Mowing and intake device for stalk-like crops with adjustable divider tips

Abstract

A mowing and intake device (14-21) for a machine (10) for mowing stalk-like crops, which is equipped with a frame (12) movable in a forward direction (V) over a field, wherein: the mowing and intake device (14-21) is equipped with a lower cutting disc (24) and conveying discs (28) arranged above it, with recesses (26) distributed around their circumference for receiving plant stems, and the cutting disc (24) and the conveying discs (28) are rotatably supported on a gearbox housing (44) about a common axis of rotation, one or more dividing tips (32) located upstream of the mowing and intake device (14-21) are attached to a bracket (46) which is connected by screw connections in a positionally adjustable manner to a console (48) which in turn is attached to the frame (12), and the holder (46) is only positionally adjustable relative to the console (48) about the axis of rotation of the cutting disc (24) and conveyor discs (28).

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a mowing and intake device for a machine for mowing stalk-like crops, which is equipped with a frame that can be moved in a forward direction across a field, wherein: the mowing and intake device is equipped with a lower cutting disc and conveying discs arranged above it, with recesses distributed around their circumference for receiving plant stems, and the cutting disc and the conveying discs are rotatably supported on a gearbox housing about a common axis of rotation, and one or more dividing tips, positioned in front of the mowing and intake device, are attached to a bracket which is connected by screw connections in a positionally adjustable manner to a console which in turn is attached to the frame. State of the art

[0002] Machines equipped with the aforementioned type of cutting and intake devices are used to harvest plants from a field. The plants are cut from the remaining stubble in the ground by cutting and intake devices with rotating blades and conveyed into the intake channel of a forage harvester by means of conveyor discs mounted above the blades, possibly in conjunction with additional conveyor drums. Downstream of the intake channel is a chopping drum, which, in conjunction with a counter blade, shreds the plants. Finally, after optionally passing through a secondary shredder with interacting rollers, which serves to pierce corn kernels, the plants are conveyed by a secondary accelerator into a discharge chute, from which they enter the hopper of a transport vehicle traveling alongside the forage harvester.

[0003] Stem dividers are installed between adjacent mowing and intake units. Smaller divider tips are positioned in front of the knives and conveyor discs of the mowing and intake units. These dividers are equipped with guide fingers for harvesting maize, while for harvesting plants with thinner stalks than maize, such as grasses and cereals, divider tips without guide fingers are typically used. The divider tips are therefore often interchangeable. For this purpose, forward-extending brackets are provided on the gearbox housing of the mowing and intake unit. Different divider tips can be attached to these brackets, either single or multiple divider tips mounted side-by-side on a common holder (DE 10 2007 035 797 A1, DE 10 2014 114 101 A1, DE 10 2016 207 788 A1).

[0004] DE 102 30 236 A1 proposes to adjust the holder with the divider tips in a forward direction by means of an actuator in order to move it forward during reversing for the purpose of simplified material discharge.

[0005] German patent DE 10 2005 027 586 A1 discloses a machine for harvesting stem-like plants in which the entire machine and / or its stem dividers and divider tips are adjusted depending on the machine's steering direction. The divider tips of the cutting and intake units are rotated around the axes of rotation of the cutting and intake units by an actuator, depending on the steering angle, in order to ensure that the plants enter the machine as centrally as possible between the divider tips. Task

[0006] For corn harvesting, the divider tips should ideally be positioned so that the plants to be harvested are not struck or run over by the divider tips, but rather the plants should enter the harvesting area between two adjacent divider tips. To accommodate different row spacings, the brackets holding the divider tips are adjustable relative to the consoles in both forward and lateral directions, according to the prior art. This involves loosening screws and then tightening them again once the desired position is reached (see the video https: / / www.youtube.com / watch?v=019MQP0bMaY at approximately 9:40). Since the distance between the conveyor discs and the guide fingers must be kept relatively small, this adjustment is rather cumbersome and time-consuming, as both the lateral position of the divider tips and their distance from the conveyor disc must be maintained.

[0007] The procedure according to DE 102 30 236 A1 and DE 10 2005 027 586 A1 is not suitable for adapting to different row spacings of the plants and is also complex and costly due to the actuator and the associated mechanics.

