Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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124015~
"DUPLEX PULL-TYPE FARM IMPLEMENT"
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a duplex pull-type farm
implement which is particularly but not exclusively directed
to a swather or windrower which can be used in duplex, that
is one swather can be pulled in echelon relationship rela-
tive to the first.
In recent years there has been growing pressure
particularly from the farmers in the large grain growing
areas to increase the size and working width of farm imple-
ments so as to reduce the number of passages across the
land by the tractor or implement. This has been of particu-
lar importance in swathers and attempts have been made to
couple swathers together for use in tandem or in duplex
where one moves across the land forwardly and to one side
of the second under motive power from the same tractor. No
satisfactory arrangement has however been developed for
coupling the first and second implements to achieve proper
steering control over both merely by towing the first.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is one object of the invention to provide a
coupling between a first implement and a second impleme~t
arranged in echelon which provides a very manoeuverable
machine while moving in the working direction and a machine
which can be readily transferred into the transport position.
According to a first aspect of the invention,
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therefore, there is provided a duplex pull-type farm imple-
ment arrangement comprising a first implement and a second
implement, first hitch means for transmitting a driving
force to said first implement, rigid second hitch means ex-
tending generally rearwardly from a rear end of the first
implement to a forward end of the second implement and arrang-
ed to communicate said driving force from the first imple-
ment to the second implement, means for pivotally coupling
a front end of the second hitch means to the first implement
for pivotal movement about a substantially vertical axis,
means for pivotally coupling a rear end of the second hitch
means to the second implement for pivotal movement about a
substantially vertical axis and steering means for controll-
ing the pivotal movements about said axes whereby said second
implement follows the first in echelon relationship in a
working direction.
According to a second aspect of the invention
there is provided a duplex pull-type farm implement arrange-
ment comprising a first implement and a second implement,
first hitch means for transmitting a driving force to said
first implement, rigid second hitch means extending general-
ly rearwardly from a rear end of the first implement to a
forward end of the second implement and arranged to communi-
cate said driving force from the first implement to the
second implement, means for pivotally coupling a front end
of the secnd hitch means to the first implement for pivotal
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movement about a substantially vertical axis, means for
pivotally coupling a rear end of the second hitch means to
the second implement for pivotal movement about a substan-
tially vertical axis and steering means for controlling the
pivotal movement about said axes whereby said second imple-
ment follows the first in echelon relationship in a working
direction, said steering means comprising means for biasing
said second implement relative to the second hitch means so
as to tend to steer said second implement in one direction
0 and linkage means for detecting changes in angle between
the first implement and the second hitch means and for pull-
ing said second implement relative to the second hitch means
against said bias to cause steering movement of said second
implement in a direction opposite to said detected changes
whereby said second implement is steered in a direction
opposite the first.
The invention enables the second or duplex swather
co be steered relative to the first. This can be achieved
by detecting changes in angle between the hitch means and
the first swather and in dependence upon these changes,
steering the second swather so as to change the angle between
it and the hitch means. This, in accordance with an advan-
tageous embodiment, is achieved by biassing the second swather
in one direction and then pulling it back in the other direc-
tion in accordance with movement of a linkage attached be-
tween the hitch means and the rear of the first swather.
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In addition, the pivotally mounted hitch means
allows the hitch to return relative to both swathers so that
both swathers can be converted into the transport position
quickly and easily and the hitch means latched to the front
swather so as to aprevent pivotal movement in the transport
mode.
With 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, the
invention is herein described by reference to the accompany-
ing drawings forming a part hereof, which includes a descrip-
tion of the best mode known to the applicant and of the pre-
ferred typical embodiment of the principles of the present
invention, in which:
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a schematic plan view of a single
pull-type swather attached to a tractor and positioned in
the transport mode.
Figure 2 is a view similar to that of Figure 1
showing the swather in the field or working position.
Figure 2A is a plan view of the locking mechanism
of the lefthand wheel in the locked position and in the
field position of Figure 2.
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- Figure 3 is a plan view of a detail of Figure 2
showing the right hand wheel in field position.
Figure 4 is an elevational view of the right hand
wheel in the field position.
Figure 5 is a plan view similar to that of Figure
3 showing the right hand wheel in the transport position.
Figure 6 is an elevational view similar to that of
Figure 4 showing the right hand wheel in the transport posi-
tion.
