DEVICE FOR DISCHARGING PLANT LEAVES OR STEMS FOR USE IN AN AGRICULTURAL MACHINE PROVIDED WITH CUTTING MEANS

DECHARGE DE FEUILLES OU DE TIGES DECHIQUETEES EN PROVENANCE D'UNE MACHINE AGRICOLE GARNIE DE LAMES DECHIQUETEUSES

English Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
Device for discharging leaves or stems
of plants for use in an agricultural machine comprising
cutting means and a receptor spout receiving cut leaves
or stems, said spout having a conveyor screw moving therein
through a driving shaft, on an extension (18) of said
shaft (16) there is fixed a paddle-wheel (19) provided in
a discharge space (17) disposed coaxially of the transport
screw (15) and having a substantially greater diameter than
that of the spout (14), said discharge space (17) being
provided with a tangential outlet (26) which may be oriented
by turning said discharge space (17) with respect to the
periphery of the spout (14) so as to achieve either vertical
or horizontal discharge of cut leaves or stems.

Claims

WHAT I CLAIM IS
1.In a device for use in an agricultural
machine for discharging cut leaves or stems of plants after
cutting or harvesting thereof, comprising cutting means
for cutting leaves or stems, receptor spout means for
receiving said leaves or stems after cutting, conveyor
screw means for conveying said cut leaves or stems in said
receptor spout means towards the outlet of the machine, a
shaft mounting said conveyor screw means for driving
thereof, drive means for driving said shaft and said
conveyor screw means for conveying movement in said
receptor spout means, the improvement comprising an exten-
sion at the outlet end of said shaft, a paddle-wheel fixed
on said extension, a discharge space containing said
extension and said paddle-wheel, said discharge space
having closure means, said discharge space being disposed
coaxially of said conveyor screw means and having a
substantially greater diameter than said receptor spout
means, two bearing means for supporting said shaft at
each end thereof, one of said bearing means being on the
side of said driving means and the other bearing means
being on the side of said discharge space closure means.
2. A device as claimed on claim 1 in which
said discharge space has outlet means extending on a section
of the periphery of said discharge space for ejection of
said cut leaves or stems along a tangential trajectory, said
outlet means being movably mounted for rotation around the
axis of said discharge space to take either a vertical or a
horizontal outlet position.
7.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2, in
which said outlet means is provided with a nozzle extension
either for throwing said cut leaves or stems in order to
load an adjacent waggon when said nozzle is in vertical
outlet position or dispersing said cut leaves or stems
onto the bottom when said nozzle is in horizontal outlet
position.
4. A device for use in an agricultural
machine for discharging cut leaves or stems of plants com-
prising: means for cutting leaves or stems; spout means
for receiving said leaves or stems after cutting; screw
means for conveying said cut leaves or stems in said spout
means; a shaft mounting said screw means; an extension at
the outlet end of said shaft; a paddle wheel fixed on said
extension; a discharge space containing said extension
and said paddle wheel, said discharge space being disposed
coaxially of said screw means and having a substantially
greater diameter than said spout means, said discharge space
having outlet means extending on a section of the periphery
of said discharge space for ejection of said cut leaves or
stems along a tangential trajectory, said outlet means
being axially orientable with respect to said spout means
and being provided with a nozzle either for throwing said
cut leaves or stems to load an adjacent waggon when said
nozzle is in a vertical outlet position or for dispersing
said cut leaves or stems on the ground when said nozzle
extension is in horizontal outlet position.
8.

Description

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The present invention relates to a discharge
device for discharging leaves or stemS of plants, said
device being intended for use in an agricultural machine
pro~ided with cutting means and more particularly in a bcet
root defoliating machine s~hereby the leaves or stems may
be dispersed onto the field or may be thrown to load an adja-
cent waggon.
In existing machines such as defoliating
machines, the leaves cut by the 1ails aTe thrown bac~wards
and collected in a spout s.~here they are driven by a conveyor
screw towards the outlet side of the machine. The shaft
of said conveyor scre- generally is driven and supported

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on the other side of the machine and bears with its own
weight within the discharge spout.
Such arrangement has the drawback that
rub~ing of the screw in the spout results in a severe wear
mainly at the discharge outlet. In order to limit this wear,
the rotational speed of the screw is reduced to a minimum
which results in very high loads to be displaced and heavy
and cumbersome elements needed for driving and trans-
mission. Moreover, the leaves cut fall on a heap near the
machine and necessitate a second passage or an additional
loading (DE-A-2 153 555).
Transport screws supported by two bearings
also have been made but in order to avoid jamming at the
outlet it has been necessary to mount the bearing over-
hanging on the outlet side of the machine with the adverse
effect that the machine is unbalanced. This solution has
been abandoned for that reason (FR-A-2 210 087).
It is an object of the present invention to
cope with the drawbacks cited hereabove and to provide a
discharge de~ice of simple and light manufacture having
means for dispersing or throwing the leaves and stems of
plants to be discharged while eliminating the risks of
jamming.
In order to achieve that object, the device
according to the present invention is characteri~ed in that
an extension of the conveyor screw shaft has a paddle-
wheel fixed thereon in a discharge space disposed coaxially
of the conveyor screw and having a substantially greater

