Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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~, ~j SEPAR~'l' ll~G APP~Rl~'~U~;
~5 The present invention relates to apparatus ~or
,
harvesting erop.
The apparatus is concerned with harvestlng
05 apparatus for detaching grain, or other required
portions of a crop, from a standing crop, to leave the
' remaining stripped parts of the crop standlng in the
~ield~ The invention has particular application ln the
harvesting of grain crops, such as wheat, oats, barley
and rice. There have bean proposed previously a larg~
number of different forms of appara~us for ~tripping
crop in this way, and the presen~ invention ts
:~. particularly applicable in connection with the.
apparatus and method set out in our previou~ patent
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I ! 15 applicationS WO 86/019~2 (NRDC). In such apparatu~ one
of the main advantages is that the erop mixture leavl~g
i the stripping means has a much lower portion o~
unwanted material than i~ the case with a conventional
cutting table of a combine harves~er. Howe~er, the
mlxture leaving the stripper still cont~in3 unwanted
material such as straw, and the mix~ure is th~refore
fed to a threshing means:for separating the r~uired
crop parts ~uch as the grain.
It has b~en found that, in the ease of a grain
~5 crop, the mixture leaving the stripping means includes
a ~ubstantial proportion of free grain, which has in
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effect been threshed by the action of the stripping
means. It is one object of the present invention, at
least in preferred embodiments, to provide apparatus
for separating such free grain from the crop mixture
05 before the crop mixture is passed to a threshing means.
However, in a broader aspect, it is an object of the
invention to provide means for separating other free
required crop parts from a harvested mixture of free
required crop parts and other material.
According to the present invention there is
provided apparatus for harvesting crop comprising a
mobile frame for movement over the ground, crop
stripping means comprising a plurality of outwardly
projecting crop stripping elements mounted on a
moveable support means in a transverse array across the
direction of forward movement of the frame, and drive
means for driving the moveable support means to move
the crop stripping elements upwardly through the crop
as the apparatus moves forwardly, so as to detach from
standing crop predetermined required parts of the crop,
a conveying auger arranged transverse to the direction
of forward travel of the apparatus for receiving
detached crop material from the crop stripping means
and conveying the crop material transversely to the
direction of forward travel of the apparatus, and an
apertured screen beneath the auger for separating
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required crop parts from the crop material by the
required crop parts passing through the apertured
screen as the crop material i5 moved over the screen by
the auger.
05 The apertured screen may comprise a perforated
sheet of material, for example having circular holes,
or may be formed by any member suitable to ~orm the
base of the pathway under the auger and having
apertures which may be circular, rectangular, or of any
other appropriate shape. For example the apertured
screen may comprise a grill or grating.
The auger may be a conventional single Elight
auger, or multiple flight auger, or may have separated
paddle flights, or other means for transferring the
mixture in an axial direction generally in the ~anner
of an auger.
Preferably, the auger is arranged to receive crop
material from the crop stripping means across
substantially the full width o~ the auger, and to
gather the material transversely to an exit from the
auger which is narrower than the width of the auger.
For example the auger may be a centre feed auger having
a centrally placed exit from the auger.
Preferably the moveable support means is a rotor
mounted for rotation about an axis transverse to the
direction of movement of the apparatus.
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In one preferred arrangement, there is provided a
brush or other ~lexible material attached to the outer
edge o~ the auger flight, for facilitating passage of
free crop parts through the apertured screen by
05 sweeping the crop material across the screen. In
addition, or as an alternative, there may be included a
series of flexible paddles mounted on a central core of
the auger, for sweeping over the apertured screen and
for urging free crop parts through the screen.
The ~invention has particular use in apparatus in
which the said auger is a feed auger for collecting
crop mixture from the full width of an array of
stripping elements, and for gathering the crop mixture
for onward conveying to a threshing means.
In a preferred form the apparatus includes
threshing means arranged to receive from the auger crop
material which has been conveyed over the screen.
Preferably the apparatus includes further conveying
means for collecting required crop parts which have
passed through the perforated screen, and for conveying
these required crop parts to join further required crop
parts which have been separated by the said threshing
means.
The invention has particular use where the
apparatus is adapted to strip free grain and grain
heads from a standing grain crop, the said apertured
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~areen being dimensioned to allow ~ree grain to ~a~a
through the apertures while preventing pa~sa~e of ~ra~n
head~.
