-mentioned Patent Document 2, during the cutting operation, as shown in FIG. 15, the tea branch leaves A that extend particularly in the traveling direction immediately before cutting tend to fall in the traveling direction (the cutting direction) as a whole. It was in. This is because the tea leaves A pushed by the cutting blade 22 ′ are pushed in the direction of travel, and the tea leaves A pushed by the cutting blade 22 ′ push the other tea leaves A further forward one after another. It is thought that this phenomenon occurs (a kind of domino phenomenon). And in this state where the tea branch A is inclined (pushed in) in the traveling direction as a whole, there may be a tea branch A that sinks under the cutting blade 22 ', and this naturally remains uncut. This was a problem because it would remain. Of course, cutting in this state is not clean, and in pruning work such as mowing, the pruned branches may be scattered forward. The improvement was desired.

JP 2001-95346 A JP 2008-35706 A

  The present invention has been made from such a background. By preventing a phenomenon in which the tea branch leaves immediately before cutting fall down in the traveling direction (cutting direction) side as a whole, it is possible to prevent uncut cutting, and cut marks. The present invention is intended to realize a novel tea branch and leaf transfer device that is beautiful and does not spill forward the tea branch and leaf that has been cut off, and a tea cutting device including the same.

  That is, the transfer device for tea branch leaves according to claim 1 comprises a transfer duct for transferring the tea branch leaves after cutting toward a predetermined position with respect to a cutting blade for cutting tea branch leaves such as tea leaves and branch trunks. In the apparatus that blows back wind from the rear side of the cutting blade into the inside, and transfers the tea branch leaves after cutting toward the predetermined position by the air blowing action of the back wind, the transfer duct is in the lower part where the cutting blade is provided The front side of the cutting blade is provided with a transfer start portion opened at a suitable height and substantially along the top surface of the teacup. The body is formed in a state substantially along the top surface of the tea bowl, and the sucking action of the back wind is applied to the unreached tea branch leaf on which the Hisashi body is put.

  Furthermore, in addition to the requirements of claim 1, the transfer device for tea branch leaves according to claim 2 is provided with an adjustment plate that can change the mounting height in the vertical direction along the front plate of the transfer duct. The opening upper limit position of the transfer start portion is determined by the mounting height of the adjustment plate, and the elongate body is formed to protrude forward from the lower end portion of the adjustment plate. Is.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the requirements of the first or second aspect, the elongate body is formed such that the overhang length protruding forward is variable. It is.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the requirements of the first, second, or third aspect, the elongate body is provided such that a forward projecting tip side is rotatable in the vertical direction. It consists of

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tea machine that travels across a teacup, a tea machine that is attached to the car body and that performs a plucking operation or a pruning operation, and a rear part of the tea machine. And a storage unit that can accommodate the tea leaves that have been plucked and a transfer device that transports the tea leaves and leaves such as the harvested tea leaves and trunks from the tea cutter body to the storage unit, and plucking or pruning work depending on the purpose The tea branch and leaf transfer device according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4 is applied to the transfer device.

The tea branch and leaf transfer device of the present invention and the tea cutting device provided with the same have the following effects by the means described above.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the transfer start portion is formed so that the Hashishi body projects forward from above the opening. Therefore, when the back wind is generated in the transfer duct, The suction force sucked into the transfer duct can also be applied to the tea branch leaves (tea tree) immediately before the cutting (the eaves are hung). For this reason, the tea branches and leaves immediately before cutting do not fall down to the traveling direction side of the tea cutting device, and can be cut with the tea branches and leaves almost standing. Therefore, it is possible to prevent uncut leaves, clean the cut traces, and prevent the spilled tea leaves from spilling from the transfer start portion side.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the elongate body is attached to the adjustment plate whose mounting height in the vertical direction can be changed on the front surface of the transfer duct, the upper limit position of the transfer start portion which is the opening is adjusted. The height of the body is set naturally, and the height of the body can be set easily (the setting of the adjustment plate is associated with the height setting of the body), so the setting is easy. .

  According to the invention described in claim 3, since the overhanging length of the Hisashi body is appropriately changeable, it acts on the tea branch (tea tree) just before cutting, depending on the plucking situation. The overhang length of the Hisashi body can be adjusted according to the magnitude of the suction force to be applied and the region (area) where the suction force is to be applied. For example, when it is desired to apply a suction force over a relatively wide range on the front side of the transfer start portion, the overhang length of the Hisashi body is set large.

  According to the invention described in claim 4, since the front side of the hiss body is freely rotatable in the vertical direction, for example, when the hiss body is rotated so that the front side (the projecting tip side) faces upward. Since the opening area (cross-sectional area) gradually decreases toward the suction side, it is considered that the suction force is gradually increased. In this way, if it is a freely rotatable Hoshi body, the suction force can be gradually changed in the suction direction of the tea leaves.