[0008] The object underlying the invention is seen as being to avoid or reduce the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art. Solution

[0009] The present invention is defined by the patent claims.

[0010] A mowing and intake device for a machine for mowing stalk-like crops, equipped with a frame that can be moved forward across a field, has the following features: The mowing and intake device is equipped with a lower cutting disc and conveying discs arranged above it, with recesses distributed around their circumference for receiving plant stems, and the cutting disc and the conveying discs are rotatably supported on a gearbox housing about a common axis of rotation. One or more dividing tips located upstream of the mowing and intake device is or are attached to a bracket which is connected by screw connections in a manner adjustable only around the axis of rotation of the cutting disc and conveyor discs to a console which in turn is attached to the frame, in particular to the gearbox housing or formed by the gearbox housing.

[0011] In other words, there is only one degree of freedom for adjusting the position of the holder with the divider tip(s) relative to the console, namely around the axis of rotation of the cutting disc and conveyor discs. This simplifies adjusting the position of the divider tip(s) to the row spacing of the plants to be harvested, because, unlike before, unwanted adjustments to the distance between the divider tip(s) and the conveyor discs are no longer possible. An actuator is not required. Example of implementation

[0012] The drawings illustrate an embodiment of the invention, which is described in more detail below. It shows: Fig. 1. A perspective view of a machine for mowing stalk-like crops, Fig. 2 a perspective view of a mowing and intake device of the machine of the Fig. 1 from the bottom, Fig. 3 a perspective view of a gearbox-side console for mounting a bracket for the divider tips, Fig. 4 a perspective view of the holder for the divider tips, and Fig. 5 a view of the divider tips.

[0013] On a frame 12 of one in the Fig. In Figure 1, a top view of a machine 10 for harvesting stem-like plants shows six mowing and intake devices 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, and 21 mounted side by side on both sides of a longitudinal central plane 22. The mowing and intake devices 14 to 21 each consist of a lower cutting disc 24, which can be rotated or is stationary, and several coaxially arranged conveying discs 28 above it, which can also be rotated. The cutting discs 24 are equipped with sharp teeth or otherwise sharpened at their edges to separate the plant stems from the stubble remaining in the ground. The stems are received in recesses 26 of the conveying discs 28 and, during harvesting, are transported into a forage harvester that supports the machine 10, drives its moving elements, and moves the machine 10 forward V across a field. Fig. 1 is not shown. In the following, directional terms such as front and back refer to the forward direction V.

[0014] Stem dividers 30 are located between the mowing and intake units 14 to 21 to deflect the plants laterally and guide them into the cutting area of ​​the mowing and intake units 14 to 21, if necessary. Smaller divider tips 32 are arranged on the front faces of the mowing and intake units 14 to 21. The working width of each mowing and intake unit 14 to 21 corresponds to one row, i.e., approximately 0.75 m. The machine 10 can thus harvest twelve rows of maize sown at 75 cm intervals simultaneously. However, the working width of the mowing and intake units 14 to 21 could also be smaller or larger (e.g., 1.5 m), just as the number of mowing and intake units 14 to 21 could be greater or fewer than shown.

[0015] During harvesting, the mowing and intake devices 14 to 21 are actively driven. The inner mowing and intake devices 21, adjacent to the longitudinal center plane 22, initially convey the plants outwards and backwards, as do the four outwardly following mowing and intake devices 20, 18, 17, 16, while the outer mowing and intake devices 14 rotate in the opposite direction. As can be seen from the Fig. As can be seen from Figure 1, the outer mowing and intake devices 14 transfer their harvested crop approximately midway between the axes of rotation of the mowing and intake devices 14, 16 to the next inner mowing and intake devices 16. At the rear of the next inner mowing and intake devices 16 and the mowing and intake devices 17, 18, 20 following inwards, the harvested crop is successively transferred to the rear of the mowing and intake devices 18, 20, 21, which are arranged further inwards, by rotary-driven outer transverse conveyor drums 34, which comprise rotary-driven conveyor discs with recesses for receiving plant stems.At the rear of the inwardly arranged mowing and intake units 20, the crop is transferred to inner transverse conveyor drums 36, which include rotary-driven conveyor discs 38 with recesses for receiving plant stems. The inner transverse conveyor drums 36 then convey the crop, together with the rear sides of the inner mowing and intake units 21, obliquely backward and toward the center of the machine 10, where it is conveyed backward by rotary-driven discharge conveyor drums 40 located behind the transverse conveyor channel. These discharge drums have pivot axes that are slightly inclined forward to bridge the height difference between the plane of the mowing and intake units 14 to 20 and the intake channel of the forage harvester, and are then discharged into the intake channel of the forage harvester.

