Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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10883Z5
"PICK UP TINE"
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
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This invention relates to new and useful improve-
ments in pick up devices and in particular flexible tines used
therewith. Such pick up devices are used on combine harves-
ters, side delivery rakes, windrowers, hay balers and the like
and this application is not limited to any particular pick up
device although a side elevation of a portion of a combine
harvester is shown schematically in the drawings.
The only prior art known to the applicant includes
United States patents 3,747,313 - 3,253,393 - 3,295,302,
1,326,097 - 3,613,346 - 3,126,693 and 3,055,162.
None of these show the present structure although
patent 3,613,346 discloses a pick up tine which is tapered. ~-
Conventional pick up tines suffer from the principal
disadvantage that a certain resiliency has to be built in the
tine which will enable the tine to be used under a variety of
crop conditions such as a relatively light crop all the way
through to a relatively heavy crop. Unfortunately, when a com-
promise is made, the tine only works effectively under one
given condition so that under other conditions either lighter
or heavier crop conditions, the efficiency of the tine de-
creases.
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SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes these disadvantages
and shows an improvement over existing pick up tines by provid-
ing a tine which can be given a relatively flexible character-
istic when in one position and a much stiffer characteristic
when in another position.
This is accomplished by providing a flexible tine for
mounting in a pick up portion of a pick up device, which com-
prises in combination an elongated tine portion and a base por-
tion on said tine portion, the cross sectional configuration of
said tine portion adjacent said base portion having a major axis
and a minor axis with the length of the major axis being greater
than the length of the minor axis thereby forming a tine having
a lesser resistance to bend when said major axis is at right
angles to the direction of travel and a greater resistance to
bending when said major axis is parallel to the direction of
travel.
Another advantage of the present invention is to pro-
vide a pick up device for standing grain that has lodged, swath-
? ed grain, hay, grass and the like comprising in combination a
drum, a plurality of pick up tines extending radially from the
surface of said drum, means on the surface of said drum to de-
tachably secure said pick up tines thereto, said means including
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a retainer, and a resilient insert in said retainer, said pick
up tine including an elongated tine portion and a base portion
on said tine portion, said elongated tine portion extending
through said resilient insert and through said retainer, the
cross sectional configuration of said tine portion adjacent the
base portion having a major axis and a minor axis with the
length of the major axis being greater than the length of the
minor axis thereby forming a tine having a lesser resistance to
bending when said major axis is at right angles to the direction
of travel and a greater resistance to bending when said major
axis is parallel to the direction of travel.
Still another advantage of the present invention is to
provide a pick up tine which can readily be moved through 90,
manually, when mounted upon the pick up drum and will be retain-
ed in this desired position by a resilient mounting provided on
the drum.
Another aspect of the invention is to provide a device
which is simple in construction, economical in manufacture and
otherwise well suited to the purpose for which it is designed.
~ith the foregoing in view, and other advantages as
- will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this
invention relates as this specification proceeds, my invention
consists essentially in the arrangement and construc-
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tion of parts all as hereinafter more particularly describ-
ed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in
which:
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a schematic end view of a pick up drum
in conjunction with a combine harvester auger assembly.
Figure 2 is a side view of the pick up tine in one
position.
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Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 but showing
10 the tine at right angles thereto.
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Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional
! view showing the preferred method of mounting the tine to the
pick up drum.
Figure 5 is an enlarged cross sectional view along
15 the line 5-5 of Figure 3.
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Figure 6 is an enlarged cross sectional view along
the line 6-6 of Figure 3.
In the drawings like characters of reference indi-
cate corresponding parts in the different figures.
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10883Z5
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Proceeding therefore to describe the invention in
detail, reference should first be made to Figure 1 which
shows a schematic end view of a drum type pick up collective-
ly designated 10, a stripper assembly collectively designated
11, a combine harvester table 12 and an auger assembly 13
leading to the thresher (not illustrated).
The pick up assembly 10 includes a cylindrical drum
14 mounted upon a shaft 15 and journalled for rotation in a
conventional manner (not illustrated).
A plurality of pick up tine components 16 extend
radially from the drum which rotates in the direction of arrow
17 thereby picking up matexial such as grain, grass or the
like and moving it in the direction of arrows 18 to the strip-
15 per and thence to the auger assembly 13 all of which is conven-
tional.
The surface 19 of the drum is provided with a plural-
ity of retainers 20 preferably made of metal which in turn en-
close flexible block type inserts 21 made of synthetic plastic,
20 rubber, or the like.
The individual pick up tines collectively designated
16, are preferably moulded from plastic and include a base disc
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22 from which extends the pick up tine portion collectively
designated 23. This disc rests upon the surface/of the drum
and is restrained by the resilient block 21 as clearly shown
in Figure 4. The tine portion 23 extends through an aperture
S 24 in the upper surface 25 of the retainer 20.
The portion 26 adjacent the base 22, of the tine is
provided with a major axis 27 and a minor axis 28 at right
angles thereto with the length of the major axis being consid-
erably greater than the length of the minor axis 28 thus pre- i
senting a somewhat oval cross sectional configuration as clear-
ly shown in Figure S although of course other cross sectional
configurations can be used if desired.
This cross sectional configuration of the portion 26
adjacent the base 22, gradually changes to a circular config-
uration towards the distal end 29 of the tine as shown in the
cross sectional view of Figure 6.
Due to the resilient characteristics of the plastic
material forming the pick up tine assembly, the tine portion 23
is of course flexible. The tine can be positioned relative to
the direction of travel 17 in one of two positions. The first
position is with the longitudinal axis 27 situated at right
angles to the direction of travel 17 under which circumstances
the ~ine portion 23 is relatively flexible as it can bend
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10883~5
around the longitudinal axis.
The second position is a position at right angles
to the first mentioned position and is as illustrated in
Figure 4 with the longitudinal axis parallel to the direction
of travel 17 under which circumstances, the resistance to
bending is considerably greater due to the fact that the oval
configuration of the portion 26 is aligned so that resistance
is encountered.
This means that the tines can be manually manipulated
into the first position mentioned under which circumstances the
tines are relatively resilient and can be used for example on
light crops.
If however heavy crops are encountered, and additional
stiffness or rigidity is required, then the tines are aligned
in the second position or the position illustrated in Figure 4.
Means are provided to enable the tines to be rotated
through 50 yet to maintain the tines in the desired position
once they have been moved thereto.
A pair of ribs 30 are formed integrally with the
l~wer end portion of the tine extending up from the base disc
22 and these ribs are preferably on the longitudinal axis 27
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10883ZS
although, if desired, they can be along the minor axis 28.
These engage within the resilient block 21 and al-
though the tine can be rotated manually, nevertheless the en-
gagement of the ribs with the resilient material gives suffi-
cient resistance to prevent inadvertent rotation of the tines
during use.
Since various modifications can be made in my inven-
-tion as hereinabove described, and many apparently widely
different embodiments of same made within the spirit and
scope of the claims without departing from such spirit and
scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the accom-
panying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative
only and not in a limiting sense.
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