Beet harvester with spring system for protecting its lifter wheels and paddle shaft
First Claim
1. In a sugar beet harvester, frame means including a transverse beam, an elongated strut, means pivotally attaching one end of said strut to said transverse beam so that said strut is angularly movable in a plane generally perpendicular to said beam, a pair of lifter wheels rotatably carried at the other end of said strut, and means connected to said strut and said beam for resiliently biasing said strut in a direction to cause its said other end, together with said lifter wheels, to move toward the ground during the digging of sugar beets.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A preferred number of lifter wheel assemblies each have a pair of lifter wheels rotatably carried at one end of a strut which is pivotally mounted at its other end to a clamp unit having a horizontal flange which projects forwardly past the front transverse beam of the main frame of the sugar beet harvester. An elongated rigid member is welded to the underside of each strut and has a flange at its forward end which projects beneath the clamp unit flange. Heavy-duty coil springs normally maintain the flanges together to cause the lifter wheels to be biased into the ground. Each spring individually yields or compresses when the lifter wheels associated therewith ride upwardly over a submerged rock, thereby preventing breakage of any of the components constituting the lifter wheel assembly. Sufficient upward movement of the lifter wheels in any given instance would cause the lifter wheels to strike the overhanging steel shaft carrying the paddles that knock the sugar beets from the various pairs of lifter wheels. Breakage of the paddle shaft is prevented by journalling the ends of the paddle shaft on arms pivotally mounted to the side portions of the main frame. Additional heavy-duty springs, one for each arm, normally bias the ends of the arms downwardly, these being the ends of the arms near which the paddle shaft is journaled, so that the last-mentioned springs yield or compress to permit upward movement of any one of the struts and its lifter wheels when deflected upwardly by a rock.
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Citations
18 Claims
- 1. In a sugar beet harvester, frame means including a transverse beam, an elongated strut, means pivotally attaching one end of said strut to said transverse beam so that said strut is angularly movable in a plane generally perpendicular to said beam, a pair of lifter wheels rotatably carried at the other end of said strut, and means connected to said strut and said beam for resiliently biasing said strut in a direction to cause its said other end, together with said lifter wheels, to move toward the ground during the digging of sugar beets.
- 15. In a sugar beet harvester, frame means including a transverse beam, an elongated strut, means pivotally attaching one end of said strut to said transverse beam so that said strut extends generally in one direction from said beam and is angularly movable in a plane generally perpendicular to said beam, a pair of lifter wheels rotatably carried at the other end of said strut, first rigid means fastened to said strut and extending beneath said transverse beam having a portion thereof projecting beyond said beam in a direction generally opposite to said one direction, second rigid means fastened to said transverse beam having a portion projecting beyond said beam in said generally opposite direction at an elevation above the projecting portion of said first rigid means, and spring means normally urging said projecting portion of said first rigid means upwardly in the direction of the projecting portion of said second rigid means, thereby biasing said strut in a direction to cause its said other end, together with said lifter wheels, to move toward the ground during the digging of sugar beets.
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18. In a sugar beet harvester, frame means including a transverse beam, an elongated strut pivotally connected at one end to said transverse beam so as to be angularly movable in a plane generally perpendicular to said beam, a pair of lifter wheels rotatably carried at the other end of said strut, a coil spring, first rigid means fastened to said transverse beam having a portion thereof extending beneath one end of said coil spring, and second rigid means fastened to said strut having a portion thereof extending beneath said first rigid means portion, and rod means anchored at one end to said second rigid means portion, and means anchored to the other end of said rod means for compressing said coil spring when said strut is urged upwardly during the digging of sugar beets and as a result said second rigid means portion urged downwardly to pull said rod means downwardly and thereby compress said coil spring.
Specification