Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
I
SPECIFICATION
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a field chopper.
More particularly, this invention concerns such a chopper
having a main chopping unit functioning also as a blower-type
conveyor and a supplementary commentary or chopping unit.
Background of the Invention
The production of whole crop, normally corn,
fodder the entire plant -- stalk, leaves, and ears -- is
chopped up so the moisture of the kernels is mixed with the
fibrous matter. It is therefore necessary to chop or
community the crop more than once.
The chopper has a frame or chassis adapted to
travel along the ground in a normal travel direction and
provided on its front end with an intake that receives the
crop being harvested. The intake is provided with a cutter
for severing the stalk of the crop and conveyors for pulling
the severed crop back to a main chopping unit that cuts it
into medium-size chunks. A generally cylindrical housing
centered on a horizontal axis perpendicular to the travel
direction has an intake and a rearwardly and normally
tangentially opening outlet. A fan-type drum provided with
axially extending blades it rotated about the axis inside
this drum past the intake. Thus as the crop is fed into the
housing via the intake it is chopped by the rotating blades
of the drum and is then blown out of the housing by the fan
action of the cutter drum
~22~3~;
According to US. patent 3,756,~17 an West
German patent document 2,502,47~ a supplementary
comminution is done by a sieve arrangement downstream of
the chopper blades. issue sieve is a perforated cylindrical
body in the housing of the blower-chopper wheel and lying
outside the orbit of the cutting edges of the blades. Such
arrangements have the disadvantage of clogging up
relatively easily as the material is greatly slowed as it
passes through the sieve.
East German patent 35,158 and Austrian patent
219,901 describe blowers having outer ends formed as combs
or with teeth. These devices are not likely to clog unless
also provided with outlet-blocking combs or screens, but do
have the disadvantage of not commenting evenly or finely
enough. Some corn kernels normally pass through intact,
whereas in whole-corn fodder every kernel should be
broken. In addition the chopping or crushing action
normally consumes so much energy that the crop is not given
sufficient momentum -to pass through a relatively long
outlet tube or chute.
In West German patent document 2,062,945 and East
German patent 207,162 the inside of the housing is provided
with formations like teeth that cocci with formations on
the impeller and chopping wheel. Such an arrangement can
community relatively finely, but clogs readily.
More complex multistage field choppers of the
Mengele SO 20/30, SF 300, SF30nO/4000 type can overcome
some of these disadvantages, but are not usable for
single-stage chopping.
--2--
I
Objects of the Invention
It is therefore an object ox the present
invention to provide an improved two-stage crop chopper.
Another object is the provision of such a
two-stage crop chopper which overcomes the above-given
disadvantages, that is which does not clog, that can easily
be converted to onstage operation, and that imparts
considerable momentum to the doubly commented material.
Seymour of the Invention
A crop chopper according to the invention has a
main housing generally extending along an axis and having
an outwardly open intake and a radially outwardly open
outlet angularly spaced therefrom, a main chopping rotor
having a plurality of angularly spaced blades and a
plurality of angularly spaced wind vanes and rotatable
about the axis in the housing in a predetermined rotational
sense to displace the blades in an orbit, and a drive that
rotates the main chopping rotor in the rotational sense for
coarsely cutting the crop at the intake, for displacing the
cut crop in the rotational sense back in the main housing,
and for propelling the cut crop radially outward through
the outlet. A supplementary housing opens radially into
the main housing, downstream in the sense from the intake
and upstream from the outlet. Thus the coarsely cut crop
is displaced by the main cutting rotor into the
supplementary housing. A supplementary chopper rotatable
in the supplementary housing outside the orbit has radially
I
extending cutting formations. This supplementary chopper
in the supplementary housing is rotated to finely
community the coarsely cut crop therein and to reintroduce
the finely commented crop back into the main housing
upstream of the outlet.
Thus with the system of this invention the
high-speed main drum serves both for the initial coarse
comminution of the crop and for subsequently bringing the
reequipped crop back up to a speed sufficient to propel it
out of the housing. The supplementary conveyor/blower can
thus be wholly eliminated.
According to this invention the supplementary
cutter is rotatable about a supplementary axis fixed
relative to the main axis and the supplementary housing is
displaceable relative to the supplementary axis to vary
the spacing between itself and the formations. It is also
possible for the supplementary housing to be fixed on the
main housing and the supplementary cutter is rotatable
about a supplementary axis displaceable relative to the
supplementary axis to vary the spacing between itself and
the formations.
The formations according to this invention can
be pegs or can be radially projecting and axially
extending ridges. In addition two such supplementary
cutters can be provided with the same or different
formations and rotated in the same or opposite directions.
Normally the supplementary housing is internally formed
with projections cooperating with the formations.
The system of this invention can also have a
stationary blade fixed in the main housing immediately
downstream of the secondary housing. The drive can be a
flexible and endless drive element spanned between the
secondary cutter and the main drum.
