Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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SILAGE-TUNNELING APPARATUS
This invention relates generally to agricultural
eguipment, more particularly apparatus designed to form a
vertical tunnel through silage stored in a silo.
Various grain crops, for example corn, are stored in
a silo until needed for feeding livestock. The usual
method for removing a portion of the silage from a silo
is to employ a silo unloading apparatus which operates to
dislodge the upper layer of silage and move it to the
outer wall of the silo where it is discharged through an
open door in the side of the silo and then transferred to
a conveyor or other means for supplying the animals to be
fed.
Some silo unloaders include means for forming a
cylindrical channel along the center of the mass of
silage as the silo is being filled. See for example U.S.
patents 3,794,190, 3,075,657, 3,908,840 and 3,368,703.
The central channel was intended to provide a discharge
channel for removal of silage through the bottom of the
solo. However, this system has not proved to be effec-
tive and finds little use today.
Other proposals include various means for forming a
vertical channel within the silage extending along the
inside surface of the wall of the silo. One of these
devices is a cylindrical torpedo that is winched up along
the wall while the silo is being filled. Torpedoes are
used only slightly because it is difficult to accurately
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determine the position of a torpedo relative to silage
being loaded into a silo and it tends to move sideways as
it is winched upwards. Another proposal, see U. S.
patent 3,063,585, involves using an electric drill having
radial blades mounted for rotation about a vertical shaft
through silage upward along a track secured to the inside
of the wall of a silo after it had been filled. This
device, however, does not present a useful solution
because of the difficulty of tunneling through silage
that has become firmly packed into a relatively hardened
mass of material.
The present invention comprises silage-tunneling
apparatus including a skid which forms a base for the
appartus, an electric motor mounted on the skid, a drive
shaft driven by the motor and having its axis positioned
horizontally, inner and outer hinged rigid cutter arms
secured to the drive shaft on each side of the skid, at
least one flexible cutter arm secured to the drive shaft
between the inner and outer cutter arms, and silage
cutting means attached to the outer ends of each of the
cutter arms. The apparatus is winched upwardly along the
inside surface of the wall of a silo to form a vertical
tunnel through the silage that acts as a discharge chute
for conveying silage dislodged by a silo unloader downwardly
and out through the bottom of the silo.
Fig. 1 is a side view of a silage-tunneling apparatus
according to the present invention;
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Fig. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus of Fig. l;
and
Fig. 3 is a sectional view, with portions broken
away, illustrating the silage-tunneling apparatus of
Figs 1 and 2 installed in a silo.
(a) Structural Description
Figs. 1-3 illustrate a silage-tunneling apparatus 1
constructed according to the present invention.
The silage-tunneling apparatus 1 includes a skid 2
that is constructed of a pair of spaced side members 3
and 4 each consisting of a front panel 5, angled panel 6
and rear panel 7. An upstanding support element 8 is
welded to the inner face of front panel 5 of the side
member 3, and a similar support element 9 is welded to
the inner face of the front panel 5 of the side member 4.
The side members 3 and 4 are arranged with their
front panels 5 slightly spaced from one another and
angled panels 6 diverging rom one another as shown in
the drawings. A main base plate 10 is welded to the top
edges of the angled panels 6 and rear panels 7 of the
side members, an intermediate base plate 11 is welded to
the top edges of the spaced front panels 5 of each side
member, plate 12 is welded to spaced side edges of the
support elements 8 and 9, and a mounting plate 13 is
welded to the spaced top edges of the support elements 8
and 9. This construction provides a rigid skid assembly
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on which the various operating elements of the silage-
tunneling apparatus 1 are mounted.
The support elements 8 and 9 are spaced from one
another when the skid is assembled as described above,
and a towing link 15 is welded in place between the two
support elements. The mounting plate 13 extends beyond
the sides of the spaced support elements 8 and 9; a
gusset plate 16 may be welded to each support element and
to the underside of the portion of the mounting plate
that extends beyond the support elements so as to provide
additional support for the mounting plate.
Referring now to Fig. 1, a front slide 20 having an
upturned leading edge is welded to a plate 21 that is
bolted to support element 8, the plate 21 preferably
including a slot 22 through which the attachment bolt
passes so as to permit limited perpendicular movement of
the slide relative to the skid. A rear slide 23 having
upturned leading and trailing edges is welded to plate 24
that is bolted to the rear panel 7 of the side member 3;
the plate 24 has a slot 25 through which the attachment
bolt passes so as to allow limited perpendicular travel
of the slide relative to the skid. A rear slide 26 is
similarly attached to the side member 4 (see Fig. 2).
