GB1574033A

GB1574033A - Crop gathering apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB1574033A
Application number: GB1696277A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Massey Ferguson SA
Current assignee: AGCO SA
Priority date: 1977-04-23
Filing date: 1977-04-23
Publication date: 1980-09-03

Description

(54) CROP GATHERING APPARATUS (71) We, MASSEY-FERGUSoN S.A., a French Company, of 22 Avenue Galilee, 92 Le Plessis Robinson (Ilauts-de-Seine), France, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- This invention relates to crop gathering apparatus suitable for use in harvesting grain crops, comprising a table to receive cut crop, a crop conveying belt mounted on the table and positioned in the gathering width of the table so as to convey cut crop, and belt guide means for the crop conveying belt, the belt guide means including at least one position-adjustable guide roller. An example of such apparatus is disclosed in published West German patent specification No. 2,556,688 in the name of Massey Ferguson Services N.V.

It is an object of the present invention to provide such apparatus incorporating an improved adjustment mechanism for the guide roller.

According to the invention there is provided crop gathering apparatus suitable for use in harvesting grain crops, said crop gathering apparatus comprising a table to receive cut crop, said table defining the gathering width of the crop gathering apparatus; attachment means on said table whereby the table may be mounted on a harvesting vehicle; a crop conveying belt, said belt being mounted on said table and positioned in the gathering width of said table so as to convey cut crop; end rollers for said crop conveying belt, said end rollers being spaced apart and said belt being trained round the rollers in an upper run and a lower run; drive means for said crop conveying belt, said drive means being capable of driving said belt so that said upper run moves in the crop conveying direction; belt guide means for said crop conveying belt, said belt guide means including a pair of guide rollers, said rollers being positioned one in the region of each edge of the belt for rolling contact with a face of the belt in said lower run, said rollers presenting to said face of the belt a surface inclined with respect to the axes of rotation of said end rollers so as to cause the outer or edge portions of the belt in said lower run to adopt a corresponding inclination as they pass said rollers; and at least one of said guide rollers being mounted so as to be position-adjustable so as to vary the deflection of ,+lie respective edge of the crop conveying belt; a biasing mechanism connected to said one guide roller to effect said position adjustment thereof; characterized in that said biasing mechanism comprises resilient means connected to said one guide roller and capable of exerting a thrust thereon in a direction such as to deflect the respective edge of the crop conveying belt.

The provision of said resilient means in said biasing mechanism serves to maintain the guidance function of the guide roller and in addition enables provision to be made in a simple manner for an upper limit to be placed upon the thrust which can be exerted on the belt by the guide roller as a result of adjustment of the position of the roller by an inexperienced or careless operator. For example, there may be provided screw threaded adjustment means connected to the resilient means and actuable to vary the thrust exerted on said one guide roller by said resilient means. in combination with stop means positioned to abut said screw-threaded adjustment means to set an upper limit to the thrust which can be exerted by said one guide roller.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a grain crop harvester referred to hereafter as a combine; Figure 2 shows a somewhat diagrammatic representation of a crop gathering table of the combine of Figure 1; Figure 3 shows a section taken in the plane III-III in Figure 2, the Figure showing a crop conveying belt and a guide roller therefor; Figure 4 shows a perspective cut-away view of a portion of the table of Figure 2, the direction of viewing being indicated by arrow IV in Figure 2; Figure 5 shows a section taken in the plane V-V in Figure 4 showing screwthreaded adjustment means and an associated biasing mechanism connected to the belt guide roller seen in Figure 2; Figure 6 shows a section on the line VI VI in Figure 5; and Figure 7 shows a portion of Figure 6 on a larger scale.

As shown in Figure 1 a combine 10 comprises a main body 12 mounted on steerable rear wheels 14 and driven front wheels 16 and constituting a harvesting vehicle. The main body houses an engine at 18 and conventional grain crop threshing and separating apparatus (not shown) such as a threshing cylinder and concave, straw walkers and a shaker shoe. The main body also provides a grain tank 20 and an operator's platform 22.

Mounted at the front of main body 12 on the housing 24 (Figure 2) of a conventional chain and slot elevator 25 is crop gathering apparatus 26. The crop gathering apparatus comprises a table 28 to receive cut crop, a reel 30, crop cutting means in the form of a cutterbar 32, crop conveying apparatus 34 and an auger 36. The rear end of elevator housing 24 is pivotally mounted on main body 12 in the usual manner, and hydraulic rams (not shown) are provided to raise and lower its forward end. The forward end of the housing has conventional attachment means (not shown) whereby table 28 is mounted thereon so that it can be quickly detached and re-attached.

