Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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AXIAL FLOW COMBINE WITH SINGLE
DISTRIBUTION AUGER
RELA~ED APPLICATIONS
The invention of this application is
illustrated in part in Canadian patents, No. 1,166,133
issued April 24, 1984 and No. 1,166,921 issued May 8,
1984 entitled, respectively, "Feeder Idler DrUm
Shaft with Removable Extensions" and "Tensioning
Mechanism for Feeder Conveyor Positioned Within Feeder
Housing n .
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Technical Field
This invention relates to an axial flow combine
having a threshing section in overlying relation to a
cleaning section.
Prior Art
Combines are currently being marketed using a
processor having a foraminous cylindrical cage in which a
rotor is coaxially disposed. The processor or threshing
section of such prior art combine is disposed within a
housing disposed above a cleaning section and has an
overhanging part which extends beyond one lateral side of
the cleaning section. In order to move threshed material
from the bottom of the overhanging part of the processor
housing to a slot above a pair of accelerated rolls, such
prior art combine uses two distribution augers on
parallel axes spaced from one another in the longitudinal
direction of the combine. Such a prior art combine is
shown in Canadian patent 1,082,558 issued July 29, 1980
to J. Lyle Shaver for "Distribution Augers ~or an Axial
Flow Combinen.
In the prior art combine shown in Canadian
patent 1,142,408 issued March 8, 1983 to Charles F.
Brundage for "Roller Support for Cage Sweep Mechanism",
the foraminous cage and rotor are enclosed in a housing
with front and rear walls relatively close to the cage.
Also, axially extending reinforcing ribs are used on the
; outer side of the cage which tended to catch the thre~shed
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material passing through the radial openings in the upper
part of the cage preventing it from sliding down the out-
side of the cage to the pair of distribution augers below
the cage. In order to move the threshed material feom
the exterior top and sides of the cage, a cage sweep is
used as shown in the beforementioned Canadian patent
1,142,408.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is advantageously used in
10 an axial flow combine having a header at its front end, a
processor including a cylindrical foraminous cage and a
rotor within and coaxial to the cage and a feeder
conveyor for conveying harvested crop material from the
header upwardly and rearwardly to the processoe. The
15 housing for the processor includes front, rear, right and
left sidewalls with the right and left sidewalls
eotatably supporting the rotor on a horizontal transverse
axis. The cage is also supported by the sidewalls of the
housing and has a first radial opening or entrance
20 adjacent one of its axially opposite ends for receiving
crop material from the feeder conveyor and has a second
radial opening at its other axial end serving as an exit
for crop material from which the grain has been removed
by the processor. A concave is installed in the cage at
25 the first radial opening. The combine of this invention
includes a cleaning section having a first lateral side-
wall substantially aligned with the sidewall of the
processor housing adjacent the first radial opening and
a second lateral sidewall spaced laterally inward from
30 the housing sidewall at the second radial opening
whereby the cleaning section is of less lateral width
than the processor housing and the latter has an over-
hanging part extending laterally beyond the cleaning
section. The front and rear sidewalls have sloping
35 portions in the overhanging part of the housing which
converge downwardly to an auger trough. The sloping
portion of the rear wall behind and below the concave
slopes downwardly and forwardly teeminating at an edge
309~
defining the rear edge of a vertical discharge opening
or slot in the bottom of the processor housing
extending substantially across the width of the
cleaning sectionO A pair of front and rear accelerator
rolls extend laterally across the width of the cleaning
section in a position to receive threshed material
falling through the discharge slot. The processor
housing includes an upright wall extending downwardly
beneath the concave to the front of the front
accelerator roll thus forming at least a part of a
front edge of the discharge slot.
An important feature of the invention is the
use of a single distribution auger at the bottom of the
processor housing which has opposite ends rotatably
supported on the left and right sidewalls on a hori-
zontal transverse axis. The auger includes a first
spiral flight in cooperative relation to the trough and
operative upon rotation in a predetermined direction to
move threshed material passing throuyh the radial
openings of the cage laterally from the overhanging
part of the housing to the discharge slot.
The auger may include a second, oppositely
pitched flight near its other end operable to move
threshed material laterally inward as it falls through
the slot.
