Apparatus for picking up and conveying crop or other material
First Claim
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1. Apparatus for picking up and conveying crop comprising:
- a mobile frame for movement across the ground;
a high speed conveying rotor for rotation about an axis transverse to the direction of forward movement of the apparatus and substantially parallel to the ground for picking up and conveying crop, the conveying rotor comprising an inner core structure and a plurality of outwardly extending crop engaging elements, said crop engaging elements being made of non-metallic material so as to provide an outer annular zone of the rotor which is free of metal components;
a hood extending at least around part of the front half of the rotor and defining between the hood and part of the periphery of the rotor a crop flow passage along which crop is conveyed by the rotor;
drive means for driving the conveying rotor in rotation in a sense such that rotor picks up crop and conveys the crop upwardly and rearwardly over the rotor, the drive means being arranged to drive the rotor in rotation at a speed such that the rotor accelerates the crop during movement of the crop through the passage defined between the hood and the periphery of the rotor, such that at least during acceleration the periphery of the rotor moves faster than the crop, and such that after the conveying the crop is released from the rotor at least predominantly by centrifugal effect;
detection means for detecting unwanted objects conveyed by the rotor with the crop, the detection means comprising a metal detector for detecting metal by sensing an atypical response to a signal generated by the metal detector caused by the presence of metal in the crop stream, and an impact detector for detecting impacts on the inner side of the hood of unwanted objects other than crop, both the metal detector and the impact detector being mounted on the hood at positions forward of a vertical plane passing through the rotor axis, the metal detector being mounted at a position close to the entrance to the said crop flow passage with its field of detection directed downwardly and rearwardly and extending into the outer annular zone of the rotor which is free from metal components, anddiverting means for diverting for a short period of time that portion of the crop stream containing the unwanted object so that it is prevented from proceeding further in the general direction of normal crop flow, said diverting means comprising a moveable member which is positioned to the rear of the rotor centre and which is moveable into the path of the crop stream leaving the rotor, so as to deflect an unwanted object out of the normal path of crop flow downwardly to the ground.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus for picking up and conveying crop has a high-speed rotor 21 mounted on a mobile frame 50 for movement over the ground to pick up previously cut crop. A hood 54 extends around part of the front of the rotor and moves relative to the frame in response to the crop to effect automatic adjustment of the clearance. Heavy unwanted objects, whether metallic or non-metallic, are detected by an impact detector 25A. Metallic objects (whether large or small) are detected by an electromagnetic detector 25B. The detectors are positioned in various alternative locations, either on the moving hood, or on static portions of the frame.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. Apparatus for picking up and conveying crop comprising:
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a mobile frame for movement across the ground; a high speed conveying rotor for rotation about an axis transverse to the direction of forward movement of the apparatus and substantially parallel to the ground for picking up and conveying crop, the conveying rotor comprising an inner core structure and a plurality of outwardly extending crop engaging elements, said crop engaging elements being made of non-metallic material so as to provide an outer annular zone of the rotor which is free of metal components; a hood extending at least around part of the front half of the rotor and defining between the hood and part of the periphery of the rotor a crop flow passage along which crop is conveyed by the rotor; drive means for driving the conveying rotor in rotation in a sense such that rotor picks up crop and conveys the crop upwardly and rearwardly over the rotor, the drive means being arranged to drive the rotor in rotation at a speed such that the rotor accelerates the crop during movement of the crop through the passage defined between the hood and the periphery of the rotor, such that at least during acceleration the periphery of the rotor moves faster than the crop, and such that after the conveying the crop is released from the rotor at least predominantly by centrifugal effect; detection means for detecting unwanted objects conveyed by the rotor with the crop, the detection means comprising a metal detector for detecting metal by sensing an atypical response to a signal generated by the metal detector caused by the presence of metal in the crop stream, and an impact detector for detecting impacts on the inner side of the hood of unwanted objects other than crop, both the metal detector and the impact detector being mounted on the hood at positions forward of a vertical plane passing through the rotor axis, the metal detector being mounted at a position close to the entrance to the said crop flow passage with its field of detection directed downwardly and rearwardly and extending into the outer annular zone of the rotor which is free from metal components, and diverting means for diverting for a short period of time that portion of the crop stream containing the unwanted object so that it is prevented from proceeding further in the general direction of normal crop flow, said diverting means comprising a moveable member which is positioned to the rear of the rotor centre and which is moveable into the path of the crop stream leaving the rotor, so as to deflect an unwanted object out of the normal path of crop flow downwardly to the ground. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification