Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
WO9YI0933 1 7~99~ PCT/S~1/C~
To a Vehicle Mounted Warning Device.
Technical field
S The present invention relates to a motor vehicle mounted
~rning device for safeguarding against injury to ~n;m~l S by
the cutting blades or the like of a cutting r~Ch; ne which is
towed by or mounted on the vehicle, such as mowing ~.h; nQ~
of the kind which include a rotor cutter which functions to
cut crops such as hay, grass and like pasture, said crops
being int~nA~A as silage.
Description of the h~k~J~ound art
Many different devices which function to warn living creatures
of the approach of a moving vehic~e are known to the art. The
devices taught by DE,A1 32 11 731; DE,Al 32 16 977; DE,Al 34
15 239: DE.A1 35 31 392 and DE,C2 37 30 449 can be mentioned
by way of example in this reyard.
None of the warning devices taught by these patent specifica-
tions, however, can be used in con;unction with ensiling
pasture fodder. Neither can these known devices totally
safeguard against the injury or death of an animal, nor
function as a precautionary measure against an ~n;~-l or a
part of an ~n; ~1 a~. _~nying the mowed or cut crops into an
ensilage silo or into ensilage bales, with the subsequent risk
that deadly bacteria such as Clostridium botulinum will grow
in the ensilage, and then particularly in ensilage that is
packed in plastic bales out on the field, where it is diffi-
cult to discover the presence of such an animal prior to
packa ~ng, which is carried out automatically in agricultural
ma~h; n~ry int~nAeA herefor.
The Botulinum-bacteria can give rise to botulinum toxin
centers which can develop and cultivate one of the strongest
and most active poisons known to man. Cattle and horses are
WO95/10933 ~9~ PC16~94/0~978
particularly sensitive to this toxin and as little as 50-lOO
g of badly contaminated hay may be sufficient to kill a horse.
One problem relating to the injury and death of ~n;m~l S
caused by agricultural machines when cutting field crops is
that animals are able to hide in the high vegetation and
remain unseen by the driver of the machine. Different types
of ~n;~l behave in different ways. Cats, mice, hares and like
~nim~l S are frightened away by sound when danger is present.
Fawns, however, react in the opposite way. They lie still when
exposed to danger, so as to remain undiscovered and it is
difficult for the driver of the mowing machine to detect such
;~n; mz~l S .
Disclosure of the inventive ron~ert
An object of the present invention is to avoid the aforesaid
drawbacks known with warning devices for safeguarding against
injury to ~n;m~l.c by the cutting tools of agricultural
m2~h; ne~, particularly when cutting crops for ensilage.
This ob;ect is achieved in accordance with the invention in
that the warning device includes one or more IR-detectors
which register the movement and body heat of an animal present
in front of the vehicle and which sends a first signal to an
acoustic unit which produces a sound, preferably a high
frequency sound, which will frighten the animal, and also
sends a second signal to the driver's cabin and therewith
activates a further acoustic unit which produces a sound that
is audible to the human ear and which also activates a warning
lamp which 1- -i n~ switched on for as long as an animal is
located in front of the vehicle. As long the warning lamp is
illuminated and the warning signal sounds, there is a living
~ni ~1 in front of the vehicle and, if the ~n; ~1 refuses to
move, the driver is able to leave the vehicle and frighten or
carry away the animal concerned.
WO 9S/10933 PCTISE~ 7~
2~'7299~,
Brief description of the drawings
The invention will now be described in more detail with
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which
J 5
Figure 1 is a circuit diagram illustrating the inventive
device;
Figure 2 illustrates the inventive detector device mounted on
10 a motor vehicle (tractor), seen from one side, and shows the
vertical range of the detector;
Figure 3 is a view from above of the detector device shown in
Figure 1 and shows the horizontal range of the detector; and
Figure 4 shows the detector unit mounted on the front of a
motor vehicle.
Detailed description of a preferred - ho~; - t of the inven-
20 tion
Figure 1 illustrates a preferred embodiment of an inventive
warning device. As shown in the figure, the device includes
an IR-detector 1, to which there is ~o~neoted a detector unit
25 7 which includes a sweeping or stepping oscillator, an HF-
oscillator and a acoustic unit adapted to generate high
frequency sound, wherein the detector unit is mounted on the
front of the vehicle. The device further includes an operating
unit 6 which includes a acoustic unit adapted to generate
30 sound that is audible to the human ear, a light unit which
delivers a light signal, and a main switch, said operating
' unit being mounted in the driver's cabin.
J When the motor vehicle 8 is started-up for use in mowing
35 grass, hay or like pasture which is to be ensilaged, the main
switch 5 is switched-on therewith activating various parts of
the device. The detector unit 1 will react to the movement of
WO95/10933 2 ~ 2 9 9 ~ PCT/S~94/~0978 -
or the heat emitted by an ~n;~l that is located in front of
the vehicle 8 and accordingly send a signal to the operating
unit 6, which in response thereto activates the acoustic unit
3 and the light unit 4 and which, in a similar ~nn~r draws
the attention of the driver to the presence of an animal which
is in danger of being injured or killed by the knives of the
cutting ma~h1ne. The detector 1 also sends a signal to the
sweeping or stepping oscillator which activates the high
frequency sound acoustic unit, this sound being intended to
frighten away the animal located in front of the vehicle. The
acoustic and light s~gnals 3, 4 in the driver's cabin will
continue to be active for as long as an animal is present in
the danger zone, by virtue of their activation as a result of
the heat radiated from the An;r~l A stationary animal,
whether upright or lying down, will also be drawn to the
attention of the driver in this way, therewith enabling the
animal to be saved from injury or death. This will ensure that
the crops harvested and ensilaged will be free from carcass
residues, therewith preventing botulinum poisoning of horses
and cattle when given the ensilaged fodder.
Figure 2 shows the detector unit 7 mounted on the front plate
of the motor vehicle, at a height of about 1.5 m seen from one
side.
Figure 3 is a view from above showing the range of the
detector device 1 in the horizontal plane. The detector unit
in the front of the vehicle is connected to the operating unit
6 in the driver's cabin and to the vehicle battery 8. The
range of the detector device in the horizontal plane is about
110.
Figure 4 is a side view showing the detector unit 7 mounted
vertically on the front of the vehicle. Spacer means 9 are
arranged on the front to obtain vertical positioning of the
detector unit 7.
WO95/10933 1 7299~ PCT/SE94/00978
It will be understood that the invention is not restricted to
the described and illustrated embodiment and that modifica-
tions can be made within the scope of the following claims.
