Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
2~ 3A.~
FEED FORK APPARATUS FOR LARGE ROUND BALER
~ackqround of the Invention
The present invention concern~ a conveyor arrangement for
harvesting machine, in particular for a baler, with a conveyor
chute provided with slots and with conveyor teeth guided in
the slots that emerge from the slots during the conveying
process, and which exhibit a leading end face.
o ~ -- A known conveyor arrangement on a baler for the
production ~ round bales (U.S. Patent No. 4,580,398, granted
8 Apr. 1986) includes a conveyor chute penetrated by slots and
upon which crop is moved from a conveyor, known as a Hpick up"
to a bale forming chamber area. A feed fork apparatus
includes teeth which, during a feeding portion of their
travel, protrude through the slots and perform a controlled
movement, thereby transporting the crop. During the conveying
proce~s, the tips of the teeth move through a generally oval
path, one of whose long sides is parallel to the surface of
the conveyor chute.
The conveying action of these known feed fork teeth is
not considered satisfactory under all conditions; moreover
clogging can occur at the entrance to the bale forming
chamber.
The problem underlying the invention is seen as that of
proposing a conveyor arrangement of the type noted above, in
which clogging is largely avoided.
~ummarY of the Invention
According to the present invention, there is provided a
baler having a crop conveyor structure of the type noted above
but including feed fork teeth which operate in a satisfactory
manner under most conditions.
A broad ob~ect of the invention is to provide teeth which
are ~haped so as to prevent the crop from sliding down leading
faces thereof when the teeth are engaging crop which is being
advanced upwardly along the chute by the action of the teeth.
More specifically, it is an object of the invention to
provide a conveyor of the type noted above which includes
teeth having a leading edge having stair-like steps formed
therealong which engage the crop and prevent it from sliding
down the teeth.
2. ~ A ~ 2
These and other objects will become more apparent from a
reading of the following description together with the
appended drawings.
Brief Descri~tion of the Drawinas
FIG. 1 is a schematic left side elevational view of a
baler equipped with a conveyor including a feed fork apparatus
having teeth configured in accordance with the principles of
the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the conveyor shown in FIG.
1.
DescriDtion of the Preferred Embodiment
A harvesting machine 10, shown in FIG. 1, configured as a
baler, consists in general of a frame 12, an intake
arrangement 14, a bale forming chamber 16 and a roll 18
arranged as a starter roll.
The baler 10 is used to form compact, cylindrical bales
~so-called round bales) of crop products such as straw, hay,
grass or similar crops that are deposited in a field in
windrows or are cut there. The bale forming chamber 16 is
expansible and corresponds in its configuration in general
with a baler described in U.S. Patent No. 4,428,282. It is
also possible to apply the invention to another configuration
of a baler, in particular one with a bale forming chamber wit~,
fixed dimensions such as that disclosed in the aforementioned
U.S. Patent No. 4,580,398.
The frame 12 includes as significant components a chassis
20, side walls 22 and a draft tongue 24 for connection to an
agricultural tractor.
~he intake arrangement 14 is composed, in the present
embodiment, of a conveyor arrangement 36 and a conveyor
configured as a so-called pick up 38, that can take up crop
deposited in windrows on the ground and transport it to the
bale forming chamber 16. It is to be understood that a mower
head having the ability to cut and discharge the crop in an
upward path could be used in place of the pick up 38.
The bale forming chamber 16, as shown in FIG. 1, and
therefore in its initial state, takes on the shape of a wedge,
?,~ J1 ~2
delimited at its front and rear by first and second runs of a
plurality of belts 28 mounted side-by-side over several rolls
30. One or more of the rolls 30 are driven by a drive
arrangement 32 which is brought into rotation from the
agricultural tractor and move the belts 28 in a particular
direction. The belts 28 are put under tension by deflecting
to a side several of the rolls 30 together with the belts 28
running over them by a tensioning device 34 configured as a
spring. As can best be seen in FIG. 1, the crop is delivered
to the bale forming chamber 16 where it is brought into
rotation by the first and second runs of the belts 28, which
runs are moving in opposite directions in order for form the
core of a bale. During the operation across the field, more
and more crop is transported to the bale forming chamber 16,
60 that the core of the bale enlarges, and deflects the
surrounding belts 28 to the side. The belts 28 together with
the associated rolls 30 can deflect with increasing tension at
the tension device 34, until the bale forming chamber 16 has
taken up nearly all the space between the sid walls 22; then
the baling operation must be ended.
The roll 18 is located in the lower region of the bale
forming chamber 16, extends lengthwise between the two side
wall~ 22, is oriented parallel to the axis of the roll6 30,
does not change it~ position during the baling process, always
move~ close to the surface of the belts 28 and is al~o driven
by moan~ of the drive arrangement 32. By reason of its
location, the roller 18 assumes the role of a 6tarter roll,
that i8, it assist~ the formation process, ~ince it helps in
bringing the crop into rotation in the initially empty bale
forming chamber 16. For this purpose, it moves opposite to
the direction of movement of the adjacent run of the belts 28.