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diameter than that of the spout, said shaft being supported
by at least two bearings, one of said bearings being
located on the drive means side of the screw and the other
bearing being located on the side closure panel of the
discharge space.
Another important feature is that the
discharge space has an outlet which extends on a section
of the periphery of the discharge space thus permitting
cut leaves or stems to be thrown along a tangential tra-
jectory and that said outlet may be oriented by turning
around the axis of the discharge space and if necessary
can be extended by means of a nozzle permitting either to
load an adjacent waggon with leaves or stems with the
nozzle being in vertical position or to scatter or disperse
said leaves or stems onto the bottom with the nozzle being
in horizontal position.
In order that the invention may be well
understood, an example of embodiment will now be described
hereafter referring to the accompanying drawings in which :
Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of the
discharge device of a defoliating or harvester machine
according to the invention ;
Figure 2 is a sectional view along lines
II-II of figure 1 ;
Figures 3A and 3B are schematic views
showing two possibilities for discharging leaves.
In figure 1, there is shown a defoliating
machine 10 generally supported by arms 11 in front of a
tractor (not shown). Near the front part of the defoliating
machine 10 there is located a transverse shaft 12 which

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carries flails or cutters 13, ada~ted for cutting for
example beet root leaves when the shaft 12 is rotating at
high speed. The leaves cut in that way are thrown bac~wards
of the defoliating machine where there is a channel or
spout 14 with an endless conveyor screw 15 rotating therein
through a shaft 16.
According to the invention, the spout 14
in which the conveyor screw 15 is moving has an extension
on the outlet side consisting of a discharge space 17
of cylindrical shape disposed coaxially to the shaft of
the conveyor screw 15.
In order to facilitate discharging of the
leaves and eliminate any risk of jamming, the discharge
space 17 has a substantially greater diameter than that
of the spout 14. The shaft 16 of the conveyor screw 15
is extended through the discharge space 17 by means of an
extension 18 having a paddle-wheel 19 fixed thereon.
Advantageously the shaft has its two extre-
mities supported by two ball bearings. One bearing 20 is
located on the side of the driving means 21 whereas the
other bearing 22 is located on the side closure panel 23
of the discharge space 17.
The discharge space 17 is centered and fixed
on the spout 14 by means of a collar 24 and bolts 25
~figure 2) and has an outlet 26 extending on a section of
the periphery of the space 17 permitting the ejection of
cut leaves and stems along a tangential trajectory.
Said outlet 26 may be oriented merely by
rotating the space 17 around its axis and possibly may be

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extended by a nozzle 27 or 28 per~itting either throwing
leaves or stems for charging an adjacent waggon with the
nozzle 28 being in vertical ~osition (figure 3B) or disper-
sing onto the bottom with the nozzle 27 being in horizontal
position ~figure 3A).
Thanks to the fact that the shaft 16 is
supported by two bearings 20 and 22, the conveyor screw
does no longer bear on the bottom of the spout 14 and may
accordingly rotate at higher speeds. The direct effect
thereof is that the conveyor screw 15 is much less loaded
with cut leaves. ~he screw drive means may be less powerful
and more lightly built tfor example with pulleys and belt
instead of transmission chains and toothed wheels).
An advantage of the invention is that the
shaft 16 is supported by two bearings without substantial
increase of the outer volume of the agricultural machine.
Another advantage is that the paddle wheel
19 which is mounted in the discharge chamber and rotates
at the same speed as the conveyor screw 15 is capable of
throwing leaves on a distance sufficient to obtain an
adequate scattering on the field. The efficaciousness of
leaf ejection is still more increased by the higher centri-
fugal force obtained by the substantially greater diameter of
the discharge space as well as of the paddle~wheel. One
single control thus is needed for lateral discharging by
the conveyor screw and for dispersing the leaves onto the
field by means of the nozzle 27. When recovery of the leaves
is desired, the angle of tangential out~et is modified and
a nozzle 28 is adapted which provides an extension for said
outlet to permit throwing the leaves for loading an adjacent
waggon.

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It should be understood that several
modifications may be brought by the art man to the device
described hereabove as non limiting example without going
out of the scope of the present invention.