  Further, according to the tea cutting apparatus of the fifth aspect, the transfer start portion is formed so that the Hisashi body protrudes forward from above the opening portion. Therefore, when back wind is generated in the transfer duct, The suction force sucked into the transfer duct can also be applied to the tea branch (tea tree) just before cutting, which is held over the body (with the Hashishi body). For this reason, the tea branches and leaves immediately before cutting do not fall down to the traveling direction side of the tea cutting device, and can be cut with the tea branches and leaves almost standing. Therefore, uncutting can be prevented, a beautiful cut can be obtained, and the tea leaves that have been cut can be prevented from spilling from the transfer start portion side.

It is the expanded sectional view which shows a part of transfer apparatus of the tea branch and leaf of this invention, and the perspective view which shows the teacup straddle type plucking apparatus which is an example of the tea-cutting apparatus provided with this transfer apparatus in use condition. It is a front view which shows a teacup crossing type plucking apparatus same as the above. It is a side view (a) which shows a teacup crossing type plucking apparatus same as the above, and a vertical side view (b) which shows the duct unit of a transfer apparatus. It is a perspective view which shows a transfer apparatus periphery. It is a front view which shows a transfer duct with a front adjustment board. It is a front view which shows a plucking machine body. It is the rear view (a) which shows a duct unit, and the vertical side view fractured | ruptured by the same figure bb line. It is a vertical side view which shows two types of plucking aspects. It is a rear view which shows other 2 types of Example (a) * (b) of a duct unit. It is a vertical side view which shows the other Example which was made to act on the front wind in addition to the back wind by a duct unit. It is a vertical side view which shows the other Example which set back plate itself of the transfer duct so that an uphill inclination angle might be 55 degree | times. It is a vertical side view which shows the other Example which made changeable the protrusion length to the front in the Hisashi body put on the upper part of the tea leaf just before plucking. It is a vertical side view which shows the other Example of the eaves which formed the protrusion start side as the rotation base end, and formed the protrusion front end side so that rotation was possible up and down. It is explanatory drawing which shows typically the conventional transfer method and its path | route of picked tea leaves. It is a vertical side view which shows the improvement point (point in which improvement was desired) in the other conventional transfer method in which the front plate (front adjustment plate) of the duct unit was formed to be vertically slidable in addition to the rear wind.

The mode for carrying out the present invention includes one described in the following embodiments, and further includes various methods that can be improved within the technical idea.
In the description, first, the pruning device is taken as an example of the tea cutting device of the present invention, the overall configuration will be schematically described, and the tea branch and leaf transfer device which is the device of the present invention will also be described. Further, as the plucking device, a so-called large-sized riding plucking device (teacup straddling plucking device 1) that lifts and transfers the tea leaves A that are cut and accommodated in the accommodating portion will be described as an example.
Moreover, the transfer method itself of the present invention can be used not only for plucking work for cutting tea buds, but also for pruning work for pruning branch trunks in order to prepare the tree shape and restore the vigor of the tree. In addition, “tea branch leaves” described in the claims collectively refers to the picked tea leaves A and the pruned branch trunks (the same sign A as the tea leaves is given to the tea branch leaves). Moreover, “tea cutting” or “tea cutting device” is a general term for plucking (plucking device) and pruning (pruning device). A specific form of the pruning operation will be described later.

  As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 as an example, a teacup straddling type plucking device 1 to which the transfer method of the present invention is applied, and a traveling machine body 2 that travels across a teacup T and a tea machine 2 by this traveling machine body 2. The plucking machine body 3 supported so as to be positioned on the upper surface of the cocoon T, the storage unit 4 that is provided behind the plucking machine body 3 and stores the plucked tea leaves A, and the plucked tea leaves A are transferred from the plucking machine body 3 to the storage unit 4 And a transfer device 5 to be provided. Hereinafter, each component will be described.

  First, the traveling machine body 2 will be described. This is one that travels on the ground between the teacups T across the teacup T, and has a frame 11 that is formed in a substantially gate shape when viewed from the running direction. The frame 11 includes a leg frame 11A provided in a standing state between the ridges, a connecting frame 11B that connects the leg frame 11A, and an elevating bracket 11C that is attached to the leg frame 11A so as to be movable up and down. Is. And the traveling body 12 which applied the crawler as an example is provided in the lower end of the leg part frame 11A. Of course, the traveling body 12 is not limited to such a crawler, but a form in which a pneumatic tire that does not excessively press the saddle, or both is applied (for example, a form in which a pneumatic tire is applied to the front side and a crawler is applied to the rear side). Etc. can be taken as appropriate.

  Further, in the upper part of the connecting frame 11B, in order to perform control and operation of the operator seat 13, the control stick 14, and the teacup straddle-type picking device 1 on which an operator who rides on the teacup straddle-type picking device 1 sits. The control box 15 is provided. A motor 16 to which, for example, a diesel engine is applied is mounted on the side of the operator seat 13. As an example, a hydraulic pump (not shown) is driven by the motor 16 and supplied by the hydraulic pump. The traveling oil 12 drives the driving body 12, the cutting blade 22 of the plucking machine body 3 to be described later, and further drives the cylinder (not shown) responsible for the lifting and lowering movement of the lifting bracket 11C.

