IE44390B1 - Improvements in or relating to haymaking machines - Google Patents

Description

This invention relates to a haymaking machine having two adjacent rotors which are rotatable about upright axes and which are provided with tines.

Such haymaking machines are used in large numbers for several different operations such as e.g. tedding and windrawing. It is an object of the invention 5 to improve such a machine so that the windrawing operation can be performed more efficiently.

According to the present invention a haymaking machine comprising a frame, a rotor support beam movably mounted on the frame and a pair of rotors each mounted for rotation in a respective housing which is pivotally mounted on the support beam, each of the rotors being provided with tines which extend or may be adjusted to extend substantially radially, the beam being adjustable between a first position where the rotors are side-by-side and a line joining their centres is perpendicular to the intended direction of travel of the machine and a second position where the rotors are staggered and a line joining their centres is at an acute angle to the direction of travel, the rotors being drivable to rotate in opposite directions at said first position so as to move hay backwards between them in operation and to rotate in the same direction at said second position to move hay laterally along their front regions and deposit it outwardly of the rear rotor - 2 44390 In operation; in which the axes of rotation of the rotors are inclined to the vertical and means is provided to be operative on the housings to maintain that inclination substantially constant in relation to the direction of travel irrespective of said adjustment of the beam.

In this way, the advantages of a rearwardly tedding machine are combined with the advantages of a laterally windrawing machine.

According to a further feature of the invention, the rotors are driven at equal speeds when in side-by-side relationship and the rear rotor is driven at a modified speed in the position in which the rotors are staggered with respect to the direction of movement. This produces a large, compact swath in a smooth operation.

In an embodiment in which each rotor is connected to one end of a supporting beam via a drive casing and the supporting beam is connectable to a tractor or the like via a drawbar, the supporting beam is connected to the drawbar by means of a pivot about which it is adjustable to several positions.

In the second position in which the rotors are staggered with respect to the direction of movement, it is preferred that a shield is mounted in front of the rear rotor. For this shield, it is possible to use the dividing board which is positioned in front of and between both rotors in the first position of adjustment of the machine.

In the second position in which the rotors are staggered with respect to the direction of movement, it is further preferred that a swath board extends in the direction of movement, laterally outward of the rear rotor.

The invention will now be elucidated with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a side view of the machine during tedding.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the machine during tedding.

Figure 3 is a rear view of the machine during windrawing.

Figure 4 is a plan view of the machine during windrawing. - 3 44390 In the embodiment shown which is only meant as an example, the machine has two rotors 1 and 2, each composed of tubes and each supported by a ground wheel 3, 4 mounted under the rotor. Each rotor is provided with a plurality of tines 5, 6 which are distributed about its circumference and are preferably adjustable about their mounting so as to extend substantially radially outwards with respect to the axis of rotation of the rotor in tedding as in Figure 2, and trail for raking as in Figure 4. The axis of rotation of each rotor extends almost vertical, but is somewhat forwardly inclined in upward direction. Each rotor can be rotated via gearing mounted in a drive casing 7 or 8 respectively on top of the rotor. The drive casings 7 and 8 are rotatably mounted to the respective ends of a supporting beam 9, the centre of which is connected to the rear end of a drawbar 11 via a pivot 10. The front end of the drawbar 11 is pivotally connected to a coupling frame 12 which can be coupled to the three point linkage of a tractor or the like.