Table 28 has end walls 38, 40 defining the crop gathering width 42 of the table, and each end wall has attachment means 44 for a crop divider (not shown).

Reel 30 is rotated in the direction of arrow R by a hydraulic motor 46 and has tines 48 and a mechanism 49 for maintaining the tines in a downwardly projecting attitude as the reel rotates. The reel is mounted on support arms 50 which are pivotally connected to the table at 52 whereby the reel can be raised and lowered by means of hydraulic rams 54. Reel 30 can also be adjusted in the fore and aft direction by extension and retraction of support arms 50. Reel 30 is more fully described in British patent application No.

8387/76 (Serial No. ). Reel support arms 50 are more fully described in British patent application No. 42159175 (Serial No. 1 565 951).

Cutterbar 32 is of conventional form and comprises a reciprocable knife 56 having a serrated sharpened cutting edge 58, knife guides 60 and forwardly-projecting fingers 62. Knife 56 is reciprocated by a crank arm (not shown) connected to a spigot (not shown) on the knife for pivotal movement about a forwardly extending axis. The crank arm is oscillated about this axis by a conventional drive.

As shown in Figure 2, crop conveying apparatus 34 comprises four crop conveying belts 68, 70, 72 and 74 arranged side by side across the crop gathering width 42 of table 28.

Auger 36 comprises a central shaft in the form of a sheet metal tube 76 and two helical flights 78, 80 mounted on the tube at opposite ends thereof. Flights 78, 80 are of opposite hand and spaced apart by a central portion 81 of the tube from which a series of crop feeding fingers 82 project.

The fingers extend, feather and retract in the usual way as the auger rotates in the direction indicated, to fed crop to elevator 25 through a rectangular opening 84 formed in the rear wall 86 of table 28 just below the main table support beam 87.

The four crop conveying belts 68, 70, 72, 74 are each trained round a pair of spacedapart end rollers 88, 90 in an upper run 92 and a lower run 94. Drive means for the belts in the form of a chain and sprocket drive (not shown) is connected to rear roller 90 so as to drive the belts so that their upper runs move rearwards (in the crop conveying direction) as indicated by arrow M in Figure 3.

Belt guide means is provided for each of the belts 68, 70, 72, 74 so as to maintain each belt in its correct position along the length of rollers 88, 90 i.e. to centralize each belt to ensure that it runs straight and does not move sideways.

The belt guide means comprises a pair of position-adjustable guide rollers 96, 98 for each belt. Each roller is positioned in the region of one edge of its belt and between the upper and lower runs 92, 94 of the belt for rolling contact with the upper or inner surface 100 of the belt in lower run 94.

Figures 5 and 6 show the structure whereby guide rollers 96, 98 and end rollers 88, 90 are supported end adjusted so as to vary the deflection of the respective edge of the crop conveying belt.

As shown in Figure 5, table 28 has a floor 102 and a series of forwardly-extending skids 104 engageable with the ground 105 are secured to the lower surface of the floor.

The skids also serve to stiffen the table.

The forward end of floor 102 has secured thereto a support member 106 on which cutterbar 32 is supported by means of a series of bolts 110. Support member 106 is stiffened by a series of welded-in webs 112.

The front end roller 88 is journalled on five bearing members 114, one in each of the three gaps between belts 68, 70, 72 and 74, and one at each end of the roller. Each bearing member 114 is in the form of a casting having a base flange 116 formed with slots through which bolts 118 extend whereby the bearing member is secured to the floor 102 of table 28 so as to be position-adjustable in the direction "D" of usual forward motion of combine 10.

A body portion 120 projects upwardly from the base flange 116 of each bearing member 114 to support through bearings 12I the front end roller 88. A rearwardly projecting vertical support flange 122 is formed integrally with body portion 120.

The rear end roller 90 is mounted in a manner closely analogous to that of front end roller 88. Five bearing members 124 each have a base flange 126, a body portion 128, and a vertical support flange 1x0. The base flange is formed with slots and is thereby adjustably secured by bolts 132 to a bracket 134 secured to the table floor 102.

A vertical roller support member or plate 136 having a forward end portion 137 formed with slots 138 and a rearward end portion 140 formed with slots 142 is itself supported betwen the vertical flanges 122 and 130 by bolts 144 extending through the slots.

Roller support plate 136 has welded to its opposite sides one end of each of two cantilever members in the form of roller support arms 146, 148 extending into the gap between the upper and lower runs 92 and 94 respectively of the crop conveying belt.