Figure 7 is a cross sectional view of the tele-
scoping hitch arm 11 of Figure 1.
Figures 8 and 8A together form a plan view of a
hitch for coupling a second swather to the rear of the first
in a tandem or duplex arrangement.
Figure 9 is a schematic plan view of the swathers
and hitch of Figure 8 showing a steering movement of the
duplex swather arrangement to the left.
Figure 10 is a plan view similar to that of Figure
9 showing the duplex swather arrangement in a steering move-
ment to the right.
Figure 11 is a plan view similar to that of Figures9 and 10 showing the duplex swather arrangement in trans-
port position.
In the drawings like characters of reference in-
dicate corresponding parts in the different figures.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTI~N
Turning firstly to Figures 1 through 7 which
show the hitch and supporting wheel arrangements of a sin-
gle swather, the construction of the swather will not be
described in detail since it is of a conventional arran-
gement, except to state that the swather comprises a frame
20 which is substantially rigidly supported from a main
support beam 21 of generally circular cross section. The
frame in turn supports a blade schematically indlcated at
22 and a pair of drapers 23 which, in conventional manner,
transport the cut crop inwardly toward a centre opening
24 through which it is deposited to form a swath behind
the swather indicated in Figure 2 at 25.
As shown again schematically in Figures 4 and 6,
the drapers 23 are positioned rearwardly from the blade 22.
The frame 20 is pivotally mounted relative to the main sup-
port beam 21 and can be raised and lowered by a piston
and cylinder arrangement 26 to adjust the height of the
blade 22 relative to the main support beam 21 and there-
fore relative to the ground. The frame may also be sup-
ported relative to the support beam 21 by a spring (not
shown) to allow the blade and frame to lift from the
ground when the blade contacts a rigid object and to re-
turn to the ground to continue cu~ting the crop after the
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object.
The frame terminates in a transverse forward
bar 27 which is coupled to the remainder of the frame in
a manner which need not be described in detail. The bar
27 is coupled to the rear of a tractor by a hitch gene-
rally indicated at 10. The hitch includes two rearwardly
extending hitch arms 11 and 12 coupled at a common hitch
point 13 to the rear of the tractor. The hitch arms 11
and 12 diverge at a shallow angle. The rear end of each
of the hitch arms 11 and 12 is connected to a transverse
bar 14 by pivotal couplings 15 and 16 respectively. The
transverse bar 14 is in turn coupled to the front apex of
a triangular hitch frame comprising struts 17, 18 with a
further strut 19 acting to locate the position of the
transverse bar 14 relative to the struts 17, 18.
As shown in Figure 2, in the working position,
the hitch lies substantially parallel to the working di-
rection and substantially directly behind the tractor with
the transverse bar 14 at right angles to the working direc-
tion.
In order to move the hitch 10 into the trans-
port position shown in Figure 1, the hitch arm 11 is tele-
scopically extendable so that both the arms 11 and 12 pivot
about the pins 15, 16 on the transverse bar 14 and are then
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locked into position by the locking of the arm 11 in the ex-
tended position. The arm 11 is shown in more detail in Figure
7. The arm comprises an outer rectangular sleeve member 110
and an inner sliding member 111 which can fit within the
sleeve 110 for sliding movement between a retracted and an
extended position. The front end of the sleeve member 110
includes a pair of hitch lugs 112 for coupling to the hitch
arm 12 to allow the pivotal movement necessary to accommodate
the reduction in the angle between the arms 11 and 12 in
movement from the field position to the transport position.
The sleeve 110 carries a latch mechanism 113
including a handle 114 which can be pivoted upwardly against
the force of a spring 115 to retract pin 116 from an open-
ing through the sleeve member through which the pin 116
projects. The pin 116 has a flat lli on one side.
The inner sliding member 111 also includes a pair
of hitch lugs 118 at the rear end for attachment to the trans-
verse bar 14. The telescoping hitch is locked in the field
position by engagement of the pin 116 with a block 119 posi-
tioned in an opening in the upper face of the inner portion
111. The block 119 may be bolted to the side of the portion
111 so that the bolts 129 will break under an excessive load.