An electric motor 30 is attached to the main base
plate 10, such as by bolts not shown. The motor 30 may
be a 110 or 220 volt AC motor and includes a power cord
31 (see Fig. 3) for connection to a suitable source of
power. The motor includes an output shaft 34 that is
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connected through coupling 35 to an intermediate shaft 36
that is connected by a coupling 37 to the input shaft 38
of a speed reduction gear box 39. The gear box 39 is
attached, such as by bolts, to the mounting plate 13 of
the skid 2.
The motor 30 is covered by a shroud 27 to reduce
fouling of the motor by silage. The shroud 27 is secured
to the main base plate 10 by bolts 28 extending through
the lower leg of L-shaped tabs 29 attached to the shroud.
The shroud also is secured to the side members 3 and 4 by
means of plates 32 welded to the shroud and bolted to the
side members by bolts 33.
The gear box 39 has two output shafts 40 and 41
extending at right angles to the input shaft 38. A first
drive shaft 42 is secured to output shaft 40 and a second
drive shaft 43 is secured to output shaft 41, the two
drive shafts being connected to their respective output
shafts with a key and set screws. The first and second
drive shafts 42 and 43 combine to form a drive shaft 44
having its axis arranged horizontally that will be used
to rotate the various cutter arms of the silage-tunneling
apparatus 1. A set of three cutter arms 45 is attached
near the outer end of the first drive shaft 42 remote
from the skid, and a similar set of three cutter arms 45
is attached near the inner end of the drive shaft 42
adjacent the skid. Also, a set of three cutter arms 45
is secured to the second drive shaft 43 remote from the
skid and a set of three cutter arms 45 is secured to the
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drive shaft 43 adjacent the skid. The cutter arms 45 in
each set of three are arranged approximately 120 apart.
Each cutter arm 45 is of the same construction, and
the following detailed description is made with reference
to the arms 45 secured near the outer end of first drive
shaft 42, particularly arms 45a and 45b.
Each cutter arm 45 (see arm 45a in Fig. 1) comprises
a center bar link 46, a pair of spaced inner bar links 47
and 48 welded to the center bar link, and a pair of
spaced outer bar links 49 and S0 hinged to the center bar
link by means of rivet 51. The inner bar links 47 and 48
are hinged about bolt 52 to plate 53 welded to the drive
shaft 42; arm 45b is broken away in Fig. 2 to show this
connection. A cutting means 54, illustrated herein as a
U-shaped element, includes an extension 55 that is posi-
tioned between the outer bar links 49 and 50 and hingedly
connected therebetween by bolt 56 extending through the
two links.
Each cutter arm 45 as thusly described is an arm
that is rigid in the axial direction of the drive shaft
44 but hinged or pivotable in the radial direction. As
illustrated by the dotted line positions of arm 45b in
Fig. 1, the cutting means 54 at the outer extremity of
the arm 45 can hinge about the bolt 56, the outer bar
links 49 and 50 can hinge about the rivet 51, and the
inner bar links 47 and 48 can hinge or pivot about the
bolt 52. The purpose of this hinged arm construction is
to enable an arm 45 and one or more elements of the arm
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45 to hinge or pivot when an obstruction is encountered
during the silage-tunneling operation, such as a hardened
mass of silage, frozen section of silage, rock, etc. At
the same time, the arms 45 are rigid in the axial direc-
tion, speaking with reference to the drive shaft, so that
they can carve a tunnel in the silage having a uniform
width sufficient to provide clearance for the tunneling
apparatus to ascend through a mass of silage.
A set of three intermediate cutter arms 60 is
attached to the first drive shaft 42 between the two sets
of cutter arms 45 attached thereto, and a similar set of
intermediate cutter arms 60 is attached to the second
drive shaft 43 between the arms 45 secured thereto. As
indicated in Fig. 1, the arms 60 in each set are also
j positioned about 120 from one another, and the arms 60
are preferably arranged intermediate the arms 45 viewed
along the axis of the drive shaft 44. Each cutter arm 60
is ormed of a series of chain links 61 (see arm 60a in
Fig. 2), with the innermost chain link 61 secured to a
chain loop 62 welded to the drive shat 42. A cutting
means 63 iQ attached to the outer end of each intermediate
arm 60 and includes a pair of spaced tabs 64 through
which a bolt 65 extends to connect the cutting means 63
to the outermost link 61 of an arm 60. The cutting means
63 is illustrated as a rectangular shaped element having
upturned tooth portions 66.