The principal components of the conveyor arrangement 36
are a conveyor chute 40, slots 42 formed in the chute and a
feed fork apparatus including conveyor teeth 44 arranged one
in each slot 42 and a tooth control 46. The conveyor
arrangement 36 follows downstream of the pick up 38 and
~ 2J
transports the crop from the conveyor arrangement 36 to the
bale forming chamber 16.
The slots 42 extend in the direction of motion of the
conveyor teeth 44, that is, in the direction of conveying
itself; they are slightly wider that the conveyor teeth 44 in
the region in which the latter penetrate through the slots 42
of the conveyor chute 40.
The conveyor teeth 44 are arranged in one or more rows
parallel to each other and at least move in groups in common.
In their totality, the conveyor teeth 44 extend over the
entire width of the intake arrangement 14 and, except for
steps 56 still to be described, are configured in the shape of
a pointed wedge, whose widest part 48 always moves below the
surface of the conveyor chute 40 and hence outside the
conveying space, and whose point 50 moves above the conveyor
chute 40 during the conveying process. The conveyor teeth 44
exhibit, with reference to the direction of crop movement
along the chute 40, a leading end face 52 and a trailing end
face 54 which extend generally perpendicular to the conveying
surface. The leading end face 52 engages the crop, which then
adheres until it iB disengaged from the conveyor teeth 44 at
the delivery point located downstream. The leading end face
52 applies a certain pressure to the crop, that results from
the re~istance of the crop to upward motion acro~s the
conveyor chute 40. The leading end face 52 does not extend in
a otraight line, but in the ~hape of a stair, which is
achieved by cutting L-shaped steps 56 into the end face 52.
The legs of these steps are directed at an angle of
approximately 90 to each other, where the leg extending in
the longitudinal direction of the conveyor teeth 44 is longer
by a multiple of the length of the leg that extends
perpendicular thereto.
The trailing end face 54 may be configured in a straight
line or in steps 56. Since the trailing end face 54 engages
the crop only at the end of the conveying process, the steps
56 may be omitted here or a lower number of them may be used.
There is no ob~ection to configuring the conveyor teeth 44
- 2 ~ 2
symmetrically, that i8 with two equal sets of steps 56 on both
end faces 52 and 54.
During the conveying process, which occurs from right to
left in FIG. 2, the feeder fork teeth 44 extend for their
greatest part above the conveyor chute 40, that is, to the
side opposite that of the tooth control 46. During the
conveying process, the tip 50 of the conveyor teeth 44 travels
in a generally oval path, and disappears below the conveyor
chute 40 only during a retraction phase. At the beginning o~
the conveying process, the conveyor teeth 44 reach only
slightly above the conveyor 38 located upstream and preferably
overlap a path traveled by the pickup teeth 26.
~ he feed fork includes a tooth control 46 consisting of a
two-armed crank 58, a bearing 60 and an eccentric 62 with a
~ournal 64. The conveyor teeth 44 are supported on the
~ournal 64, free to pivot and connected to the crank 58, free
to pivot. The eccentric 62 transmits its rotary movement to
the ~ournal 64, so as to move the conveyor teeth 44
perpendicular to the conveyor chute 40. The position of the
conveyor teeth 44 depends on the included angle between the
two arms of the crank 58 at any given time. While the
eccentric 62 rotates and thereby moves the conveyor teeth 44
perpendicular to the conveyor chute 40, the inclination of the
conveyor teeth 44 with respect to the surface of the conveyor
chute 40, iB alBo controlled by means of the two-armed crank
58. AB a result, the tip 50 of the conveyor teeth 44 travels
in the indicated oval path.
Upstream of the conveyor arrangement 36, the pick-up 38
iB attached and contains conventional conveyor teeth 26; hence
a more detailed description of the pick-up is not necessary.
It ~hould be noted, however, that the pick-up tines may be
con~igured in the recessed, stepped form of the conveyor teeth
44.
Further it iB noted that the conveyor arrangement 36 may
be used as the sole conveyor and in that case would take the
crop directly from the ground.
On the basis of the foregoing description, the operation
of the conveyor arrangement 36 according to the invention is
as follows: The crop that has been deposited on the ground is
raised by the pick-up 38 and transported by means of the tines
26 to the conveyor teeth 44, as seen in FIG.2, upward from
below and from right to left. The conveyor teeth 44 move the
crop in the same direction to the inlet of the bale forming
chamber 16, as indicated in M G. 1, whereupon the tips of the
teeth 44 trace the indicated curvilinear oval path. As soon
as the conveyor teeth 44 begin to project through the conveyor
chute 40, the crop is engaged by the steps 56 and moved away
from the chute 40 to reduce sliding frictional contact
therewith so that a positive conveying effect results.