Further, two blowers 17A and 17B for blowing tea leaves A cut by the cutting blade 22 are arranged side by side on the connecting frame 11B. The blowers 17A and 17B are shown in FIG. 4 as an example. Thus, it is directly driven by the prime mover 16. In the two fans 17A and 17B, the rotation shaft 171 is coaxial, and the rotation shaft 171 is driven by the prime mover 16 via a pulley and a belt.
And from these blower 17A * 17B, a pressure wind is supplied to the transfer apparatus 5 (plucking machine body 3 side) via ventilation duct 18A * 18B. Note that the air ducts 18 </ b> A and 18 </ b> B are partially or entirely configured by the flexible duct 180 and connected to the transfer device 5.

  Next, the plucking machine body 3 will be described. This substantially plucks the tea leaves A, and has the cutting blade 22 as a main member. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the cutting blade 22 includes a pair of upper and lower cutting blade bodies 22A, a cutting blade support frame 22B that slidably supports the cutting blade bodies 22A, and the cutting blade body 22A with an eccentric plate or And a drive unit 22C that is reciprocally slid by an eccentric shaft or the like. By alternately reciprocating a pair of upper and lower cutting blade bodies 22A, tea leaves are produced by the clipper action of the blades (tooth) formed on each cutting blade body 22A. Reap A.

  Thus, the cutting blade 22 takes the form of a so-called cassette-type replacement blade in which the cutting blade body 22A, the cutting blade support frame 22B, the drive unit 22C, and the like are integrally assembled. It is possible to change the specifications from the ridge-crossing plucking device 1 to a pruning device such as a shallow mowing device or an intermediate mowing device. Reference numeral 23 in the figure denotes a side plate portion that detachably holds such a cassette type cutting blade 22, and this side plate portion 23 is supported by the lifting bracket 11C as shown in FIG. 3A, for example. Thus, the height of the cutting blade 22 can be freely set.

  The drive unit 22C of the cutting blade 22 is also preferably driven by hydraulic oil supplied from the hydraulic pump (driven by the prime mover 16 mounted on the traveling machine body 2). The driving of can also be performed by an engine separately.

  Next, the accommodating part 4 that accommodates the tea leaves A cut by the cutting blade 22 will be described. As an example, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the accommodating portion 4 adopts a container type, and adopts a form in which the tea leaves A are directly accommodated therein. Of course, as the container 4 other than the container type, one or two or more tea bags are supported in the container frame, and the inlet (open end side) of these tea bags is hung on a discharge port 37 of a transfer duct 6 to be described later. It is also possible to take a form that stops.

  Next, the transfer device 5 for tea leaves A which is the device of the present invention will be described. The transfer device 5 is a part that transfers the cut tea leaves A toward a predetermined position. Here, the transfer apparatus 5 relays and transfers the tea leaves A from the plucking machine body 3 to the storage unit 4. Specifically, a mode (upward transfer) is adopted in which the tea leaves A immediately after cutting are transferred toward the housing portion 4 and above the cutting blade 22. Here, the transfer of the tea leaves A is an air flow, that is, a pressure wind is sent into the duct and is transferred to the accommodating portion 4. Here, the plurality of duct members are used, and these are collectively referred to as a duct unit 5A. (Attached with “A” at the end of the transfer device 5).

  As shown in FIG. 4 as an example, the duct unit 5A has a transfer duct 6 and a back duct 7 as main members. Among these, the transfer duct 6 is cut, for example, as shown in FIG. It is formed so as to face the upper part of the housing part 4 after being raised slightly obliquely upward and rearward from the upper part of the blade 22. Further, the rear duct 7 is a pressure wind (this is a rear surface) that flows upward into the transfer duct 6 from the rear side of the cutting blade 22, that is, the rear side of the cutting blade 22 that is rearward with respect to the plucking direction (traveling direction). Wind W). Hereinafter, the transfer duct 6 and the rear duct 7 will be described in more detail.

First, the transfer duct 6 will be described. As described above, this is one that rises above the cutting blade 22, for example, and moves up and transports the tea leaf A immediately after cutting to the storage unit 4.
In connection with adopting such a transfer form, the transfer duct 6 includes a front plate 31 provided on the front side of the plucking device, a back plate 32 provided on the rear side of the plucking device, and a side plate 33 connecting between them. The inside is formed in a hollow shape (wind tunnel shape), and the upper and lower ends of the duct are formed in an open state. Here, the lower opening where the transfer of the picked tea leaves A begins is the transfer start part 35, and the upper opening where the transfer of the tea leaves A ends is the transfer end part 36. A facing discharge port 37 is formed.

