GB2424166A - Harvesting and sowing system and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A system for the rehabilitation of grassland, moorland and heatherland comprises the combination of: a harvester (300 figure 6) which uses a comb or stripper method (figure 9) and a spreader 10 which uses a spreading brush 100. Both machines are sized to be towed by quad-bike so as to be employable on terrain normally accessible by quad bike.

Description

Harvesting and Sowing System and Apparatus This invention relates to a

system for harvesting and sowing of crop, and apparatus for use in the system.

In different parts of the world, grassland, heatherland, and moorland form integral and important apsects of the natural environment. Increasingly, government, (local, national and supranational), park authorities, environment agencies etc, are recognising that these ecosystems are important natural resources that maintain diversity of wildlife, both flora and fauna, and that : *, they need protecting and encouraging.

:::.:.

By the nature of these habitats, they are frequently in remote and inaccessible areas, making access to them difficult by traditional farm machinery. Access is now desired because these habitats frequently suffer when :: 20 they get damaged for any reason. Of course, they suffer when damaged. But they suffer more than necessary because of the time it takes for these ecosystems to re- establish themselves. The most usual form of damage is fire, but even deliberate "damage", caused for example by use of land for agricultural purposes, either through ploughing and planting, or through grazing by farm animals, may wish to be reversed. It is often desirable to be able to assist the re-establishment of grassland (meadows), moorland and heatherland.

The present invention recognises that reseeding land with seeds brought from another area is frequently unsuccessful. The reason for this is simply the nature of the landscape being considered. Heatherlands and moorlands, and to a lesser extent grasslands, are often in areas exposed to the worst of the elements (ie on the hill/mountain side) and have particular soil conditions that are often low grade, that is, poorly drained, acid/peaty, leached of nutrients etc. Indeed, it is for these reasons that only hardy species such as heather and grasses can survive in these areas. But even such heathers and grasses are not so hardy as to be indifferent to their location: planting the wrong grasses and the wrong heathers in a particular location will often lead to failure, which itself further damages the habitat.

It is also clear that in natural systems, there is not : ** just one plant species, but a multitude of different :::.:. 15 species, frequently not just competing with one another but in fact symbiotically supporting one another. What is more, the balance of species naturally tends to be appropriate for the conditions of any particular area, and that balance may change from place to place. Indeed, it may change in the space of a few hundred metres, but, on the whole, the balance of species in one location is most likely to be the appropriate balance for an adjacent area of land.

Thus seeds taken from surrounding areas of a piece of land it is desired to reseed are most likely to be the seeds which will take hold and flourish. Moreover, the balance of seeds taken from an adjacent site is most likely to be appropriate for the site in question. Of course, this does also depend on when different plants go into seed.

Nevertheless, the present invention has as its basic premise the appreciation that the most successful rehabilitation of a particular area of land is to seed it with a mix of seeds harvested from an adjacent or nearby area of land.

In order to protect the environment, there are severe limitations in a number of jurisdictions on seeds that can legitimately be marketed. These limitations extend to the treatment they must be subjected to in order to ensure quality and prevent, for example, the transmission of disease. In the world of food production, the extra cost that these limitations impose can usually be absorbed by the value of the crop being planted.

However, when it comes to restoring the natural habitat, such measures are not only inordinately expensive, given * ., that the return is not financial profit, but also that such harmonized and highly processed seed stock is almost a.' the opposite of what is actually required. * ** * * *

:. With all the foregoing in mind, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system which addresses the problems identified above, or at least mitigates their effects, and facilitates the rehabilitation of grassland, moorland or heatherland.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a system for the rehabilitation of grassland, moorland and heatherland comprising the combination of: a) a harvester, comprising: i) a harvester body, mounted on wheels and having a harvester towing hitch; ii) a harvester comb mounted in the body; iii) a motor on the body to drive the comb; iv) the comb being adjustable in height with respect to the ground (when the wheels are on the ground and the hitch is attached to a towing vehicle) and arranged, in use, to comb low-level plant growth; and v) a chute to collect product combed by the comb and deliver same to a collection device; S b) a spreader, comprising: 1) a spreader body, mounted on wheels and having a spreader towing hitch; ii) a receptacle in the body to receive said product, said receptacle having a floor, an open rear end, a front end closed by a movable wall, and side walls iii) a spreader comb/brush mounted in the open rear end of the receptacle; * ,. iv) a motor on the body to drive the comb/brush; and v) wall moving means to move the wall, and product in the receptacle, towards the open rear end; wherein c) the spreader and harvester are sized to be towed by quad-bike so as to be employable on terrain normally accessible by a quad- bike.

