WO2017045010A1 - Crop harvester - Google Patents

Abstract

A mechanical harvester vehicle (10) for harvesting sugar cane is steerable and based on a frame (26) supported on a pneumatic-tyred wheel (14) layout. The vehicle is readily separable into modules, a vehicular carrier (20) and harvester module (22) with the carrier able to carry alternative non-harvester modules useable in agriculture. Included in the harvester module are a stalk conveyor (45) and a cutting arrangement (48) having a chopper or cutter assembly (57) and a thrower assembly (55). The chopper or cutter assembly (57) and a thrower assembly (55) are aligned with the cane in-feed plane M-M above the axes of rotation of the throwing mechanisms. The harvester module incorporates a fixed conveyor (50), to minimise overall vehicle width, to be driveable on public roads. The vehicle is of relatively low mass and along with geometry of the tyred wheels, provides a minimal turning circle.

Description

Crop Harvester

Field of the Invention

[001 ] The present invention relates to crop harvesters and or crop management apparatus, in particular to mechanical crop harvesters and more particularly to those capable of harvesting single or double rows of a crop in a single pass. The crops may be sugar cane, hemp or kenaf.

[002] While the following description will focus on the invention being embodied in a sugar cane harvester, it will be readily understood that other crops such as kenaf and or hemp or any other appropriate crop, can be harvested by the same harvester.

Background of the Invention

[003] Sugar cane growing is frequently planted in parallel rows spaced apart at locally standardised dimensions, and is generally harvested by mechanical sugar cane harvesters. However, in approximately 50% of the world, sugar cane is harvested by hand. A disadvantage of existing mechanical sugar cane harvesters of the general type is a lack of versatility, with high costs attributable to a low annual utilisation of an expensive asset because the unique end purpose is only put to use when the sugar cane is in its harvest-ready season. It is noted that many existing sugar cane harvesters lack versatility in not working with more than one of the several sugar cane harvesting strategies, referred to in the industry as 'burnt crop', 'green crop' or 'whole of crop'. To provide an improved, more versatile harvester useful without restriction to one or other strategy would provide cane growers useful choices.

[004] Any reference herein to known prior art does not, unless the contrary indication appears, constitute an admission that such prior art is commonly known by those skilled in the art to which the invention relates, at the priority date of this application.

Summary of the Invention

[005] This invention aims to provide a crop harvester and or sugar cane harvester, and or twin row cane or crop harvester that is divisible into a vehicular carrier and a cane/crop harvester module, readily separable from each other using commonplace tools. The vehicle or carrier can when so required be fitted with other modules, such as useful for spraying crops with fertiliser or insecticide or various cultivating attachment modules.

[006] The present invention provides a crop harvester having at least one cutting arrangement which has a cutter assembly and an anvil or thrower assembly which interact to produce billets of a predetermined size from a crop stalk, and wherein the rate of input of crop stalks to the cutting arrangement is approximately the same as the vector component of the outer extremity of the blades of the thrower at the point of contact with the crop stalk in the direction of travel of the crop stalk as delivered by a crop stalk delivery system. In this case "approximately the same" would be within plus or minus 10%. [007] The rotation speed of the thrower is such that an outer extremity of the blades of the thrower assembly have a linear speed at the point of contact with a crop stalk being cut, of at least approximately 10 to 13 metres per second.

[008] The angular arrangement of the cutter blades in the cutter assembly and thrower blades in the thrower assembly when a crop stalk is being cut can be approximately 90 degrees.

[009] The crop stalk delivery system can be at an angle to the ground in the range of 15 degrees to 60 degrees.

[0010] The angular arrangement of a thrower blade in the thrower assembly, at the point of contact with a crop stalk being cut is such that the plane of the thrower blade can be parallel to the direction of travel of the crop stalk as delivered by the crop stalk delivery system.

[001 1 ] The thrower assembly and its blades can include an overload protection or release mechanism.

[0012] The overload protection or release mechanism can be one of the following: a means to release a thrower blade; a means to release a portion of a thrower blade from the mounting system which holds the blade in the cutting arrangement; a means to fracture or fragment the thrower blade.

[0013] The protection means can include one of the following: a shear bolt or frangible bolt being used to mounting the blade or blade portion to a mounting system; a thrower blade which is strong but brittle and will break upon contact with a foreign material in the cutting arrangement.

[0014] An overload protection or release mechanism can be formed from the thrower blade being mounted to side walls or structure of a spindle by frangible or shear bolts.

[0015] The frangible bolts or shear bolts are located closer to the point of contact with the crop, and pivot bolts are located closer to the axis of rotation of the spindle.

[0016] When the frangible or shear bolts break due to a thrower blade contacting an uncuttable article, the thrower blade will pivot away from the point of contact with the crop stalks but will remain connected to the spindle it is mounted to or the thrower blade will pivot away from the point of contact with the crop stalks, and will be locked in that condition while remaining connected to the spindle it is mounted to.

[0017] The rate of input of the crop is in the range of 1 to 6 metres per second, and more preferably of the order of 2 to 4 metres per second.

[0018] The axis of rotation of the cutter can be located above the crop stalks to be cut, with the axis of rotation of the thrower being located below the crop stalks to be cut.

[0019] The harvester can have two cutting arrangements spaced apart on the harvester. [0020] Each cutting arrangement can include the throwing paddles being attached to two spaced apart discs.

[0021 ] The throwing paddles are attached to the discs so as to connect at an angular disposition selected to align each the throwing paddle with the in-feed plane at every instant when the cutting blades and the throwing paddles engage in close proximity.

[0022] The harvester can have a crop stalk delivery system which includes a parallel slat and chain conveyors adapted to urge the crop stalks in an upward and rearward direction, the stalks being supported underneath by a plurality of aligned driven rollers, to feed the stalks end-first into the cutting arrangement passing through which the stalks are chopped into billets,

[0023] The chopped billets can be thrown through a billet duct means having walls shaped to deflect the billets towards an outlet in an upper open end.

[0024] The cutter assembly can have three blades and the anvil or thrower assembly can have one or two blades, with the cutter assembly being rotated at 1 /3 of the rotation speed of the one bladed anvil or thrower assembly or 2/3 of the rotation speed of the two bladed anvil or thrower assembly.

[0025] Associated with the or each cutting arrangement, there can be provided a billet duct, wherein said billet duct is able to do one or more of the following: rotate through 360 degrees; rotate to a left side of the harvester; rotate to a right side of a harvester; rotate to a rear side of the harvester; rotate to a forward side of the harvester; rotate to a forward side of the harvester as a transport or manoeuvrability condition and to be optionally tipped in this orientation; rotate to any location through 360 degrees and harvest at such location.

[0026] The crop harvester can be able to harvest one or more than one of the following: sugar cane; hemp; kenaf.

[0027] The present invention also provides a vehicle including a cabin and motor adapted to propel the vehicle and including a frame or structure beneath which is a space configured to receive one or more crop management apparatus or devices.

[0028] The vehicle can be supported at a forward end and or rear end by a pair of spaced apart wheels powered by the motor or by a pair of spaced apart track assemblies.

[0029] All the wheels can have pneumatic tyres.

[0030] Road allowable wheel or track assembly spacing can be provided and between which the space is located.

[0031 ] The frame or structure includes opposed pivot cradles to connect, or interconnect, to the crop management apparatus. [0032] The crop management apparatus, once its pivots are in the pivot cradles, can be then rotated into alignment with securing means to secure the crop management apparatus to the vehicle.

[0033] The vehicle can have a single steerable wheel or track assembly at the rear end of the vehicle.

[0034] Otherwise the vehicle can be a four wheeled vehicle. In which case it may have any appropriate steering such as steering being effected by means of skid steering.

[0035] The vehicle can also include one or more tack assemblies, instead of wheels.

[0036] Crop dividers carried by the vehicle can be moved between a forward position and a rearward inboard position, either separately or in unison.

[0037] The vehicle can be used for single or multiple row harvesting.

[0038] The maximum width of the vehicle can be selected to be between 3.6 and 3.8 metres.

[0039] The crop management apparatus can be one or more of the following: a crop harvester as described above; a crop spraying unit or module; a harvester module; a planter module; a cultivating module; a grass cutting module; soil cultivation module; other crop management module.

[0040] The crop management apparatus can be able to manage one or more than one of the following crops: sugar cane; hemp; kenaf.

[0041 ] The present invention also provides a crop harvester having at least one cutting arrangement which has a 3 blade cutter assembly and 1 or 2 bladed anvil or thrower assembly, wherein the cutter assembly is rotated at 1/3 or 2/3 respectively of the rotation speed of the anvil or thrower assembly.

[0042] The present invention further provides a harvester vehicle adapted to harvest one or two rows at a time of spaced apart parallel rows of sugar cane crops and to convert that cane into chopped billets and convey the billets to bins carried independently, consisting of in combination: (a) a vehicular carrier including a cabin and motor adapted to propel the vehicle along pairs of substantially parallel rows of sugar cane, the carrier including a frame configured with space beneath the frame to straddle pairs of rows when harvesting; (b) a harvester module adapted to connect to the vehicular carrier in the space beneath the frame, the harvester module while being propelled forwardly when attached to the vehicular carrier being configured with means to sever separately and substantially simultaneously cane stalks in two adjacent parallel rows; (c) a parallel pair of slat and chain conveyors adapted to urge the cane stalks in an upward and rearward direction, the stalks being supported underneath by a plurality of aligned driven rollers, and to feed the stalks end-first into a pair of chopping and throwing means in passing through which the stalks are chopped into billets, the billets being thrown upwardly through billet duct means having walls shaped to deflect the billets outwardly through an upper rearward facing open end; and, (d) an upper surface of the plurality of aligned driven rollers adapted to direct cane stalks urged by the chain and slat conveyor into each chopping and throwing means along an in-feed plane, which, extended in a rearward direction beyond an upper end of the plurality of aligned rollers, passes an off-set distance above the central axis of the throwing portion.

