(54) SELF-PROPELLED HARVESTING MACHINE
(71) We, GEBR. CLAAS MASCHINEN
FABRIK GmbH, a company organised and existing under the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, of 4834 Harsewinkell Westfalen, Postfach 140, Federal Republic of Germany, 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:
The invention relates to self-propelled
harvesting machines. Particularly (though
not exclusively) it relates to a self-propelled
combine harvester with a grain tank bounded
on two sides by the combine harvester side
walls, in which a grain tank discharge worm
is mounted in a drivable manner and is
in a constant drive relation via gear means
with a worm mounted in a grain tank un
loading pipe, wherein the said grain tank
unloading pipe can swivel and the transition
between the discharge end of the grain tank worm and the receiving end of the grain
tank unloading pipe is bridged by a housing
which is rigidly connected to the combine
harvester side wall.
Snch a combine harvester has been pro
posed in German Offenlegungsschrift
2,524,706 (which corresponds to ub:. sequently published UK Patent Specification
1,492,230). Here, the housing securely con
nected to the combine harvester has a slew
ing ring or an annular flange on its dis
charge end, on which the grain tank un
loading pipe is rotatably mounted. For the
purpose of transmitting the drive from the
grain tank worm to the grain tank unloading
pipe worm, the shaft end of the grain tank
worm projecting into the housing carries a gear which meshes with an intermediate gear. This intermediate gear is situated on one end of a shaft whose other end is passed outwardly through the wall of the grain tank unloading pipe and likewise carries an inter
mediate gear. The latter transmits the rotary movement via a spur gear and further belt pulleys to the shaft end of the grain tank unloading pipe which projects outwardly from the rear wall enclosing the grain tank
unloading pipe on one side. Although such a drive means does operate satisfactorily in any position of the grain tank unloading pipe, it nevertheless has some basic disadvantages. The first is the fact that the
drive is to some extent arranged in the flow
of material, and accordingly damage to the
harvested material cannot be avoided. This can be seen clearly for example from the fact that the screw gang or turn of the grain tank unloading pipe worm is interrupted so that the drive shaft can in general be guided past the shaft of this worm. The satisfactory conveying of the flow of material is also interrupted at this point. A further much
greater disadvantage is the fact that the unloading pipe is mounted on the housing
via a slewing ring or an annular flange. The
manufacture of such slewing rings or annular
flanges is, as every person skilled in the art knows, extremely costly.
According to the invention, there is pro
vided a combine harvester having a grain tank with a discharge worm therein and a pivotable grain tank unloading pipe with a discharge worm therein, wherein the grain tank discharge worm is connected to the
unloading pipe worm via a drive shaft which
also acts as a pivot pin for the unloading pipe and which is outside the grain flow
path.
The invention also provides a selfpropelled harvesting machine, in particular a self-propelled combine harvester with a
grain tank bounded on two sides by the combine harvester side walls, in which a grain tank discharge worm is mounted in a drivable manner and is in constant drive
relation via a gear means with a worm mounted in a grain tank unloading pipe, wherein the said, grain tank unloading pipe can swivel and the transition between the discharge end of the grain tank worm and
the receiving end of the grain tank unload
ing pipe is bridged by a housing which is
rigidly connected to the combine harvester
side wall and wherein the drive is outside the grain flow and a shaft of the drive is
arranged to act simultaneously as a retain
ing member and as a pivot for the grain tank
unloading pipe. The grain tank unloading pipe is thus no longer pivotable about the
centre point of the discharge opening of
the housing,. but instead swivels about a
point lying outside the whole flow path of
the material. Accordingly, the use of ex
pensive slewing rings that are difficult to
manufacture may be completely dispensed
with. The drive shaft is desirably mounted,
in a constructively simple way, in a support
plate securely connected to the housing. This
support plate may have a track on which is
supported a roller or caster connected to
the grain tank unloading pipe, which means That bending forces are not transmitted to the drive shaft. In order to ensure that uniform pairs of bevel gears can be used
instead of individual bevel gears exactly
adjusted to one another, the support plate may be mounted in an inclined manner on
the housing to the same extent in the direction of forward movement of the machine and also transversely to the direction of forward movement of the machine. Since the
grain tank unloading pipe is swivelled about a drive shaft lying outside the grain flow it is convenient if the grain tank unloading
pipe has a receiver funnel in the region of
the connection to the housing, so that grain
flowing out from the housing can pass into the grain tank unloading pipe at any opera
tive swivel position of the latter.
A preferred form of the invention will now be'described by way of the example with reference to the drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side view of a
combine harvester, Fig. 2 shows the part of Fig. 1 enclosed
within'the circle, in an enlarged perspective
representation and viewed from the rear end
of the combine harvester, gIg. 3 shows the part shown in Fig. 2,
from another angle, and
Fig. 4 is a view along the line I-IV of
Fig. 2.
The reference numeral 1 denotes a self propelled combine harvester which has a 'grain tank 2 (not shown in more detail) on
whose downwardly tapering floor there is
arranged a grain tank discharge worm 3.
The grain tank discharge worm 3 projects laterally from the combine harvester side
wall 4. This projecting region of the con
veying worm 3 is enclosed by a housing 5
provided with a bottom outlet opening. The
worm shaft 6 of the grain tank discharge
worm 3 is mounted at one end in the side
wall 7 of the housing 5 and projects out
wardly therefrom. A bevel gear 8 is keyed on this projecting part of the worm shaft and meshes with an intermediate bevel gear
9 secured to a drive shaft 10. The drive
shaft 10 is itself journalled both in a support plate 12 welded to the housing 5, and in a bracket 14 welded to a funnel 13.
The funnel 13 forms part of the end of the grain tank discharge pipe 15, in which a discharge worm 16 is mounted. This worm
16 receives its drive via a wheel 17, a belt or chain 18, and a wheel 20 mounted on a shaft 19.
The shaft 19 is mounted in the front
wall 21 of the funnel 13 which is enlarged for this purpose, and also in a bracket 22
welded to thc funnel 13. The shaft 19
carries a bevel gear 23 at its end remote from the wheel 20, and this gear 23 meshes
with an intermediate bevel gear 11 on the .shaft 10. In order that the whole weight of the grain tank discharge pipe 15 is not supported just by the bearings of the drive shaft 10, a retaining member 24, which carries a roller or caster 25, is rigidly connected to the funnel front wall 21. This roller 25 is supported by a support plate
12 in every operative rotational position of the grain tank discharge pipe 15 and thus absorbs some of the load which would otherwise act eccentrically on the drive shaft
10. As can be seen from Figs. 2 and 3, the support plate 12 is inclined at an angle 9f about 15 with respect to a horizontal axis running transverse to the direction of forward movement and also by the same angle with respect to a horizontal axis running parallel to the direction of forward movement.