Continuous longitudinal flow root crop harvesting
First Claim
1. A root crop harvester comprising:
- a frame assembly transportable over the ground;
a processing assembly associated with the frame assembly;
a header assembly affixed to a front portion of said frame assembly by a mounting assembly;
a lifting assembly for penetrating the ground and lifting root crops out of the ground, wherein said lifting assembly is affixed to the underside of said header assembly;
a grabroller assembly of the frame assembly for receiving root crops harvested by said header assembly, wherein the grabroller assembly is affixed to the frame assembly, and said grabroller assembly comprises a plurality of elongated grabrollers having grabroller pairs including a rotating grabroller and an adjacent counter-rotating grabroller, each grabroller being oriented longitudinally with respect to the longitudinal axis of the frame assembly;
a drive shaft for driving a rear grabroller belt system, wherein said rear grabroller belt system is operatively coupled to a front grabroller belt system, said front grabroller belt-system rotates the rotating grabrollers, and the rear grabroller belt system rotates the counter-rotating grabrollers; and
an elevator assembly positioned at a rear end area of said grabroller assembly, wherein said elevator assembly receives root crops from said grabroller assembly and lifts same upwardly for collection as harvested root crops.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A harvester for root crops such as beets is provided which preferably provides continuous flow of root crops from a header, along a transfer assembly, through a processing run, and to an elevator assembly. The harvester can be configured to include or accommodate interchangeable header assemblies having different numbers of rows and/or row spacings. The transfer assembly can be of a floating type and helps to provide an even distribution of beets to the grabrollers. The processing run includes full-length cleaning grabrollers disposed parallel to the direction of travel. Modular elevator assemblies can be provided to further enhance harvester versatility. Such an approach includes interchangeable ferris wheel and scrubber chain elevator assemblies. An improved scrubber chain elevator assembly can be used which has a wraparound scrubber chain design. A pivoting tank conveyor for evenly filling a holding tank can be included. Large diameter carrier wheels on a single axle positioned for improved balance, flotation, and maneuverability typically are important basic characteristics of the harvesters.
49 Citations
43 Claims
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1. A root crop harvester comprising:
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a frame assembly transportable over the ground; a processing assembly associated with the frame assembly; a header assembly affixed to a front portion of said frame assembly by a mounting assembly; a lifting assembly for penetrating the ground and lifting root crops out of the ground, wherein said lifting assembly is affixed to the underside of said header assembly; a grabroller assembly of the frame assembly for receiving root crops harvested by said header assembly, wherein the grabroller assembly is affixed to the frame assembly, and said grabroller assembly comprises a plurality of elongated grabrollers having grabroller pairs including a rotating grabroller and an adjacent counter-rotating grabroller, each grabroller being oriented longitudinally with respect to the longitudinal axis of the frame assembly; a drive shaft for driving a rear grabroller belt system, wherein said rear grabroller belt system is operatively coupled to a front grabroller belt system, said front grabroller belt-system rotates the rotating grabrollers, and the rear grabroller belt system rotates the counter-rotating grabrollers; and an elevator assembly positioned at a rear end area of said grabroller assembly, wherein said elevator assembly receives root crops from said grabroller assembly and lifts same upwardly for collection as harvested root crops. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A root crop harvester comprising:
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a frame assembly transportable over the ground; a processing assembly associated with the frame assembly; a header assembly affixed to a front portion of said frame assembly by a mounting assembly; a lifting assembly for penetrating the ground and lifting root crops out of the ground, wherein said lifting assembly is affixed to the underside of said header assembly; a grabroller assembly of the frame assembly for receiving root crops harvested by said header assembly, wherein the grabroller assembly is affixed to the frame assembly, and comprises a plurality of elongated grabrollers oriented longitudinally with respect to the longitudinal axis of the frame assembly, and wherein said grabrollers are arranged as a plurality of grabroller pairs including one rotating smooth grabroller, an adjacent counter-rotating spiral grabroller, and a front spacing and a rear spacing between the smooth and spiral grabrollers; an elevator assembly positioned at a rear end area of said grabroller assembly, wherein said elevator assembly receives root crops from said grabroller assembly and lifts same upwardly for collection as harvested root crops; and a first single-point grabroller adjustment feature for simultaneously adjusting the front spacing of all of said grabroller pairs and a second single-point grabroller adjustment feature for simultaneously adjusting the rear spacing of all of said grabroller pairs. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36)