The cage preferably has relatively smooth
surfaces on its top, front and rear exterior sides to
minimize resistance to the sliding and falling of
threshed material passing through radial openings in
the upper part of the cage. Also the front and rear
sidewalls are spaced a sufficient distance from the
foraminous cage to not interfer with the gravity
movement of threshed material to the bottom of the
processor housing. This construction permits
elimination of the cage sweep mechanism of prior art
combines.
The processor occupies an elevated position
on the combine to provide adequate space between the
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cage and the downward converging portions of the front
and rear sideways and to permit such portion to extend
in substantially tangential relation to a single
distribution auger.
It is an object of this invention to provide
an axial flow combine having a single distribution
auger.
It is a further object of this invention to
provide an axial flow combine having a cylindrical cage
with xadial openings in its sides and top wherein a
cage sweep mechanism need not be used.
It is a further object of this invention to
provide flighting on a single distribution auger
operable to move threshed material to the laterally
central part of a discharge slot above accelerator
rolls so that material is relatively evenly distributed
across the lateral width of the cleaning section even
when the combine is harvesting a side slope.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
One embodiment of the invention is shown in
the drawings in which:
Fig. 1 is a left-hand side view of a combine;
Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section
through the combine along the line II-II in Fig. l;
Fig. 3 is a partial view of a distribution
auger showing addition of removable flight sections;
Fig. 4 is a view taken along the line IV-IV
in Fig. 3;
Fig. 5 is a view taken along the line V-V in
Fig. 2;
Fig. 6 is a view taken along the line VI-VI
in Fig. 2;
Fig. 7 is a view taken along the line VII-VII
in Fig. 2; and
Fig. 8 is a view taken along the line
VIII-VIII in Fig. 2.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, an agricultural
harvester in the form of a combine 11 is powered by an
internal combustion engine 12 mounted on a main frame
16 and connected by a drive train (not shown) to a pair
of front drive wheels 13, 14. The main frame 16 of the
combine supports an operator's cab 15 and a grain bin
20 and the rear end of the frame 16 is supported by a
pair of steerable wheels 18, 19. A header assembly 21
at the front of the combine has its rear end pivotally
connected on a transverse horizontal axis 22 to the
main frame 16 and includes a header 23 and a conveyor
housing 24 in which a conveyor 26 is disposed. Crop
material cut by the header mechanism 23 is moved
late~ally inward by a transverse auger 27 to a central
position where it is conveyed rearwardly by the
conveyor 26 to the front end of a second conveyor 31
which in turn conveys the material rearwardly to a
processor or threshing section 33 of the combine 11.
The crop material conveyed rearwardly by the conveyor
31 enters a radial crop receiving opening or entrance
30 in a cylindrical, foraminous cage 34 where it is
threshed by a rotor 36 rotatably supported on left and
right sidewalls 77, 78~ The rotor 36 rotates
counterclockwise, as viewed in Fig. 1, and is coaxial
to the cage 34. Threshed material passing through the
radial openings 58 of the foraminous cage and openings
in an underlying concave 61 falls downwardly to a
distribution auger 37 which moves the material
laterally inward to a transversely extending vertical
dischaege opening or slot 69 above a pair of equal
diameter accelerator rolls 41, 42. The accelerator
rolls 41, 42, which have overlapping lugs which mesh
without touching, accelerate the threshed material
downwardly across an air stream delivered rearwardly
from an air outlet 43 by a transverse fan 44. The air
discharged from the outlet 43 blows the chaff and small
stalk particles rearwardly where they are discharged
through an opening 46 at the rear of the cleaning
section 47. The cleaning section ~7 includes a shaker
assembly 98 having a grain pan 49 at its front end and
screens 50 at the rear of the grain pan.
Straw and coarse material which does not pass
through the concave or the radial openings 58 in the
cage 34 is thrown rearwardly into a chute 55 from the
threshing section 33 by way of a radial outlet or
opening in the cage 34 by a paddle assembly 51 on the
left-hand end of ~he rotor shaft 52~ The material
thrown rearwardly by the paddle assembly 51 through the
cage outlet passes through the discharge chute 55 and
discharges through a downwardly open discharge opening
56.