The other end of each arm 146, 148 carries an end plate 150 from which two apertured lugs 152, 154 project.

Each guide roller 96, 98 comprises a cylindrical metal sleeve 156 journalled through internal ball races 158, 160 on a shaft 162. The roller is mounted for angular adjustment with respect to the crop conveying belt. For this purpose the inner end of each shaft 162 is pivotally mounted between lugs 152 and 154 by a pin 155 for pivotal movement about the axis of the pin.

A biasing mechanism 166 is mounted on each roller support plate 136 to act on the outer end of each of the shafts 162 and effect angular adjustment of the shafts and their rollers 96 and 98.

Each biasing mechanism 166 comprises first and second lever members in the form of bell cranks 168, 170 pivotally mounted on a common pivot member 172 carried by and projecting laterally of roller support plate 136.

The upper end of each bell crank 168, 170 carries an inverted U-section member 174 to receive its respective roller shaft 162. A cylindrical contact member 176 extends through the U-section member to make contact with the end of the shaft 162 and to apply downward thrust thereto.

At the lower end of each bell crank 168, 170 an adjustment member 178 is pivotally mounted on the bell crank by a trunnion 180. The adjustment member has a screwthreaded aperture in which a complementary screw-threaded rod 184 is received. A locknut 185 is provided on the rod. Rod 184 extends through an apertured bracket 186 projecting downwards from support member 106 through an aperture in the floor 102 of table 28 and has a formation in the form of a hexagonal head 188 for engagement with an adjustment tool (not shown) in the form of a socket spanner having a long shank. Head 188 faces in direction D.

Each biasing mechanism 166 further comprises resilient means in the form of a coiled compression spring 190 (Figure 5) connected to its respective guide roller 96 or 98 and capable of exerting a thrust thereon in a downward direction so as to deflect the respective edge of the associated crop conveying belt.

Rod 184 extends through compression spring 190, and the spring acts between bracket 186 (constituting a fixed reaction member mounted on table 28), and a washer 192 abutting the head 188 of screw-threaded rod 184. Head 188 of rod 184 can be position-adjusted towards bracket 186 to in crease the degree of compression of spring 190 and thereby increase the thrust exerted on the associated belt guide roller. This can be done simply by slackening locknut 185 and rotating the rod with a socket spanner, so that the rod moves through adjustment member 178.

Stop means is provided to abut the head 188 of each rod 184 to set an upper limit to the thrust which can be exerted on the associated guide roller 96 or 98. The stop means is in the form of a cylindrical sleeve 194 through which compression spring 190 and rod 184 extend. The sleeve is trapped between bracket 186 and washer 192 and thus the axial length of the sleeve represents the maximum degree of compression of spring 190.

To enable front roller 88 to be aligned precisely, an adjustment bolt 196 is provided for each front bearing member 114 to enable the bearing member to be pulled forwards. Each adjustment bolt engages at its rear end a screw-threaded bore in its bearing member and at its forward end extends through, is freely rotatable in, and bears against an apertured shoulder 198 welded to support member 106.

As illustrated in Figure 3, the guide rollers 96, 98 present to the surface 100 of the belts 68, 70, 72, 74, a surface inclined with respect to the axes of rotation 200, 202 of end rollers 88, 90 respectively, (the said axes being parallel to the upper surface of the upper run 92 of each belt) so as to cause the outer or edge portions of the belt in the lower run to adopt a corresponding inclination as they pass under the guide rollers.

As shown in Figure 4, crop conveying formations in the form of transverse ribs 204 are provided on the outer surface of the belts. The belts themselves are formed of natural or synthetic rubber having one or more layers (not shown) of woven textile material embedded therein. The ribs 204 are of rubber and are bonded to the belt in any suitable manner.

Guide rollers 96, 98 are all mounted in the manner illustrated in Figures 5 and 6 and the three spaces between the belts 68, 70, 72, 74 are, as shown in Figures 2 and 4, covered over by sheet metal strips 206 (not shown in Figure 6) which are profiled so as to cause crop falling thereon, to slide off onto one of the belts. Similar strips 208 are provided adjacent the table end walls 38, 40.

As illustrated in Figure 3 the flights 78 and 80 of auger 36 are deeper that is usual for a conventional combine table. The depth d of the flights is approximately equal to the radius R of tube 76. Furthermore the crop conveyor belts 68, 70, 72, 74 are positioned in relation to the auger so that their upper runs 92 all extend in a direction (identified in Figure 3 by chain dot line 210) which passes above or intersects the axis of rotation 212 of the auger.

