GB2083735A - Agricultural machine - Google Patents

Abstract

An agricultural machine comprises an attachment frame 14 adapted to be coupled to a tractor 1, the attachment frame including a drive means having a drive shaft 9 for driving the operating members of the machine, one end 9' of the drive shaft being adapted to be coupled to a power take-off shaft 12 of the tractor 1 and the other end 9'' being adapted to be coupled to an articulated shaft 46 of a trailing load-carrying vehicle 10 or the like. The drive shaft is connected to the drive means for the operating members via a belt drive which can be disengaged to render the drive means inoperative. Therefore the working parts of the trailing vehicle can be driven by the drive shaft without the working parts of the machine necessarily being driven. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Agricultural machine The invention relates to an agricultural machine having an attachment frame which is adapted to be coupled to a tractor and includes a drive means comprising a drive shaft for driving the working parts of the machine, one end of the drive shaft being adapted to be coupled to a power take-off shaft of the tractor and the other end being adapted to be coupled to an articulated shaft of a trailing load-carrying waggon, or the like.

Agricultural machines like harvesters, field choppers, tedders, etc., normally are attached with their attachment frame to a three-point suspension system of the tractor, the drive shaft, which drives the working parts of the machine, being connected via an articulated shaft to the power take-off shaft of the tractor. The drive shaft can also be coupled through another articulated shaft to a drive shaft of a trailing load-carrying waggon to thereby drive a scraper flight conveyor, for example, provided on the loadcarrying waggon.

It has been found to be a shortcoming of these prior art agricultural machines that when the loadcarrying waggon is coupled thereto the drive shaft drives not only the driven parts (scraper flight conveyor, cutting wall, etc.) of the waggon, but also the working parts of the machine itself, independently of whether these parts are being required or not.

The object underlying the invention is to improve an agricultural machine of the above-described type such that the working parts of the trailing waggon, or the like, can be driven by the drive shaft without the working parts of the agricultural machine automatically being driven at the same time as well.

This object is accomplished in accordance with the invention in that the drive shaft is coupled to the drive means for the working parts of the agricultural machine by means of a belt drive which can be disengaged to render the drive means inoperative.

This solution affords the advantage that when the load-carrying waggon, etc., is attached the working parts thereof can be directly driven by the drive shaft of the agricultural machine, without the harvester, or the like, having to run idle during that time. Since in the machine according to the invention, the drive means for the working parts of the machine can be turned off, if required, independently of the drive for the trailing load-carrying waggon, power consumption is reduced, the noise produced during operation is decreased and the danger of accident is dimidished. The invention is particularly advantageous if during the unloading of the harvested material only the working parts of the load-carrying waggon, such as cutting wall or unloading device, have to be driven, whereas the working parts of the machine itself are not required.

In an advantageous embodiment of the invention it is provided that the drive shaft, which carries a pulley of the belt drive means, is supported on the attachment frame such that its spacing from the working part drive means is adjustable. This can be provided in that the drive shaft is supported by a rocker member supported on the attachment frame, the rocker member being adapted to be pivoted by means of a knee lever mechanism into the coupling position and into the uncoupling position.

Following is a description of the invention with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings, in which Figure 1 is a schematic side elevation of an agricultural machine designed in accordance with the invention, the machine being attached to a tractor and having a load-carrying waggon coupled thereto, Figure 2 shows a portion of the attachment frame including the drive system at an enlarged scale, and Figure 3 is a section along plane Ill-Ill of Figure 2.

In Figure 1, a tractor 1 is shown which is provided with a three-point suspension device 2 consisting of an upper link rod 3 and two lower link rods 4.

Connected to this three-point suspension device 2 is an agricultural machine 5, such as a harvester, a field chopper, a tedder, etc. with its attachment frame 14.

The harvester 5 has a coupling mouth 6 receiving the pole 11 of a trailing load-carrying waggon 10.

In the attachment frame 14 of the machine 5 a continuous drive shaft 9 is supported which is adapted to be connected via a joint 9' and an articulated shaft 12 to a power take-off shaft 7 of the tractor 1. The drive shaft 9 can be additionally coupled via a further joint 9" and an articulated shaft 46 to the drive shaft of the load-carrying waggon 10 to drive the working parts thereof, e.g. a scraper flight conveyor 37, a cutting wall (not shown), an unloading device, etc..

As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the drive shaft 9 is supported by means of roller bearings 43 and 44 in a fork-shaped portion 20 of a rocker member 19, which in turn encompasses with the fork-shaped portion 20 thereof the attachment frame 14, on which it is pivotally supported by an axis 22. The drive shaft 9 carries a pulley 15 which drives, by means of a belt 18, another pulley 16, which is supported on a shaft within the attachment frame 14. The drive means 13, which comprises the pulley 16 and the shaft 17, serves to drive the working parts (not shown) of the agricultural machine 5, for instance a cutting device, a feeding device or rough-pressing members.