The transfer duct 6 is provided with a cutting blade 22 at the bottom of the lower end and is opened at the front side at an appropriate height from the cutting blade 22, which is the transfer start portion 35. In other words, the lower end of the transfer start portion 35 as the opening is set to substantially the same height (position) as the cutting blade 22.
Similarly to the cutting blade 22, the transfer start portion 35 (opening) in the transfer duct 6 is formed in a curved shape with a slightly higher center, for example, in accordance with the top surface shape of the teacup T. They are formed to have substantially the same length (the dimension in the width direction of the teacup T).
In addition, an upward rear wind W is blown into the transfer duct 6 from the rear duct 7 in the vicinity of the transfer start portion 35, for example. Of course, this blower outlet 38 is formed behind the cutting blade 22 so as to be referred to as the back wind W (in FIG. 3B, it is formed immediately after the cutting blade 22).

  On the other hand, the transfer terminal portion 36 is appropriately curved so that the discharge port 37 faces the accommodating portion 4 when viewed from the side of the plucking device (see FIG. 3A). Incidentally, when taking the form which accommodates the picked-up tea leaves A in a tea bag, the hook 37a which attaches the open end side of a tea bag to this discharge port 37 is provided (refer FIG. 4).

  Further, the transfer duct 6 is installed about 8 degrees from the upright state (immediately above the cutting blade 22) to the rear side of the plucking device, and this is because the cut tea leaves A are transferred to the transfer duct 6. This is because it is difficult to spill from the (transfer start part 35) to the front side and is intended to be smoothly blown up. Of course, the rearward tilt angle of the transfer duct 6 is set to an appropriate angle within a range of about 5 to 45 degrees from the upright state on the assumption that excessive extension of the teacup straddle-type plucking device 1 to the rear is prevented. can do.

  In addition, it is preferable that the transfer duct 6 does not change a width dimension, a cross-sectional area, etc. suddenly in the middle of the transfer from the transfer start part 35 to the discharge outlet 37 (transfer terminal part 36), and this is the tea leaf A accompanying transfer. This is to reduce damage as much as possible. In addition, as shown in FIGS. 4, 5, and 7, the transfer path is formed such that a branch portion 39 is formed in the middle of transfer and the transfer path branches in a bifurcated manner. Since this branch part 39 becomes a part which divides the tea leaf A to be moved up and down into left and right parts, even if the tea leaf A hits the branch part 39, a smooth R shape, that is, a substantially U-shape as a transfer path is provided so that the tea leaf A is not damaged as much as possible. It is preferable that the tea leaves A are smoothly distributed to the left and right.

Further, such a transfer duct 6 (duct unit 5 </ b> A) is preferably configured such that at least a part thereof is formed in a nested shape or a flexible shape and can move up and down together with the cutting blade 22.
As described above, in the present embodiment, the tea leaves A are hardly transported to the rear side of the cutting blade when the tea leaves A are transported up and down, so that the front-rear length of the transporting device 5 and thus the teacup straddle-type plucking device 1 can be shortened. Is.

  The front plate 31 of the transfer duct 6 is provided with a front adjustment plate 310 that slides in the vertical direction as shown in FIGS. 3B, 4 and 7B, for example. Is appropriately slid to change the opening height (the size of the opening surface) on the front side of the transfer start portion 35 in various ways. Since the front adjustment plate 310 is a member that determines the upper limit position of the opening of the transfer start portion 35 in this way, the lower end of the front adjustment plate 310 is substantially the same length as the cutting blade 22 (like the transfer start portion 35). In accordance with the shape of the top surface of the teacup T, for example, the center is formed in a slightly higher curved shape.

When the front adjustment plate 310 is slidably formed, for example, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a plurality of long holes 311 (long holes in the vertical direction) at appropriate intervals over the width direction of the front adjustment plate 310. And a screw hole 31a corresponding to the front plate 31 is also drilled. The thumbscrew 312 is screwed into the screw hole 31a from the outside of the front adjustment plate 310 through the long hole 311. You can do that. That is, the front adjustment plate 310 is moved up and down to an appropriate height and the set position is maintained by tightening / untightening (relaxing) the thumbscrew 312 fitted in the screw hole 31a. Of course, if the screw hole 31a formed in the front plate 31 is drilled at a plurality of height positions, the position of the applied screw hole 31a (screw hole 31a into which the thumbscrew 312 is fitted) is changed. The front adjustment plate 310 can be moved up and down largely beyond the length of the long hole 311.
Incidentally, conventionally, the lower limit position of the front adjustment plate 310 has been set so that the distance from the upper surface of the bowl to the front adjustment plate 310, that is, the front opening dimension (height) of the transfer start portion 35 is about 200 to 270 mm. However, in this embodiment, this is narrowed to about 50 to 100 mm at the time of the pruning operation and about 100 to 200 mm at the time of the plucking operation. This is because the unpicked tea leaves A) extending in the traveling direction side are sucked more strongly.

