GB748547A - An improved harvester for groundnuts and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

748,547. Harvesting groundnuts. NATIONAL RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION. Aug. 20, 1953 [Aug. 20, 1952; Feb. 19, 1953], Nos. 20885/52 and 4656/53. Class 6 (3). A harvester for groundnuts, oilseed and like fruit-bearing crops comprises a wheeled carriage 1 supporting a share 13 followed by a pair of contacting endless belts 18 which carry the plants upwardly and grip them while the fruit is stripped off by a pair of co-operating rotary vaned stripping members 36, the stripped fruit being then carried by a pneumatic conveyer 7 to bagging shoots 9 at the rear of the machine. The belts are carried by inclined beams 24 which rest upon skids 14 at their lower ends and are rearwardly pivoted to the frame 1 so as to be adjustable by a lever 53. The share 13 is carried by a pivoted frame 68 which incorporates a safety release 70, 72 permitting the share to swing back on encountering excessive resistance. The frame 68 is raisable by a lever 54. The vanes of the stripping members are non-radial 'and may be resiliently deformable, and the members rotate on mutually inclined axes 37, the drive to the strippers, the belts 18 and the pneumatic-conveyer blower 45 being obtained from the tractor through a jointed shaft 12 and belt-drives 32 from a layshaft 33. For cleaning the crop, spring fingers 51 project across the path of the plants as they are carried upwardly by the belts 18, the final pair of fingers acting to guide the crop into the space between the stripping members. Only one member 36 need be driven positively. The machine is steered by a handwheel 78 which rotates the offset draw-bar 11 about its pivot on the frame 1. The pneumatic conveyer comprises arched trunking 7 which discharges into a box 8 having a flap valve 10 directing the crop alternatively to bagging shoots 9, the trunking including a gridded portion 50 which permits the escape of trash and air.