Quad-bikes are a relatively recent phenomenon, comprising a motor-cycle type frame, steering and riding characteristics, but with four wheels. Moreover the wheels are wide tread and leave little footprint. The primary characteristic of quadbikes is their ability to traverse terrain that even many tractors might avoid, and certainly with less evidence of the passage of the vehicle. This is particularly important in the present application where damage to the seed-doning moorland, grassland or heatherland must be balanced against the rehabilitation of the receiving area. If the doning area is heavily damaged by the passage of the harvester, then the net benefit to the landscape may be lost. However, with vehicles of the type to which the present invention is directed, such damage is minimized.

Said harvester comb preferably comprises a shaft having flanges, comb elements being removably connected to said flanges. Said comb elements preferably comprise sheet plastic material with V-shaped notches in one edge.

Preferably, said notches are terminated by drillings at the apex. The drillings serve two purposes. The first is to terminate the crack formed by the notch, whereby further cracking of the plate in the direction of the notch is inhibited. Secondly, the drilling forms a natural seed stripper. The main stem of a plant falls :.. into the notch as the comb progresses through the plant. S...

*,*** 15 Once in, the drilling tends to keep the stem in place.

As the comb progresses up the stem, it reaches seed pods : on the stem. These are frequently to large to slip through the drilling and are accordingly stripped from the plant, but often leaving the stem behind.

S.....

It is a substantial feature of the present invention that the comb is nonselective. it is both inefficient at collecting generally, and inefficient at selecting seeds in preference to anything else. These apparent disadvantages actually represent advantages. In the first place, the passage of the harvester through healthy grassland, moorland or heatherland is almost unnoticeable. The area very quickly recovers with no adverse consequences at all, indeed, it can soon be harvested again. Secondly, the grass, leaves, stems and other non-seed products collected by the harvester provide a useful mulch and protection for the seeds included.

The invention can be employed in one of two ways.

In the first way, both components of the invention are used simultaneously or sequentially (depending on the number of operators) . Here, when the harvester fills its collection device, this is immediately transferred to the receptable of the spreader. The practicality of this arrangement does depend on the proximity of the donor and receptor areas. If they are more than one hundred metres apart, then the arrangement may well be sequential with many loads being collected from the harvester, for example in a morning, before being all transported together to the spreader where they are successively spread in an afternoon. However, any longer separation : between collection and sowing may result in overheating S...

15 of the seeds, which may damage germination. S. **

: * Thus the second method involves an intermediate step of *5I * spreading collected product in a drying environment before bundling for storage. This drying prevents any fermentation and consequent heating of the seeds.

Another aspect of the invention is that such collected and dried product can be sold without the restrictions imposed on seed product. Although the product includes much seed, and this is evident to the purchaser, it is not sold as seed product, rather it is sold as germinating mulch. Since it is not subject to the stringent restrictions imposed on seed production, it can of course be sold much more cheaply, which in any event it needs to be, given its non-commercial application.

The spreader has a secondary function also. This is to spread mulch to assist plants already in place. When the spreader is used for mulch, the spreader comb/brush is in the form of a comb, substantially as described above in respect of the harvester comb. However, when the spreader is employed for seeding, the comb/brush is replaced with a brush that more gently ejects the seeds from the spreader receptacle.

An embodiment of the invention is further described hereinafter, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a spreader in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 is a detail of the wall driving system for the spreader of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a view of the rear, open-end of the spreader of Figure 1; S...

15 Figure 4 shows more detail of the wall moving mechanism; : Figure 5 is a detail of the floor arrangement; Figure 6 is a rear view of a harvester in accordance with the present invention; S.....

:. 20 Figure 7 is a side view of the harvester of Figure * * 6; Figure 8 is a detail of the combs of the harvester and spreader mentioned above; and Figures 9a, b and c are details of the combs of Figure 8.

Referring first to the spreader 10 shown in Figures 1 to of the drawings, the harvester comprises a body 12 having a receptacle 14, a towing hitch 16 and road wheels 18 (only one of which is visible). The road wheels 18 are, in fact, wheels typically employed by quad bikes, having a diameter of about 30cm and a tread width of about 20cm.

The towing hitch 16 has a towing hook 20 for attachment to the tow-bar (not shown) of a quad bike. The spreader is sized so that a typical quad bike can tow it with ease up relatively steep inclines and over rough terrain.

Therefore, the spreader 10 should not weigh more than about 300 kilograms and is dimensioned so that its overall length is no more than about 3 metres with a width of about 1.2 to 1.5 metres.

The receptacle 14 comprises side walls 22, a front end moveable wall 24 and a rear open-end 26. The walls 22 may be a metal frame with a grill. Indeed, half its height is sheet metal to retain small seeds, while the :.:. top half (if the receptacle is about 1 m in depth in S...

15 total) is a grill, which is adequate to retain mulch * material comprising grass and heather twigs etc. That is, when spreading seed, the receptacle is only half filled, since this material is concentrated, but when spreading mulch, the receptacle is completely filled, since this is much less dense.

Moveable wall 24 is slidable in bearing elements (not shown) in the side walls 22. The wall is slidable in the direction of the open rear end 26. Mounted on the side of one wall 22 is a gearbox 28 from which is pivoted an arm 30 on the end of which is rotably mounted a wall- wheel 32. The wall-wheel 32 is similar to the wheels 18 of the spreader 10. The arm 30 can be raised or lowered about its pivot axis 36 (see Figure 2) by a jack or electrical actuator 34. The jack 34 includes a motor to actuate it when selected to do so. When lowered into contact with the ground wheel 18, the wall-wheel 32 rotates as the spreader is pulled along, and it rotates at a speed commensurate with the speed of rotation of the wheel 18.

A pulley 38 is journaled on the shaft of the wall-wheel 32 so that it rotates with the wheel 32. It drives a belt 40. The belt 40 extends into the gearbox 28 and drives a pulley 42 mounted on a pivot shaft 36 journalled in the box 28 and on which the arm 30 is mounted. The shaft 36 drives three sprockets 44, each of different diameter. An idler shaft 46 is also mounted for rotation in the gearbox 28. This is adjustable so that it can be displaced toward the pivot shaft 36 to allow a chain 48 to be engaged with any one of pairs of sprockets including the sprockets 44 and a corresponding three sprockets 50 on the shaft 46. Depending on which pair of sprockets are interconnected, the speed of rotation of the idler shaft 46 compared with the speed of rotation of the pivot shaft 36 can be varied.

* The output of the idler shaft 46 is provided through a pulley 52 to a long belt 54, which extends to the front :., 20 of the receptacle 14 (see Figures 1 and 4), driving a * further pulley 56.

The pulley 56 is mounted on a rod-shaft 58 that extends across the front of the receptacle 14. The belt 54 is relatively loose, and, unless tensioned, rotation of the pulley 52 will ineffective in rotating the shaft 58.

However, a lever 60 is provided, pivotally mounted about an axis 62 on the body 12 of the spreader 10. The lever tensions the belt 54 through a pad 64. The lever is urged counter-clockwise by a spring 66 between a latch 68 and side wall 22.

When the rear wall 24 is in its forward-most position, latch 68 is free and the belt 54 is tensioned by the spring 66. Accordingly, as the spreader 10 is pulled along the ground and the wheels 18,30 rotate (if they are in contact with one another), the rod-shaft 58 is correspondingly rotated.

Rod-shaft 58 includes spools 70, one on either side of the receptacle 14. The spools 70 each progressively wind a cable 72. The cable extends from spool 70 around pulley 74 mounted on the side wall 22, around a pulley 76 mounted on the wall 24, and finally is fixed on the side wall 22 at 78. Thus, as the cable 72 is wound onto the spool 70, the wall 74 is progressively shifted rightwardly in the drawing towards the open rear end 26 of the receptacle 14.

, 15 The rate at which the wall moves is not only adjusted by the choice of which sprockets 44,50 are employed. Also, : the cable 72, instead of being tied at 78, can be tied S..

* directly to the pulley 76. This will have the effect of increasing the speed of movement of the wall 24 per rotation of the spool 70.

As the wall 24 progresses towards the open-end 26, a catch 80 on the wall finally engages a hook member 82 on the end of the latch 68. The latch 68 then pivots the lever 60 against the bias of spring 66 to disengage the pad 64 from the belt 54. The consequence of this is that the shaft 58 stops being driven by the belt 54 and so no further rightward movement of the wall 24 occurs.

Referring to figure 5, the receptacle 14 has a floor 86.