In use, crop cut by cutterbar 32 falls onto belts 68, 70, 72, 74. Reel 30 is rotated at a speed such that the linear rearward speed of each tine 48 at the bottom portion of its circle of rotation, is slightly greater than the forward ground speed of the combine in direction D - whereby the reel causes the crop to fall head first onto the belts.

Belts 68, 70, 72, 74 are driven at a speed such that in their upper runs 92 their net forward speed with respect to the ground is almost zero. The belts feed the crop whether short or long - to auger 36 in a uniform layer and the crop passes under the auger tube 76 and is conveyed to elevator 25.

Guide rollers 96, 98 ensure that the belts 68, 70, 72, 74 run straight by causing a portion of their lower runs 94 to adopt a troughed configuration. Each roller 96 or 98 is urged downwards by its coiled compression spring 190 acting through rod 184 and bell crank 168 and tends to move the belt laterally away from the roller.

With an absolutely true belt and parallel end rollers, and guide rollers at each edge of the belt biased downwards equally, the belt experiences no net deflecting force in either direction. By making small changes in the compression of the appropriate compression spring 190 by rotating its rod 184 by means of a long-shanked socket spanner to change the down thrust on its guide roller 96 or 98, any inherent tendency of a belt to run to one side or the other (due for example to slight imperfections in the alignment of end rollers 88, 90 or other factors) can easily be compensated for, so that the belt runs straight. Adjustment of the guide rollers is needed only infrequently e.g. about twice in a normal grain harvesting season.

The method of adjusting the down thrust on guide rollers 96, 98 is extremely simple.

The table is raised by the table lift rams, the cutterbar 32 is guarded, the drive to reel 30 is interrupted, an d the drive to the belt 68, 70, 72 and 74 is engaged. Close observation of the belts enables any tendency of the belts to move laterally to be quickly identified. To correct such a tendency the down thrust exerted on the guide roller at the edge of the belt towards which the belt is moving is increased by engaging a long-shanked socket spanner with head 188 on threaded rod 184 and rotating the rod until the belt is seen to run straight.

Stop sleeves 194 set an upper limit to the down thrust which can be exerted on a guide roller and once this has been reached, adjustment is effected by decreasing the compression of the spring 190 of the roller at the opposite edge of the belt.

Bolts 196 should not need adjustment once rollers 88 have been initially set (which would be done at the factory or at a dealer's premises).

The advantages provided by the embodiment of the invention described above include the following: 1. the guide rollers 96, 98 of crop conveyor 34 can be easily adjusted to cause belts 68, 70, 72 and 74 to run straight without the use of fixed guides - thereby avoiding the high friction and short service life characteristics of previously known crop conveyor belts; 2. compression springs 190 maintain the guidance function of the guide rollers and thereby increase the time interval at which successive adjustments of the guide rollers are needed; 3. stop sleeves 194 prevent over-tensioning the belts 68, 7Q, 72 and 74 by the guide roller 96, 98, thereby avoiding unnecesary service life probems in the belts.

The invention is not limited to the details of the embodiment described above, and in particular: 1. the invention is applicable to pick-up type belts i.e. to combines wherein no cutterbar is provided and fingers are provided on the crop conveying belts to pick-up a windrowed crop; 2. the crop cutting means need not be a conventional cutterbar; 3. the belts 68, 70, 72, 74 could be replaced by canvas type conveyor bands and the term "belt" as used in the claims is intended to cover all types of endless band conveyor; 4. more than one guide roller could be provided at each belt edge if desired; 5. the use of a reel may not be needed; 6. auger 36 could be constructed as disclosed in G.B. patent application No.

17481/77.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. Crop gathering apparatus suitable for use in harvesting grain crops, said crop gathering apparatus comprising a table to receive cut crop, said table defining the gathering width of the crop gathering apparatus; attachment means on said table whereby the table may be mounted on a harvesting vehicle; a crop conveying belt, said belt being mounted on said table and positioned in the gathering width of said table so as to convey cut crop; end rollers for said crop conveying belt, said end rollers being spaced apart and said belt being trained round the rollers in an upper run and a lower run; drive means for said crop conveying belt, said drive means being capable of driving said belt so that said upper run moves in the crop conveying direction; belt guide means for said crop conveying belt, said belt guide means including a pair of guide rollers, said rollers being positioned one in the region of each edge of the belt for rolling contact with a face of the belt in said lower run, said rollers presenting to said face of the belt a surface inclined with respect to the axes of rotation of said end rollers so as to cause the outer or edge portions of the belt in said lower run to adopt a corresponding inclination as they pass said rollers; and at least one of said guide rollers being mounted so as to be position-adjustable so as to vary the deflection of the respective edge of the crop conveying belt; a biasing mechanism connected to said one guide roller to effect said position adjustment thereof; characterized in that said biasing mechanism comprises resilient means connected to said one guide roller and capable of exerting a thrust thereon in a direction such as to deflect the respective edge of the crop conveying belt.