In the position according to Figure 2, the supporting beam 9 is fixed with respect to the drawbar 11 so as to extend transverse to the direction of movement (A in Figure 2) by a connecting rod 13 hooked into a lug 14 of the drawbar 11. Rotation of the drive casings 7 and 8 of the rotors 1 and 2 with respect to the supporting beam is prevented by tie rods 15 and 16 connecting the drive casing 7 and 8 with a lug 17 of the drawbar 11. The drive casing 7 is provided with a forwardly extending stub axle 18 for connection with the power take off shaft of the tractor. The drive casing 7 is further provided with a laterally extending stub axle 19 for connection with the drive casing 8 of the other rotor 2 via an intermediate, splined shaft 20 comprising universal joints. The latter drive casing 8 comprises, besides the usual gears for rotating the rotor 2 at the same speed as but opposite direction of rotation to the rotor 1, further reversing gears for driving the rotor 2 in the same direction as the rotor 1. Corresponding therewith, the drive casing 8 comprises two stub axles 21 and 22 for the splined shaft 20. When the splined shaft 20 is connected to the - 4 44380 stub axle 21 cooperating with the usual gears (see Figure 2), the rotors 1 and 2 rotate in opposite directions and at equal speeds, see the arrows B and C. Uhen, however, the splined shaft 20 is connected to the other stub axle 22 of the drive casing 8, the direction of rotation of the rotor 2 is reversed.

The reversing gears may comprise a pair of intermeshing gears of equal diameters mounted on the stub axles 21 and 22. If desired, however, the two intermeshing reversing gears may have a mutually different diameter so that reversing the drive direction of the rotor 2 also causes increase or decrease of its speed.

This may be desirable under certain circumstances. Thus, by coupling the splined shaft 20 with the stub axle 22 both rotors as viewed from above in Figure 4 will be caused to rotate counter clockwise and thus will both feed the hay to the left.

In the position according to Figures 3 and 4, in addition to the splined shaft 20 being coupled to the other stub axle 22 of the drive casing 8, the connecting rod 13 is hooked into another, more forwardly disposed lug 23 of the drawbar 11, which causes the supporting beam 9 to be moved from a position perpendicular to the direction of movement to a position inclined at about 30° 50° therewith. The right rotor 1 will now be positioned obliquely in front of the left rotor 2. As stated already, both rotors 1 and 2 now rotate in the same direction as Indicated by the arrows D and E such that both rotate to the left at their front parts and thus feed the engaged hay along their front part to the left. The hay displaced by the right rotor 1 is transferred to the left rotor 2 which deposits the whole mass of hay at its left in one large, compact swath. As known in the art, the tines 5, 6 will be adjusted to a releasing position for this operation, which means that they will be rearwardly trailing with respect to the direction of rotation of the rotors, in contrast with the position according to Figure 2, in which they are substantially radially outwardly directed. However, even in this alternative position the tines extend outwards almost in a radial plane with respect to the axis of rotation of the rotor and they are at most about 15° downwardly inclined with respect to such a radial plane. The position of the tines almost in a radial plane is extremely important for a good operation of the - 5 44390 device since the hay will not be adequately conveyed when the tines are more steeply inclined toward the ground. This is the reason why attempts at performing windrawing operations with rotary haymakers having tines extending downwards more or less parallel to the rotational axis were not very successful.

In the position according to Figures 1 and 2, in which the rotors are juxtaposed perpendicular to the direction of movement, the rotational axis of the rotors 1 and 2 is somewhat forwardly inclined with respect to the vertical in upward direction, as stated. Thus, the lowest position assumed by the tines during their rotation is substantially centrally before the rotor, see Figure 1.

The tie rod control of the drive casings 7 and 8 of the rotors causes the lowest position of the tines to remain centrally before the rotors 1 and 2 when the supporting beam 9 is pivoted to inclined position. By positioning the tie rods 15 and 16 obliquely and by using slanting pivots, it is also possible to obtain the result that, when the supporting beam 9 is pivoted counter clockwise, the drive casings 7 and 8 are pivoted a few degrees, e.g. 3°, clockwise with respect to their previous position.

In the windrawing position it is desirable that the machine is provided with a swath board at the left in Figures 3 and 4 so as to be able to form a high, compact swath. To this end, the drive casing 8 of the left rotor 2 carries a pivotable telescoping rod 24 which can be fixed in the position according to Figure 4 by means of a connecting rod 25, so as to extend to a point laterally outwards of the rotor 2, whereupon the telescoping part 26 of the rod is extended and fixed in its extended position by means of a latch 27. The swath board 28 is fixed to the outer end of the extended rod 26. When tedding, this swath board is superfluous so that it has been removed in the position according to Figures 1 and 2, in which further the rod 26 has been retracted and the rod 24 has been pivoted inwards and fixed in the inwards position by the connecting rod 25, see Figure 2.

