GB1447026A - Improvements in and relating to an agricultural implement for harvesting crop - Google Patents

Abstract

1447026 Forage harvester NATIONAL RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT CORP 17 Aug 1973 [19 May 1972] 23708/72 Heading A1F A forage harvester comprises a rotor 16 pivoted about an axis 25, a hood 18 having an integral stone deflecting part 19, side members 21, rotatable about axis 24 eccentric to axis 25 and carrying the shaft of rotor 16, and braced at one end by a cross tie 23 and at the other by a reciprocating cutter bar 11. The cross tie 23, side members 21 and cutter bar 11 may be rotated, from a first cutting and conditioning position, shown in Fig. 1, to a second position, Fig. 3 (not shown), about axis 24, so lowering the eccentric axis 25 of the rotor 16 enabling previously cut crop to be harvested. The rotor 16 rotates in a contrary sense to that of the land wheels when the harvester is in normal forward operation. The stone deflector 19 is positioned in the outer periphery of the crop path so that stones, picked up by the rotor and generally taking that path, may be diverted from the chopping mechanism 14 whilst crop engaging the deflector 19 will merely re-enter the main crop stream by virtue of its lesser momentum. The conditioning rotor 16 consists of a tube 37 having three flanges, two of which 39 and 40 are shown in Fig. 4, and conditioning elements 17 mounted on bars 41 pivoted to the flanges about 43 and fixed by shear pins 46. The included angle between the arms 49 is approximately 30‹. The elements 17 are at least four times longer in a radial sense than they are wide in an axial sense. A further embodiment of the rotor Fig. 6 replaces bars 41 by flanges 53 individually supporting the conditioning elements 52. The hood 18 bends the crop away from the rotor Fig. 5 (not shown) so presenting the lower, thicker parts of the crop to the rotor. The cutter 11 may be replaced by rotary drum type cutters 63 Fig. 6 mounted in advance of the rotor 16, Fig. 8 (not shown). In this embodiment the cutters may not be moved out of the way of the conditioner for the purposes described above but obviate the need for crop entering augers 20 in the chopping mechanism 14 by centering the crop prior to conditioning.