2. Crop gathering apparatus according to Claim 1 characterized by screw-threaded adjustment means connected to said resilient means and actuable to vary the thrust exerted on said one guide roller by said resilient means.

3. Crop gathering apparatus according to Claim 2 characterized by stop means positioned to abut said screw-threaded adjustment means to set an upper limit to the thrust which can be exerted on said one guide roller.

4. Crop gathering apparatus according to Claim 3 characterized in that said biasing mechanism comprises a pivotally mounted lever member connected to said one guide roller, said resilient means being connected to the lever member.

5. Crop gathering apparatus according to Claim 4 characterized in that said lever member is in the form of a bell crank, the bell crank being connected in the region of one end to said guide roller and in the region of the other end to said resilient means, and being pivotally mounted intermediate its ends.

6. Crop gathering apparatus according to Claim 5 characterized in that said resilient means is in the form of a coiled spring.

7. Crop gathering apparatus according to Claim 6 characterized in that said resilient means is in the form of a coiled compression spring.

8. Crop gathering apparatus according to Claim 7 characterized in that said coiled compression spring acts between a fixed reaction member mounted on the crop gathering apparatus and a screw-threaded rod forming part of said screw-threaded adjustment means, the rod being connected to said other end of the bell crank and being position adjustable towards the reaction member to increase the degree of compression of the compression spring.

9. Crop gathering apparatus according to Claim 8 characterized in that said rod has a formation for engagement with an adjustment tool, said formation facing in the

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. 3. stop sleeves 194 prevent over-tensioning the belts 68, 7Q, 72 and 74 by the guide roller 96, 98, thereby avoiding unnecesary service life probems in the belts. The invention is not limited to the details of the embodiment described above, and in particular: 1. the invention is applicable to pick-up type belts i.e. to combines wherein no cutterbar is provided and fingers are provided on the crop conveying belts to pick-up a windrowed crop; 2. the crop cutting means need not be a conventional cutterbar; 3. the belts 68, 70, 72, 74 could be replaced by canvas type conveyor bands and the term "belt" as used in the claims is intended to cover all types of endless band conveyor; 4. more than one guide roller could be provided at each belt edge if desired; 5. the use of a reel may not be needed; 6. auger 36 could be constructed as disclosed in G.B. patent application No. 17481/77. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. Crop gathering apparatus suitable for use in harvesting grain crops, said crop gathering apparatus comprising a table to receive cut crop, said table defining the gathering width of the crop gathering apparatus; attachment means on said table whereby the table may be mounted on a harvesting vehicle; a crop conveying belt, said belt being mounted on said table and positioned in the gathering width of said table so as to convey cut crop; end rollers for said crop conveying belt, said end rollers being spaced apart and said belt being trained round the rollers in an upper run and a lower run; drive means for said crop conveying belt, said drive means being capable of driving said belt so that said upper run moves in the crop conveying direction; belt guide means for said crop conveying belt, said belt guide means including a pair of guide rollers, said rollers being positioned one in the region of each edge of the belt for rolling contact with a face of the belt in said lower run, said rollers presenting to said face of the belt a surface inclined with respect to the axes of rotation of said end rollers so as to cause the outer or edge portions of the belt in said lower run to adopt a corresponding inclination as they pass said rollers; and at least one of said guide rollers being mounted so as to be position-adjustable so as to vary the deflection of the respective edge of the crop conveying belt; a biasing mechanism connected to said one guide roller to effect said position adjustment thereof; characterized in that said biasing mechanism comprises resilient means connected to said one guide roller and capable of exerting a thrust thereon in a direction such as to deflect the respective edge of the crop conveying belt.

direction of usual forward motion of the crop gathering apparatus.

10. Crop gathering apparatus according to Claim 9 characterized in that said stop means comprises a sleeve through which said coiled compression spring and said rod extend, said sleeve co-operating with said formation on the rod and with said reaction member to limit compresion of the compression spring.

11. Crop gathering apparatus according to Claim 1 substantially as described herein and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.