[0043] The counter-rotating chopping and throwing means can include a co-operating rotating chopping portion and a rotating throwing portion, the throwing portion having at least one radially extending throwing paddle attached to two spaced apart throwing discs.

[0044] The number of the chopping blades in the chopping portion can be in the range of one to five.

[0045] The chopping and throwing means can include peripheral tips of one of both the chopping blades and the throwing paddles configured to engage each other in close proximity in chop and throw actions during revolutions of the throwing discs.

[0046] Each pair of throwing portions can have both ends of each throwing paddle attached to the throwing discs to connect at an angular disposition selected to align each throwing paddle with the in-feed plane at every instant when the chopping blades and the throwing paddles engage in close proximity.

[0047] Rotational motion of the motor can be transmitted into a bevel gearbox including two opposed co-axial output shafts, each of which in harvesting mode is coupled axially to a throwing disc included in each throwing portion.

[0048] Each throwing portion can be connected by a first sprocket co-axial with one of the throwing discs by a transmission chain to a second sprocket attached to a first roller member of the plurality of aligned driven rollers effective to rotate it in the same rotational direction as the throwing discs.

[0049] A first gear can be fixed co-axially with the second sprocket and the first gear is adapted to drive a second gear fixed co-axially to the chopping shaft.

[0050] Each chopping shaft can have a rotational axis in common with an uppermost sprocket driving each parallel pair of slat and chain conveyors.

[0051 ] The throwing paddles can be adapted to break away in the event of hard extraneous objects being caught between the throwing paddles and the chopping blades.

[0052] The harvester vehicle includes a single steerable pneumatic-tyred wheel at the rear end of the vehicle carrier configured with a wide range of rotation about either side of a vertical axis passing through its centre line in combination with a selected distance between the forward and rearward axles enabling the carrier a turning circle of radius approximately equal to the spacing between the spaced-apart parallel cane rows.

[0053] The tyred wheel can have a range of rotation of at least about 80° about either side of a vertical axis passing through its centre line.

[0054] The vehicle can be further provided with both central and lateral crop dividers adapted to be advanced during harvesting to forward positions and to be retractable separately or in unison to rearward inboard positions.

[0055] The harvester vehicle can be further provided with a billet delivery belt connected to a rearward end of the harvester module adapted to convey and discharge the billets selectively to either side into a receiving bin means carried on a separate vehicle driven independently parallel alongside the harvester vehicle.

[0056] The harvester vehicle can be configured for twin row harvesting where adjacent row spacing is standardised at about 1.8 metres in which a maximum width of the harvester vehicle with the billet conveyors retracted complies with a vehicle width allowable for self-powered travel on public roads.

[0057] The maximum width of the harvester vehicle can be selected to be between 3.6 and 3.8 metres.

[0058] The present invention further provides a vehicular carrier included in a harvester vehicle adapted to harvest two rows at a time of spaced apart parallel rows of sugar cane crops and to convert that cane into chopped billets and convey the billets to bins carried independently, the vehicular carrier including a cabin and motor adapted to propel the vehicle and including a frame beneath which is a space configured to receive one of a group consisting of a harvester module, a crop spraying module and cultivating modules.

[0059] The vehicular carrier can be supported at a forward end by a pair of spaced apart wheels powered by the motor and at a rearward end by a single steerable wheel.

[0060] All the wheels can have pneumatic tyres.

[0061 ] A billet duct means can include one separate duct to receive and direct billets for each chopping and throwing means.

[0062] The number of chopping blades can be equal to the number of throwing paddles.

[0063] There are three chopping blades and 1 or 2 throwing paddles.

[0064] The first gear and the second gear mesh in a ratio selected by reference to the number of the chopping blades and the throwing paddles to provide that all the blades share equally the chopping actions and all the paddles equally share the throwing actions. [0065] Additional chain means can be provided to interconnect with at least some other rollers included in the plurality of aligned driven rollers to rotate the other rollers in the same direction as the throwing discs.

[0066] The first gear and the second gear mesh in a 1 :1 ratio.

[0067] Each throwing paddle can be connected at each the opposite end to its respective thrower disc by bolts adapted to break in the event of hard extraneous objects being caught between the throwing paddles and the chopping blades.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0068] Aspects and preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0069] Fig.l A illustrates a sugar cane harvester vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention, with its crop dividers in a deployed condition.

[0070] Fig.1 B the sugar cane harvester of Fig.lA with its crop dividers in a transport condition.

[0071 ] Fig.2A illustrates a perspective view of the vehicle or vehicular carrier which is a module of the harvester of Fig.lA and Fig .1 B.

[0072] Fig.2B illustrates a perspective view of the central crop divider which is a module of the harvester of Fig .1 A and Fig .1 B.

[0073] Fig.2C illustrates a perspective view of the harvester module which is a module of the harvester of Fig.l A and Fig.l B.

[0074] Fig.3 illustrates a rear perspective view of the vehicle of Fig.2A.

[0075] Fig.4A illustrates a rear perspective of the central crop divider mechanism of Fig.2B.

[0076] Fig.4B is a part view of the vehicle depicting the central crop divider mechanism of Fig.4A shown in retracted position.

[0077] Fig.4C is a part view of the vehicle depicting the central crop divider mechanism of Fig.4A shown in extended position.

[0078] Fig.5 illustrates a side perspective view of the harvester vehicle of Fig.l A with lateral and central crop dividers fully extended toward the front and with the reversible and retractable lateral belt conveyor means in fully extended lateral positions.

[0079] Fig.6 illustrates a rear perspective view of the harvester of Fig.5 showing the reversible and retractable belt conveyor means of Fig.5 in fully retracted lateral positions.

[0080] Fig.7 is a schematic representation of the billet cutting mechanism and its relationship to the harvester of previous figures. This is to be viewed in conjunction with Fig.8A. [0081 ] Fig.8A illustrates a schematic fragmentary view of a part of Fig.7, being a cane stalk conveyor and chopping and throwing mechanism of the harvesting module.

[0082] Fig.8B shows an enlarged portion of the chopping mechanism of Fig.8A.

[0083] Fig.9 depicts schematically a fragmentary view of details of a power transmission arrangement to produce rotation of the chopping and throwing mechanism of Figs 7 and 8.

[0084] Fig.10 illustrates a front upper perspective view of another assembled crop harvester embodying the invention.

[0085] Figs 1 1 to 19 illustrates views at 60 degree intervals showing the relative rotations of the cutter blades and throwing blades.

[0086] Fig.20 illustrates a detail view of the 3 cutter blades and 2 thrower blades and their drive gears.

[0087] Fig.21 illustrates a front view of the crop harvester of Fig.10, with the billet duct rotated to the left side of the crop harvester.

[0088] Fig.22 illustrates a side view of the harvester of Fig.10.

[0089] Fig.23 illustrates a rear perspective view of the harvester of Fig.10, with the billet duct rotated to the right side of the crop harvester.

[0090] Fig.24 illustrates a front view of the harvester of Fig.10 where the crop dividers are in a retracted transport condition.

[0091 ] Fig.25 illustrates a front view of the harvester of Fig.10, where the billet duct and conveyor are in transport condition, but the crop dividers are not.

[0092] Fig.26 illustrates a front view of the vehicle which is carrier of the crop harvester of previous figures, with the crop harvester separated therefrom, but with the crop dividers attached.

[0093] Fig.27 illustrates a rear view of the vehicle of Fig.26.

[0094] Fig.28 illustrates a rear perspective view of the crop harvester module prior to connection to the vehicle of Fig.27.

[0095] Fig.29 illustrates a front perspective view of the crop harvester module of Fig.28.

[0096] Figs 30 to 38 illustrate views at 120 degree intervals showing the relative rotations of a cutter arrangement which has three cutter blades and one throwing blade.

[0097] Fig.39 illustrates a side view of a thrower/paddle catch mechanism which operates with the thrower assembly discs, to hold the paddle/thrower blade in place and out of its cutting position in the event of a foreign material being encountered in the cutting arrangement, and shearing or breaking mounting bolts. [0098] Fig .40 illustrates a rear perspective view of the harvester of Fig.10, with the billet duct rotated to the rear side of the crop harvester.

[0099] Fig.41 illustrates a perspective view of track assembly that could be used instead of wheel and pneumatic tyres.

Detailed Description of the Embodiment or Embodiments

[00100] It will be understood that the following description is in respect of a sugar cane harvester, however, it will be readily understood that the invention applies to other crop harvesters such as kenaf or hemp, or any other suitable crop. Figs 1 A and 1 B illustrate a three- wheeled two row sugar cane harvester vehicle 10 which is supported by three pneumatic tyred wheels contacting the ground, a single steerable rear wheel 12 adjacent a rear end and a pair of front drive wheels 14 adjacent a front end. The drive wheels 14 are powered by a motor 15, whether travelling through a crop being harvested or when driven along public roads between harvesting duties. A cabin 16 to accommodate the harvester operator in an elevated position is provided and is air-conditioned.