The handle 114 is turned to position the flat 117 of the pin
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116 against the block 11~. In order to move to the trans-
port position, the handle 114 is used to raise the pin
116 and rotate through 180. In that position, it bears
on top of the block 119 and allows the inner member to
be extended and locked in the transport position shown
in Figure 7. In order to control the sliding movement,
plates 120 are provided on the bottom of the inner member
111 and a stop plate 121 is positioned at the end of the
sleeve 110 to prevent the inner member 111 from sliding
completely out of the sleeve 110.
Turning now to the details of the supporting
wheels, both wheels are mounted on horizontal axles for
rotation about the axle with the axle in turn mounted for
pivotal movement about a substantially vertical axis so
the axle can be moved to move the wheel with the wheels in
the transport position shown in Figure 1 and in the field
position shown in Figure 2. The pivotal movement about
the substantially vertical axis can be used to allow a
castor movement about a castor sl.eeve 30 (Figures 4 and 2A).
The castor sleeve 30 for the left hand wheel
is positioned substantially directly beneath the tubular
main support beam 21 and the slee~e for the right hand
wheel is positioned forwardly of the beam ~1 on a beam 210
supported by the main beam 21.
124~)15~3
The left hand wheel includes a locking mechanism
which is shown in schematic form in Figures 1 and 2 and in
enlarged detail in Figure 2A. This includes a plate 321 at-
tached to the castor sleeve 30 which includes a notch 322 at
one part of its periphery for cooperation with a pin 323
which is biased forwardly into the notch by a spring 324. A
handle 325 is attached to the pin 323 and cooperates with a
housing 326 so that when pivoted through 90 to extend di-
rectly outwardly, the handle 325 draws the pin 323 out of
contact with the notch 322. The position of engagement where
the handle lies at right angles to the pin is shown in Figures
2 and 2A and in this position, the pin 323 locks the plate
321 against rotational movement thus preventing rotational
movement of the axle about the substantially vertical pivot
axis and locks the wheel in the field position.
Steering adjustment of the left hand wheel can be
obtained by moving the housing 326 relative to a support plate
327 to adjust the angle of the pin 323 relative to the sleeve
30.
When the handle 325 is operated to release the
plate 321, the left hand wheel is free to castor to take
up the transport direction as shown in Figure 1.
The right hand wheel is shown in more detail in
Figures 3 through 6 and in this case instead of the axle 40
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11
supporting the wheel 41 being directly coupled beneath the
sleeve 30 for castoring action around the sleeve 30, the
axle 40 in this case is offset relative to the sleeve 30 so
that rotation of the axle about the axis of the sleeve 30
causes a movement of the wheel transversely to the position
shown in Figures 1 and 5. In this regard, the axle 40 is
supported upon a lever mechanism comprising a first support
bar 41 and a second support bar 42 both of which are coupled
to a plate 43 which pivots abou~ the axis of the sleeve 30
and lies in a plane substantially at right angles to the
axis. The movement of the plate 43 about the sleeve 30 is
controlled by a piston/cylinder 44 which is mounted at one
end by a coupling 45 to the main support beam 21 and at the
other end, through a loose coupling to the plate 43.
In a field position of the right hand wheel shown
in Figures 3 and 4, the right hand wheel is free to castor
and hence tgurns in a clockwise direction as shown in Figure
3 until the collar 441 on the piston rod 442 contacts the
end 443 of the cylinder. In this position the frame is sub-
stantially completely supported by the left hand wheel andthe right hand wheel, both of which remain effectively sta-
tionary in the working direction and both of which are arran-
ged inboard of the ends of the frame and substantially rear-
wardly of the drapers 23.
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When it is intended to move into the transport
position, the left hand wheel is unlocked by operation of
the handle 325 and the piston 44 is operated to rotate the
right hand wheel about the vertical axis to move it into
the forward position beneath the draper shown in Figures 1,
5 and 6. In order to accommodate this movement, the dra-
pers 23, blade 22 and frame are raised relative to the main
support beam 21 by the piston/cylinder 26. As opposed to
conventional swathers of this type, the lifting of the frame
is arranged to provide sufficient movement to accommodate
the movement of the wheel 401 into the transport position
shown.
The right hand wheel 401 is then locked into the
transport position by locking of the plate 43 in the rotated
position shown in Figure 5 by a lug 46 which is coupled to
a frame member 47 by an adjustable bolt arrangement 48.