Referring also to Figs. 3 through 8, the crop
material ~elivered b~ the upper conveyor 31 to the
foraminous cage 34 is impacted by the rasp bars 57 of
the rotor 36 thereby causing grain to be separated from
the crop material which then passes through openings in
the concave 61 and through the radial openings 58 of
the cage 34. As seen in Fig. 5, the threshed material
passing radially from the cage 34 and concave 61 at the
rear of and below the concave area falls downwardly to
a sloping wall portion 62 of the processor housing 63
in which the cage 36 is positioned. It will be noted
that the rotor 36 and cage 34 of the processor 33 are
positioned at an elevated position on the combine a
generous amount of fore and aft distance is provided
between the front wall 66 of the housing 63 and the
cage 34 and between the rear wall 66 of the housing 63
and the cage 34. The elevated position of the cage in
relation to the accelerator rolls, 41, 42 permits the
downwardly converging portions 67, 68 and 62 of the
front and rear walls 64, 66 to be pitched at a
relativel~ steep angle and still be substantially
tangential to the single distribution auger 37. For
instance, wall portions 67 and 62 are each pitched at a
45 angle to the horizon and wall portion 68 is pitched
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at 51 to the horizon. The ample spacing between the
cylindrical cage 34 and the walls 64 and 66 and the
steep pitch of the wall portions 62, 67, 68 insure
gravity movement of the threshed material exiting
radially from the processor 33 to the single
horizontal, transverse distribution auger 37 or, in the
case of the wall 62, to the vertical opening or slot 69
above the accelerator rolls 41, 42. As will be noted
in Fig. 7, the lower edge 70 of the wall portion 6
forms the rear edge of the vertically open slot 69.
The front edge of the slot 69 is defined by an upright
wall 75 extending downwardly from the concave to the
front of the front accelerator roll 41 and by a lower
horizontal end 74 of wall portion 67 extending
laterally between a longitudinal vertical wall 80 and
the laterally inner edge 86 of the trough 73. The slot
69 extends laterally between the edge 86 and the right
sidewall 78. The elevated height of the processoL 33
also contributes to the desirable steep downward
incline of the bottom wall 111 of the discharge chute
55.
The upward offsetting of the accelerator roll
41 relative to the rear accelerator roll 42 permits the
shaker assembly 48 to be moved forwardly thus
permitting the combine to be shortened and also
permitting the discharge chute 55 to be shortened. The
shortening of the discharge chute 55 contributes to the
steep incline of the bottom wall 111. The wall 111 is
. sufficiently steep to cause crop material falling
thereon to slide by gravity to the downwardly open
discharge opening 56. Thus the steep bottom wall 111
of the discharge chute obviates the need for auxiliary
energy discharging devices such as an impeller or other
apparatus to impart additional impetus to crop material
discharged by the paddle assembly 51 through the
discharge opening or exit 60 of the cage adjacent the
left sidewall 77. The cage 34 consists of a threshing
segment 134 and a separating segment 136. As shown in
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Fig. 5, the threshing segment 134 includes front and
rear parts 138, 139 extending circumferentially about
120 from the top of the cage where confronting
transversely extending flanges 141, 142 of the parts
S 138, 13g are releasably secured to one another by bolts
and nuts, not shown. As shown in Figs. 6 and 8, the
separating segment 136 consists of three parts 146,
147, 148 having radially outward and transversely
extending flanges 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156 at their
circumferentially confronting ends which are secured by
suitable fastening means, not shown. The flanges 141,
142, 151, 152 of the top of the cage segments do not
interfer with the gravity flow of threshed material
leaving the cage via the radial openings 58. The
flanges 153, 154, 155, 156 are sufficiently low at the
front and rear of the cage so as to not offer any
substantial resistance to the gravity movement of the
threshed material leaving the cage 3~ by way of the
radial openings 58. The smooth, virtually unobstructed
periphery of the cage 34 facilitates gravity flow of
threshed material off the top and sides of the cage
exterior without the need of a cage sweep or similar
mechanism to disturb threshed material deposited there.