[00101 ] There is provided a pair of billet ducts 19 of generally rectangular cross-section and which varies in cross sectional area along its length. Each duct is defined by four curved walls 18, separately through each of which ducts 19 billets 5 (as seen in Fig.7) of cut cane, which may be about 200mm in length, are thrown upwardly by a simultaneous chopping and throwing action of the harvesting module 10, later described in more detail. A central crop divider pair 24 is attached to the carrier 20, comprising two rotatable scrolls as is known to a person skilled in the art, disposed substantially centrally, and substantially aligned with the longitudinal axis of the vehicle 20, or the straight ahead line of travel of the steerable wheel 12 between the adjacent rows in a pair of rows being harvested in a single pass.

[00102] A lateral crop divider pair 25 is also provided, individually aligned substantially with the line of travel of each individual driven wheel 14, that is, just outside the adjacent rows in the pair of rows being harvested. During harvesting, each pair of lateral and central crop dividers are extended forwardly and downwardly as shown in Fig.lA to assist efficient harvesting by straightening up cane stalks in the pair of rows. At the completion of harvesting each pair of rows, to enable the harvester being turned about in minimum space, both the lateral and central crop divider pairs (24, 25) can be withdrawn, simultaneously or sequentially, to the positions as respectively shown in Fig.1 B. The harvester 22, as is commonly known in the art, also includes a forward located knock down roller, but for the purposes of ease of illustration, the knock down roller is not illustrated in the embodiment of Figs 1 to 9.

[00103] Figs 2A, 2B and 2C show views of the modules of the three-wheeled sugar cane harvester 10 of Figs 1 A and 1 B, depicted as three discrete perspective views in the form of its separable modules, separable readily using commonplace tools. The Fig 2A module is the vehicle 20 or vehicular carrier or carrier, while the Fig 2B module is a crop divider 24 and the Fig 2C module is the harvester module 22.

[00104] Figs 2A and 2B show the carrier 20, which includes a main frame 26 having an elevated platform area supported by two downwardly extending legs 28 at a forward end, each supported by one of the two driven wheels 14, each separately driven by the motor 15, motive power being preferably transmitted by hydraulic motors (not visible) or where feasible, by other means, such as by some combination of shafts, gears and chains. Motor 15 is mounted on an upward facing surface of the frame 26. The motor 15 can be selected suitably with a nominal power output of typically 300HP (224kW) for twin row sugar cane harvesting. Adjacent the rearward central extremity of the frame 26 is attached the steerable wheel 12. With reference to Fig.2A, the space 28.1 available between the legs 28 of the vehicle carrier 20 accommodates the harvester module 22, to form the harvester vehicle 10 as in Fig.l A. This space 28.1 can otherwise accommodate, when required, different non-harvesting modules useful for other agriculture in general, which can include, for example, crop producing activities, such as crop or land spraying with fertilizers and pesticides, typically from up to 2500 litre tankage (not illustrated) carried in the space 28.1 below the frame 26. Alternatively, the available space 28.1 can accommodate cultivating attachment modules, or a grass cutting module, or a planter module or other crop management module.

[00105] Fig.2B shows the central crop divider 24, for attachment to the carrier 20. The crop divider 24 features an extension-retraction action described in more detail in connection with Fig.4A.

[00106] Fig.2C shows a modular harvester 22, separated from the carrier 20 of Fig.2A, which includes a pair of conventional multi-bladed rotary base cutters 43, each pair mounted at the lower end of a respective inclined cane stalk conveyor 45 having plural aligned feed rollers

46 and a conveyor chain 45.1 or slat chain conveyor 45.1 with transversely spaced apart slats

47 to convey severed cane stalks A (see Figs 7 & 8A) to cutting arrangement 48 being a chopping and throwing mechanism at an upper end of each conveyor 45. The pair of rotary cutters 43 on either side and close to the central longitudinal axis of forward travel are mounted at an angle to the ground surface such that sugar cane stalks are cut through near the base of canes in respective rows encountered as the harvester vehicle 10 travels forwardly along each pair of rows.

[00107] Each of the two independent chopper assembly 57 and throwing assembly 55 of cutting arrangement 48 can be of a type with counter rotating shafts, as described below in connection with Figs 7, 8A, 8B and 9.

[00108] Each conveyor 45 is connected to the frame 26/28 of the carrier 20 module by hydraulic cylinders 41 or similar and both conveyors 45 can be moved in unison between raised and lowered positions, pivoting about a horizontal axis passing through the central axis of rotation of a throwing portion of the chopping assembly 57 and throwing assembly 55 of the cutting arrangement 48. The raised position of the conveyors 45 provides sufficient ground clearance when travelling from one harvesting location to another along a road or similar.

[00109] With further reference to Fig.2C, lateral conveyor means 50 is provided to transfer billets of cane from the top of the billet guide ducts 19 to an accompanying vehicle (not illustrated) having carrying bins for receiving the billets 5 and, if desired, leafy material, which may be for subsequent separation at a sugar mill for use as biomass or for other useful purposes. The lateral conveyor 50 has one or more tensioned wide belts of rubber or similar driven and supported by rigid rollers and can be in the form of one single conveyor belt articulated at two places as illustrated or there may be provided three separate conveyor belts 50. In either case, the lateral extension of the conveyors 50, as viewed in Fig.2C, to left (conveyor portion right hand, 50' or left, 50") can be selectively folded up or down on either side. The belt of the or each lateral conveyor 50, 50', 50" is reversible, that is, they can deliver billets 5 to either side of the harvester 10 as appropriate for the collecting vehicle location. This will be determined depending on which way harvesting is progressing across a particular field, since the normal progress of harvesting a crop from one side and in alternating opposite directions will of course create cleared ground over which the accompanying billet transport vehicle travels as appropriate on the left or right hand side of the harvester vehicle 10.

[001 10] With reference to Fig.1 A, it will be appreciated that within the space 28.1 defined generally under the main frame 26 and between the legs 28 of the carrier 20 and between the two driven wheels 14 and steerable wheel 12, the harvester module 22 is located and connected to the carrier 20 by suitable mechanical fastener and power transmission means as is known, in the field of general mechanical engineering.

[001 1 1 ] Fig.3 illustrates the same vehicle carrier module 20 of Fig.2A viewed from the rear to provide a better view of features more visible from the rear end. The motor 15 is mounted on a suitable upward facing surface forming part of the frame 26. Also connected at a rearward extremity of the frame 26 is the steerable wheel 12, by way of a suitable rotatable yoke. Suitable steering mechanism connecting the rotatable yoke a steering wheel housed in the cabin 16 for the operator is provided but not illustrated, enabling at least about 85° lock to lock rotation of the steerable wheel 12 either side of a central straight ahead position. An hydraulic power assisted steerable wheel 12 is provided. The harvester vehicle 10 has a short wheelbase between the front and rear wheels. The harvester vehicle 10 as a whole can therefore be turned 180° while harvesting, in about its own length.

[001 12] To the underside of the frame 26 is attached a pair of tracks 34 suitable for supporting a pair of articulated linkages 30 (Fig.4C) for extending or retracting the central crop divider 24, also contributing to the small turning circle of the harvest vehicle 10. This feature will be described in more detail in connection with Fig.4A.

[001 13] Fig.4A illustrates the central crop divider 24 disconnected from the carrier's tracks 34, comprising a pair of elongate tapered scrolls 38, typically constructed of steel, which are counter rotated while harvesting, such as by compact hydraulic motors (not shown) mounted on a support bracket 39. The central crop divider 24 is extended as a double scroll unit forwardly and downwardly during harvesting as shown in Fig.lA, to traverse the area between the pair of rows being harvested with the forward, lower end of the scrolls 38 just above ground level. During interruptions to harvesting, such as when the harvester turns 180° to commence a subsequent pair of parallel rows, the central crop divider 24 and lateral crop divider 25 can be retracted quickly to positions shown in Fig .1 B or similar.

[001 14] Referring to Figs 2A and 2B, to carry the central crop divider 24 a pair of tracks 34 are provided, attached permanently or temporarily to the frame 26, and arranged substantially horizontally. Each track 34 is adapted to support one of two linkages 30, including a bent link 31 pivoted about pivot means 30' to a straight link 32 as illustrated to co-operate with the forward or reverse movement of a hydraulic cylinder rod 33 (refer Fig.2B) to respectively advance or retract the central crop divider 24 as required.

[001 15] Figs 4B and 4C show two partial views of the central crop divider 24 of Fig.2B, rotated through 180° and attached to the carrier 20 to show its extension and retraction actions. Fig.4B shows the central crop divider 24 retracted from the harvesting position. Fig.4C shows the central crop divider 24 extended to the harvesting position with a further view of articulated linkage means 30 able to slide in tracks 34 (see also Figs 3 and 4A) and a hydraulic cylinder 33 (Fig.2B) provided to impart the required advancement or retraction of the central crop divider 24. As better seen in Fig.4C, the articulated linkage means 30 includes an L-shaped link 31 and a straight link 32, interconnected about pivot 30'.