At either end of the floor 86 are rollers 90 extending across the full width of the receptacle 14. The rollers are freely rotationally journaled in the body 12. Around the rollers 90, both above and below the floor 86, are disposed belts 92. The top surface of each belt is provided with knuris 94 and the ends of the belts 92 are fixed at the base 96 of the wall 24. Thus, as the wall 24 moves r ghtwardly, the belts 92 are caused to traverse rightwardly, and also around the rollers 90. The belts 92 cover about 50% of the floor area of the floor 86.

About four belts of approximately 10cm width will provide this coverage.

Finally, journalled in the open-end 26 of the receptacle 14 are two comb/brush-shafts ioo. A motor 102 (see Figure 3) is mounted on the other side of receptacle 14 from the gearbox 28 and wall-wheel 32. The motor 102 drives a belt 104 around a pulley 106 on the end of one shaft 100. A further pulley 108 and belt 110 drives a *:::: 15 pulley 112 on the end of the other comb-shaft ioo. When the motor 102 operates, product 200 (see Figure 5) in the receptacle 14, (which is carried en-bloc towards the open-end 26 by the moving door 24 and the moving "floor" constituted by the belts 92), is thrown out of the open- * * ** S S :., 20 end 26 by the combs/brushes ioo. The amount of product * discharged from the open-end 26 depends on the speed of the spreader across the ground, and depending on the gearing provided by the sprockets 44,50 and the pulley ratios 74,76. Beyond the open-end 26, the floor extension 86a is provided with wings 114 which serve to deflect some product sideways, rather than straight out of the rear open-end 26 of the receptacle 14.

When the product has been ejected fully from the receptacle 14, and the door 24 has ceased moving backwards, it may be pulled back to its start position by a winch 116 (see Figure 1) mounted on the towing hitch 16. Pulling the door back with the winch 116 has the effect of unravelling the cable 72 from spool 70.

Incidentally, it should be mentioned that an equivalent arrangement of cable 72 and pulleys 74, 76 is provided on the other side of the receptacle 14 so that the moveable wall 24 is moved symmetrically.

Once the wall 24 is repositioned as shown in Figure 1, the receptacle 14 is ready to receive another load or product 200 for spreading in a further operation as described above.

Turning to Figures 6 and 7, these show a harvester 300 in accordance with the invention. The harvester 300 comprises a frame 312 mounting a towing hitch 316 having a towing hook 318. Wheels 320 are mounted on a sub-frame 322 which is pivoted to the frame 312 about axis 324.

*::::* 15 Altitude adjuster 326 adjusts the height of the frame 312 with respect to the wheel 320 and sub-frame 322.

Likewise, the towing hitch 316 is pivoted to the frame 312 about axis 328, and a further height adjuster 330 :. 20 adjusts the height of the frame 312 with respect to the * towing hitch 316. Both height adjusters 326,330 are simply length extendable elements, but, when either is adjusted, the relative height of the frame 312, and hence the centre of the comb-shaft 342, above the ground is likewise adjusted (assuming that the wheel 320 is in contact with the ground and the towing hook 318 is engaged with the tow bar of a towing vehicle). The adjusters 326,330 may be in the form of a simple turnbuckle, but equally they may be a more sophisticated hydraulic or other jack arrangement capable of remote actuation.

In that respect, the towing vehicle (not shown), like for the spreader 10, is arranged to be a quad-bike. The harvester 300 is therefore sized accordingly. it too should not weight more than 200kg and is dimensioned so as to be about 2 metres in length and 1.2 to 1.5 metres in width.

In the frame 312 is mounted a chute 340. At the bottom end of the chute 340 is journaled a harvester comb-shaft 342. A motor 344 on the towing hitch 316 drives the comb shaft 342 through a belt (not shown) at a speed of about 3000 rpm. The comb-shaft 342 mounts combs 344, described further below, which serve to comb plant material growing above the ground and throw what is extracted up the chute 340. To the frame 312 is fixed a collection device support 350. The support 350 has two sides 350L,R, and :.:, each side comprises a front element 352 and a rear element 354. At the rear of the frame is an open tray 358. The support 350 and tray 358 between them carry a flexible canvass bag or mini-sac of the te frequently used for transportation of aggregate and other building materials. These comprise a bag of 1 cubic metre *.... S capacity with a handle at each of four corners, one for * each support 352, 354. The mouth 370 of the chute is not visible in the drawings but opens downwardly so that product combed from the ground by the combs 345 would collect in a bag (not shown) carried by the support 350,358.

