Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
ADJUSTABLE ~lULTIPLE ROW CROP UNIT
~ BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION ~ND THE PRIOR ART
P This invention relates to mul-tiple row row crop
: gathering units, primarily of the type used on forage
harves-ters to harvest crops in standing rows, and more
particularly, to a gathering uni.t which is adjustable to
accommodate various spacings ~etween the crop rows.
Crops, such as corn and sorghums, are generally
grown in either wide row spacings (about 40 in.) or narrow row
10 spacings (about 30 in.). Conventional multiple row crop units
: are generally built to handl~ one spacing or the other.
Thus, separate row units are necessary to accommodate crops
with either spacing. For the farm equipment dealer, as well
: as the manufacturer, this results in carrying inventories of
both units in order to have the correct unit available at
the point of sale. For the custom harvesting operator who
may harvest the narrow row fie].d one day and a wide row
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field the nex-t day, it means buying -two units instead of
one. Moreover, these conventional units are inef~icient for
handling rows of odd spacing, such as 36 inch rows~
Others have produced a type of gathering unit
known as a wide-naxrow raw crop unit. In this machine, a
fixed passageway configuration is employed and a variety of
row spacings are accommodated by using a wider crop passase
entrance and a wider cutting mechanism than normal to harvest
the crop on one side or the other of the passage. An example
of this may be found in Dion U.S. Patent No. 3,375~64~. Special
cutting mechanisms have been taught for this type of unit
which have interchangeable parts to locate the cu-tting ~one
on one side or the other of the crop entrance, for example,
.in Bo~nzin U.S. Patent No. 3,496,70~, in an attempt to reduce the
undesirable efects of haviny too wide a passaye entrance.
The disadvantaye o~ this type o~ unit is that, even with the
special cutting mechanism, the wide passageway entrance
creates problems with the gatheriny chains or belts removing
the cut crop from khe cu-tting mechanism when the cu-tting
zone is not in close proximity to the gatherers and can
.result in the crop falling down after cutting. Moreover, if
one of -the gathering throats on the unit were no-t exac~ly on
a row, the crops could be knocked down before they reached
the cutting mechanism.
Still others have provided adjustable row spacing
in multiple row corn heads, such as shown in Jones et al U.S.
.
Patent No. 3,609,94~, wherein a transverse auger is loca-ted
behilld a series of laterally movable row units having
parallel fore-and aft crop passages including gathering
means and snapping or stripping rolls. Although adding -to
the expense, the transverse auger is necessary because
the crop passageways need to be parallelly aligned along
the crop rows to accommodate the snappiny rolls and some
means is necessary -to move the crops to the center of the
corn head ~or further processing.
Accordingly, the invention described and claimed here-
in seeks to provide a multiple row crop unit, especially
for ~orage harvesters, which is truly adjustable to provide
various row spacingsO
More particularly, the invention seeks to provide a
multiple row unit wherein at least one of th~ crop passages
swings laterally to provide various row spacings between
the entrances to the crop passages and with a cutting mech-
anism which swings laterally with the passageway to accommod-
ate changes in the row spacing.
More specifically, the invention seeks to provide a
two row unit wherein the crop passageway and its outer divider
swing laterally about an axis at the rear of the divider to
change the row spacing between rows. Preferably, both rows
o a two row unit would swing in this manner.
The invention further seeks to provide a two row unit
with an adjustable width center divider to accommodate changes
in row spacing.
The invention in one broader aspect pertains to a row
crop harvesting and gathe~ing unit having a frame, a pair
of fore-and-a~t extending outer divider members and center
structure between the divider members defining a pair of
crop gathering passages having forward laterally spaced
openings for receiving crops and converging toward an outlet
at the rear of the unit. Cuttiny means are adjacent the
passage openings and gathering means are adjacent each passage
for moving crops therein towarcl the rear of the row crop unit.
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The improvement pertains to at least one of -the passages
being selectively swingable laterally about an axis rear~
ward of its opening such that at least two differen~ lateral
spacings between the passage openinys are provided, the
axis being located adjacent the rear end of the one passage.
