US1337968A - Machine for cutting up potatoes for planting - Google Patents

Description

J. L. SCHROEDER.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING UP POTATOES FDR PLANTING.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 17. 1919.

1,337,968. I Patented Apr. 20, 1920.

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MACHINE FOR CUTTING UP POTATOES FOR PLANTING. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 17. 1919.

1,337,968.. Patented Apr. 20, 1920.

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Patented Apr. 20, 1920.

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MACHINE FOR CUTTING UP POTATOES FOR PLANTI'NG. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 17. 1919.

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J. L. SCHROEDER.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING UP POTATOES FOR PLANTING. APPLICATION FILED MAR. I71 I919.

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Patented Apr. 20, 1920;

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yIII-II 70672 for: Jesse L. Sclzroeder. 3,01% W/ JESSE LYLE SCI-IROEDER,

OF ERIE, NORTH DAKOTA.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING UP POTATOES FOR PLANTING.

- To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Jessa LYLE Sermonnnu, a citizen of the United States, residing .at Erie in the county of Cass and State of North bakota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Cutting Up Potatoes for Planting, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to machines for cutting up potatoes for planting and has for its object to provide a mechanism which will take the potatoes one by one from a hopper and convey them to a suitable receiving member and position the potatoes endwise in the receiving member where the. will be automatically subjected to the action of a plunger, whereby the potatoes will be cut into four pieces lengthwise, if of moderate size, or into eight pieces, if they exceed a certain length, by two lengthwise cuts and one transverse cut.

The full objects and advantages of my invention will appear in connection with the detailed description thereof and the novel features embodied in my inventive idea are particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings which illustrate the application of my invention in one form,-

Figure 1. is a view in side elevation. Fig. 2 is a view in longitudinal vertical section. Fig. 3 is a view in cross section on line 33 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrow. Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view drawn on an enlarged scale. "Fig. 5 is a detail view showing the operation of the device for removing potatoes from the picker arms. Fig. 6 is a face view of the ejecting device. Fig. 7 is a sectional detail showing the device operated to cut a moderate size potato. Fig. 8 is a sectional detail showing the device operated to cut a large potato. Fig. 9 is a sectional detail showing the device in operation to retract the transverse cutter.

Referring to the particular construction shown in the drawings, the frame of the machine comprises four corner posts 10 heldtogether by longitudinal upper and lower bars 12 and 14, cross bars 16 and 18, vertical bars 20, intermediate longitudinal bars 22 and 24, and inclined bars 26. These bars may be arranged in such position as to constitute supports for the various operating parts of the machine. Supported at the rear of the frame, as best shown in Fig. 2, is a hopper 28 for receiving the'uncut potatoes, which hopper is preferably in the upper por- V Specification of Letters Patent.

roller is provided with a ratchet wheel 42 Patented Apr. 20, 1920.

Application filed March 17, 1919. Serial No. 288,156.

tion of a box like member having an inclined partition 30 constituting the bottom of the hopper and leading to an opening 32. P0- tatoes which are placed in the hopper g1. avi tate to the opening 32 and rest upon a roller 34, preferably of polygonal shape and rotatable in the direction of the arrow, to feed the potatoes forwardly into a s ace or chamber35 in the lower portion 0 the box like member, and having an inclined bottom 3 which is hollowed out at 38 for a purpose which will presentl appear. The roller 34 is secured to a sha t 40 and the end of the secured thereto which at certain times is adapted to be engaged by an oscillating pawl 44 pivoted at its lower end .toan arm 46 secured to a rock shaft 48 which also has secured to it an arm 50 connected by a rod 52 to a crank arm 54 on a shaft 56 to which is secured a sprocket wheel 58 driven in a manner to be described later. The pawl 44 rests upon a pin 60 and may be held in engagement with the pin by a spring 62 located at the pivot between the end of the pawl and the arm 46. The pin 60 is mounted on the upper portion of an arm 64 loosely mounted at its middle portion upon the shaft 48. The lower end of this arm is connected by a link 66 to a lever 68 pivoted to the frame at 70. A spring 72 tends to urge the upper end of the lever 68 toward the rear carrying with it a connecting member which has a pin 74 slidable in a slot formed by a strip 76 secured to the lever 68. The connecting member ust mentioned may be conveniently constructed with forks 78 and these forks are secured to a trip member consisting of two plates 80 spaced apart as shown in Fig. 3. The plates-80 form the front walls of the chamber 35 and, as will appear particularly from Figs. 1 and'2, when a number of potatoes are resting against the plates 80, the upper end of the arm 64, through the connections just described, is drawn to the right and the pin lifts the pawl 44 and prevents it fromengaging the ratchet wheel 42.

owever, when there is not sufiicient weight of potatoes against the plates 80 to force them rearwardly a ainst the tension of the spring 72 then t e latter operates through the lever 68 and the link 66 to swing the upper end of the arm 64 to the left as shown in Fig. 1, thus'allowing the oscillating pawl 44 to engage the ratchet feed roller 34 ceases.