The distribution auger 37 has a first flight
71 secured as by welding to the distribution auger
shaft 72 which is pitched in a first direction so that
upon counterclockwise rotation of the shaft 72, as
viewed in Figs. 5 and 6, it will move threshed material
in the auger trough 73 from left to right as viewed in
Figs. 2 and 7. The distribution auger 37 also includes
a flight 76 adjacent the right sidewall 78 which is
pitched in the opposite direction to the pitch of
flight 71 50 as to move threshed material falling from
the processor 33 from right to left, as viewed in
Figs. 2 and 7, when it is rotated in a counterclockwise
direction as viewed in Figs. 5 and 6. The ends of the
auger shaft 72 are rotatably supported by the laterally
opposite upstanding sidewalls 77, 78 o the combine.
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In some crop or harvesting conditions, it may be
desirable to add flight segments 79, 81 to the
distribution auger as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The
flight segments 79, 81 are releasably secured to the
shaft by clamping brackets 82, 83 bolted to the
segments 79, 81 by bolts 84 and nuts 85. The flighting
on the rotating distribution auger 37 effects a desired
positioning or distribution of the threshed material to
the slot 69 so that the side-by-side accelerator rolls
41, 42 will distribute a band of threshed material to
the cleaning section 47. More specifically, the flight
71 extends laterally beyond the trough edge 86 over the
left hand part of the slot 60 and serves to distribute
threshed material to the laterally central part of the
slot. In a similar manner, flight 76 operates to
distribute threshed material laterally inward from the
right-hand end of the housing to a laterally central
part of the slot 69. This laterally inward movement
contributes to good distribution of threshed material
to the accelerator rolls 41, 42 and to the cleaning
section ~7, and help maintain good distribution even
when the combine is operating on a side slope.
The accelerator rolls 41, 42 have axes 87, 88
which are generally horizontal and parallel to one
another. The front accelerator roll 41 is offset above
the rear accelerator roll 42, that is, the axis 87 of
accelerator roll 41 is vertically offset above the axis
88 of the rear accelerator roll 42. The accelerator
roll 42 is driven through a power train from the engine
12 which includes a V-belt 91 drivingly engaging a
pulley 92 nonrotatably secured to the right-hand end of
the shaft 93 of accelerator roll 42. As shown in
Fig. 6, a chain 96 engages a sprocket 97 on accelerator
roll shaft 93 which also engages a sprocket 98 secured
to a shaft 99 of accelerator roll 41. An idler
sprocket 101 is rotatably mounted on an adjustable
support 102 for purposes of obtaining proper tension of
the chain 96. The accelerator rolls 41, 42 are rotated
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in a direction to cause the threshed material exiting
the processor 33 to pass between the accelerator rolls
41, 42, the latter being driven at a sufficiently high
speed to impart a velocity to the threshed material far
in excess of the velocity such material would have if
merely falling by gravity. By offsetting the front
accelerator roll 41 above that of the rear accelerator
roll 42; the threshed material is thrown downwardly and
forwardly to the grain pan 4~ of the shaker assembly
48. The rearwardly directed layer of air from the
transverse fan 44 passes transversely through the
accelerated threshed material causing light chaff and
cro~ particles 106 to be blown rearwardly out the
discharge opening 46 at the rear of the combine while
lS accelerated clean grain kernels 107 pass downwardly to
the grain pan 49.
On reference to Fig. 2, it will be noted that
the left-hand wall 112 of the cleaning section is
laterally inward from the sidewall 77. Thus, the
cleaning section 47 is la~erally narrower than the
threshing section 33. In other words, a part of the
threshing section 33 laterally overhangs the cleaning
section 47 and as seen in Fig. 2 it is this overhanging
part of the processor housing 63 from w~ich the fligh~
71 of the distribution auger moves threshed material to
the discharge slot 690 It should be understood that
the shaker assembly 48 extends laterally slightly less
than the distance between the sidewall 112 and the left
sidewall 78. The distribution auger 37 is driven by an
endless chain, not shown, operatively engaging
sprockets 116l 117 secured, respectively, to the auger
shaft 72 and a shaft extension 118 coupled to and
aligned with the accelerator roll shaft 93. As shown
in Figs. 6 and B, a part 119 of the cage above the cage
discharge opening 60 does not have radial openings and
is closed off from the inside of the housing 63 by
walls 121, 122 and 123. Wall 123 is a forward
extension of the laterally inner vertical sidewall of
~12~
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the discharge chute 55 and the bottom wall 111 of the
chute connects to the bottom of the cage opening 60 by
a bridging floor 124 which extends laterally between
wall 77 and wall 123.