A portion of the ga~hering means associated with the one
passage is entrained about a sprocket adjacent the rear end
thereof, the axis about which the passage swings being the
rotational axis of the sprocket.
DETAILED.. DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will
become apparent upon a consideration of the detailed de-
scription of the invention and the drawings, in which:
FIGURE 1 is a front perspective view of a forage
harvester row crop unit incorporating the present invention;
FIGURE 2 is a top view, partially in section of
the lower portion of the row crop unit of Figure 1 with the
sheet metal removed on one side and illustrating a wide row
spacing in phantom;
FIGURE 3 is a bottom view of the row crop unit of
Figure l; and
FIGURE 4 is a partial sectional view taken in a
plane parallel to that of Figure 2 but below the level of
the rear sprockets shown therein, appearing with Fig. 2.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to the drawings, there is shown a two
row, row crop harvesting and gathering unit generally de~
signated 10 of the type adapted for attachment to a forage
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harvester basic processing unit such as shown in copending
Canadian Serial No. 269,387, filed Januar~ 10, 1977,
for feeding crops thereto. The row crop unit 10, comprises
a main frame assembly 11 at the rear of the unit including a
main transverse beam.l2. At-tached -to the top side of the
transverse beam 12 and supported by rearwardly extending
yussets 13 attached there~o is a transverse gathering throat
base plate of trapezoidal shape 14, which, in operation,
lies in a downwardly forward plane. At the ends of the
transverse beam 12 are attached a pair of upstanding frame
members 15 which extend upwardly to a transverse pipe 16
welded therebetween, a lower attaching bracket 17 being
mounted on each of the upstanding frame members 15. The
transverse pipe 16 and attaching brackets 17 -thus provide
the means for attaching the row unit 10 to a forage harvester
basic unit. Below the transverse beam 12, jack stands 19
telescopingly engage the upstanding frame members 15 to
provide a rear support when the row unit 10 is not attached
to a forage harvester basic unit.
Rotatably mounted on the bottom side of the base
plate 14 are chain sprockets 20, 21, 22, and 2~ which are
laterally spaced adjacent the rear of the base plate. As
shown by the arrows thereon, the sprocl~ets 20, 21, 22, and
24 are driven in counterrotating pairs 20, 21, and 22, 24 by
a chain 25 driven by a sprocket 26 mounted on a right angle
~earbox 27 attached to the left frame member 15 outboard
thereof. The gearbox 27 is provided with a power input
sprocket 29 which is adapted to be chain driven from the
basic processing unit. A chain tightening id]er 30 is
rotatably mounted at the right side of the base p]ate 1~.
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Each of the sprockets 20, 21, 22, 24, drives a shaft 31
which extends through the base plate 14 whereat the shafts
31 are bearing mounted in a support sleeve 32 (Figure 4)
attached to -~he upper side of the base plate. Moun-ted on
the shafts 31 above the support sleeves 32 are gathering
belt drive sprockets 34, 35, 36 and 37.
Slnce the row unit 10 is symmetrical about the
fore-and-aft center line, the frame members of the right
passageway structure and the sheet metal of the left pas-
sageway structure are illustrated in Figure 2. However, it
will be understood that both passageway structures are
structurally the same other than their reverse orientation.