In this inwards position, the front end of the retracted rod 26 serves for carrying the separation board 29 (see also Figure 1) which extends before and centrally of the two rotors 1 and 2 during tedding so as to guide the hay smoothly inbetween both - 6 ; 44390 rotors. In some embodiments;it is possible to use this separation board 29, after outwards pivoting of the, arm 24 and extension of the rod 26, as outer swath i board instead of the swath bqajrd 28 shown in Figure 4. In this embodiment, however, the separation board :29 is used in the position according to Figure 4 t j as a shield before the rear ijotor 2, to which end it is hooked in a lug 30 of the drawbar 11 such that it Extends almost transversely in front of the rotor 2, see Figure 4. In this position it serves for preventing the large masses of hay thrown rearwardly by the rotor 1 from being partly caught in the cagelike rotor 2. However, this can also be prevented in other manners, e.g. by designing the rotors as closed casings from which only the tines protrude so that the hay slides automatically from the rotors.

Between the drawbar 11 and the coupling frame 12, a telescopic rod 31 is mounted which encloses a dampening spring (not shown), for preventing excessive gawing of the machine. In the transport position of the machine (which is the same as the windrawing position according to Figures 3 and 4) the telescopic rod 31 is latched by means of a latch 32.

Claims (13)

1. A haymaking machine comprising a frame, a rotor support beam movably mounted on the frame and a pair of rotors each mounted for rotation in a respective housing which is pivotally mounted on the support beam, each of the rotors being provided with tines which extend or may be adjusted to extend substantially radially, the beam being adjustable between a first position where the rotors are side-byside and a line joining their centres is perpendicular to the intended direction of travel of the machine and a second position where the rotors are staggered and a line joining their centres is at an acute angle to the direction of travel, the rotors being drivable to rotate in opposite directions at said first position so as to move hay backwards between them in operation and to rotate in the same direction at said second position to move hay laterally along their front regions and deposit it outwardly of the rear rotor in operation; in which the axes of rotation of the rotors are inclined to the vertical and means is provided to be - 7 operative on the housings to maintain that inclination substantially constant in relation to the direction of travel irrespective of said adjustment of the beam.

2. A haymaking machine according to Claim 1 in which the axes of the rotors are inclined upwardly and forwardly in the intended direction of travel.

3. A haymaking machine according to Cla’m 1 or Claim 2 in which the housings are mounted for rotation on opposite ends of the support beam.

4. A haymaking machine according to Claim 1, 2 or 3 in which the frame comprises a drawbar for connection to a tractor or the like, the supporting beam being connected to the drawbar by a pivot.

5. A haymaking machine according to Claim 3 or 4 in which tie rods are mounted between the drawbar and the housings to provide the means to keep the inclination of the axes of rotation constant with resp'ct to the intended direction of travel.

6. A haymaking machine according to any preceding claim, in which the rotors are driven at equal speeds when in said first position and driven at different speeds when in said second position.

7. A haymaking machine according to any preceding claim, in which the housing of the rear rotor in said second position comprises a reversing gearing arrangement which may at the same time be reduction gearing.

8. A haymaking machine according to any preceding claim, in which a shield extends in front of the rear rotor in said second position.

9. A haymaking machine according to any preceding claim, in which a swath board extending in the direction of movement is positioned laterally outwards of the rear rotor in said second position.

10. A haymaking machine according to Claim 9 as dependent on Claim 8, in which the shield is used as a separation board extending in front of and between the two rotors in their first position.

11. A haymaking machine according to Claims 8 and 9, in which in the first position of the rotors, a supporting arm for the swath board is pivoted inwards so - 8 44390 as to serve as supporting arm for the separation board extending before and between the two rotors.

12. A haymaking machine according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the second position of the support beam serves also as transport position, 5 the beam being held thereat by means of a latching device.

13. A haymaking machine substantially as specifically described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.