Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01D—HARVESTING; MOWING
  • A01D17/00—Digging machines with sieving and conveying mechanisms
  • A01D17/06—Digging machines with sieving and conveying mechanisms with rollers or disc screens
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
  • B07B—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS BY SIEVING, SCREENING, SIFTING OR BY USING GAS CURRENTS; SEPARATING BY OTHER DRY METHODS APPLICABLE TO BULK MATERIAL, e.g. LOOSE ARTICLES FIT TO BE HANDLED LIKE BULK MATERIAL
  • B07B1/00—Sieving, screening, sifting, or sorting solid materials using networks, gratings, grids, or the like
  • B07B1/12—Apparatus having only parallel elements
  • B07B1/14—Roller screens
  • B07B1/15—Roller screens using corrugated, grooved or ribbed rollers
  • B07B1/155—Roller screens using corrugated, grooved or ribbed rollers the rollers having a star shaped cross section

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an agricultural separating device and an agricultural separator including such a device.
• Starwheels have a plurality of resiliently deformable "fingers" arranged around a central hub or boss and are at present formed from polyurethane or rubber, but could be formed from any other suitable material.
• a plurality of starwheels are mounted on a rotatable shaft, commonly known as a "starshaft”.
• damp soil may stick to the starwheels, or hard material, eg stones, may become jammed between the starwheels. This will reduce separation and produce wear of the starwheels.
• GB 2 145 612 discloses two parallel starshafts arranged upstream of a counter rotating clod roller for use in separating clod and/or stones from root vegetables or bulbs.
• the fingers of the starwheels of adjacent starshafts are staggered and fit into the gaps between the starwheels of the adjacent starshaft. In such a position, the starshafts are said to be "interleaved”.
• potato haulm can become wrapped around the starshafts, and interleaving the starshafts provides a degree of self-cleaning.
• An object of the present invention is to provide starshafts in which build up of material is reduced and, in certain applications, self-cleaning is facilitated.
• the invention provides an agricultural separating device having a starshaft comprising a row of resilient starwheels mounted on a rotatable shaft, wherein rings formed of a rigid material, and having an outer diameter such that they extend radially along 40-80% of the radial length of the fingers of the starwheels, are mounted between adjacent starwheels so as to close off the radially inner space between the fingers without reducing the length and therefore flexibility of the fingers.
• the agricultural separating device may be used in any agricultural separator, eg in a stone and/or clod separator, in a machine for separating soil and clod from root vegetables or bulbs, in a harvester and also in static cleaning equipment.
• the invention also provides an agricultural separator including an agricultural separating device according to the invention.
• the agricultural separator includes at least two agricultural separating devices according to the invention, wherein the starshafts are arranged adjacent and parallel to each other.
• a clod roller is arranged adjacent and parallel to the downstream starshaft in the direction of movement, in use, of material being separated.
• the clod roller and the downstream starshaft are movable as a unit relative to the adjacent upstream starshaft so as to vary the degree of interleaving between the starwheels of the said upstream and the downstream starshafts or to create or vary a radial spacing between the tips of the fingers of the starwheels of the said upstream and downstream starshafts.
• Such a separator allows adjustment between a first position in which the starwheels are interleaved for self-cleaning, eg during separation of soil and clod from potatoes, and a second position in which the starwheels of adjacent starshafts are not interleaved, eg during harvesting carrots, or in a destoner, or when used merely as a separating conveyor.
• Figure 1 shows in plan view parts of two interleaving starshafts of an agricultural separator
• Figure 2 shows in side view a ring of the separator of Figure 1
• Figure 3 shows in side view a starwheel of the separator of Figure 1
• Figure 4 shows diagrammatically in side view an agricultural separator in which one of the starshafts and the clod roller are movable together as a unit relative to an interleaved starshaft, and
• Figure 5 shows diagrammatically in side view the separator of Figure 4 in which the starwheels of the starshafts have been separated.
• a first starshaft 1 comprises a plurality of starwheels 2 mounted on a shaft (not shown).
• Each starwheels 2 has a boss 3 and a plurality of curved, radially-extending resilient fingers 4, as can be seen also from Figure 3.
• the starwheels are preferably formed from polyurethane or rubber with a resilience, depending on the particular use, but could be formed from any other suitable material.
• Rings 5 of rigid material are mounted on the bosses 3 between adjacent starwheels 2 so as to extend radially along 40-80% of the radial length of the fingers.
• the rigid rings 5 extend approximately 50% along the fingers as shown in Fig. 1.
• the rigid rings 5 are preferably made of plastics material, eg nylon or polypropylene, but any other suitable rigid material could be used.
• the sides of the fingers 4 of the starwheel 2 taper inwardly away from the rings 5 in a radially outward direction, so as to provide a gap 13 between each ring 5 and the adjacent fingers 4; the gap 13 increases in a radially outward direction.
• This allows lateral flexing of the fingers 4 when a stone is drawn down between the starwheels.
• the rings 5 would still function reasonably well if the gaps 13 were absent, ie if the sides of the fingers 4 were parallel.
• a second starshaft 6 is arranged parallel to and adjacent the starshaft 1.
• the starwheels of the starshafts 1 and 6 are staggered so that the fingers 4 of the starwheels 2 of one starshaft enter the gaps between the starwheels 2 of the adjacent starshaft.
• the starwheels of adjacent shafts 1 and 6 are said to be "interleaved”.
• the rigid rings 5 shown in Figures 1 and 2 may be mounted on starshafts incorporated in an agricultural separator, eg in a root-crop harvester (eg a potato harvester), a de-stoning machine, or in static cleaning or grading apparatus.
• an agricultural separator eg in a root-crop harvester (eg a potato harvester), a de-stoning machine, or in static cleaning or grading apparatus.
• an agricultural separator having a pair of adjacent, parallel starshafts 7, 8 arranged upstream of a parallel clod roller 9, which may be arranged to rotate in the same direction as the starshafts 7, 8 (eg when harvesting carrots) or in the opposite direction (eg when harvesting potatoes).
• the starshafts 7, 8 shown in Figures 4 and 5 are similar to the starshafts 1, 6 shown in Figure 1, ie they each have a plurality of starwheels 2 having bosses 3 and resilient fingers 4. They also have rigid rings 5 arranged on the bosses 3 between adjacent starwheels.
• the downstream starshafts 8 and the clod roller 9 are mounted in the separator as a unit, which is pivotable as a unit about an axis 10 to enable the starshaft 8 to be moved away from the starshaft 7 to alter the degree of interleaving therewith.
• the pivoting movement may be such as to remove the interleaving altogether, so that there is a radial gap 11 between the tips of the fingers 4 of the starwheels 2 of the starshafts 7 and 8, eg when separating carrots; the pivoting movement may be used to adjust this gap depending on the material being separated.
• the separator shown in Figures 4 and 5 may be used for separating both carrots and potatoes.
• the starwheels When separating potatoes the starwheels are interleaved as shown in Figure 4, whereas when separating carrots the starwheels are separated as shown in Figure 5.
• separator shown in Figures 4 and 5 could be operated as shown in Figure 5, and moved into the interleaving position of Figure 4 merely for self- cleaning between periods of operation.
• An advantage of the separator as shown in Figures 4 and 5 is that the starshafts 7, 8 can be moved apart without altering the overall length of a separating conveyor.
• the separator as shown in Figure 4 When the separator as shown in Figure 4 is used for harvesting potatoes, the counter-rotating clod roller 9 tends to force potato haulm into the gaps between the starwheels 2 of the starshaft 8. Interleaving of the starwheels 4 of the starshafts 7 and 8 is necessary to remove this haulm.
• the rigid rings 5 arranged on the starshafts 7, 8 between the starwheels 4 the degree of interleaving required to produce self-cleaning is substantially less than without the rings 5.
• the group of the starshafts 7, 8 and clod roller 9 as shown in Figures 4 and 5 may be arranged in series with one or more similar groups to form a separating surface in which the downstream starshaft and clod roller of each group are pivotable as a unit relative to the respective upstream starshaft.
• the starshaft 12 shown on the left of each Figure could be the upstream starshaft of a further group comprising two starshafts and a clod roller.