The passageway structures 40 comprise a frame assembly 41
including an outer frame member 42 and an inner frame member
44 disposed in parallel relationship to define a crop pas-
- sage 45 diverging forwardly from the fore-and-aft center
line of the row unit lOo A butt channel 43 encloses the
lower side of the passage 45. ~he inner and outer frame
members 44, 42 and the butt channel 43 are connected, as by
welding, to a bottom plate 46 to form a unitary passageway
frame structure 41. The passageway structure 40 is`mounted
: to the base plate 14 with the frame members 42-and 44 and
butt channel 43 extending t~ereabove for selective lateral
swinging of the forward end thereof about the axis of the
belt drive sprockets 34 or 37 at the rear of the outer frame
me~ber 42. As can be seen in Figure 4, the rear end of the
outer frame member 42 is provided with a concave surface
which abuts ac3ainst the support sleeve 32 of the outer
sprocket 34 or 37. The outer support sleeves 32 thus form
the pivots abou-t which the entire passageway structures 40
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rotate when shifting the row unit from wide to narrow rows.It is noted that the rear ends of the inner frame members 4
terminate short of their drive sprockets to permit rotation
thereof with the outer member 42. Of course, the axes of
the inner drive sprockets could be the pivotal axes of the
passageway structures by reversing the mounting of the frame
members 42 and 44.
To permit the lateral swinging of the passageway
structures 40 while enabling them to be loc]ced in a selec-
tive row spacing, the outer frame members 44 are provided
with a bolt 47 near the rear ends thereof which extends
through a slot 49 (Figure 3) in the base plate 14 and the
supporting gusset 13 on the lower side of the base plate.
The bottom plate 46 underlaps the base plate 14 and thç
transverse beam 12 and is provided with a pair of locking
bolts 50 which engage one of a plurality of holes 51 in
bxackets 52 welded to the forward side of the transverse
beam 12. Thus, the crop passageway structures 40 may be
swung laterally relative to the main frame assembly and are
fi~ed in a selected position by the bolts 47 and 50.
Returning to Figure 2, it will be seen that the
outer frame member 42 is provided with- an upper frame exten-
sion member 54 which is supported and spaced therefrom by a
pair of upright stanchions 55, the whole assembly being
welded. The upper frame member 54 extends forwardly whereat
it telescopingly receives a knife mounting beam 56. A
divider frame member 57 welded to the outer side of the
forward portion of the upper frame member 54 extends for-
wardly and downwardly therefrom to an outer auxiliary ground
shoe 58. A shaft 59 is mounted in the knife mounting beam
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56 and depends therebeneath and rotatably carries an outer
belt sprocket 60, a rotary knife disc 61 being mounted as by
bolts to the lower side of the sprocketO A lugged rubber
gathering belt 62 of the type illustrated in ~.S. Patent
No. 3,854,272 is entrained around the sprocket 60 and the
driving sprocket 37 at the rear of the passageway structure
40, suitable positioning idlers 64 being mounted on the
outer frame member 42 to align the belt along the outer side
of the crop passage 45~ The position of the rotary knife 61
and the tension on the helt 62 are adjusted by adjusting
screw 65 mounted on the divider frame member 57 which acts
against an ear 66 on the knife mounting beam 56. The beam
is locked in position by clamping bolts 67 extending through
the upper frame member 54 thereto. The belt 62 drives -the
rotary knife disc as well as draws crops rearwardly in the
passage 45.
The inner frame member 44 extends forwardly
whereat a belt sprocket 60 having an inner rotary knife disc
69 mounted therebeneath is rotatably mounted on a fixed
sha-Et 70 depending below the frame member 44, the inner
rotary knife disc 69 underlapping the outer rotary knife
disc 61 in a cooperative cutting relationship. The axis of
the inner knife disc thus is Eixed relative to the frame
member 44. A gathering belt 62 is entrained on the sprockets
60 and 36 and positioning idlers 64 on the inner side of the
crop passage 45, a tightening idler assembly 71 being mounted
to the inner frame member 44 for regulating the belt tension.
Mounted on the inner frame member 44 and extending laterally
in~ardly therefrom is a slo-tted plate 72. A nut and bolt
assembly 74 in a transverse bracket 75 engages -the slot in
the plate 72, -the bracket 75 extending transversely to a
similar slotted plate 72 on the other passageway structure
40. An inner auxiliary ground shoe 76 is provided on a
bracket 77 mounted beneath the slotted plate 72, allowing
clearance for the nut and bolt assembly 74, and extending
forwardly and downwardly therefrom. A center divider shoe
pipe 79 is rotatably mounted but axially restrained in the
bracket 77 and extends transversely thereo~ to an outer bent
over portion 80 pro~iding a connection for sheet metal. ~n
inner transverse rod 81 of relatively small diameter com-
pared to the pipe 79 is telescopingly received therein and
extends transversely to a similar pipe 79 on the other
passageway structure 40, the rod 81 being provided with
multiple holes 82 for establishing a pinned connection with
the pipe 79 by a pin 83 extending therethrough.