  Furthermore, in the transfer duct 6 (for example, in the vicinity of the transfer start portion 35), the transfer promoting plate 41 is in an upward inclined state with respect to the back plate 32 of the transfer duct 6 from just behind the outlet 38 for blowing the back wind W. Is provided. In this embodiment, the upward inclination angle of the transfer promoting plate 41 is set to about 55 degrees from the horizontal direction (the cutting blade 22) as shown in the side views of FIGS. Can be appropriately changed according to the cutting length of the fan, the air volume of the blowers 17A and 17B, and the like, and can be set to an upward inclination angle of about 40 to 70 degrees. In addition, since the back wind W spouted from the blower outlet 38 is smoothly blown upward (toward the rear) along the transfer promotion plate 41 by this transfer promotion plate 41 (so-called Coanda effect), the transfer duct. 6 does not cause any disturbance in the transfer start section 35 and the like.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 3 (b), 4 and 7 (b), for example, as shown in FIG. 3 (b), FIG. 4, and FIG. The front adjustment plate 310 is formed to protrude forward from the lower end portion. As such a eclipse body 43, the lower end portion of the front adjustment plate 310 may be folded back to the front side, or a plate-like eclipse body 43 formed separately from the front adjustment plate 310 may be welded or screwed. It is also possible to attach to the front adjustment plate 310 by, for example. Similarly to the cutting blade 22 and the like, the elongate body 43 is formed in a shape (for example, an arc shape) along the upper surface of the teacup T, and the forward projecting dimension is also substantially constant over the width of the eaves. It is preferable (as an example, an overhanging dimension of about 80 to 120 mm). This is because it is preferable to form the protrusions 43 of the eagles 43 almost uniformly over the ridge width. During the plucking operation, the elongates 43 are projected over the front side, and are held over the eagles 43 (the eagles). This is to cause the suction force into the transfer duct 6 to act on the tea leaf A (tea tree) just before picking) on which the body 43 is placed. That is, at the time of plucking work, the back wind W is ejected in the transfer duct 6, and thereby a suction action is generated in the vicinity of the cutting blade 22 (reaping part), and this suction action is provided by the eclipse body 43. It is intended to extend to the front of the cutting blade 22 (farther). Then, the eclipse body 43 can prevent the tea leaves A from falling down in the traveling direction during the plucking operation, and can be harvested while the tea leaves A are substantially standing.
It is preferable that part or all of the corpse body 43 is formed of a transparent member, which is used to adjust the height of the plucking machine body 3 at the start of cutting and to confirm the cutting state during the tea cutting operation. This is because it is easy to check the cutting blade 22 from the cockpit (the operator's seat 13).

Further, by providing (forming) the elongate body 43 on the front adjustment plate 310 that moves up and down, if the upper limit position of the opening of the transfer start portion 35 is set by the front adjustment plate 310, the height of the elongate body 43 is increased accordingly. Since it is naturally set, the height setting of the elongate body 43 is facilitated (these settings are associated with each other).
In addition, since the elongate body 43 moves up and down in this way (with the front adjustment plate 310), it is considered that when the elongate body 43 rises, a gap is formed at both end portions. There is a concern that the generation of such a gap may cause a decrease in suction force. For this reason, it is desirable to provide side end plates 44 for preventing gaps at both ends of the eaves body 43 as shown in FIG. Needless to say, such a gap prevention side end plate 44 is not required if the gap 43 is lifted (moved up and down) so that no gap is formed in the side portion.

  Next, the back duct 7 will be described. As described above, this is a duct that feeds the back wind W from the rear side of the cutting blade 22 into the transfer duct 6 (for example, in the vicinity of the transfer start portion 35), and is provided in close contact with the back side of the transfer duct 6. . In forming the duct unit 5A, the transfer duct 6 and the rear duct 7 can be formed as completely separate ducts, and these can be stretched or the back plate 32 of the transfer duct 6 can be provided. Thus, the front surface of the rear duct 7 can be formed (shared) (so-called integrated structure).

In addition, the back duct 7 is formed in a substantially trapezoidal shape with an expanded hem as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 7 (a) as an example when viewed from the back of the teacup straddle-type plucking device 1. And is blown out as an upward flow from below, that is, from the rear side of the cutting blade 22. Here, the inlet for the pressurized air is used as the inlet 46, and the two inlets 46 are formed side by side on the left and right, and the air duct 18A connected to the fans 17A and 17B, respectively. -18B is connected. The blowers 17A and 17B can be implemented as a single unit, and in that case, it is possible to use one inlet 46 for the rear duct 7, but a single air duct is provided on the way. It is preferable to branch into two and connect to the two inlets 46 in order to send the pressure air (back air W) uniformly and stably in the width direction.
Further, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 7B, the rear duct 7 has a depth dimension (thickness dimension as viewed from the side of the plucking device) as it goes from the upper inlet 46 to the lower outlet 38, It is preferably formed so as to be thin, and this is also a configuration for sending the pressure air (back surface air W) uniformly and stably in the width direction.