As indicated in the drawings, the intermediate
cutter arms 60 are 1exible arms. They are flexible in
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the radial direction relevant to the drive shaft 44, and
they also may swing from side to side as shown by the
dotted line positions of the arm 60b in Fig. 2. The
flexible intermediate cutter arms 60 are thus able to
rake out silage in the zone between the two sets of
spaced cutter arms 45 secured to each portion of the
drive shaft 44.
(b) Operational DescriPtion
Fig. 3 illustrates a silage-tunneling apparatus l of
the present invention installed in a silo 70 and being
used to form a vertical tunnel 71 in silage 72. Before
the silo is filled, the farmer places a cable 73 along
the inner surface of the wall of the silo and strings it
upwardly over sheaves 74 and out of the silo, then down
the outside o the silo to a winch 75. A collapsible
form or bales of hay or straw can be placed over the
bottom two doors of the silo to create a recess large
enough to receive the silage-tunneling apparatus, after
which the silo is filled. Also, however, the silo can be
filled without using a form or bales of hay or straw in
this fashion.
When it is desired to start feeding, doors covering
the opening 76 at the bottom of the silo are removed. If
a collapsible form or bales of hay or straw were used as
described above, they are removed and the silage-tunneling
apparatus 1 is inserted into the recess formed thereby;
if neither was used during filling, silage behind the
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opening is dug out to form an area large enough to put
the apparatus 1 inside the silo. The lower end of the
cable 73 inside the silo is then attached to the towing
link 15 of the apparatus. The power cord 31 of the
apparatus is plugged into a suitable electrical outlet to
rotate the drive shaft 44. The apparatus is most effective-
ly arranged relative to the inner surface of the wall of
the silo such that the direction of rotation of the
cutter arms 45 and 60 about the drive shaft 44 is away
from the wall during the upper half of their rotary
motion; thus the arms rotate counterclockwise when the
juxtaposition of the apparatus and silo wall is as illus-
trated in Fig. 3, as shown by the arrow. This arrangement
i8 useful since the reaction forces developed during
operation will push the skid against the inner surface of
the wall so that the apparatus will travel upwardly along
the wall and also because the cutter arms will throw
silage away from the apparatus and thereby reduce fouling
of its elements such as the motor. The winch 75 is used
to pull the tunneling apparatus 1 upwardly through the
silage 72 along the inner surface of the wall of the
silo. The apparatus 1 is slowly pulled up through the
silage in this fashion. During the initial portion of
this operation, silage which is removed to form the
tunnel 71 is delivered through the lower opening 76 and
used for feed as necessary. Use of the silage-tunneling
apparatus 1 is continued in this manner to provide silage
for feed delivery until it has formed the tunnel 71
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extending all the way to the top of the silage alongside
the inner surface of the wall of the silo. The apparatus 1
is lowered back down the tunnel 71 by reversing rotation
of the winch 75 and then removed from the silo. Thereafter,
silage for feed is delivered through the tunnel 71 by
means of silo unloader 77 positioned inside the silo at
the top of the silage. (In event a silo has been filled
before a cable 73 was positioned as described above, a
rod can be driven down through the silage along the
inside wall of the silo and a cable attached to the rod
and pulled back up through the opening thusly formed.)
The silage-tunneling apparatus 1 rides up the inner
surface of the wall of the silo along the slides 20 and
23 attached to the skid of the apparatus. No track needs
to be attached inside the silo for proper operation of
the tunneling apparatus 1. Also, the combination of an
electric motor 30 and speed reduction gear box 39 enables
rotation of the various cutter arms at a relatively slow
speed and provides enough torque or power to cut through
hardened silage. The hinged cutter arms 45 of the appar-
atus 1 function to carve out the boundaries of the tunnel
through the silage and the flexible intermediate cutter
arms 60 operate to clean or rake out the silage between
the arms 45 within the tunnel. It has been found that a
clean vertical tunnel can be formed using the apparatus
of the present invention in both loose silage and hardened
silage. Also, the feature of the horizontal drive shaft
44 of the apparatus 1 provides a more effective tunneling
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operation than would be possible with a vertical drive
shaft. I have found that a 1 horsepower electric motor
30 operating at 1725 rpm coupled to a 5:1 speed reduction
gear box 39 to rotate the drive shaft 44 at 345 rpm
provides an effective silage-tunneling apparatus. The
apparatus thusly described therefore provides a useful
agricultural implement capable of obviating the disadvan-
tages of presently known machines intended for the same
purpose.
Although this invention has been described herein-
above by reference to a specific embodiment, it is antici-
pated that those of ordinary skill in the design of
agricultural equipment will be able to devise changes to
the described embodiment and other versions thereof that
will remain within the true spirit and scope of this
invention as set forth in the appended claims.
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