[001 16] Fig.5 illustrates the lateral conveyors 50, including left and right-hand extendable portions 50' and 50", both of which can, if required, be extended to approximately horizontal positions as shown, although it would be normal practice to extend only one lateral conveyor at a time to transfer billets 5 of cane to a collecting bin carried on a vehicle travelling on one side only of the harvester vehicle 10. The low mass of the extendable lateral conveyor means 50' and 50" relative to other arrangements on other harvesters contributes to minimising application of overturning moments to the harvester vehicle 10. On sloping ground one side only of the lateral conveyors 50' or 50" can be extended on the non-delivery side to provide a stabilising contribution to partly offset any overturning moment caused by the mass of the extended lateral conveyor plus billets being delivered to the opposite side. [001 17] Fig.5 shows also two optional fans 52, mounted and arranged so as to be available to direct rapid flow of air into each upper end of each billet duct 19. These can be used to blow air counter to the outward flow of billets 5 (see Fig.7) with accompanying crop leaf material and other non-sugar containing material including trash. The airflow from fans 52 can assist separation under some harvesting preferences of wanted billets from non-sugar producing material. Leaf and non-useful material may thus be separated from the heavier billets at the harvesting location and directed to an exit point at the front of the billet guide duct 18 if desired. The fans 52 need not be activated in cases where a receiving sugar mill desires to accept billets plus other cane-based material for separation at the mill, the latter possibly as useful at the mill itself as an energy source. Further in the case where the sugar cane crop has been burnt, the fans 52 also need not be used.

[001 18] Fig.6 shows the lateral conveyors 50 of Fig.5 but in this illustration both sides 50' and 50" are in the retracted position, as would be the case during travel of the harvester vehicle 10 when not productively harvesting. Fig.6 also makes evident both the small footprint possible given the single central steerable wheel 12 together with the wide range of rotation of it about its central vertical axis, about 85° in either direction from centre, enabling the harvester vehicle 10 to be turned in approximately its own length, allowing this harvester superior manoeuvrability over for example steel tracked harvesters or four-wheeled harvesters. Thus the three wheeled harvester 10 vehicle of this embodiment can save turnaround time between each pair of rows with resultant saving in both fuel consumption and the otherwise wasted arable land needed at both ends of rows of cane for providing space for turning more cumbersome designs. Accordingly, this three wheeled harvester can be used to harvest crops planted close to boundary fences, an advantage to sugar cane farmers whose imperative or objective it is to maximise cropping potential of available land.

[001 19] Fig.6 also shows a rear view of the throwing assemblies 55 of the chopping and throwing mechanisms of the cutting arrangement 48, driven by the motor 15 mounted on the frame 26 of the vehicle 10. Preferably the throwing assemblies 55 are shaft driven by a direct coupled single gearbox 59 with a co-linear dual output shaft perpendicular to the input. The gearbox 59 is disposed between the throwing assemblies 55. Further transmission of motive power to the chopping assembly 57 and conveyor 45 can be accomplished by chain and gear means, one embodiment of which is described in connection with Fig.9.

[00120] Fig.7, to be viewed in conjunction with a portion partially enlarged in Fig.8A, depicts schematically in broken line work an embodiment of a harvester vehicle 10 of earlier figures, with schematic focus in full lines on the relative layout of one of the two identical inclined conveyor pairs 45 and one of the two identical cutting arrangements 48 each having its chopping assembly 57 and throwing assembly 55, of a harvester module 22 included in the harvester vehicle 10. With reference to Fig.7 it will be seen that the forward and rearward walls 18 of both ducts 19 are curved to provide rearward deflection of the thrown billets 5 to direct them via a mid-portion of the lateral conveyor means 50 illustrated in Fig.5 to be thereafter discharged laterally to a selected side of an accompanying harvester vehicle (not illustrated).

[00121 ] Figs 8A and 8B depict schematically, part of one of the pair of inclined cane stalk conveyors 45 and part of one of the pair of the cutting arrangements 48 having a thrower assembly 55 and a cutter assembly 57 (part of the harvester module 22 according to the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig.7). It should be recalled in the following description that the harvesting vehicle 10 duplicates as mirror images the cutting arrangements 48 with its chopping and throwing mechanisms, cane stalk base cutters and cane stalk conveyors as will be described for one side only.

[00122] As in Fig.7, the common drive means transferring power from motor 15 to the conveyor 45 and the chopping assembly 57 and throwing assembly 55 of cutting arrangement 48, is not here illustrated to avoid obscuring described features. As part of each harvester module 22 as illustrated in Fig.2C, Figs 8A and 8B shows a cane stalk conveyor 45 that has aligned plural support rollers 46 each pivotable about aligned parallel axes co-operating with an overlying pair of endless loops of conveyor chain 49. The conveyor chains 49 have plural spaced apart slats 47 affixed transversely connecting corresponding chain links to engage with stalks 3 of cane deposited onto the conveyor 45 after having been severed (see Fig 7) by the pair of base cutters 43 rotated by base cutter motors 44 mounted at the forward lower end of the conveyor frame 53. Connected to the conveyor frame 53 adjacent the uppermost end of the conveyor roller 68 by any suitable means such as by brackets and bearings is a rotary chopping and throwing mechanism of the cutting arrangement 48 configured to receive a flow of cane stalks 3 fed recumbently in direction H by conveyor 45.

[00123] Figs 8A and 8B also draw attention to the relative geometry of the cane feed direction H along imaginary plane M-M and throwing paddle 60 disposition. To improve illustrative clarity, not all components in Fig.8A are necessarily drawn to scale. The lower surface of the conveyor chain 49 is configured to travel upwardly and (with respect of the harvester's direction of forward travel) rearwardly in direction H in a plane M-M that if extended in direction H passes a distance N above the central axis 66 of the throwing portion. The distance N preferably exceeds the radius of the hub 65 but need not do so. The distance N is preferably in a range which, in combination with the disposition of the throwing paddles 60 attached to the throwing discs 54, substantially aligns the paddles 60 with the cane stalk portions 3 entering the cane stalk cutting location. The cutting location is in the immediate vicinity of the peripheral tip of the chopping blades 58 and throwing paddles 60 when they reach their respective closest approach as shown in Figs 8A and 8B. The chopping blades 58 are attached to the chopping shaft 54 to extend purely radially outwardly, although a radially outward extension can involve attachment at angles other than 90°, as will be described later. [00124] In harvesting use, the cane stalks 3 a feed upwardly and rearwardly, gripped between the lower feed rollers 46 and the transverse slats 47 of upper pair of chains 45, butt end first. The respective direction of rotation of the lower feed rollers 46 and in-feed direction H is indicated. The feed rollers 46 are driven by a transmission chain 78 (as will be seen in Fig 9) to have a surface speed the same as the surface speed of the chain 45.

[00125] There is a relationship of cane in-feed speed, the distance N between the throwing axis 66 and in-feed plane M-M and the angular disposition of the throwing paddles 60. The distance N between the throwing axis 66 and plane M-M is calculated to be such that when one throwing paddle 60 peripheral tip passes upwardly through the cane feed window (typically about 100mm) it also travels rearwardly an equal distance to the cane in-feed distance. In one typical embodiment where the cane feeds inwardly at a velocity of about 1.7 m/second and the paddles 60 travel at the peripheral tip speed of 12.5 m/second the paddle 60 takes about .008 seconds to pass through the cane in-feed window. In this time the cane feeds through 13mm so the throwing axis distance N is optimally positioned to cause the thrower to travel rearwardly 13mm as it passes through the cane in-feed window. In general, the relative position of the axis of rotation 66 and plane M-M is dependent upon, firstly, of three variables, the cane in-feed speed, where a faster feed requires a greater distance N, hence providing a more rearward component of movement of throwing paddle tip. Conversely, a slower cane in-feed speed requires a lesser distance N, hence providing less rearward movement of throwing paddle. Other variables that need to be considered in optimising the distance N include, secondly, the throwing diameter and thirdly, the throwing rotational speed.

[00126] Cane stalks 3 enter the cane stalk cutting region where cutting blades 58 and thrower or paddle blades 60 meet and shear off billets 5 of cane, the billet 5 target length being typically approximately 200mm to 250mm. With the axis of rotation 66 displaced by the distance N above the plane M-M of cane in-feed and the paddle 60 angular disposition as described, it allows the throwing paddles 60 to move rearwardly at the same speed as the cane in-feed which allows less obstructed entry of the incoming cane 3 into the chopping region and reduced power consumption for the upward throwing of the billets 5. As well, reduced damage to the cut ends of the billets 5 results, with a corresponding reduction in loss of sugar attributable to the chopping into billets.

[00127] The chopping blades 58 and throwing blades 60 of the cutting mechanism 48 are configured to receive in-feed of cane stalks 3 in direction H and throw chopped billets 5 of cane upwardly through duct 18 in direction J with sufficient velocity to reach the lateral conveyors 50 and 51 , described in connection with Fig.6. In Fig.5 there is shown the presence of two blowers 52 mounted to the rear of the duct 19. Whereas in Fig.6 the blowers 52 are absent. The presence or absence depends upon the refinery or framers requirement to manage crop trash. Cane leaf material, not shown, can be included with the upwardly thrown stream of billets 5, however, if desired the blower or blowers 52 if present can be utilised to help separate the cane leaf material from the billets 5 before entry into an adjacent receptacle. Otherwise if the leaf material is required by a refinery, the blowers 52 would not be used.