-i1iay be loosely mounted on the shaft 84 as a pivot. The picker a riiis on their outer edges are provided with points 88 which penetrate and retain a potato as the picker arms rotate past the hollowed out space 38 of the inclined bottom 36. each constructed, as best shown in F1g. 5, having a member 90 pivoted at 92 to the side thereof and a thin metal strip 94 is secured to the pivoted member 90. This strip toward the center from the pivot 92 does not extend over the picker arm but beyond the pivot is turned as shown in Fig. 6 so as to extend over the front of the picker arm between the points 88. The strip 94 normally lies fiat against the face of the pickedarni but when the latter reaches the position shown in Fig. 2 the inner end of the pivoted member strikes a trip 96 which throws the strip 94 into the position shown in Fig. 5. thus pushing the potato ofi the points.

' The trip 96 may be held in place by having a portion surrounding the shaft 84 and by the brace 98 extending, froma chute 100. which has an inclined bottom 102 provided 'with a slot to permit passage of the picker arms. The chute delivers the potatoes to a.

cutting box 104 which is square in cross section and is provided on its interior with an upper set of fingers 106 pivoted to the top of the box, the lower ends of the fingers being free and normally urged inwardly by springs 108 which surround rods 110 attached to the fingers and passing outside the box for application of the springs, as best shown in Fig. 7. The lower set of fingers 112 is pivoted at the upper ends to the interior of the box intermediate the length thereof, and these fingers have'their lower free ends normally urged inwardy by springs 114 surrounding rods 116 arranged in the same manner as the rods 110. The fingers 106 serve to center the potatoes end- Wise above a pair of crossed cutting knives secured within the cutting box. Operating above the cutting blades is a plunger 120 which slides in ways 122 secured to the frame. The plunger is connected by a pitman 124 to a crank arm 126 formed on a shaft 128 to which is secured a sprocket wheel 130 while a pulley 132 is also secured to this shaft for driving the machine by power from a belt 134. It is obvious, however, that the machine may be operated by The picker arms are,

hand, if desired. A sprocket chain 136 passes over the sprockets 130, 86, and 58 to operate the parts previously described and a tightener 138 is adjustablysecured to the frame member 20 so as to engage the chain and take up the slack. The plunger 120 on its downward movemei'it engages the potato which has just been delivered to the cutting box so that'it is'forced lengthwise upon the knives 118 \Vlli(3litil1l3 it into quarters; If the potato exceeds a certain length it is also cut transversely to form eight pieces by the mechanism now to be described. A trip member 140 has a fiat portion located below the center of the cutting box and this trip member is pivoted upon a rod 142 mounted in the frame. Secured to the rear end of the trip member is a depending rod which v passes through an arm 144 also pivoted on the rod 142. Upon the depending rod between the arm 144 and a nut 146, on the end of this rod is a coil spring 148 which produces a yielding connection between the arm and the trip member. The rear portion of the arm 144 has an upwardly concave curve at 150. Slidably mounted in ways 152 on the frame is a knife blade 154, the rear portion of which on its upper side has a dovetail projection 156. If the potato which has been forced over the cutters 118 is sufficiently long to depress the trip 140. the rear end thereof is lifted, as shown in Fig. 8. thereby causing the curved member 150 to .lift the knife blade so that the projection 156 is engaged by a dovetail projection 158 on the lower side of, a slide 160 which is constantly reciprocated by a pitman 162 operated by a crank arm 164 with which the gers 112. The transverse cutting is done while the plunger 120 is moving upwardly and the four upper pieces are ejected when the plunger forces down another potato through the cutting box. In the case of mbderate size potatoes the four pieces into which the potato is cut longitudinally are held by the fingers 112 until the succeeding potato pushes them down out of the grasp of the fingers whereupon the pieces fall into a receptacle 166. As will be appar-. ent from Fig. 7 the pieces of cut potato are released and fall apart before they'have an opportunity to operate the trip 140 and hence the knife blade is not operated except in case that the potato being cut is sufficiently long to .cause such operation. Fig.

18 shows how the knife blade is operated to tail projection 168 on the lower portion of the slide 160.

I have described my machine as a single machine but it is obvious that any desired number of feeding and cutting devices may be mounted in one frame and operated in unison as a multiple machine.