The teacup straddle-type plucking device 1 which is an example of the tea cutting device of the present invention has the basic structure as described above, and the tea cutting mode (plucking mode) by the plucking device will be described below.
(1) Setting up and down the front adjustment plate When plucking is performed, the opening dimension (opening height) of the transfer start portion 35 is first set according to the length of the tea leaf A to be plucked. The above setting is performed by sliding the plate 310 up and down. That is, for example, when the tea leaves A are plucked with a relatively short pruning length (so-called short bud plucking), the front adjustment plate 310 is slid to a lower position as shown in FIG. The opening dimension (height) of the start part 35 is narrowed (the upper limit position of the opening part is set low). On the other hand, when the tea leaves A are plucked with a relatively long pruning length (so-called long bud plucking), as shown in FIG. 8B as an example, the front adjustment plate 310 is slid to the upper position to start the transfer. The opening size of the part 35 is increased (the upper limit position of the opening is set high).
In this way, by sliding the front adjustment plate 310 up and down as appropriate, for example, in the case of short bud picking, the tea leaf body 43 on which the corpse body 43 is placed is accompanied by excessive opening of the transfer start portion 35. In addition to preventing a reduction in the suction force and a reduction in the blowing force of tea leaves A after picking, etc., scattering of the tea leaves A after picking from the transfer start portion 35 (splashing forward) is prevented. Further, in the case of long shoot plucking, the tea leaves A come into contact with the front plate 31 of the transfer duct 6, thereby avoiding a situation where the plucking and blowing up are not performed smoothly due to falling forward.

(2) Outline of the process of forming the rear wind After such setting, the rear wind W is generated. First, the prime mover 16 on the traveling machine body 2 is driven, and the two blowers 17A are driven.・ A pressure wind is generated by 17B. The generated pressure air is then taken into the rear duct 7 through the air ducts 18A and 18B (flexible duct 180). The pressure air introduced into the rear duct 7 spreads in the width direction within the rear duct 7 and is rearward from the cutting blade 22 and just behind the transfer promotion plate 41 as the rear wind W in the transfer duct 6 (for example, In the vicinity of the transfer start unit 35). The rear wind W is an upward flow upward from the rear of the cutting blade 22 and has a transfer capability of conveying at least the tea leaf A to the discharge port 37 (transfer end portion 36) of the transfer duct 6.

(3) Action of Hisashi Body Also, the transfer start section 35 causes the eagles body 43 to project from the upper side to the front side of the opening, so that the tea leaves A positioned in front of the cutting blade 22 during the plucking operation. That is, the upper part of the tea leaf A immediately before receiving the plucking is covered with the Hisashi body 43 (the Hisashi body 43 is held over the tea leaf A). In this state, the tea leaves A that are plucked from the upper part of the teacup are covered with the upper body 43 while the tea tree is present on the lower side. Only the ventilation of the upper part of the teacup along the body 43 is allowed (as if a wind tunnel was formed on the upper part of the teacup). Accordingly, when the back wind W is applied in this state, air flows through the upper space in the teacup T from the outside (mainly the front) into the transfer duct 6 (suction force works). The tea leaves A held by the sucker body 43 by the suction (to which the bearer body 43 is placed) are sucked to the cutting blade 22 side. For this reason, the tea leaves A just before cutting are in a substantially standing state and are picked in this state.

(4) Mode of operation of transfer promotion plate The back wind W blown up from the blowout port 38 flows along the surface of the transfer promotion plate 41 due to the Coanda effect because the transfer promotion plate 41 exists in the vicinity of the blowout port 38. Thus, the back wind W blows up smoothly without being disturbed in the duct, particularly in the transfer start portion 35. Further, since the transfer duct 6 is slightly inclined rearward, the plucked tea leaves A are prevented from falling to the front side (spilling down from the transfer start portion 35).

(5) Outline of transfer mode of tea leaves The tea leaves A plucked by such back wind W are drawn to the rear side of the cutting blade 22 immediately after cutting, and this is because the outlet 38 of the back wind W This is a phenomenon that occurs even when the cutting blade 22 (the transfer start unit 35) is away. This is because (the phenomenon in which the tea leaves A are transferred to the rear side (blow-out port 38) of the cutting blade 22), the back wind W blown from the back of the cutting blade 22 and the vicinity of the rear of the cutting blade 22, specifically, the back wind. It is considered that a negative pressure is formed in the vicinity of the air outlet 38 of W (negative pressure suction action of the back wind W) and this extends to the transfer start portion 35 (the mowing portion). Then, the tea leaves A attracted to the blower outlet 38 side rides on the back wind W that forms an upward flow, smoothly rises in the transfer duct 6, and is accommodated in the accommodating portion 4 from the discharge port 37. . In addition, the “winding action of the back wind” described in the claims means that the tea leaves A are directly carried on the back wind W and are held over the cutting part and the front eaves body 43. It is a general term including the negative pressure suction action of the back wind W extending to the part.