A lock pin 49 can simply be removably positioned to co-
operate with openings in the plate 43 and the lug 46 to
retain the plate 43 in a locked position controlled by the
adjustment of the bolt 48.
The adjustment of the bolt 48 controls the
angle of the wheel 401 relative to the rear of the frame
in the transport position thus controlling the angle of
the frame as it moves in the transport direction. In the
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transport position, the front wheel or left hand wheel is
free to castor so as to accommodate steering movements of
the frame while the rear or right hand wheel follows the
movement of the tractor. The front and rear wheels are
spaced either side of the centre of gravity of the frame
and either s~de of the line running directly backwardly
from the tractor through the frame so as to provide a stable
support for the frame as it moves in the transport direc-
tion.
Turning now to Figures 8 through 11, there is
shown a duplex swather arrangement in which both of the
swathers include the wheel mounting arrangement previously
described and the front swather ilncludes a hitch 10 as
previously described. The front swather is generally in-
dicated at 50 and the second swather is generally indica-
ted at 51 with the swathers being substantially of the same
construction except that the rear swather 51 is modified
to incorporate a supporting front wheel 52. The front
wheel is mounted upon a frame member 53 and is attached
thereto by a castoring mechanism o~ conventional arrange-
ment.
The frame of the rear swather 51 is attached
to the ~rame member 53 by a lever mechanism generally in-
dicated at 54 which allows the front of the rear swather
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_ 14
to be raised and lowered in a similar manner to that pre-
viously described in relation to the piston/cylinder 26.
Thus there is provided a cylinder/piston 541
and a spring 542 which control the height of the blade and
drapers.
The front and rear swathers 50, 51 are coupled
by a duplex hitch arrangement generally indicated at 55
which is shown in more detail in Figures 8 and 8A. The
hitch communicates pulling force from a bracket 550 attached
to the front swather which provides a two directional pivotal
coupling relative to a substantially triangular frame sec-
tion 551. The frame section 551 is formed of a box section
and is connected by bolts 552 to a further substantially
triangular section 553 which extends rearwardly and to one
side of the section 551. The section 553 is coupled to the
frame member 53 by a pivotal coupling 554 which allows
pivotal movement about both a horizontal axis to accommo-
date changes in height between the front and rear swathers
and also about a vertical axis to accommodate steering
movements of the rear swather relative to the hitch 55.
The hitch 55 therefore provides a rigid linkage
for communicting pulling forces from the front swather to
the rear swather but is pivotally coupled to both the front
swather and the rear swather to allow relative movement
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therebetween in a steering and height adjustment direction.
The face of the hitch section 553 adjacent the
frame member 53 is inclined outwardly and rearwardly and
the cooperating face of the frame member 53 is inclined
inwardly and rearwardly so as to provide faces which are
substantially parallel. A strong compression spring 56
is coupled between the faces on respective lugs 561, 562
so as to bias the frame member 53 to move or pivot in a
clockwise direction relative to the pivot 554. Thus, the
front of the rear swather is biased to a steering movement
toward the right. This bias is also applied to the wheel
52 by a spring and linkage 532. This steering movement is
constrained by a linkage which passes through the interior
of the hitch 55, the linkage indicated genereally at 60.
The linkage 60 includes a first tension bar 61
attached to the frame member 53 forwardly of the spring
56. The tension bar is coupled to a pivot plate 62 at
one corner thereof with the pivot plate 62 pivoted inside
the hitch member 551 on a pin 63. A rod 64 running sub-
stantially along the length of the hitch section 551 iscoupled to a third corner of the plate 62 with the fourth
corner including a stop 65 for engaging a spring mounted
stop plate 66 to prevent excessive movement of the plate
62. The rod 64 is, in turn, coupled to a chain 67 attached
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_ 16
to the rear of the front swather at a position spaced from
the coupling 550.
The movement of the rod 64 is controlled by a
bar 68 so that it can move backwards and forwards along
the length of the section 551 to control the movement of
the plate 62 and thence the tension bar 61.
The length of the chain 67 is chosen or adjusted
such that with the front swather moving straight forward
in the working direction behind the tractor, the hitch
55 extends rearwardly and sidewardly relative to the front
swather to attach to the rear swather at the front left
hand corner thereof whereby the rear swather follows the
front swather in echelon arrangement.