Landscapes

• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Environmental Sciences (AREA)
• Apparatuses For Bulk Treatment Of Fruits And Vegetables And Apparatuses For Preparing Feeds (AREA)
• Soil Working Implements (AREA)
• Combined Means For Separation Of Solids (AREA)
• Sorting Of Articles (AREA)
• Separation Using Semi-Permeable Membranes (AREA)
• Catching Or Destruction (AREA)
• Transplanting Machines (AREA)

Priority Applications (7)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=10810198

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (9)

Cited By (1)

Families Citing this family (23)

Citations (6)

Family Cites Families (2)

• 1997
  • 1997-04-03 GB GBGB9706737.5A patent/GB9706737D0/en active Pending
• 1998
  • 1998-04-02 AT AT98914959T patent/ATE222682T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1998-04-02 JP JP54088398A patent/JP4241936B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1998-04-02 WO PCT/GB1998/000973 patent/WO1998043471A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 1998-04-02 US US09/402,307 patent/US6237778B1/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1998-04-02 DK DK98914959T patent/DK1011305T3/da active
  • 1998-04-02 EP EP98914959A patent/EP1011305B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1998-04-02 DE DE69807500T patent/DE69807500T2/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 1999
  • 1999-09-30 NO NO994755A patent/NO994755L/no not_active Application Discontinuation

Patent Citations (6)

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