(6) Airflow of pressurized air in the rear duct The rear duct 7 has a thickness dimension (channel cross-sectional area) as viewed from the side of the plucking device, as shown in FIG. 3, FIG. 7, and FIG. It is preferable that the width gradually decreases in a tapered shape from the inlet 46 toward the lower outlet 38. By adopting the above-described structure, the pressure loss when the pressure air passes through the rear duct 7 is reduced, and the rear wind flows into the transfer duct 6 with sufficient air pressure without significantly increasing the performance of the fans 17A and 17B. This is because W can be sent out.

[Other Examples]
The present invention has the above-described embodiment as one basic technical idea, but the following modifications can be considered.
First, it is preferable that the pressure air introduced here is supplied to the inlet 46 portion in the rear duct 7 while being uniformly spread toward the lower outlet 38, for example, FIG. ), A guide tube 48 whose front end is widened in the width direction of the rear duct 7 can be provided at the introduction port 46 portion. For the same purpose, an expansion guide 49 may be installed in the rear duct 7 as shown in FIG. In this example, a plurality of brackets having an L-shaped cross section are used as an example, and the brackets are attached in a flared shape or radially from the inlet 46 toward the outlet 38.

  Further, in the basic embodiment described above, the front adjustment plate 310 is set to a predetermined height by manually tightening and releasing the screws, but a rack and pinion mechanism, an electric motor cylinder, or the like is used. Then, it may be mechanically moved up and down. When such a mechanical drive system is adopted, the height of the tea tree is detected by an infrared sensor or a contact sensor, and the front adjustment plate 310 may be moved up and down by a separately provided control device. Conceivable.

  Moreover, in the basic example mentioned above, although the tea leaf A was transferred only by the back wind W which acts from the back of the cutting blade 22, the ventilation form of the tea leaf A is not limited to this. That is, depending on the growth state of the tea buds to be plucked, the condition of the transfer path (ascending transfer distance, etc.), the ability of the fans 17A and 17B to generate the back wind W, for example, in addition to the back wind W as shown in FIG. It is possible to make a transfer wind (this is referred to as a front wind W1) act from the front side of the blade 22 (the front side in the cutting direction).

  Further, in the basic embodiment described above, it has been described that the transfer promoting plate 41 formed separately from the inside of the transfer duct 6 is installed. However, for example, as shown in FIG. It is also possible to incline 32 itself in two stages and form an upward inclination angle of 40 to 70 degrees immediately after the air outlet 38.

  Further, in the basic embodiment described above, the projecting dimension of the elongate body 43 forward relative to the front adjustment plate 310 was not particularly changed, but the overhanging length of the elongate body 43 can be appropriately changed. . As an example of this, as shown in FIG. 12, for example, the eclipse body 43 is formed in a double upper and lower direction (the upper side is 43A and the lower side is 43B), and the upper eclipse body 43A is replaced with the lower eaves body. It is conceivable to form slidable with respect to 43B. Of course, when the upper and lower elongate bodies 43A and 43B are configured to be slidable, the connection structure between the front plate 31 and the front adjustment plate 310 described above can be used. In addition, if it is the said Example which can change suitably the overhang | projection length of the elongate body 43, for example, when it is desired to make the suction force acted on the tea leaf A (tea tree) just before plucking to act on a wider area, the elongate body 43 It can be dealt with by stretching.

Further, in the basic embodiment described above, it has been described that the eclipse body 43 is fixedly attached to the front adjustment plate 310. For example, as shown in FIG. (The lower end side of the front adjustment plate 310 is used as the rotation base end, and the overhanging front end side is used as the rotation free end to rotate it up and down), and this rotation state is maintained by a link mechanism or the like. Is possible. Of course, the rotation of the elongate body 43 can be performed mechanically by providing a motor cylinder or the like on the front adjustment plate 310.
In addition, when the elongate body 43 is formed so as to be rotatable, for example, when the elongate body 43 is rotated so that the front side faces upward, the opening area (cross-sectional area) gradually increases in the suction direction. Therefore, the suction force can be gradually increased. As described above, the opening area can be changed by appropriately rotating the elongate body 43, whereby the suction force can be gradually changed in the suction direction of the tea leaves A.

  Moreover, although the basic example mentioned above demonstrated and demonstrated the form of the teacup crossing type plucking apparatus 1 as an example, as above-mentioned, the transfer device of the tea branch leaf which concerns on this invention is restricted only to a plucking apparatus. It can also be used for a pruning device. In this case, for example, the pruned trunk can be transferred to the intercostal space with a chute member provided so as to pass up through the transfer duct 6 and then dropped (for example, the present application). Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-136214 “Transportation structure of a pruned branch trunk in a teacup straddling type tea-cutting device” related to a human application). Of course, the pruned branch trunk does not necessarily have to be guided to the intercostal space through the accommodating portion 4. For example, another duct may be provided from the discharge port 37 of the transfer duct 6 to the intercostal space, and the pruned branch trunk may be dropped into the intercostal space. Is possible. In addition, when changing the teacup straddle-type plucking device 1 to a pruning device, the plucking machine body 3 can be easily made by changing the cassette type cutting blade 22 described above to that for the pruning machine. The specification can be changed.