Finally, turning to Figures 8 and 9, the structure of the comb-shafts 100, 342 are shown. These consist of a hollow shaft 500 provided with flanges 510, each having a series of holes 512. Plastic comb elements 514 are fixed to each flange by bolts 516. The extent to which the comb elements 514 extend along the entire length of the flanges 510, and whether along each flange 510, is a matter of choice. Moreover, the particular design of the comb 514 is also a matter of choice.

Figures 9a, b and c show three alternatives. In Figure 9a, the comb 550 comprises a plastics sheet 554 (about 12 mm thick of polyethylene) having V-shaped notches 556 formed in them. The notches are narrow, defining a plurality of consequently narrow fingers 558. Between each finger a drilling 552 both terminates the notch and provides a catcher point for seed pods and the like.

Such a comb is suitable for grassland.

However, for courser plant life such as heather, then the comb 560 shown in Figure 9b might be employed. This also comprises a plastic sheet 564, with V-shaped notches 566.

However these notches are wider, defining broader and ** 15 stronger fingers 568. Also, larger drillings 562 terminate the notches 566. S. * * . * S

Drillings 552,562 are provided to capture a plant stem as the comb rotates and is brought into contact with the plant. As the drilling passes up the stem it strips seed 5, pods from the stem without otherwise damaging the stem.

Finally, Figure 9c shows a brush-comb 570, where the rigid products of Figures 9a and b have been replaced by bristles 572 of the brush 570. The brush arrangement is particularly employed for the spreader combs 100.

Each comb 550,560,570 is provided with apertures 580 for connection thereof to the flanges 510 of the comb shafts 100, 342.

Claims (13)

1. Claims 1. A system for the rehabilitation of grassland, moorland and

   heatherland comprising the combination of: a) a harvester, comprising: i) a harvester body, mounted on harvester wheels and having a harvester towing hitch; ii) a harvester comb mounted in the body; iii) a motor on the body to drive the comb; iv) the comb being adjustable in height with respect to the ground (when the wheels are on the ground and the hitch is attached to a towing vehicle) and arranged, in use, to ** 15 comb low-level plant growth; and I...

   v) a chute to collect product combed by the comb and deliver same to a collection device; b) a spreader, comprising: * *... * * 20 1) a spreader body, mounted on spreader wheels and having a spreader towing hitch; ii) a receptacle in the body to receive said product, said receptacle having a floor, an open rear end, a front end closed by a movable wall, and side walls iii) a spreader comb/brush mounted in the open rear end of the receptacle; iv) a motor on the body to drive the spreader comb/brush; and v) wall moving means to move the wall, and product in the receptacle, towards the open rear end; wherein c) the spreader and harvester are sized to be towed by quad-bike so as to be employable on terrain normally accessible by a quad-bike.
2. 2. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said harvester comb comprises a shaft having flanges, comb elements being removably connected to said flanges.
3. 3. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said comb elements comprise sheet plastic material with V- shaped notches in one edge.
4. 4. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said notches are terminated by drillings at the apex.

   : *
5. 5. A system as claimed in any preceding claim, :. 15 wherein said movable wall is moved by rotation of the I Sb spreader wheels. *1 * I I * S

   **
6. 6. A system as claimed in claim 5, wherein a wall-wheel mounted on an adjustable arm selectively 20 engages a spreader wheel, a pulley connected to the wall- wheel driving a cable connected to the wall.
7. 7. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cable includes a friction clutch, a lever being spring biased to increase said friction and arranged to be released when said wall approaches said open-end of the receptacle to release said friction clutch.
8. 8. A system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the speed of movement of the wall is adjustable.
9. 9. A system as claimed in claim 8, wherein said adjustment comprises a drive shaft having a plurality of gears and a driven shaft having an equal plurality of complimentary gears, any one pair of which transmits drive to the wall.
10. 10. A system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the receptacle has rollers parallel the floor at either end of the receptacle, belts being connected to the base of the movable wall and extending over and under the floor and around the rollers at each end of the floor, whereby product on the floor of the receptacle is urged towards said open-end by both said wall and said belts when the wall moves towards said open-end.
11. 11. A system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein two spreader combs are mounted in said open-end, , 15 a first adjacent said floor and a second above the first. ( ..
12. 12. A system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the floor of the receptacle beyond said spreader comb has wings directing product spread by the comb away from said open-end in a fan.
13. 13. A system, harvester and/or spreader substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.