The operation and advantages of my invention will be readily understood from the foregoing description. Potatoes which are to be used as seed potatoes for planting are placed in the hopper 28 from which they are fed at times, according to the supply in the chamber 35, by the operation of the feed roller 34 which operates under the control of the trip mechanism described to maintain a suitable supply of potatoes in position to be picked up one at a time by the picker mechanism for delivery to the cutting mechanism. The concave bottom of the chamber 85 is preferably formed on a curve having the axis of rotation. of the picker arms as a center. On account of this construction the ends of the picker arms closely follow this curve while passing through the supply of potatoes in the chamber, thus insuring that a' potato shall be engaged by and retained upon the points of the picker arms each time that they pass over the concave bottom. The cutting mechanism operates in such a manner as to insure that each piece cut from the potato shall have a sufiicient number of eyes for use in planting. The mechanism whereby large potatoes are cut into more pieces than are the smaller potatoes is an important feature of my invention.

I claim:

1. A machine for cutting seed potatoes comprising means for delivering the potatoes one at a time from a supply regardless of size, means for longitudinally. cutting the potatoes as delivered, and a reciprocating knife blade for also transversely cutting the large potatoes.

2. A machine for cutting seed potatoes comprising a cutting box, stationary knives in said cutting box, means for delivering potatoes one at a time to said cutting box, a set of spring pressed fingers in said cut-. ting box arranged to cause the potatoes to assume a longitudinal position therein, a plunger for forcing the potatoes upon said knives, means gfor reciprocating said plunger, a second set of spring pressed fingers in said cutting box arranged to hold the pieces of the potato which has just been cut, a movable. knife blade and means for causing said knife blade to move and cut, transversely the pieces of long potatoes held by said second set of fingers.

3. A machine for cutting seed potatoes comprising a cutting box, stationary knives in said cutting box, means for causing the potatoes to assume a longitudinal position in the said box, means for forcing potatoes upon said knives to cut them longitudinally, means in said cutting box for holding the pieces of the potato which has just been cut, a movable knife blade, and a trip device for causing said knife blade to move and cut transversely the pieces of long potatoes which are held by said holding means.

4. A machine for cutting seed potatoes comprising a cutting box, stationary knives in said cutting box, means for causing the potatoes to assume a longitudinal position in said box, means for forcing potatoes upon said knives to cut them longitudinally, means in said cutting box for holding the pieces. of the potato which have just been cut, a movable knife blade, a reciprocating member, and a trip device operable by long potatoes to cause said reciprocating member and said knife blade to move together to cut transversely the pieces of long potatoes which are heldby said holding means.

5. A machine for cutting seed potatoes comprising a cutting box, stationary knives in said cutting box, a set of spring pressed fingers in said cutting box arranged to cause the potatoes to assume a longitudinal position therein, a plunger for forcing the potatoes upon said knives, means for reciprocating said plunger, a second set of spring pressed fingers in said cutting box arranged to hold the pieces of the potato which has just been cut, a movable knife blade having a projection thereon, a reciprocating member having two projections thereon, and a trip device operable by long potatoes to cause one of the projections on said reciprocating member. to engage the projection on said knife blade and move the latter to cut transversely the pieces of long potatoes which are held by said second set of fingers, the other of the projections on said reciprocating member being adapted to engage the projection on said knife blade upon reverse movement of said reciprocating member to thereby retract said cutting blade.

6. A machine for cutting seed potatoes comprising a hopper, a feed roller underneath said hopper, a chamber for receiving potatoes from said feed roller, a trip devicev associated with said chamber, means for rotating said feed roller at certain times, connections between said rotating means and said trip device whereby said feed roller is operated when the supply ofpotatoes in said chamber diminishes and whereby said feed roller remains idle when the supply is replenished, means for delivering potatoes one at a time from the supply in said chamber, and means for cutting the potatoes as delivered.

7. A machine for cutting seed potatoes comprising a hopper, a feei roller underneath said hopper, a chamber for receiving lating pawl, and said trip device whereby said pawl will potatoes from said feed roller, a trip device associated with said chamber, a ratchet wheel secured to said feed roller, an oscilflmneetions between said pawl engage said ratchet wheel when the supply of potatoes in said chamber diminishes and. whereby said pawl is disengaged from said ratchet wheel when the supply is replenished, means for delivering potatoes one at a time from the supply in said chamber, and means for cutting the potatoes as delivered.

8. A machine for cutting seed potatoes comprising a cutting box, stationary knives in said cutting box, a set of spring pressed fingers in said cutting box arranged to cause the potatoes to assume a longitudinal position therein, means for forcing the potatoes upon said knives, a second set of spring pressed fingers in said cutting box arranged to hold the pieces of potatoes after longitudinal cutting, a movable knife blade, and. means for causing said knife blade to move and cut transversely the pieces of long potatoes which are held by said second set of fingers.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

JESSE LYLE SGHROEDER.

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