In the basic embodiment described above, a plucking device (single-stage plucking device) provided with only one cutting blade 22 has been described as an example. However, the present invention provides a plurality of cutting blades 22 in the vertical direction. It can also be applied to a so-called multi-stage plucking device. For example, in the case of a two-stage plucking device, a duct unit 5A is formed for each of the upper and lower cutting blades, and the tea leaves A plucked by these upper cutting blades and the plucked by the lower cutting blade. The tea leaves A are stored separately in separate tea bags hung on each duct unit 5A.
This is because when the tea leaves A having different properties are separately picked up by the upper cutting blade and the lower cutting blade, for example, the high-quality tea leaves A close to the hand-picked product are picked up by the upper cutting blade and then hand picked up by the lower cutting blade. Although it is somewhat lower in quality than the product, it is a plucking / accommodating form suitable for plucking good quality tea leaves A, etc., which makes it suitable for the tea leaf processing in the subsequent tea processing. Processing conditions can be taken as appropriate.
In addition, when performing multi-stage plucking such as two-stage plucking, since the tea leaves A are picked in order from the higher position, for example, for the second-stage duct unit 5A, the lower part of the first-stage duct unit 5A (outside of the bottom) ) Is considered to be responsible for the action of the eclipse body 43, and it is considered that the eaves body 43 described in the basic embodiment (the eaves body 43 as a single member) is often provided only in the first-stage duct unit 5A.

  The transfer method of the present invention can be used not only for the plucking operation for cutting tea buds, but also for the pruning operation for trimming the trunks in order to prepare the tree shape and restore the tree vigor.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Teacup crossing type plucking device 2 Traveling machine body 3 Plucking machine body 4 Accommodating part 5 Transfer device 5A Duct unit 6 Transfer duct 7 Rear duct 11 Frame 11A Leg frame 11B Connection frame 11C Lifting bracket 12 Traveling body 13 Pilot seat 14 Control rod 15 Control box 16 Motor 17A Blower 17B Blower 171 Rotating shaft 18A Blower duct 18B Blower duct 180 Flexible duct 22 Cutting blade 22A Cutting blade body 22B Cutting blade support frame 22C Drive portion 23 Side plate portion 31 Front plate 31a Screw hole 310 Front adjustment Plate 311 Long hole 312 Thumb screw 32 Back plate 33 Side plate 35 Transfer start portion 36 Transfer end portion 37 Discharge port 37a Hook 38 Air outlet 39 Branching portion 41 Transfer promotion plate 43 Hoop body 43A Hoop body (upper)
43B Hisashi body (bottom)
44 Side end plate 46 Introduction port 48 Guide tube 49 Expanded guide body A Tea leaves (tea branch leaves)
N branch nozzle T teacup X horizontal transfer part Y ascending transfer part W rear wind W1 front wind

Claims (5)

For a cutting blade that cuts tea branch leaves such as tea leaves and trunks, it has a transfer duct that transfers the tea branch leaves after cutting toward a predetermined position, and blows back wind from the rear side of the cutting blade into this transfer duct, In the device for transferring the tea leaves after cutting by a wind action of the back wind toward a predetermined position,
The transfer duct is provided with a transfer start portion opened in a shape substantially along the upper surface of the teacup at the appropriate height on the front side of the cutting blade in the lower part where the cutting blade is provided,
In this transfer start portion, a long-legged corpse that extends forward from above the opening is formed in a state substantially along the top surface of the teacup. A device for transferring tea branches and leaves characterized by having a suction action.
The transfer duct is provided with an adjustment plate that can change the mounting height in the vertical direction along the front plate of the transfer duct, and the opening upper limit position of the transfer start portion is determined by the mounting height of the adjustment plate. ,
The apparatus for transferring tea branches and leaves according to claim 1, wherein the elongate body is formed so as to protrude forward from a lower end portion of the adjusting plate.
The apparatus for transferring tea branch leaves according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the elongate body is formed such that a protruding length protruding forward is freely changeable.
The tea branch leaf transfer device according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the elongate body is provided such that a forward projecting tip side is pivotable in a vertical direction.
A traveling aircraft that travels across the bowl,
A tea-cutting machine attached to the traveling machine and performing a plucking operation or a pruning work,
A storage section provided behind the tea cutter body and capable of storing the picked tea leaves;
A transfer device for transferring tea leaves and leaves such as harvested tea leaves and branch trunks from the tea cutter machine body to the storage unit, and can perform plucking or pruning work according to the purpose,
A tea-cutting device, wherein the transfer device for tea branchs according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4 is applied to the transfer device.

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