Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Description
TWO-RO~ TOBACCO HARVESTER
Field of the Invention
.
~he present invention is directed to tobacco
harvesters and more specifically to a two~row tobacco
harvester adapted to be pulled by a single tractor and
having means for adjusting the height of the harvester
as well as a unique defoliating and conveying arrange-
ment for the tobacco leaves from the tobacco plants to
a trailer.
Prior Art
For many years the harvesting of tobacco has been
a manual operation. Tobacco has been harvested at a
particular time in the growing season and the leaves of
the plant rlpen at different times. The leaves ripen
progressivley from the bottom to the top of the stalk
thereby necessitating five or six successive passes
through the field to remove the ripened leaves. Such
manual harvesting methods require a great deal of man
power which has become increasingly scarce and more
expensive in recent years.
i The first type of mechanical tobacco harvester
consisted primarily of frame upon which the leaf
primers would ride through the field as they manually
removed the leaves.
In recent years various other types of mechanical
tobacco harvesters were developed wherein the harvester
would straddle a single row of tobacco plants in a
rotating defoliator which stripped the lower leaves from
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the plant onto a conveyor mechanism for transfer to a
suitable receptacle. The majority of these mechanical
tobacco harvesters which carry out a priming operation
are self-propelled and straddle one row of tobacco at
a time. Other types of tobacco harvesters are adapted
to be rigidly mounted on the side of a tractor but this
type of tobacco harvester can only be utilized where the
entire tobacco plant is cut and stripped since it is
impossible to effectively operate on any row of tobacco
except the one closest to the tractor. Generally tobac-
co fields are planted with every fifth row missing to
allow for the passage of tractors and trailers through
the field. Thus the tractor mounted units would be
unable to harvest the middle rows of each group of four
rows without first cutting down the outermost rows.
Pull type tobacco harvesters have also been
developed which can be adjusted for movement behind the
tractor so as to straddle either one of the first two
rows closest to the fifth middle. In this way all four
rows of tobacco can be harvested while the tractor
remains in the fifth middle. Such harvesters generally
have first and second defoliator means located on oppo-
site sides of a row of tobacco which are mounted in a
subframe for lateral movement relative to the main frame
of the tobacco harvester to accommodate minor variations
in row alignment. A plurality of rotatable rollers are
mounted between each defoliator means in the subframe
for laterally transferring the harvested leaves onto
- longitudinally moving conveyors mounted at each side of
the main frame. The harvester is provided with sub-
stantially vertically disposed conveyor means for trans-
ferring the leaves upwardly to transversely disposed
conveyor means which will deposit the leaves into a
receptacle on a trailer movable along side the
harvester.
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Summary of the Invention
The present invention provides an improved tobacco
harvester which is adapted to be pulled by a tractor and
simultaneously harvest the leaves from two rows of
tobacco plants while the tractor remains in the fifth
middle.
The present invention provides a new and improved
tWO-roW tobacco harvester which is provided with
hydraulic means between the rear wheels and the main
frame for adjustably positioning the main frame at
different heights above the ground.
The present invention provides a new and improved
two-row tobacco harvester having two subframes pivotally
mounted from the main frame for independent lateral move-
ment to acco~modate variations in the rows of tobaccoplants.
The present invention provides a new and improved
two-row tobacco harvester wherein the speed of rotation
of the defoliator blades in each subframe are adjustable
~- 20 as well as the height and angle of inclination of the
defoliator blade relative to the ground. Adjustable
flat rigid header boards are provided beneath each
defoliator blade for deflecting the tobacco leaves which
have been stripped from the plants onto a parallel
longitudinally moving conveyor means. Flexible finger
means extend from the opposed edges of each header board
toward the opposite header board which will allow the
passage of the stalks of the tobacco plants between the
header board while preventing leaves from falling there-
between. Flexible curtains are also provided betweenthe outside edge of each header board and the adjacent
edge of each conveyor and side screens are provided
; along the opposite edge of each conveyor to prevent
leaves from falling to the ground. The foregoing and
other objects, features and advantages of the invention
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will be apparent from the following more particular des-
cription of a preferred embodiment of the invention as
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Brief Description of the Drawings
S Fig. 1 is a side elevation view of the harvester
according to the present invention with a portion there-
of broken away for the sake of clarity.
Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the overall
construction of the two-row tobacco harvester.
Fig. 3 is a rear elevation view of the two-row
tobacco harvester showing the hydraulic adjusting means
for the main frame.
Fig. 4 is a front elevation view showing a laterally
movable subframe pivotably mounted in the main frame.
Fig 5. is a front perspective view showing the
details of the defoliator blades, deflector blades and
header boards.
Fig. 6 is a bottom perspective view of the header
boards, flexible fingers and curtains.
Fig. 7 is a rear perspective view showing the drive
means for the defoliator blades.
Detailed Description of the Invention
The present invention directed to a two-row tobacco
harvester is an improvement over applicants' harvesting
device disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4,069,648 which is
only capable of harvesting one row of tobacco at a time.
Many features such as the details of the conveyor means
and the adjustable hitch means for coupling the harvest-
er to a tractor are identical in the present application
and in the aforesaid co-pending application and there-
fore the details with respect to these features will be
omitted from the present application.
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The tobacco harvester 20 according to the present
invention is a trailer type non-powered vehicle adapted to
be towed by a tractor (not shown). An additional trailer
30 which is adapted to carry a conventional tobacco curing
box 40 can be towed either from the tobacco harvester 20
or from the tractor depending upon the type of hitch
utilized. The trailer tongue assembly, generally designated
as 36, is identical to that shown in the above-identified
co-pending application and a hitch means 38 is provided on
the side of the harvester 20 to which the trailer 36 may be
- connected.
The tobacco harvester 20 is provided with a main
rectangular frame 22 having lateral extensions 24 and 26
extending outwardly therefrom at either side adjacent
lS the front end of the harvester. A pair of downwardly
extending beams 42 and 44 are provided, one at each side
of the main frame 22, each of which is provided with a
telescopic extension 43 and 45, respectively, which carry
the rear supporting wheels 52. A pair of hydraulic
cylinders 46 and 48 are secured to each beam 42 and 44,
respectively, with the pistons 47 and 49 of each cylinder
being connected to the telescopic extensions 43 and 45,
respectively. The cylinders are of the double acting
hydraulic type and are connected into the hydraulic circuit
for the tobacco harvester which is described in detail in
the aforementioned co-pending application and suitable
valve means (not shown) are provided for extending and
retracting the cylinder and piston assembly to selectively
adjust the height of the main frame 22 relative to the
; 30 wheels 52. The conventional hydraulic hitch arrangement
on the tractor (not shown) is vertically adjustable so
that the front end of the harvester 20 may be vertically
adjusted in this manner along with the vertical adjustment
of the rear of the harvester by the hydraulic cylinders 46
and 48.
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A pair of defoliator subframes 54 and 56 pivoted
from the main frame 22 for lateral movement to accom~o-
date variations in the rows of tobacco plants. Each
subframe is pivoted from a longitudinally extending
beam of the main frame 22 by means of longitudinally
extending pivots 53 and 55. The details of the pivotal
arrangement are identical for both subframes and have
been described fully in the above-identified co-pending
application. Since each subframe assembly is identical,
only one subframe assembly will be described in detail
hereinafter.
A sleeve 56 is slidably mounted at the lower end of
each of the front posts 51 of the subframe 54 and may be
secured in one of several possible positions by means of
bolts 58 extending through aligned apertures in the
sleeve 56 and the posts 51. A pair of guide rod assem-
blies 60 having forwardly diverging opposed surfaces 62
are connected to the sleeves 56 for initially engaging
the stalk of a tobacco plant to center the frame with
respect to the plant. Additional sleeves 57 are slid-
ably mounted on the front posts 51 above the sleeve 56.