[00128] Fig.8B depicts an enlarged schematic view of a portion of the chopper assembly 57 with its mounting shaft 54 and cutting or chopping blades 58. The chopping assembly 57 includes a sub-assembly of a shaft 54 around which are connected three angularly equi-spaced chopping blades 58. The sub-assembly is rotated in use in direction E, about an axis of rotation 70, parallel to the rotational axis 66 of the thrower or paddle blades assembly 55.

[00129] In sugar cane harvesting generally it is observed that an occasional foreign object such as a stone or other hard object can be entrained amongst the throughput of cane stalks entering mechanical harvesters working at speeds typical in harvesting practice. Such stones and foreign objects are capable of inflicting damage to the chopping blades 58 or throwing paddles 60 and serious downtime of a harvester can result. Because in this invention the position of the throwing sub-assembly 55 is easily accessible, the risk of blade 60 damage is addressed by means that prefer any stone damage to the rotating mechanism be inflicted on the connection between the throwing paddle 60 to the outer throwing discs 64 rather than the cutting or chopping blades 58. Accordingly, the throwing blades 60 are attached to the respective discs 56 by way of brackets and frangible bolts 62, which bolts are for example heat hardened and notched to increase brittleness so that the bolt shanks shear in preference to either the paddles 60 becoming grossly distorted or the blades 58 or 60 being damaged by foreign objects caught between the peripheral tips. This measure can reduce downtime since sheared bolts 62 in the throwing portion 55 may be conveniently carried and quickly replaced in the field using commonplace spanners. Otherwise, the paddles 60 may alternatively be constructed of a material that is strong yet brittle under stone impact. Non-metallic materials are possible in this context. If desired only the radially outer bolt 62 need to frangible, resulting in the blades 60 remaining attached but pivoted to the discs 56.

[00130] Fig.9 shows an embodiment of the rotary motion transmission means synchronising the chopping and throwing mechanisms of the cutting arrangements 48 (Figs 8A and 8B) and providing the feeding motion of the respective cane stalk conveyor 45. The hub 65 of each throwing assembly 55 is driven, connected behind the illustrated face 56 visible to a respective one of two co-linear output shafts extending from opposite sides of a double output- shaft bevel gearbox 59 (Fig.6) driven by motor 15. This rotates the pair of discs 56 about central rotational axis 66 in direction F. A transmission chain sprocket 76 is affixed to an external surface of one throwing disc 56 for each throwing mechanism of the pair of chopping/throwing mechanisms 57/55 co-axial with rotational axis 66. A transmission chain 78 is looped from sprocket 76 to a chain sprocket 80 fixed co-axially with at least one end of uppermost roller 46 of the aligned plural cane stalk conveyor rollers 46. Fixed co-axially with the chain sprocket 80 is a gear wheel 81 , in mesh with which is another gear wheel 82 fixed co-axially with the chopping shaft axis 70. The gear wheels 80 and 81 mesh in a 1 :1 ratio. Thus the chopping blade mounting shaft 54 and sprockets of the cane stalk conveyor chain 49 are rotated in the same direction F as the throwing disc 56 pair and the chopping shaft 54 is rotated in the opposite direction E.

[00131 ] The throwing paddles 60 and chopping blades 58 (see Fig.8A) remain synchronised to maintain the billet chopping action schematically illustrated in Fig.8A. In the embodiment described in Figs 8A, 8B and 9, there are illustrated three chopping blades 58 and three throwing paddles 60, in which case the chopping shaft 54 and thrower discs 56 are rotated at the same rotational speed, the shafts interconnected by gears having a 1 :1 ratio.

[00132] Otherwise, the number of throwing paddles 60 and chopping blades 58 need not be three and need not be an equal number. Instead, the first gear and the second gear can mesh in a ratio selected by reference to the number of chopping blades other than three and the number of throwing paddles, again other than three and not necessarily the same number as the number of chopping blades. However in this case the gear ratio would be selected in a ratio dependent on the respective number of blades and paddles such as to ensure the peripheral tips of the blades and paddles always passed each other in a chopping action and that all the blades shared equally in the chopping actions and all the paddles shared equally in the throwing actions. For example, assuming there were selected four cutting blades 58 and two paddles 60, the chopper blade shaft 54 can be driven to rotate at half the rotational speed of the thrower paddle assembly 55 and discs 56 and a gear ratio of 2:1 would be appropriate. Corresponding variations would be made in the chain drive to the cane conveyor to ensure equal speed of the chain conveyor and the underlying rollers. Thus it is expected the cutting assembly 57 could be with from 1 to 5 blades, while the thrower assembly 55 would be operable with 1 to 5 blades, but that their rotation ratio would be inversely proportional to the blade ratio. Similarly, other variations would be possible and would be obvious to one skilled in the art.

[00133] Illustrated in Figs 10 to 30 are other embodiments of the invention, and like parts having like functions have been like numbered in accord with the previous embodiment, figures and description.

[00134] In Figs 10 to 29 there is illustrated a crop harvester 10 which has at least one cutting arrangement 48. In this case only one cutting arrangement 48 is provided as it is designed to work with a single row of a crop. The cutting arrangement 48 has a cutter assembly 57 and an anvil or thrower assembly 55 which interact to produce billets 5 of a predetermined size from crop stalks 3. The rate of input of crop stalks 3 to the cutting arrangement 48 is approximately the same, to within plus or minus 10%, as the vector component Vf, as best illustrated in Figure 20, of the outer extremity of the blades 60 of the thrower 55 at the point of contact 8 with the crop stalk 3 in the direction of travel 9 of the crop stalk 3 as delivered by a crop stalk delivery system 45. This feature assists the cutting assembly 48 to cut and throw the stalks, rather than adversely tearing or pulling apart the stalk, which would otherwise result in lost yield in the case of sugar cane.

[00135] Unlike the previous embodiment of Figs 1 to 9 where the knock down roller was removed for ease of illustration, in the embodiment of Fig 10 to 29 a knock down roller 43.1 is located on the harvester 10.

[00136] As is best illustrated in Fig.20, the cutting arrangement 48 is arranged so that crop stalk delivery system 45 will deliver the stalks in the direction or plane M-M, so that the cutter assembly 57 is on one side of the stalks 3, and the thrower assembly 55 is on the other side. The rotation speed of the thrower assembly 55 is controlled so that an outer extremity of the blades of the thrower assembly 55 have a linear speed at the point of contact with a crop stalk 3 being cut, of at least approximately 10 to 13 metres per second, but a preferred minimum, for example for Australian conditions, would be around 12 metres per second. This will result in the vertical force applied to the billets 5 by the paddle blades 60 being sufficient to throw the billet of approx. 200 to 250mm in length upward and through the billet duct 18 to engage the conveyor 50 and thus exit the harvester 10.

[00137] It will be noted from Figs 1 1 to 19 and Fig.20, that the paddle blades 60 are arranged in the thrower assembly 55 by two angular arrangements. The first arrangement is such that the cutter blades 58 (in this case blades 58.1 , 58.2 and 58.3) in the cutter assembly 57 and thrower blades 60 (in this case blades 60.1 and 60.2) in the thrower assembly 55 when a crop stalk 3 is being cut, are at approx. 90 degrees to each other. While 90 degrees is preferred, it will be understood that other angles such as those in the range of 60 degrees to 120 degrees may also be suitable. The second angular arrangement is that the paddle blades 60 are mounted to the outer discs 56 of thrower assembly 55, so that at the point of contact with the stalk 3, they are substantially parallel to the direction of feed input of the stalk, being the plane M-M, coming from the stalk delivery system 45. In the embodiment of Fig.20, this means that the angle 9.1 which is between the blade 60 paddle/throwing surface and the diameter of the thrower assembly 55, through the point of contact 8, is of the order of 25° to 40°, and most preferably around 30°.

[00138] The distance from the outer extremity of the thrower blades 60 to the centre of rotation 66 of the thrower assembly 55, is of the order of 500 millimetres, while the distance of the tips of the cutter blades 58.1 , 58.2 and 58.3 to their centre of rotation 70 is of the order of 250 mm in this arrangement where there are three cutter blades 58 and two paddle or thrower blades 60. The 250mm distance of the tips of the cutter blades 58 to their centre of rotation 70 effectively means that the billets 5 will be chopped into a length of approx. 250mm, [00139] It will be noted that the cutter assembly 57 is powered by a gear 57.1 having some 60 teeth while the gear 55.1 which powers the paddle or thrower assembly 55 has some 40 teeth, so that as the cutter assembly 57 number of blades to thrower assembly 55 number of blades is in the ratio of 3:2, the relative rotations between the assemblies 55 and 57 will be in the inverse ratio of 2:3.