The apparatus has particular application in a
05 harve~ting apparatus of the kind set out in our
publi~hed patent application No: WO 86/01972. The
pr~3ent inv~ntion has particular use where a mobile
harvesting apparatus includes crop strippin~ elements
mounted on a rotor, eaah of the element~ having a
di~crete narrow tip for entering into and dividing
crop, and haviny edges for detaching re~u~red cro~
parts, the sides of the elements diverging from each
, j other in a direction away from the distal tip of the
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element, and each crop stripping el~m~nt hav~n~ a
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! j 15 tran~verse surface between the said diver~ing ~ides for
impelling the detached crop parts along a crop flow
I pa~sage~ the drive mean~ being arranged to drive the
¦ crop stripping elements at a speed such that detached
crop parts do not reside to any substantial ~xt~nt on
2Q the moving crop strlpping elements, and the arrangement
being such as to deliver from the rotor a high-~peed
st~eam of detached crop parts in a wide crop ~tr~am
extending transverse to ~he direction of for~ard
movement of ~he apparatus. Such a wide crop stream i~
then conveniently collected centrally by a tran~verse
. au~er, which in accordance with the invention aan be
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~ade to serve an additional function o~ separating crop
parts from the mixture by the use of the aper9;ured
scr ee n benea th th e aug er .
The u~e of the present invention in such apparatus
05 may be used to increase the grain through-put when the
harvested grain crop is passed to a conventional
combirle harve3ter, and also to reduce th¢ amount of
damage to seed caused by the severe action of the
thre~h ing drum. It is known that the composition of
10 the material harvested by a stripping rotor of the k~nd
set out abc>ve contain~ between 20% and 72% of free
~rain (an average value may be 47% ) that ha~ b~en
thr~hed by the action of the s~ripping ro~or. I this
amount of grain can be separated from the main flow o
15 material into the combine threshing and separatlng
mechanism, it will (a) not pass through the threslhing
drum and risk damage, and (b) reduce the amount o~
grain to be separated by the drum and iEollowing
~eparating system, whether ~chis system ~on~lsts of
20 straw walkers, an axial flow separating ~y~tem7 or
multi-drum type, or other type of grain/~traw
~epara~ing mecharlism. Reducing the loading on ths~e
components allows an increase in the grain harve~ti~
capacity of the com~ine harvester.
Embodiments of the invention will now bs de~c~ib~d
by way o example with r~ference ~o the accompanying
drawlngs in wh ich :~
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~ igure 1 is a diagrarnmatic side view of ap~aratue
~or separating free grain from a mixture of grain and
other material in a mobile harvestin~ apparatu~s
Figure 2 is a perspec~ive view of part o~ a
05 conve~ing auger shown in Figure 1, and ~mbodyin~ the
invention;
~ igure 3 is a perspective view of a modificatlon
of the conveying auger of Figure 2;
Figure 4 is a diagrammatic perspective view of an
elevator shown in Figure 1; and
Figure 5 is a front view of a crop stripping rotor
suitable for use in the apparatus of Pi~ure 1.
~ e~erring to Figures 1 and 5, the apparatu~ shown
by way o~ example is a harvesting apparatu6 for
~tripping grain frcm a cereal crop. The apparatu~
com~rises a mobile frame 12 on which is mounted a rotor
11~ carrying outwardly projecting crop engaging
elements 15~ The rotor 11 is driven in the so-callsd
overshot mode so ~hat the crop engaging element~ lS are
moved in an upward direction at the ~ront of th~
apparatus. A hood or cover 18 extends around at least
part of the fxont half of the rotor and define~ w1th
~he rotor elements 15 a crop 10w passag~ 33 along
which crop is conveyed by the rotor.
~5 In operation, rotation of the rotor 11 moves the
crop engagin~ elements 15 so that the di~tal tip~ oE
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3 the elements enter the crop with minimum disturbance o
the stems of the crop, the elements 15 then ~ove
upwardly through the crop, gatheri~g one or more crop
stems. As the elements 15 reach the upper part3 of the
05 cro~ ~he required crop parts, ~or example grain, are
detached ~rom the stems. After detachment, the
. r~quired crop parts are conveyed upwardly and
; rearwardly over the rotor 11 and pas~ to a transver~e
crop feed auger 27 positioned within a collecting
10 trough 28~ for transferring crop laterally towards the
c~ntre o~ the apparatus. ~he crop i6 then transferred
rearwardly by a ~latted chain elevator 31 up an
j incIined pathway.
Re~rring to Figure 5, the rotor 11 compris~s an
15 inner core 13 and a succession of ~ran~verse comb~ 14
~paced circumferentially around the rotor~ Each tooth
15 of the comb has s~de edges 16 and 17 whlch diverge
~rom e~ch other in a direction away from the dist~l tip
o~ th~ tooth 15. There is provided at the junction of
20 aach adjacent pair of side edges 16 and 17 of adjace~t
¦ teeth 15, an enlarged aperturs 21 formed ~y relieved
por~ions of adjacent teeth at the ba~e raglon~ ~hereof.