Secured to each sleeve 57 is a tobacco leaf guide 66
which is adapted to be disposed between the leaves which
are to be removed from the stalk and the leaves which
are to be retained on the stalk for further ripening.
The sleeves 57 are adjustably secured to the posts 51 by
set means 59. Thus the height of the stalk guides 60
and the leaf guides 66 can be adjusted to selectively
engage the leaves at a predetermined height on the stalk
3Q depending upon which pass the conveyor is making with
respect to the plants in that particular row. A rod 72
extends rearwardly from each leaf guide 66 and is sup-
ported in a socket 74 at the rear end of the frame which
is secured to the support plate 76 for hydraulic motor
78. A deflector blade 79 is rotatable and longitudinal-
ly adjustable on the rod 72 by means of brackets having
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set screws therein. Thus the leaf guides 66 and the
rods 72 will be disposed along opposite sides of the row
of tobacco plants for raising up the leaves which are to
be retained on the stalks so that they will not be en-
gaged by the defoliators and the deflector blades 79will deflect any leaves which are stripped from the
plant downwardly onto the conveyor means which will be
described hereinafter.
A pair of sleeves 80 similar to the sleeves 56 are
slidably mounted at the lower ends of the rearmost
support posts 51 of the subframe 54. A pair downwardly
and inwardly extending support plates 82 are secured to
each sleeve 80 and the sleeves 80 are adjustable verti-
; cally on the posts 51 in the same manner as the sleeves
56 are adjustable. The support plates 52 are spacedapart a distance sufficient to allow the passage of the
stalk of tobacco plant therebetween and a pair of
parallel rotary defoliators 84 are journalled at each
end in the support plates 82 and in laterally extending
portions of the leaf guides 66. Each defoliator is
comprised of a flat flexible substantially rectilinear
blade 84 secured between a pair of strips 86. The for-
ward ends of the strips 86 are secured to a shaft which
is journalled in the lateral support portion of the leaf
guides 66 and the rear ends of the strip 86 are connected
by universal couplings 87 to shafts 88 which are
journalled and extend through the support plates 82.
Each shaft 88 is coupled to a hydraulic motor 78. The
defoliators 84 mounted on opposite sides of the tobacco
stalks and upon rotation of the same the flexible blades
will engage tne stalk with a downward wiping motion to
strip the tobacco leaves from the stalk. The motors 78
are coupled into the hydraulic circuitry of the harvester
which was described in detail in the above-identified
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co-pending application and suitable control means may
be provided in the circuit to each hydraulic motor 78
for varying the speed thereof.
In addition to the deflector blades 79 located above
the defoliator blades 84,a flat substantially rigid
header board 90 is disposed beneath each defoliator
blade 84. Each board is secured to rectangular frame
92 to which the guide assembly 60 is secured at the
front end thereof. Each frame 92 is connected to a
plate 94 which is angularly adjustable relative to the
sleeve 56. A similar attachment means is provided at
the rear of each header board 90 for securing the rear
end of each header board frame 92 to a rear vertical
support post 51. Thus the header boards 90 may be ver-
; 15 tically adjustable at either end and the angle at which
each header board is disposed relative to the subframe
may be varied so that the leaves stripped from the
tobacco plants by the defoliator blade will slide off
the header boards onto the adjacent conveyor assembly.
A plurality of flexible fingers 96 of rubber,
plastic or any other suitable material are secured to
the opposing edges of each frame 92 and extend substan-
tially across the gap between the two header boards 90.
These flexible fingers will allow the stalk of the
tobacco plant to pass between the header boards 90 while
still preventing leaves from falling between the header
boards 90 onto the ground.
The leaves stripped from the tobacco plant will be
deflected by the deflector plates 79 as well as the
header boards 90 toward the opposite sides of each sub-
frame. A central longitudinal conveyor 100 is disposed
between the two subframes in underlying relation with
respect to the outer edges of the header boards 90 in
each frame. The forward end of the conveyor 100 is
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supported by means of a vertical post 34 secured to the
main frame 22 and similar longitudinal conveyors 102 and
104 are mounted underneath the outermost edges of each
subframe by means of vertical support posts 28 and 32.