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37. A root crop harvester comprising:
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a lifting assembly for penetrating the ground and lifting root crops out of the ground; a header having a header roller assembly for receiving root crops harvested by said lifting assembly, wherein said lifting assembly is affixed to the underside of said header, and passing harvested root crops along the root crop harvester, wherein said header assembly comprises a plurality of transverse header rollers and a spacing between each header roller; an elevator assembly for receiving root crops processed by said header roller assembly and lifting same upwardly for collection as harvested root crops; a single-point header adjustment feature for simultaneously adjusting the position of said header rollers; and a spacing adjustment feature for adjusting the spacing between adjacent header rollers. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39)
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40. A root crop harvester comprising:
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a frame assembly transportable over the ground; a processing assembly associated with the frame assembly; a header assembly affixed to a front portion of said frame assembly by a mounting assembly; a lifting assembly for penetrating the ground and lifting root crops out of the ground, wherein said lifting assembly is affixed to the underside of said header assembly; a grabroller assembly of the frame assembly for receiving root crops harvested by said header assembly, wherein the grabroller assembly is affixed to the frame assembly; an elevator assembly positioned at a rear end area of said grabroller assembly, wherein said elevator assembly receives root crops from said grabroller assembly and lifts same upwardly for collection as harvested root crops; a tank conveyor for receiving root crops from said elevator assembly and passing them into a holding tank; and an offloading conveyor comprising a first portion defining a bottom surface of said holding tank and a second portion for passing harvested root crops from said holding tank to a truck or wagon, wherein said second portion of the offloading conveyor can be selectively adjusted to vary the height of a discharge end of the offloading conveyor. - View Dependent Claims (41)
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42. A root crop harvester comprising:
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a frame assembly transportable over the ground; a processing assembly associated with the frame assembly; a header assembly affixed to a front portion of said frame assembly by a mounting assembly; a lifting assembly for penetrating the ground and lifting root crops out of the ground, wherein said lifting assembly is affixed to the underside of said header assembly; a grabroller assembly of the frame assembly for receiving root crops harvested by said header assembly, wherein the grabroller assembly is affixed to the frame assembly, and comprises a plurality of elongated grabrollers oriented longitudinally with respect to the longitudinal axis of the frame assembly; and an elevator assembly positioned at a rear end area of said grabroller assembly, wherein said elevator assembly receives root crops from said grabroller assembly and lifts same upwardly for collection as harvested root crops, said frame assembly further comprising a steering cylinder for aligning the header assembly with a row of root crops and a rowfinder affixed to the underside of said header assembly for controlling said steering cylinder.
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43. A root crop harvester comprising:
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a lifting assembly for penetrating the ground and lifting root crops out of the ground; a header having a header roller assembly for receiving root crops harvested by said lifting assembly, wherein said lifting assembly is affixed to the underside of said header, and passing harvested root crops along the root crop harvester, wherein said header assembly comprises a plurality of transverse header rollers and a spacing between each header roller; an elevator assembly for receiving root crops processed by said header roller assembly and lifting same upwardly for collection as harvested root crops; a single-point header adjustment feature for simultaneously adjusting the position of said header rollers; and a transfer assembly for receiving root crops from said header roller assembly and transporting same to a downstream portion of the harvester, wherein said single point header adjustment feature also simultaneously adjusts the position of the transfer assembly, and wherein a distal end of said transfer assembly is floatably positioned with respect to said downstream portion of the harvester.
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Specification