[00140] Whereas, in the case of the cutting arrangement 48 as illustrated in figures 30 to 38, where the cutter assembly 57 number of blades to thrower assembly 55 number of blades is in the ratio of 3:1 , the gear teeth on gears 57.1 and 55.1 are provided so as to achieve a relative rotation between the assemblies 55 and 57 to be in the inverse ratio of 1 :3. In this cutting arrangement 48 of Figures 30 to 38, the distance of the tips of the cutter blades 58.1 , 58.2 and 58.3 to their centre of rotation 70 is of the order of 250 mm while the distance from the outer extremity of the thrower blades 60 to its centre of rotation 66 of the thrower assembly 55, is of the order of 750 millimetres. It will also be noted in the arrangement of 3 cutting blade 58 to 1 thrower blade 60 arrangement of Figs 30 to 38, that the gear 57.1 which drives the cutter assembly 57 has some 75 teeth engaging the 25 teeth of the gear 55.1 which drives the thrower assembly 55, which drives in the inverse rotation ratio of 1 :3.

[00141 ] These ratio arrangements ensure that the peripheral tips of the cutting blades and throwing paddles always pass each other in a chopping action and that all the blades share equally in the chopping actions and all the paddles shared equally in the throwing actions.

[00142] It will be understood that there can be any number of chopping blades 58 and any number of throwing paddles 60 and that the gearing relationship between the two shafts is inversely related to the number of blades:paddles. The advantage of this is that the desired peripheral speed of the paddles needed to perform the throwing of the cane into the hauling vehicle, can be maintained while reducing the diameter of the thrower. While any number of chopping blades 58 and any number of throwing paddles 60 can be used it is expected that the present invention will work best with the cutting/chopping blades 58 being three or less in number, and the throwing paddles 60 being 2 or 1 in number.

[00143] As seen from Fig.20, the axis of rotation 66 of the thrower assembly 55 is located in a position that is below the plane M-M or direction of the cane feed 45. This allows for the paddles or throwers 60 (60.1 and 60.2) to have a vector VF moving in a rearward direction M-M when they interact with the stalks being fed up the feed train. The angle 9.1 will be determined by the designed for speed that the full stalks 3 of cane are being fed into the cutter arrangement 48 as well as the width of the opening between the last two feeding rollers.

[00144] The paddles 60 are fixed to the throwing disc 56 at angle 9.1 a diameter of the disc 56 through the point of contact 8, so that they are parallel with the feed plane direction M-M as they make contact with the cane stalks 3 being fed into the cutting arrangement 48. This angle will be determined by the position of the thrower assembly 55 axis of rotation 66 in relation to the feed plane direction M-M. The advantage of this is that it spreads the impact force on the cane stalk 3 across the length of the billet 5, as well as allows for the billet 5 to slide from the paddles 60 in the throwing action more easily and more uniformly.

[00145] The angular arrangement of the paddle/thrower blade 60 to the disc 56, and to the cutting blade 58, provides a self-cleaning action of the interacting blades, which results from a sliding of the paddle 60 over the blade 58, or vica versa. To assist in this function, the radially outermost portion 60.1 1 of the thrower blades 60.1 ,60.2 as in Fig.20, can have a curved surface, which in this case matches the curve of the circumference of the disc 56. Alternatively, such a self cleaning feature can also work with the portion 60.1 1 being a planar surface.

[00146] The paddles 60 can be made from a material which has high abrasion resistance but in being so it may be brittle and so will shatter when it comes into contact with foreign material such as rocks or steel. Such a feature or happening will protect the cutter assembly 57, which is not as easily accessible and repairable. Further as soon as such a paddle 60 is shattered, this will cause a vibration detectable by the operator, in the situation where there is more than one thrower blade or paddle 60. If there is only one thrower blade or paddle 60, then its shattering will cause the harvester to no longer be producing billets 5 and this will also be readily identifiable by an operator.

[00147] An alternative approach to protect both the paddle blades 60 and thrower assembly 55 and the cutter assembly 57, is to provide the thrower assembly 55 and its blades 60 with an overload protection or release mechanism. In the previous embodiment described in relation to Fig.8B the bolts 62 were frangible and this resulted in the thrower paddle 60 separating from the discs 56. However in the embodiment of Fig.39, there is provided a protection arrangement where the thrower blade 60.1 and 60.2 can remain mounted to the discs 56. This is achieved by the thrower mounting bolts 62.1 , which are the ones furthest from the centre of rotation 66, being the only frangible or shearable bolt in the thrower assembly 55, while the thrower mounting bolts 62.2 which are closest to the centre of rotation 66, has its maximum strength chosen based on the forces that may be encountered, so that it will not fracture in the event of a foreign material entering the cutting arrangement 48. This will result in the blades 60.1 and 60.2 remaining attached but pivoted to the discs 56 in the event of the fracture or shearing of the bolts 60.1 .

[00148] The thrower assembly 55 protection arrangement of Fig.39 includes the rear face of the thrower blades 60.1 and 60.2 having a mounting flange 62.3 through which an aperture 62.4 is present for the outer bolts 62.1 to pass through and secure the outer end of the blades 60.1 and 60.12 to the discs 56 of the thrower assembly 55. The inner end of the blades 60.1 and 60.2 are likewise secured by inner bolts 62.2 to the discs 56 of the thrower assembly 55. The blades 60.1 and 60.2 also have a pivot mount or yoke 60.4, to which is pivotally connected a strut 60.6 which has, on one side, a ratchet formation 60.61. The strut 60.6 and ratchet 60.61 pass through a guide 60.9 which is mounted to the axle of the thrower assembly 55, so that the guide 60.9 will rotate in unison with the thrower assembly 55. The guide 60.9 includes a pivot axis 60.7 mounted thereon, which receives a pivoting biased pawl 60.8. The bias, urging the pawl 60.8 to rotate in an anti-clockwise direction, is produced by a torsion spring or such like, which is not illustrated. The pointed end of the pawl 60.8 engages troughs of the ratchet 60.61 to prevent the strut 60.6 from moving in a direction which would allow the thrower blade 60.2 to rotate outwardly, in this case anti clockwise relative to the discs 56. Thus when the thrower blade, in this case 60.2, engages a foreign material which entered the cutting arrangement 48, which it cannot cut, then the bolt 62.1 shears due to overloading, while the thrower blade 62.2 does not. This will cause the blade 60.2 to rotate around the pivot bolt 62.2, and no matter how much rotation the foreign material causes, the thrower blade 60.2 will move as required. This will cause the strut 60.6 to move relatively through the guide 60.9, while at the same time the ratchet 60.61 is passing over the pointed end of the pawl 60.8 which then returns, in this case in an anti-clockwise direction under the influence of its bias. As centrifugal forces generated by rotation of the thrower assembly 55 would otherwise cause the blade 60.2 to be urged in a radially outward direction, that is, in an anti-clockwise rotation relative to the discs 66, the engagement of the ratchet 60.61 with the pawl 60.8. and the interaction of the strut 60.6 passing through the guide 60.9, will ensure that the thrower blade 60.2 does not move outwardly from whatever retracted position it reached due to engagement with the foreign material.

[00149] If the foreign material is cleared by the time the second blade 60.1 has entered the contact point 8, then the blade 60.1 will not have its bolts 62.1 sheared. In which case the lack of symmetry of the blades 60.1 and 60.2 will result in a vibratory signal being felt by the operator and a lesser output and longer billets having been cut. This should also result in a change in the noise level or tone, and thus the operator has a signal to shut down and check the thrower blades, and reposition them and secure them with another set of shearable bolts 62.1 .

[00150] In the alternative, that the foreign material has not cleared, the second thrower blade, in this case blade 60.1 will have its shearable bolts 62.1 sheared off, thus protecting the cutting blades 58, and the thrower blade 60.1 will rotate away from its cutting/throwing position. If the blade 60.1 adopts exactly the same position as the blade 60.2 no vibration will be felt by the operator, but a change in tone or noise level of the billets 5 hitting the chute 19 will be heard, or no billets will exit as they will not have imparted to them enough speed and exiting force. In either case the driver to the adjacent receptacle vehicle driver or the harvester operator will notice this, and shutdown the harvester and check the condition of the thrower assembly 55, and if needed, replace the set shearable bolts 62.1 . [00151 ] By the mechanism of Fig.39, the thrower blades 60.1 and 60.2 will not interact with the cutter blades 58 due to the presence of foreign material, thereby protecting the cutting blades 58 and preventing damage to them, as the cutting blades 58 are more difficult to replace, and require a longer shutdown to get the harvester back into operation.

[00152] The harvester 10 as best illustrated in Fig.22 is designed so that the crop stalk delivery system 45 is at an angle to the ground in the range of 15 degrees to 60 degrees or 30 degrees to 45 degrees. It is illustrated in Fig.22 as being at 30 to 35 degrees when the vehicle 20 is on flat ground level. Whereas the cutting arrangement 48, and more specifically the thrower assembly 55 has its centre of rotation 66 preferably at some 1 .4 to 2 metres above ground level.

[00153] The rate of input of the crop stalks 3 is expected to be in the range of 1 to 6 metres per second, and more preferably of the order of 2 to 4 metres per second.

[00154] The harvester 10 of Figs 1 to 9 can harvest two or more rows at a time (depending the row spacing) as it has two cutting arrangements 48 spaced apart. Whereas in the harvester 10 of Figs 10 to 39, the harvester 10 has ony a single cutting arrangement 48, and it will harvest one crop row at a time, or more than one at a time, depending upon the crop row spacing.

[00155] The thrower assembly 55 as best illustrated in Fig.23 includes the throwing paddles 60 being attached to two spaced apart discs 56. Due to the size of such discs and their mass, in addition to the mass provided by the thrower blades 60 as well, the angular momentum acquired by the assembly 55 once rotation starts, assists in the cutting action.