At the rear end of the longitudinal conveyor 102 a pair
of substantially vertically extending opposed conveyors
106 and 108 are supported from the beam 42 by means of
a bracket 110. Similar pairs of vertically disposed
conveyor units are mounted at the rear end of the con-
veyors 100 and 104. The details of the construction andoperation of the horizontal longitudinally extending
conveyors and the vertically extending conveyors is
fully set forth in the above-identified co-pending
application. Thus the leaves which are stripped from
the tobacco plants by the defoliator blades 84 are
deflected outwardly away from the rows of plants by the
deflector blade 79 and the header boards 90 onto the
longitudinally extending conveyors which convey the
tobacco leaves rearwardly to the substantially vertical-
ly extending conveyors which will transport the leavesupwardly to the top of the main frame 22.
The longitudinal edge of each header board frame 92
opposite the edge having the flexible fingers thereon
has a flexible curtain 91 secured thereto. The curtain
91 is secured to the edge of the adjacent conveyor
frame. The curtains 91 prevent the leaves from falling
to the ground as they are transferred from the header
boards 90 to the conveyors especially when the header
boards are substantially vertically spaced from the
conveyors.
A transverse conveyor 112 is mounted on the upper
surface of the main frame 22 and is driven by means of
a hydraulic motor 114 in the manner described in the
above-identified co-pending application. Arcuate
deflectors 116, 118 and 120 are secured to the top of
each beam vertically disposed conveyor unit at one end
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and to a transversely extending guide wall 122 at the
~ther end so that the leaves exiting from the top of
each pair of vertically extending conveyors will be
deflected downwardly by the deflectors onto the
transverse conveyor 112. The conveyor 112 will then
transport the tobacco leaves over the side edge of the
main frame 22 into the box 40 on the trailer 30. The
trailer 30 may be mounted for reciprocating forward
and rearward movement relative to the harvester 20 in
the manner described in the above-identified co-pending
application or may be secured to the harvester for
movement therewith. In the latter case, an attendant
is provided for distributing the leaves within the box
40 as they fall from the transversely extending con-
veyor 112. In summary,Uhe two-row tobacco harvester
according to the present invention provides a distinct
advantage over the one-row tobacco harvester described
in the above-identified co-pending application. The
use of the flat rigid adjustable header boards 90
eliminates the need for a laterally movable conveyor and
all of the attendant drive mechanisms associated there-
with. The provisio~ of the deflector blades 79 prevents
leaves from flying upwardly and outwardly as they are
stripped from the plant and instead deflects the leaves
downwardly either directly onto the conveyor or onto
the header board from which they will slide onto the
conveyor. The provision of the flexible fingers between
the header boards and the flexible curtains between the
header boards and the conveyors prevent any leaves from
falling to the ground during the harvesting operation.
The provision of the dual subframes allows two rows of
tobacco to be harvested simultaneously while the pro-
vision of the hydraulic cylinders on the main frame per-
mits the vertical adjustment of the main frame relative
to the wheels. This adjustment,taken in conjunction
with the individual adjustments of the deflector blades,
defoliator blades and header boards, provides an
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extremely versatile harvester. The adjustable speed
control for the defoliator motor provides a far better
control over the rate at which the leaves are stripped
from the plants. Thus, the speed of the defoliator
blades can be coordinated with the speed of the tractor
so that the leaves will be properly stripped without
any damage to the plant. The provision of the arcuate
deflectors which extend completely across the top of the
vertical conveyors, as well as the width of the trans-
verse conveyor and the transverse guide screen to whichthe deflectors are secured, provide a better control
of the tobacco leaves as they exit from the vertical
conveyors and are transported laterally to the tobacco
box being pulled alongside the harvester.