To convert the machine of this invention to a
single-stage chopper, it is provided with an arcuate
shield centered on the axis and engage able within the
supplementary housing to block entry of the coarsely cut
crop whereinto. In addition, when the supplementary
housing is thus closed off, the drive for the
supplementary chopper/crusher is also stopped so its rotor
or rotors need not turn. Thus when the supplementary
chopping is not needed, this shield is set in place,
making the machine quite versatile.
Description of the Drawing
The above and other features and advantages will
become more readily apparent from the following, it being
understood that any feature described with reference to
one embodiment of the invention can be used where possible
with any other embodiment. In the accompanying drawing:
FIG. 1 is a vertical cross section through a
portion of a chopper according to this invention; and
FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 5 are detail views of
variations on the field chopper of the invention
Specific Description
As seen in FIG. 1 a crop chopper according to
this invention has a cylindrical main housing 5 centered
on a horizontal axis A and containing a rotor 2 centered
on and rotatable about the axis A. The main housing 5 has
I
an end wall 1 formed offset from the axis A with an
axially opening intake 8 into which cut crop is weed and a
rear upwardly opening outlet 6 connected to a feed tube or
chute 7 that empties directly into the takeoff truck
adjacent the chassis l o
The rotor 2 has four angularly equispaced and
radially extending blades 4 rotatable in a sense d about
the axis A and carrying a plurality of vanes 3. The
cutting edges of the blades 4 sweep across the intake 8
whose downstream edge may be provided with a stationary
blade.
Thus crop inserted axially into the intake will
be coarsely commented or chopped, the thus produced
chucks will be swept clockwise around in the housing 5,
and can be expelled tangentially through the outlet 6 in
part blown by the air currents created by the vanes 3,
According to the invention the main housing 5 is
provided with a supplementary housing 9 forming a radially
inwardly open and axially extending pocket snugly
receiving a pair of supplementary chopping drums 10
rotatable about axes A' parallel to and equispaced from
the axis A. This housing 9 is provided relative to the
sense d downstream of the intake 8 and upstream of a
housing wall portion 12 that terminates at the outlet 6.
The drums 10 are provided with radially
extending pins or teeth 15 like a threshing drum and the
housing 9 has an arcuate wall portion 11 provided with
similar such formations 16. This wall portion 11 is
pivoted at an axis A" parallel to and ahead in the
direction D from the axis A' by means of a pivot 14 and
$
displaceable about this axis by an eccentric 13. The
main housing 5 can be provided immediately downstream of
the supplementary housing 9 with a blade 18. A belt 17
interconnects the rotor 2 and drums 10 for joint
codirectional rotation.
Thus with the system of the invention the chunks
of crop cut by the blades 4 are directed into the
supplementary housing 9 where they are more finely
commented between the formations 15 and 16 of the
rotating drums 10 and the stationary housing wall 11. Any
remaining chunks will be further commented between the
blades 4 and 18, and the resultant whole plant fodder will
be propelled by the blades 4 and vanes 3 at great speed up
into the chute 7 which, as mentioned above, opens directly
at its end into the takeoff truck.
FIG. 1 also shows how a part-cylindrical shield
25 centered on the axis A can block off the housing 9 to
eliminate the effect of the supplementary chopping unit.
Thus the arrangement is easily converted to one-stage
comminution. When the shield 25 is in use the drive 17 is
disconnected to arrest the drums 10.
In the arrangement of FIG. 2 a single such drum
lo is provided which is identical to the drums 10 and the
other drum is replaced by a drum 19 formed with axially
extending ridges aye. The housing pa has a stationary and
smooth-walled downstream portion devoid of formations 16
around the ridged drum 19. In addition the belt 17 is
spanned such that the ridged drum will rotate opposite to
the wheel 2 and drum loan Such a supplementary chopper
forms very small and uniform fragments.
2 ho I
In FIG. 3 the arrangement has a single such drum
lob and the housing 9b is similarly short and
complementary to this drum lob
The system of FIG. 4 uses a single drum 19
identical to the ridged drum of JIG. 2 but used all alone
as in FIG. 3. once again this drum 19 is counter rotated
to the rotor 2 and the inside of its housing 9c is smooth.
In FIG. 5 a plurality of blades 21 like the
blades 4 are carried on the outer ends of arms 23 whose
inner ends are pivoted at the axis A. The supplementary
housing Ed here is stationary and has axially extending
ribs 22 in its wall portion 11 juxtaposed with the orbit
of the blades 21. A threaded spindle 24 can angularly
displace the drum 20~ which is codirectionally rotated
with the rotor 2, to vary the spacing between the blade
orbit and the formations 22. The belt 17 orbits the
blades 21 codirectionally with the blades 4. This
arrangement can be set for a very fine supplementary
comminution.
With all the arrangements of the present
invention the rotor 2 coarsely chops the crop and then
delivers it immediately to the supplementary chopping unit
which comments it somewhat more finely and returns the
twice commented crop to the rotor 2. The rotor 2
therefore serves at least to coarsely community the crop
and then/ after the supplementary comm.inution, to again
bring the crop up to a speed sufficient to propel it out
the outlet 6.
--8--
