Farm implement positioner

• US 4,031,962 A
• Filed: 10/14/1975
• Issued: 06/28/1977
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/1975
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Concord, Inc. (CNH Industrial N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Dee, Inc.
• Inventors: Ellinger, Earl H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kinsey, Russell R.
• Application Number:
  US05/621,804
• Time in Patent Office: 623 Days
• Field of Search: 171/8, 171/61, 171/58, 172/4, 180/79.2
• US Class Current: 171/8
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 69/004 automatic
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 33/00 Accessories for digging harvesters

Abstract

A positioner for automatically positioning a farm implement, such as a sugar beet harvester, in line with rows of crops such as sugar beets and for automatically maintaining the height of the implement relative to the ground surface. The positioner includes a harness pivotal about an upright axis, and a pair of crop and ground level sensing shoes mounted to the harness pivotally to permit the trailing ends of the shoes to swing vertically and horizontally. Hydraulic controls respond to swinging of the shoes vertically (as when the height of the implement varies) and horizontally (as when the implement strays toward one side or the other of a crop row) and return the implement to its correct vertical and side-to-side alignment with the crop row.

Claims

1. A positioner for maintaining the position of an implement such as a sugar beet harvester in correct alignment with the plants of a crop row, and comprising

a harness pivotable about an upright axis and mountable to an implement;

a pair of spaced, elongated sensing shoes for contacting plants in a plant row therebetween;

linkage means pivotally mounting the shoes at their forward ends to the harness for swinging movement of the shoes with respect to the harness, and including means limiting generally horizontal swinging movement of the shoes with respect to the harness to unison movement of the shoes toward and away from each other;

means resiliently urging the shoes to swing toward each other for mutual contact with successive plants of a crop row therebetween, whereby misalignment of the implement with a crop row causes the harness to rotate about its upright axis; and

implement steering means responsive to rotation of the harness about its axis to steer the implement into realignment with the crop row.

2. The positioner of claim 1 wherein the linkage means mounts the shoes to the harness for up and down swinging motion in response to changes in the height of the harness with respect to the ground, the positioner including implement raising and lowering means responsive to up and down movement of the shoes to maintain the implement at a predetermined height with respect to the ground.

3. The positioner of claim 2 wherein said linkage means mounts the shoes to the frame for independent vertical swinging movement, and wherein the positioner includes, between the shoes and the raising and lowering means, a motion transmitting linkage responsive to movement of both shoes and transmitting the average motion of the shoes to the raising and lowering means.

4. A positioner for maintaining the correct height of an implement such as a sugar beet harvester with respect to the ground, and comprising

a harness mountable to the implement;

a pair of spaced, elongated sensing shoes for contacting the ground on either side of a plant row;

linkage means pivotally mounting the shoes at their forward ends to the harness for independent swinging up and down movement of the shoes in response to changes in the height of the harness with respect to the ground;

a motion averaging linkage for averaging the up and down swinging motion of both shoes; and

implement raising and lowering means responsive to said average movement of the shoes to maintain the implement at a predetermined height with respect to the ground.

5. The positioner of claim 4 wherein said linkage means mounts the sensing shoes to the harness for unison horizontal swinging of the shoes toward or away from each other, and wherein the harness is pivotally mountable to the implement for rotation about an upright axis;

the positioner including implement steering means responsive to rotation of the harness upon swinging of the shoes toward one side or the other of the line of travel of the implement, as when the implement is misaligned with a crop row, to steer the implement into realignment with a crop row.

6. A positioner for maintaining the height and the side-to-side position of an implement such as a sugar beet harvester with the plants of a crop row, comprising

a harness pivotable about an upright axis and mountable to an implement;

a pair of spaced, elongated sensing shoes for contacting plants in a plant row therebetween;

linkage means pivotally mounting the shoes at their forward ends to the harness with the shoes extending downwardly and rearwardly for contact with the ground and with plants in a plant row, and including arms extending transversely outwardly from the harness along a single transverse axis and rotatable about said axis, and second arms extending generally downwardly from the first arms and rotatable with respect thereto about generally upright axes and mounting at their bottom ends the shoes, the shoes being swingable from side to side about the upright axes and being swingable up and down about the transverse axis, the respective second arms having a link therebetween to limit movement of the shoes about the upright axes to unison movement toward and away from each other, the second arms having rearwardly extending projections with a helical spring tensioned therebetween to urge the shoes toward one another and into contact with opposed sides of a plant therebetween in a crop row;

implement steering means responsive to rotation of the harness about its axis to steer the implement into realignment with a crop row;

an implement raising and lowering means comprising a pair of level arms extending rearwardly from the linkage means and carried rigidly with respect to the transverse arms of the linkage means to raise and lower in response to raising and lowering of the shoes, a leveler bar attached at its ends to the respective level arms, and a plunger-operated hydraulic control valve for controlling the hydraulic raising and lowering of the implement with respect to the ground, the plunger of the valve being attached approximately midway along the length of the leveler bar, whereby the approximate average of the independent upward or downward movement of the shoes is transmitted to the valve plunger to raise or lower the implement;

whereby misalignment of the implement vertically or to one side or the other of a crop row causes the sensing shoes to swing respectively vertically or horizontally to follow the crop row, which movement of the shoes respectively operates the implement raising and lowering means and the implement steering means to realign the implement with a crop row.