As thus constructe,d, the cutting discs 61 and 69
produce a cutting nip 84 adjacen-t the forward ends of the
crop passage 45. To prevent cut crops from becoming en-
tangled beneath the passageway structure, a stripper plate
85 is attached to the forward end of the butt channel 43 and
encloses the bottom of the crop passage 45 forwardly thereof
-terminating in an arcuate surface 86 underlapping the outer
cutting disc 61 and running from behind the nip 84 adjacent
the periphery of the inner disc 69 to a point approximately
normal of the frame member 44.
It can be seen from the above that the entire
passageway structure 40 includiny the crop passage 45 and
the cutting nip 84, may be swung laterally about a point
rearward of the forward end of the crop passage, that is t
the axis of the drive spr~cket 34 or 37 adjacent the rear
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end of the passage 45, to shift the cutting nip to cor-
respond to the desired row width. In Figure 2, a narrow
width row o~ crops 86 is illustrated with a wide width row
of crops 87 in phantom. By releasing the tension on the
bolt assembly 74 and removing the pin 83, as well as re-
lieving the tension on the bolts 47 and removing the bolts
50, the passageway structure 40 and thus the nip 84 may be
moved laterally to align with either the narrow row of crops
86 or the wide row 87, as well as positions therebetween.
Tightening the various bolts 47 and 74 and replacing bolts
50 and the pins 83 locks the passageway structure in posi-
tion. Because the passayeway structures 40 rotate about the
axes o~ the outer belt drive sprockets 34, 37, no change in
the distance between the drive sprocket and the driven belt
sprockets 60 on the outer divider will occur, thereby elimi-
nating any adjustment of the outer belts 62. However, it
will be seen that the distance between the inner belt drive
sprockets 35, 36 and the driven bel-t sprockets 60 will
change and thus, the inner belts tightening idlers 71 must
be readjusted to account fox this. At the same time, cer-
tain adjustments must be made in the sheet metall as will be
seen hereinafter.
~iewing primarily Figures 1 and 2, it will be seen
that the outer frame members 42 are covered with sheet metal
outer divider assemblies 90. The outer divider assemblies
comprise a rearward divider 91 generally parallel with the
crop passage 45, the divider 91 being bolted to the outer
~rame member 42 and extending adjacent the crop passage 45
over the top of the frame member and the down the outer side
thereo~. At the rear end, the rear divider 91 extends
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upwardly to enclose the forward poxtion and sides o~ the
upri.ght frame member 15. The rearward outer divider 91 thus
moves with the crop passageway structure 40 and any braces
or connections with parts of the rear main frame assembly
11, such as the sheet metal gearbo~ cover.92 attached to the
le~t rearward divider 91, must be accomplished with slidable
connections, such as the bolt in slot connections shown, to
permi~ the sheet metal to move relative thereto. Attached
to the divider frame member 57 for limited movement in a
vertical plane is a forward ground engaging divider shoe 94
- which partially overlaps the rearward divider 91, the di-
vider shoe being pivotally mounted to a transverse pipe 95
(Figure 3) which is welded to the forward end of the divider
frame member 57 immediately above the auxili.ary shoe 58.