; In operation material incl~ding fre~ gr~in, ~rain
1 head~, and some straw, is di~lodgad by the ~ide edg~
j 2S and ap~rtures 21 of the teeth 15, and i~ impellsd
upwardly and rearwardly along th~ pas~age 33 to the
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aug~r 27,
The gener~l operation of the crop strippin~ rotor
11 may be as set out in our prior E~ublished patent
~pplicat~on WO 86/01972.
05 With reference to Figures 1 and 2, the ba~e of the
auger trough 28 is constructed ~rom perforated material
- forming an apertured screen 40, the perforated material
hav~n~ an aperture size best suited to the type of
~ ~rain being harvested. For cereal crop~ the best size
i 10 may be 12 mm round holes, but this can ran~e from about
8 to 14 mm. Alternatively ths hole6 could be ~guare,
rectangular or any other suitable shape- The
1 p~rforated materi~l may form the total area of the
au~er trou~h, or simply form part of it along th~ ~xis
o~ the auger, with non-perfora~ed sheet ~orming the
' remainder.
'I By necessity, tha auger usually h~s a alearance of
about 10 mm be~ween itself and the auger trough.
Embodiments of the invention may include such an
~ arran~ement, but preferably, for sep~ration to be more
effective, the perfo~ated material may b~ ~wept ~y a
brush or flexible material attached to the auger.
~eferring to Figure ~ there is shown a modi~ic~t~on of
the apparatus in which rubber or other flexi~le paddles
~1 are mounted on ~he core of the auger, following tAe
au~er ~crew over the full length o~ the auger. Al~o
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shown in Figure 4, brush or other flexible material 42
. is attached to the outer edge of the auger flight over
the ~ull length of the auger~ Both elements are
intended to sweep the perforated screen area
05 intermi~tently, and the two forms ~ sweeping el~ment
may be provided as alternatives, or in combination~
Beneath the perforated auger trough 28 is prov~ded
a further auger 43, shown in Figure 1, for collecting
free gr~in and transporting the grain. Where the
1~ appara~u~ comprises a grain stripping header fitted to
a conventional combine harvester, the grain 6eparated
at the perforated screan 40 is conven~ently conveyed by
the au~er 43 and by a ~urther upwardly inclined
~lsvator 44 to the grain p~n of thé conventional
lS comb~ne harvester, for cleaning by the combine ~ieve~.
Referring now to Figures 1 and ~, an additional
separating of free grain from the mixture may be
~chieved by an apertured screen 50 forming ths ba~e of
the pathway along which crop is elevat~d hy the chain
and slat elevator 31. The apertured ~creen 5Q may b~
~ormed of per~orated material such as has b~en
. ~e~cribed previously.
Material passing through the perforat0d ~creen 50
iv is collec~ed in a trough 51 ~nd oonveyed tr~n~verEely
'I 25 by a ~urther auger 52~ The free grain i~ ~hen
transferred by a fur~her inclined eleva~or 53 to the
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cleaning system of the combine. The material leaving
the elevator 31 passes to a threshing drum 54 Grain
threshed rom the drum 54 then passes to the grain pan
or straw walkers 55 for separation and cleaning in the
05 usual way. Any un-threshed heads that may be collected
by the pre-separator system formed by the two
perforated screens 40 and 50, will be returned to the
combine threshing drum 54 by way of the normal returns
system.
In the main form of the present invention, in
which -there is provided a transverse auger for
conveying and separating a mixture of free grain and
grain heads and other material, there may be provided a
modification in which roughened elements are attached
to the outer surface of the auger flights, and/or to
the auger pan, so as to obtain a degree of threshing of
unthreshed or partly threshed material, while the
material is moved transversely over the auger pan. The
roughened elements may be strips of metal of similar
2~ nature to conventional rasp bars in a conventional
threshing cylinder.
Thus in accordance with this feature of the
invention, there may be provided on the conveying
` means r and/or along the pathway over which the
conveying means conveys crop material, threshing
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members for effecting threshing of crop material during
conveying by conveying means~
Another modification which may be provided of an
embodiment of the invention when utilising an auger
05 conveying means, is that the auger pan may comprise a
number of easily replaceable sections allowing changes
of aperture size for widely differing crops.
Alternatively the auger pan may be formed from
adjustable aperture sieve sections.
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