[00156] The crop stalk delivery system 45, as best illustrated in Fig.29, includes a series of slats 47 mounted to a an endless chain 45.1 which is adapted to urge the crop stalks 3 in an upward and rearward direction relative to the harvester, while those stalks 3 are supported underneath by a plurality of aligned idler rollers 46, to feed the stalks end-first into said cutting arrangement 48 passing through which the stalks will be chopped into billets of the order of 200 to 250mm in length.

[00157] The crop harvester 10 and harvester module 22 in Figs 28 and 29 is able to harvest sugar cane or hemp or kenaf. In this regards it will be noted that the knock down roller 43.1 is at a forward most location on the harvester module, and that it has a four axially extending combs 43.2 on the outside of the roller 43.1 for the purpose of dressing and aligning the sugar cane, kenaf or hemp, before it proceeds into the conveyor 45.

[00158] Like the embodiment of Figs 1 to 9, the harvester 10 of Figs 10 to 39 is also modular and includes a base vehicle 20. As is best illustrated in Figs 26 to 29 the vehicle 20 includes a cabin 16 and motor 15 adapted to propel the vehicle 20. It includes a frame or structure 26 or chassis mounted on four legs 28, beneath which is a space 28.1 configured to receive one or more crop management apparatus or devices, such a harvester module 22 as illustrated in Figs 28 and 29. The forward end is supported on the ground by a pair of spaced apart wheels 14 (with pneumatic tyres or such like thereon) which each have a hydraulic motor 14.1 coupled to them, and these motors received hydraulic fluid from a pump connected to the motor 15. The rear end is also supported on pneumatic tyres 14 and coupled to hydraulic motors 14.1. The separate control of the hydraulic motors 14.1 allows the vehicle 20 to be skid steered in both the furrows of a field or on a road surface. The spacing between the out board sides of the wheels 14 is a road allowable spacing. It is between the legs 28 that carry the wheels 14 that the space 28.1 is provided.

[00159] As best illustrated in Figs 27 and 28 the rear legs 28 of the vehicle 20 frame or structure includes opposed pivot cradles 28.2 at a rear location to connect, or interconnect, or receive the pivots 28.3 on the crop management apparatus, in this case the harvester module 22.

[00160] Once the harvester module 22 has its pivots 28.3 in the pivot cradles 28.2, the module 22 is then rotated into alignment with securing means to secure the harvester module 22 to the vehicle 20.

[00161 ] Like the previous embodiment of Figs 1 to 9, the crop dividers 25 in Figs 10 to 29 are carried by the vehicle 20 and can be moved between a forward in use position and a retractable in board transport position. If there is more than one crop divider, then appropriate controls can be provided so that these can be moved separately or in unison.

[00162] If two cutting arrangements 48 are provided in a harvester module 22 (as in Fig.2C), or a single cutting arrangement 48 is provided in the harvester module 22 (as in Figs 28 and 29), then vehicle 20 can be used for either single or twin row harvesting. Preferably the field will have been planted such that adjacent row spacing is standardised at about 1 .8 metres in which a maximum width of the vehicle 20 with any crop management apparatus also complies with a vehicle width allowable for self-powered travel on public roads. The maximum width of the vehicle 20 can be selected to be between 3.6 and 3.8 metres.

[00163] The crop management apparatus can be one or more of the following: a crop harvester as described above; a crop spraying unit, a harvester module, a crop spraying module, or other cultivating module.

[00164] There can also be provided under the invention a crop harvester 10 having at least one cutting arrangement 48 which has a 3 blade cutter assembly 57 and 1 or 2 bladed anvil or thrower assembly 55, wherein the cutter assembly 57 is rotated at 1/3 or 2/3 respectively of the rotation speed of the anvil or thrower assembly 55.

[00165] A feature present in the harvester 10 embodiment of Figs 10 to 29, which is not present in the embodiment of Figs 1 to 9, is the ability of the billet duct 19 being able to rotate atop the harvester 22 to any desired angle for the harvesting function, of which positions, four most commonly used locations have been illustrated: a) the left side of the harvester 22 during harvesting, as illustrated in Fig.21 ; b) the right side of the harvester 22 during harvesting, as illustrated in Fig.23; c) to the front middle of the harvester 22 as in Fig.10 for moving to a transport condition; or d) the rear middle of the harvester as illustrated in Fig.40, whereby the duct 19 can empty into a trailer based receptacle towed by the vehicle mounted harvester 10, at the rear thereof. The duct 19 is able to do this as it is mounted to a bearing flange 18.1 so as to rotatably connect to the support platform 18.2. The support platform 18.2 is pivotally connected by pivot 18.4 to the frame of the harvester module 22, whereby, by means of the hydraulic cylinder 18.3, allows the duct 19 to be moved to the final transport condition as illustrated in Fig.25 where the overall height of the harvester 10 is decreased for road transport purposes. This final location for transport is only adopted while the duct is in the centre and forward condition as illustrated in Figs 10 and 25. This is particularly advantages in keeping the weight centred over the centre of gravity of the vehicle providing greater stability, as well as an overall lesser height, which is advantageous in those communities where overhead wiring may be slung relatively low.

[00166] The duct 19, in being mounted on the bearing flange 18.1 , also provides a clear path for the billets 5 to pass through and into the duct 19. While providing such a clear path, a motive power means can be peripherally provided to the base of the duct 19 in the form of a planetary gear and powered pinion (in a similar manner to a tank turret), or by a chain welded to the base of the duct 19 and a shaped wheel to engage the chain (which is a relatively inexpensive way of forming an engageable "gear" on the base of the duct) so as to allow an operator from inside the cabin 16, to rotate the duct 19 through 360 degrees, as required, to assist in the manoeuvrability of the harvester 10, for example when it gets to an end of a crop row. If desired when the duct 19 is in the forward condition as illustrated in Fig.10, if the duct 10 were combined with lateral conveyors, this forward position will allow the adjacent vehicle to be across from the operator, and will allow the operator better vision of the ejected billets entering the adjacent receptacle. Thus, it will be understood, the harvester 10 can harvest with the duct 19 in any location in the 360 degree rotation/angular range.

[00167] Another difference between the harvester module 22 of Figs 10 to 39 is that the duct 19 terminates in a horizontal outlet extension 58 with a deflector 59, instead of a conveyor 50, 50' as in the embodiment of Figs 1 to 9. This means that the billets 5 exit the duct 19 of the module 22 of Figs 10 to 39 under the power transferred by the thrower assembly 55 only and or the blower 52. This results in a decrease of the power requirements utilised by the harvester module 22. [00168] In order to vary the length of the billet 5, it will be necessary to change one or more of the following: a) the distance from cutting tip of blade 58 to centres of rotation 70; or b) the number of blades in the cutting/chopping assembly 57.

[00169] In respect of the harvester module 22 of figs 1 to 9, a description of the drive train and chain and gear connections between various components are made to achieve the stated workings mentioned above. However, in regards to the embodiments of Figs 10 to 39, it will be understood that similar drive train and chain and gear connections can be used. Further, while it is described above that the cutting arrangement 48 is powered and operated by a connected drive train which also operates and drives the conveyor 45, it will be understood that if desired, a separate hydraulic motor or drive train can power the conveyor 45, with another separate hydraulic motor or drive train powering the cutting arrangement 48 and its thrower assembly 55 and cutting assembly 57. These two motors or drive trains may be synchronously operated, or not, as the case may be.

[00170] While the above description indicates that the harvester 10 is used with a multipurpose vehicle 20, it will be readily understood that that the harvester 10 can be mounted for example on a trailer arrangement, which can connect to the draw bar of a tractor, to provide the motive power and hydraulic power to move and operate the harvester 10. In such a situation the harvester 10 may engage the power take off from the tractor to power a hydraulic pump on the harvester 10 to power the hydraulic motor to rotate the conveyor 45 and cutting arrangement 48.

[00171 ] In building and or assembling a harvester 10 as described above, once the cutting arrangement 48 and the conveyor 45 have been established and assembled, by running the cutting arrangement 48 and determining the general direction that billets 5 are ejected from out of the thrower assembly 55, the location of the inlet to the duct 19 and general direction of the duct 19 can be appropriately positioned so as to receive the billets 5 ejected from the thrower assembly 55 and to ensure that they eject from the duct outlet and enter the receptacle in or on an adjacent vehicle. In the case of the harvester 10 of Fig.10, the ejection from the thrower assembly 55 is in a generally vertical direction, but it is envisaged that other directions may result depending upon the many factors and parameters which influence this direction.

[00172] The above description and the drawings illustrate wheeled vehicles 20. It will be readily understood that one or more of the wheeled arrangements can be replaced by endless track assemblies, an example of which is illustrated in Fig.41 , whereby the vehicle may have two track assemblies at the front or rear, with one or more steerable wheels, or there may be three track assemblies, or there may be four track assemblies, one mounted to each frame leg 28. Alternatively, there can be provided two elongate track assemblies, on either side of the vehicle 20 each extending between two respective legs 28. The track assemblies can have steel or rubber tracks depending upon the harvesting or crop management needs. [00173] In the above detailed description, numerous specific details are described to provide understanding of various embodiments. However, those skilled in the art, will understand that the present invention may be practised without these specific details, such as to be not limited to the described embodiments and, also, understand that the present invention may be practised in a variety of alternative embodiments. In other instances, well known methods, procedures, components, and systems have not been described in detail. Where ever it is used, the word "comprising" is to be understood in its "open" sense, that is, in the sense of "including", and thus not limited to its "closed" sense, that is the sense of "consisting only of". A corresponding meaning is to be attributed to the corresponding words "comprise", "comprised" and "comprises" where they appear.