The rocker member 19 has at its lever arm 21 an axis 24to which a switching lever 23 is pivotally connected. The other end of this switching lever 23 is connected via a dead centre passing joint 28 to a support lever 26 which in turn is supported on the attachment frame 14 by means of a fixed pivot point 28. One of the components of the support lever 26 is a pin 30 which is supported at the joint 27 and which extends, in a longitudinally displaceable manner, into a sleeve member 33 supported at the pivot point 28. Between the pin 30 and the sleeve member 33 there is disposed a compression spring assembly 31 consisting of a cup spring assembly which seeks to force the two components of the support lever 26, i.e. the pin 30 and the sleeve member 33 apart in the direction of the common longitudinal axis 29.Furthermore, a threaded pin 34 whose free end is supported at the fixed pivot point 28 is threadingly received in the sleeve member 33. By screw adjust ing the sleeve member 33 on the threaded pin 34 the bias of the compression spring assembly 31 and, thus, the tension of the drive belt 18 can be adjusted.

Furthermore, an actuating lever 35 is pivotally connected to the joint 27, the upwardly extending portion of the actuating lever being connected via a joint 38 to an operating lever 45, and a tension spring 41 being disposed between the downwardly extending portion of the actuating lever 35 and a lug extending from the attachment frame 14. The operating lever 45 is supported at a fixed pivot point 39 provided on the attachment frame 14, the portion 36 between the pivot point 39 and the joint 38 being upwardly inclined when the knee lever mechanism 25, which consists of the actuating lever 35, the switching lever 23 and the support lever 26, is in coupling position.

If the drive belt 18 is to be uncoupled from the pulley 15 in order to thereby disable the drive means 16,17, it is merely necessary to pivot the free end of the operating lever 45 upward about the fixed pivot point 39 so that the actuating lever 35 forces the joint 27 downwardly, whereby the rocker member 19 is rotated about its axis 22 such that the distance between the drive shaft 9 and the shaft 17 is reduced.

Thereby the frictional connection between the two pulleys 15 and 16 and the drive belt 18 is suspended without adversely affecting the torque transmission between the drive shaft 9 and the articulated shaft 46 driving the working parts of the trailing load-carrying waggon 10. When the knee lever mechanism 25 is in the lowered position, the support lever 26 and the switching lever 23 define a V, whereby the tension of the compression spring assembly 31 is suspended.

In this position, the tension spring 41 and a stop 42 provided on the actuating lever 35 make sure that the switching lever 23 and the support lever 26 are not bent down more than necessary.

To re-establish the condition of torque transmission between the drive shaft 9 and the shaft 17, it is merely necessary to return the operating lever 45 into the position shown in Figure 2 until the stop 42 ofthe actuating lever 35 engages the underside of the attachment frame 14 and the belt is in tensioned condition again. When the belt is in this coupling condition, the longitudinal axis 29 of the support lever 26 is slightly upwardly inclined from the pivot point 28, so that the compression spring assembly 31 maintains the knee lever mechanism 25 in the coupling position.

Claims (10)

1. An agricultural machine comprising an attach menu frame adapted to be coupled to a tractor, said attachment frame including a drive means having a drive shaft for driving the operating members of the machine, one end of the drive shaft being adapted to be coupled to a power take-off shaft of the tractor and the other end thereof being adapted to be coupled to an articulated shaft of a trailing load carrying vehicle or the like, characterized in that the drive shaft (9) is connected to the drive means (16, 17) for the operating members via a belt or other drive means (18) which can be disengaged to render the drive means (16, 17) inoperative.

2. Agricultural machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the drive shaft (9) which carries a pulley (15) of the belt drive means (18) is supported on the attachment frame (14) such that the spacing of the drive shaft (9) from the drive means (16, 17) for the operating members can be adjusted.

3. Agricultural machine according to claim 2, characterized in that the drive shaft (9) is supported in a rocker member (19) supported on the attachmentframe (14).

4. Agricultural machine according to claim 3, characterized in that the rocker member (19) is adapted to be pivoted through a knee lever mechanism (25) into the coupling position and into the uncoupling position.

5. Agricultural machine according to claim 4, characterized in that the knee lever mechanism (25) consists of a switch lever (23) hinged to the rocker member (19), a support lever (26) which is connected to the switch lever (23) via a dead center passing joint (27) and which is variable in length and supported at a fixed pivot point (28) on the attachmenu frame (14), and an actuating lever (35) preferably acting on the joint (27).

6. Agricultural machine according to claim 5, characterized in that the variable length support lever (26) comprises a pin (30) supported at the joint (27) and a sleeve member (33) which is supported at the pivot point (28) and connected to the pin (30) via a compression spring assembly (31) so as to be longitudinally displaceable.

7. Agricultural machine according to claim 6, characterized in that a threaded pin (34) supported at the pivot point (28) is threaded into the sleeve member (33) for longitudinal adjustment.

8. Agricultural machine according to anyone of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that the actuating lever (35) is connected through a joint (38) to an operating lever (45) which is pivotally supported on the attachment frame (14).

9. Agricultural machine according to anyone of claims 3 to 8, characterized in that the rocker member (19) has a fork-shaped portion which en compasses the attachment frame (14) and in which the drive shaft (9) is supported.

10. An agricultural machine substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accom panying drawings.