The chain thus is taut in this position so that
it holds the tension bar 61 to prevent the spring 56 from
biassing the rear swather to steer to the right so the
rear swather follows in the working direction.
It will be appreciated that should the front
swather turn to the left as shown in Figure 9, the distance
between the connection point 68 of the chain 67 on the
rear of the front swather and the end of the hitch 55
will reduce thus allowing the rod 64 to move rearwardly in
the hitch 55 to allow the tension bar 61 to release the
frame member 53 to move to the right under the bias from
i2~0158
.
the spring 56. Thus, a change of angle of the hitch 55
relative to the front swather is detected by the chain 67
and communicated to the rear swather which moves through
a similar change in angle to steer to the right. The re-
sult of the steering movements is shown in Figure 9 and
it will be seen that the rear swather then properly tracks
the front swather to maintain the correct echelon relation-
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ship and to avoid twisting or sideways forces on the rearswather.
Similarly, as shown in Figure 10, as the front
swather steers to the right, more chain 67 is drawn to ac-
commodate the increase in angle between the hitch 55 and
the rear of the front swather thus reducing the angle bet-
ween the hitch and the rear swather so that the rear swather
steers to the left as shown.
These steering movements provide a very highly
manoeuverable duplex swather arrangement which can turn
tight corners while avoiding excessive sideways forces and
avoiding areas of crop remaining uncut. This manoeuver-
ability allows the duplex swather to avoid obstacles by
suitable steering movements controlled by the direction
of the tractor.
Turning now to Figure 11~ movement of the
swathers into the transport position can be achieved by
unlocking the ground wheels as previously described and
by adjusting the front hitch as previously described. The
intermediate or duplex hitch is then turned as shown in
Figure 11 and is latched to the rear of the front swather
by a latch 70 schematically indicated in the Figure and
shown in more detail in Figure 8.
The latch is operated by a lever 71, omitted
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19
from Figure 8 for the sake of clarity, which is manually
operated to move a latch finger to engage a suitable loop
72 provided at the rear of the front swather. Thus, the
hitch 55 is locked into position extending substantially
rearwardly of the front swather. It will be noted that
the length of the front section 551 of the hitch 55 is
chosen such that it extends substantially half the way
along the front swather and terminates adjacent one end
of the front swather whereby the rear section 552 extends
around the end of the front swather to connect with the
rear swather at the coupling 554 as previously described.
The spring 56 in this position is substantially
fully extended and hence provides little force between the
hitch 55 and the rear swather or in fact it can be discon-
nected.
The front wheel 52 of the rear swather is released
to castor and therefore turns in the transport direction
along with the wheels 40 as previously described. The re-
lease of the front wheel is obtained by a linkage generally
indicated at 521 which is operated by raising of the swa-
ther by operation of the cylinder 541. Thus, the duplex
swather arrangement takes up the transport position which
is stable based upon the movement of the wheels 40 as pre-
viously described with the wheel 52 supporting the front
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edge of the hitch 55 and the front frame member 53 of the
rear swather 51.
Turning again to Figures 9 and 10, the duplex
swather can be used in alternative arrangements to pro-
vide four different swath arrangements. In the first
arrangement shown in Figure 9, the drapers 23 are arranged
conventionally so that each of the two parts of the swather
forms a separate swath 25 centrally of the drapers 23. In
a second arrangement shown in Figure 10, a pivotally mounted
centre section 231 is arranged over the central opening of
the rear swather 51 and an intermediate length conveyor 80
is positioned at the end of the rear swather 51 to transport
the swath to a position adjacent the swath 25 from the first
or front swather 50. Thus, the swath from the rear swather
indicated at 251 lies immediately adjacent or side by side
relative to the swath from the front swather 50.
In alternative arrangements (not shown) a long
conveyor can be used in place of the conveyor 80 in order
to deposit the swath 251 directly on top of the swath 25.
In a yet further arrangement (not shown) a short conveyor
is used in replacement of the conveyor 80 to place the
swath 251 adjacent to but spaced from the swath 25. These
swath arrangements can be selected as required by the farmer
to accommodate the combine harvester or baling equipment
~Z40~5~
which he proposes to use.
Since various modifications can be made in my
invention as nereinabove 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
accompanying specification shall be interpreted as illus-
trative only snd not in a limiting sense.