Returning to Figures 1 and 2, the center divider
assembly 96 also comprises a rearward center divider 97 and
a forward ground engaging divider shoe 99 which may pivot in
a vertical plane relative to the rearward divider 97 to
enable the forward end of the shoe 99 to follow the ground
2q contour, the pivoting action being permitted by the rotat-
able mounting of the transverse pipe 79 in the auxiliary
inner s.hoe bracket 77 as mentioned above. However, in order
: to accommoda-te the necessary change in width of the center
~ ~ - divider whe.n the row spacing is chanyed, both the rearward
: center divide~ 97 and the farward divide~ shoe 99 further
comprise laterally telescoping sheet metal portions~ The
rearward center divider 97 has a pair of outer wing 100
which are bolted to the inner frame ~embers 44 adjacent the
crop passages ~5 and move therewith. The wings 100 are
provided with slots 101 which are enyaged by bolts 102
extending through a center section 104 which slidably
overlaps the inner edges of the wings 100 and extends rear~
wardly -to cover the drlve sprockets 35, 36. Since the bolts
102 are tightened when the unit is i.n operation, the posi-
tion of the center section 104 is suf~iciently fixed toalleviate any need -to attach it to the base plate 14 al-
though such may be done if desired. The forward center
divider shoe 99 is similarly provided with wings 105 which
are attached to the bent over ends 80 of the transverse
pipes 79. The wings 105 are provided with slots 106 which
engage bolts e~tending through the center section 107 which
slidably overlaps the wings. The tip of the center section
107 is provided with a ground engaging pad 109 and a rubber
strip 110 (Figure 3) interconnects the front and rear center
sections 107 and 104 to limit the upward movement of the
center divider shoe 99 relative to the rear center divider
97.
In operation, with the row crop unit set to harvest
narrow row crops 86, the machine moves forwardly along crop
~0 rows and the disc cutters 61, 69, which are driven by the
gatherin~ belts 62 from the sprockets 34, 35, 36, 37, cut
of~ the crop. The butts of crop are then grabbed by the
gathering belts 62 in the crop passages 45 immediately
behind the cutters and the harvested crops are moved rear-
wardly .in the crop passages 45 and converge rearwardly to
the throat at the xear of the row unit 10 whereat the crops
are transferred to the forage harvester (no-t shown). When
it is desired to shi~t the row unit 10 from narrow row
operation to harvest the wide row of crops 87 which is done
infre~llently, the frame bolts 50 and pins 83 are removed and
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the bolts 47 and 74 and the sheet me-tal bol-ts 102 are
loosened, as well as any bolts binding the outer divider
sheet metal to the rear main frame assembly 11. The inner
belt tighteners 71 are loosenecl. In ~his position, one or
both of the passageway structures ~0 may be caused to swing
the crop passages 45 and nip 84 of the cutting discs 61, 69
laterally outwardly to the new row spacing, the axes of
rotation being the axes of the outer belt sprockets 3`4 and
37. As this is done, the inner frame members 44 pull the
sheet metal wings 100 of the rear center divider 97 out-
wardly from under the center section 104 and the transverse
pipe 79 which is attached, through intermediate membersl to
the frame member 4~ pulls the center divider shoe wings 105
of the center divider shoe 99 ou-twardly ~rom under the
center section 107, the slots in the wings 100, 105 permit-
ting such movement. The bolts 50 and pins 83 are replaced
and the bolts 47, 74, and sheet metal bolts 102 are tight-
ened. The inner belts 62 are adjusted to proper tension
with the tightening idlers 7]. The row uni-t is now in
position to harvest wide rows in the manner described above.
It is to be understood that while slots have been
provided in the embodiment described, especially in the
sheet metal parts, to achieve a wide range of possible row
positions, in practice, this might be done using two holes
instead of a slot if only two row spacings are desired.
Thus, there has been provided, in accordance with
the invention, an adjustable multiple row crop unit that
fully satisfies the objects, aims and advantages set forth
above. While the invention has been described in conjunc-
tion with a specific embodiment thereof, it is evident that
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many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be
apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the fore-
going description. For example, a three row, row crop unit
could be provided by having a third fixed row crop passage
running along the longitudinal center line of the center
divider, the front end of the center divider being bifur-
.cated into two divider shoes on either side of that passage.
Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alterna-
tives, modifications, and variations as fall within the
spirit and broad scope of the appended claims.
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