Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01G—HORTICULTURE; CULTIVATION OF VEGETABLES, FLOWERS, RICE, FRUIT, VINES, HOPS OR SEAWEED; FORESTRY; WATERING
  • A01G13/00—Protecting plants
  • A01G13/02—Protective coverings for plants; Coverings for the ground; Devices for laying-out or removing coverings
  • A01G13/0256—Ground coverings
  • A01G13/0287—Devices for laying-out or removing ground coverings
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01G—HORTICULTURE; CULTIVATION OF VEGETABLES, FLOWERS, RICE, FRUIT, VINES, HOPS OR SEAWEED; FORESTRY; WATERING
  • A01G13/00—Protecting plants
  • A01G13/02—Protective coverings for plants; Coverings for the ground; Devices for laying-out or removing coverings
  • A01G2013/0218—Protective coverings for plants; Coverings for the ground; Devices for laying-out or removing coverings for removing

Definitions

• This invention relates to a device intended for pick- ing up covering fabrics from plantation fields, comprising a shaft mountable on a wheel-borne vehicle, which shaft is rotatable with the purpose of guaranteeing winding the fabric into a roll.
• the fabrics may consist of a fibrous fabric or a perforated plastic film, which in both cases is delivered in long lengths having a large width. In practice, these fabrics usually have a width within the range of 10-13 metres and a length of 150-250 metres or more.
• the fabrics are folded and wound into rolls the width of which may attain approx. 2 metres.
• To put out such fabrics on the plantation field is comparatively simple, but problems arise when the fabrics are to be taken in from the field towards the end of the cultivation season so as to be reused during a following cultivation season.
• the handling is done manually, more precisely by several men successively pulling out smaller portions of the fabric, after loosening existing anchorages, to one edge of the plantation field and there fold and pack said fabric together step by step along the entire length thereof.
• This procedure is not only laborious and time-consuming but also associated with high risks of sensitive crop being damaged.
• simpler machine equipments have been developed for partly mechanized picking up the fabrics.
• these equip- ments consist of rotatable shafts which are drivable by means of, for instance, the ordinary hydraulic system of a tractor and which are included in a stand mountable on the rear of the tractor.
• shafts merely permit a partial facilita- tion of the work inasmuch as the fabric may be wound to itself and be transported away from the field only when it still has been folded together manually to a limited width (approx. 2 metres) which corresponds to the length of the shaf .
• this mechanized method still requires manual folding of the fabric before winding it onto the shaft.
• a primary object of the invention is to provide a device for picking up fabrics which permits that the fabric in the existing, spread out state is taken up directly from the field and taken care of in an immediately storable form without having to be handled by many people.
• a further object of the invention is to create a picking up device permitting a simple, fast and effective pick- ing up work by one single man, viz . a driver of a tractor or a similar vehicle.
• the driver should be able to deliver the fabric modified to a storable shape without having to leave the vehicle. It is also an object of the invention to create a picking up device permitting picking up covering fab- rics independent of the current weather, in particular with regard to wind-force and precipitation conditions.
• Fig 1 is a perspective view of a device according to the invention mounted on a tractor during work
• Fig 2 is a planar view from above of the tractor working in a plantation field together with the device
• Fig 3 is an enlarged planar view from above showing the device more in detail
• Fig 4 is a section A-A in fig 3, although without the wound fabric
• Fig 5 is a partial view from above showing a dog for rotation of a reel for picking up fabrics.
• 1 generally designates a vehicle in the form of a tractor which, in a conventional way, may include a frontal wheel pair relatively small wheels 2, as well as a rear wheel pair having considerably larger wheels 3.
• these wheels are pos- sible to reset so that they may be adjusted to various distances between the plant rows.
• the wheels of the tractor should be able to be brought forward in furrows 4 between adjacent plant rows 5.
• 6 designates a frontal end of the tractor, while a rear end is generally designated 7.
• a covering fabric for protecting the crops growing on the plantation field is in turn generally designated 8.
• a picking up device made according to the invention is mounted on tractor 1, the main components of which device consist of a capturing device 9, a reel 10 which is mountable on a rotatable shaft 11, and means for guiding a part of the fabric shaped to a strand by the capturing device 9 from the capturing device to the reel 10. Furthermore, a mechanism 12, which has the purpose of evenly distributing the held together fabric strand on the reel 10, is included in the device .
• the capturing device 9 consists of an endless frame or ring which is applied on an registration arm in the shape of a bar 13 which projects from one side of the tractor. More precisely, the frame 9 is placed in front of the front wheels of the tractor, with the frame situated comparatively highly above the ground (e.g. within the range of 1- 2 metres) . This placing guarantees that the fabric 8 may be removed from the crops in a careful way by being lifted up in a comparatively steep angle against the ground- level as well as that the strand-shaped, gathered part of the fabric which follows after the capturing device does not get stuck in the wheels of the tractor even if hard wind would occur.
• the gathered strand of fabrics is led from the capturing device 9 via a number of pipe pieces 14, 14', 14" of which the two first-mentioned ones have the shape of straight pipes with a considerable length extension.
• the last -mentioned pipe piece consists of a pipe bend by means of which the strand of fabric may be unlinked from the motion path parallel to the length extension of the vehicle to a transverse motion path in direction towards the reel 10.
• the reel 10 is mounted at the rear of the tractor.
• the guiding pipes 14, 14', 14" are mounted on a framework 15, which extends along one side of the tractor, and they are carried by a laterally projecting carrier 16.