[00174] It will be understood that the invention disclosed and defined herein extends to all alternative combinations of two or more of the individual features mentioned or evident from the text. All of these different combinations constitute various alternative aspects of the invention.

[00175] While particular embodiments of this invention have been described, it will be evident to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments and examples are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and all modifications which would be obvious to those skilled in the art are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

Industrial Applicability

[00176] This invention in a preferred embodiment form would have a mass of about 1 1 tonnes, which is to be compared with one actual alternative commercially available single row sugar cane harvester widely used throughout the industry that has a gross vehicle mass of 17 tonnes. Moreover, the weight saving of the invention here described leads to a fuel consumption of about half that of the aforementioned 17 tonne single row harvester and about 40% of other known double row harvesters in typical cases of mass 20 to 30 tonnes. Coupled with this improvement is the capability of about double the production rate of cane billets as compared with single row machines when operated at equal speeds, effective not to damage the ends of cut billets. It has been found that billet end damage unacceptably detracts from full sugar retention in the cane billets.

[00177] This improved double-row harvester or single or harvester of this invention moreover has an advantage of more even weight distribution on the wheels in use, greatly reducing any tendency to overturn. This is achieved by its improved cane billet delivery system to accompanying parallel travelling separate trucks, which typically carries receiving bins in tandem to receive the chopped billets of cane. The improved delivery comprises retractable opposed conveyor belts which, including frame, driving rollers and belts, are not only substantially less massive but may be counter-balanced by substantially the same delivery system replicated on opposite sides of the side-to-side centre of gravity of the harvester vehicle. Traditional known designs require a massive elevating billet duct carried as part of the harvester to be slewed to whichever side the accompanying truck is travelling and it can be shown, in the example of the 17 tonne known harvester aforementioned, a wheel on one side may in use exert a downward weight of up to 10 tonnes. In crop fields on sloping ground, particularly where contour rows are prevalent, overbalancing of such known cumbersome harvesters is a known risk. The harvester of this invention as described is stable and can work sloping contour rows safely and minimises field degradation by compaction.

Claims

1 . A crop harvester having at least one cutting arrangement which has a cutter assembly and an anvil or thrower assembly which interact to produce billets of a predetermined size from a crop stalk, and wherein the rate of input of crop stalks to said cutting arrangement is approximately the same as the vector component of the outer extremity of the blades of the thrower at the point of contact with the crop stalk in the direction of travel of the crop stalk as delivered by a crop stalk delivery system.

2. A crop harvester as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the rotation speed of the thrower is such that an outer extremity of the blades of the thrower assembly have a linear speed at the point of contact with a crop stalk being cut, of at least approximately 10 to 13 metres per second.

3. A crop harvester as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the angular arrangement of the cutter blades in the cutter assembly and thrower blades in the thrower assembly when a crop stalk is being cut is approx. 90 degrees.

4. A crop harvester as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the crop stalk delivery system is at an angle to the ground in the range of 15 degrees to 60 degrees.

5. A crop harvester as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the angular arrangement of a thrower blade in the thrower assembly, at the point of contact with a crop stalk being cut is such that the plane of the thrower blade is parallel to the direction of travel of the crop stalk as delivered by the crop stalk delivery system.

6. A crop harvester as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said thrower and its blades include an overload protection or release mechanism.

7. A crop harvester as claimed in claim 6, wherein said overload protection or release mechanism is one of the following: a means to release a thrower blade; a means to release a portion of a thrower blade from the mounting system which holds the blade in the cutting arrangement; a means to fracture or fragment the thrower blade.

8. A crop harvester as claimed in claim 7 wherein the means includes one of the following: a shear bolt or frangible bolt being used to mounting the blade or blade portion to a mounting system; a thrower blade which is strong but brittle and will break upon contact with a foreign material in the cutting arrangement.

9. A crop harvester as claimed in any one of claims 5 to 8, wherein an overload protection or release mechanism is formed from the thrower blade being mounted to side walls or structure of a spindle by frangible or shear bolts.

10. A crop harvester as claimed in claim 9, wherein the frangible bolts or shear bolts are located closer to the point of contact with said crop, and pivot bolts are located closer to the axis of rotation of the spindle.

1 1. A crop harvester as claimed in claim 10, wherein when the frangible or shear bolts break due to a thrower blade contacting an uncuttable article, the thrower blade will pivot away from the point of contact with the crop stalks but will remain connected to the spindle it is mounted to or the thrower blade will pivot away from the point of contact with the crop stalks, and will be locked in that condition while remaining connected to the spindle it is mounted to.

12. A crop harvester as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the rate of input of the crop stalk is in the range of 1 to 6 metres per second, and more preferably of the order of 2 to 4 metres per second.

13. A crop harvester as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the axis of rotation of said cutter is located above the crop stalks to be cut, with the axis of rotation of said thrower being located below the crop stalks to be cut.

14. A crop harvester as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the harvester has two cutting arrangements spaced apart on the harvester.

15. A crop harvester as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 14 wherein each cutting arrangement includes the throwing paddles being attached to two spaced apart discs.

16. A crop harvester as claimed in claim 15 wherein said throwing paddles are attached to said discs so as to connect at an angular disposition selected to align each said throwing paddle with said in-feed plane at every instant when said cutting blades and said throwing paddles engage in close proximity.

17. A crop harvester as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 16, wherein a crop stalk delivery system includes a parallel pair of slat and chain conveyors adapted to urge said crop stalks in an upward and rearward direction, said stalks being supported underneath by a plurality of aligned driven rollers, to feed the stalks end-first into said cutting arrangement passing through which the stalks are chopped into billets,

18. A crop harvester as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 17, wherein chopped billets are thrown through a billet duct means having walls shaped to deflect the billets towards an outlet in an upper open end.

19. A crop harvester as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein the cutter assembly has three blades and the anvil or thrower assembly has one or two blades, with the cutter assembly being rotated at 1/3 of the rotation speed of the one bladed anvil or thrower assembly or 2/3 of the rotation speed of the two bladed anvil or thrower assembly.

20. A crop harvester as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 19, wherein associated with the or each cutting arrangement, there is provided a billet duct, wherein said billet duct is able to do one or more of the following: rotate through 360 degrees; rotate to a left side of the harvester; rotate to a right side of a harvester; rotate to a rear side of the harvester; rotate to a forward side of the harvester; rotate to a forward side of a harvest as a transport or manoeuvrability condition and to be optionally tipped in this orientation; rotate to any location through 360 degrees and harvest at such location.

21. A crop harvester as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 20, wherein the crop harvester is able to harvest one of the following: sugar cane; hemp; kenaf.

22. A vehicle including a cabin and motor adapted to propel said vehicle and including a frame or structure beneath which is a space configured to receive one or more crop management apparatus or devices.

23. A vehicle as claimed in claim 22 in which said vehicular carrier is supported at a forward end and or a rear end by a pair of spaced apart wheels powered by said motor, or by a pair of spaced apart track assemblies powered by said motor.

24. A vehicle as claimed in claim 22 or 23 in which all said wheels have pneumatic tyres.

25. A vehicle as claimed in any one of claim 22 to 24, wherein road allowable wheel or track assembly spacing is provided and between which said space is located.

26. A vehicle as claimed in any one claims 22 to 25, wherein the frame or structure includes opposed pivot cradles to connect, or interconnect, to said crop management apparatus.

27. A vehicle as claimed in claim 26 wherein said crop management apparatus once its pivots are in the pivot cradles is then rotated into alignment with securing means to secure the crop management apparatus to the vehicle.

28. A vehicle as claimed in any one of claims 22 to 27, wherein said vehicle has a single steerable pneumatic-tyred wheel or track assembly at the rear end of said vehicle.

29. A vehicle as claimed in any one of claims 22 to 27, wherein said vehicle is a four wheeled vehicle and whereby steering is effected by means of skid steering, or said vehicle is a two or four track assembly vehicle.

30. A vehicle as claimed in any one of claims 22 to 29, wherein crop dividers carried by said vehicle can be moved between a forward position and a rearward inboard position, either separately or in unison.

31. A vehicle as claimed in any one of claims 22 to 30 wherein the vehicle can be used for single or multiple row harvesting.

33. A vehicle as claimed in any one of claims 22 to 32, wherein said crop management apparatus is one or more of the following: a crop harvester as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 21 ; a crop spraying unit or module; a harvester module; a planter module; a cultivating module; a grass cutting module; soil cultivation module; other crop management module.

34. A vehicle as claimed in any one of claims 22 to 33, wherein the crop management apparatus is able to manage one or more than one of the following crops: sugar cane; hemp; kenaf.

35. A crop harvester having at least one cutting arrangement which has a 3 blade cutter assembly and 1 or 2 bladed anvil or thrower assembly, wherein the cutter assembly is rotated at 1/3 or 2/3 respectively of the rotation speed of the anvil or thrower assembly.