• the shaft 11 is carried by a fastener 17 (see fig 3) , which is turnably moveable relatively the framing of the tractor. More precisely, the fastener 17 may be turned in the ver- tical plane by means of the three-point lift 18 of the tractor. By means of this three-point lift, the shaft 11 may thus be tilted between various oblique positions, more precisely between an upper end position in which the shaft points obliquely outwards/upwards relatively the horizontal plane and a lower end position in which it points obliquely downwards, backwards relative to the horizontal plane.
• the shaft 11 is rotatably mounted in a bearing device 19 (see fig 5) applied on the fastener 17, and drivable by means of a hydraulic motor 20 connected to the ordinary power outlet of the tractor. Between the motor and the bearing device a sliding clutch 21 may be arranged. On the shaft, there is a dog in the shape of a disk 22 having one or more fingers 23.
• the reel 10 includes, in addition to a central pipe 24 for application onto the shaft 11, two opposite end por- tions, each one of which consists of an external ring 25 and a plurality of spokes 26 which extend radially between the ring and the pipe.
• the reel constructed in this way is in practice easy to handle, inasmuch as the application as well as the removal can be carried out by means of levers inside the driving compartment.
• the shaft 11 may be tilted to a substantially horizontally or obliquely downwards/backwards leaning position in which it may be inserted into the pipe 24 of a reel laying on the ground.
• the reel pipe When the shaft is thereafter tilted up to an obliquely upwards/backwards leaning position, the reel pipe automatically slides forwards so that the fingers 23 on the dog 22 will stick into the spaces between adjacent spokes. This means that the dog automatically connects the motor's drift to the reel so that this is brought to rotate when the shaft is rotated by means of the motor.
• the reel When the reel has been filled with fabrics the reel may be removed from the shaft merely the simple measure of tilting the shaft to an obliquely backwards/downwards leaning position in which the reel automatically slides off the shaft.
• the distribution mechanism 12 has in the shown example the shape of an arm which at a first end is articulatedly connected to the frame 15 in order to be pivotable backwards and forwards, and which at the opposite end thereof has a loop 27 through which the strand of fabrics may pass.
• a loop other means may also be used, e.g. an upwardly open U- bolt . Pivoting of the arm 12 is guaranteed by means of a hydraulic cylinder 28, which by being shortened and lengthened in a steady pace, brings the arm to sway backwards and forwards along the length extension of the reel in a corresponding pace.
• the preparatory measure is taken that the existing anchorages are at least partly removed from the long side edges of the fabric.
• a 5-10 metres long cord may advantageously be fastened at one end of the fabric.
• This cord may in a simple way be pulled through the capturing device 9, the various pipe pieces 14, 14', 14", the loop 27 on the pivoting arm 12, and wound some rounds around the central pipe 24 of a reel applied on the shaft 11. The application of the reel onto the shaft is carried out in the simple way previous described, i.e.
• This strand then passes through the guiding pipe pieces as well as the loop of the distribution arm, and then the same is wound to the reel while forming a roll.
• the guiding pipe pieces are of a considerable length, it is guaranteed that the strand of the fabric is smoothly guided through the same without fluttering and getting itself entangled therein.
• the distribution arm guarantees that the arriving strand of fabric is evenly distributed in the roll which is built up on the reel.
• a substantial advantage of the device according to the invention is that the fabric is taken up from the spread- out state thereof on the plantation field without initially having to be folded.
• the capturing device is placed relatively high above the ground- level and in front of the front wheels of the tractor, it is furthermore guaranteed that the fabric will be removed from the ground- level in a comparatively large or steep angle. This means that the risk for damage on the crops is minimized.
• the steep angle guarantees that the fabric will not be damaged as well as be kept clean by the fact that soil and stones may roll along the fabric all the way to the free end, which is finally captured and wound onto the reel.
• the still spread-out part of the fabric does not get caught in the tractor wheels in conjunction with possible flutter motions as a consequence of wind.
• Another substantial advantage is that the roll of fabric wound onto the reel may be handled in a simple and ti esaving way.
• the reel together with the fabric may in a simple way be encircled by a plastic bag or the like in order to protect the fabric against UV- light.
• a protective bag may be smoothly wrapped around the reel while it is still applied to the shaft 11, and then the reel may be transported by means of the tractor to a suitable storage yard.
• the used fabric wound to the reel may be laid out on the plantation field again in a smooth and timesaving way.
• the fabric may be pulled out from the reel in a strand shape through the loop 27 of the distribution arm 12, while this is kept inactive, and then the fabric is spread out over the field by two men following the tractor and separating the long side edges of the fabric as the tractor moves forwards along the plantation field.

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• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Toxicology (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Environmental Sciences (AREA)
• Catching Or Destruction (AREA)
• Storing, Repeated Paying-Out, And Re-Storing Of Elongated Articles (AREA)

Priority Applications (7)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=20407320

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (9)

Cited By (6)

Families Citing this family (5)

Citations (1)

Family Cites Families (15)

• 1997
  • 1997-06-10 SE SE9702209A patent/SE9702209L/sv not_active IP Right Cessation
• 1998
  • 1998-05-29 JP JP50224399A patent/JP2002503107A/ja active Pending
  • 1998-05-29 NZ NZ501497A patent/NZ501497A/en unknown
  • 1998-05-29 US US09/424,842 patent/US6290163B1/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1998-05-29 EP EP98928722A patent/EP0987934A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 1998-05-29 WO PCT/SE1998/001022 patent/WO1998056235A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1998-05-29 CA CA002292704A patent/CA2292704A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1998-05-29 AU AU80449/98A patent/AU728033B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 1998-05-29 PL PL98337502A patent/PL337502A1/xx unknown

Patent Citations (1)

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