[0016] A pendulum frame 42 is attached in the center of the rear of the frame 12, which serves to attach the machine 10 to the forage harvester and allows movement around an axis extending horizontally and in the forward direction V, which extends approximately in the middle of the intake channel.

[0017] The Fig. Figure 2 schematically shows one of the mowing and feeding directions 14 to 21 from below, with the cutting disc 24 not shown for clarity. The moving elements of the mowing and feeding device 14 to 21 are driven by a gearbox housing 44, which establishes a drive connection between a transverse shaft, arranged in a cross member of the frame 12, and the cutting disc 24 and the conveyor discs 28. The gearbox housing 44 also provides mechanical support for the cutting disc 24 and the conveyor discs 28 of the mowing and feeding devices 14 to 21 on the cross member of the frame 12. The front of the mowing and feeding device 14 to 21 shown rotates counterclockwise during operation. The gearbox housings 44 and associated divider tips 32 of the mowing and intake devices 14 to 21, which rotate in the opposite direction, are arranged symmetrically around the longitudinal center plane of the respective mowing and intake units 14 to 21.The gearbox housing 44 contains an upwardly extending shaft that serves to drive the conveyor discs 28. A hollow shaft for driving the cutting disc 24, which extends around the shaft, is also provided.

[0018] Each mowing and intake device is assigned divider tips 32, as already described and in the Fig. Figure 1, however, shows a different number of dividers, which can vary depending on the dimensions of the mowing and intake devices 14 to 21 and / or the type of crop to be harvested. The divider tips 32 are attached to a bracket 46, which in turn is connected to a console 48 (positionally adjustable, as described below), which is in turn attached to the frame 12. In the embodiment shown, the console 48 is attached to the gearbox housing 44, although it would also be conceivable to design the gearbox housing 44 as the console 48.Both the console 48 and the holder 46 are symmetrical about their respective longitudinal center plane, which in the case of the console 48 extends exactly in the forward direction V and through the axis of rotation of the cutting disc 24 and the conveyor disc 28, while the longitudinal center plane of the holder 46 extends through the axis of rotation of the cutting disc 24 and the conveyor disc 28 and is adjustable to the left and right about this axis of rotation, as will be described in detail below.

[0019] The console 48 is in the Fig. 3 shown separately. It comprises a plate 50 extending parallel to the plane in which the cutting disc 24 and the conveyor discs 28 rotate. The plate 50 is rigidly connected (welded, brazed, manufactured in one piece, e.g., by pressing, or otherwise fixed) to struts 52 extending vertically and in the forward direction V, which are fixed at their rear ends by screws 56 to flanges 54 of the gearbox housing 44. The flanges 54 are, in particular, manufactured in one piece with the cast base of the gearbox housing 44. In addition, the struts 52 are attached at the front end of the gearbox housing 44, in the illustrated embodiment by a sheet metal plate 58 extending vertically and transversely (see Figure 3). Fig. 2), which is rigidly fixed at its lateral ends to the inside of both struts 52 and is connected by screws with sockets 60 having internal threads contained therein, wherein the sockets 60 are provided on the front of the gearbox housing 44, in particular cast in one piece with the gearbox housing 44.

[0020] The struts 52 are formed higher at their front than at their rear, thus creating a forward-opening slot to the top of which the plate 50 is attached. Below the slot, the struts 52 extend to approximately the front end of the plate 50 and are connected to each other there by a cross member 64. Above the slot, the struts 52 are covered forward, upward, and outward by an angled cover plate 62. The cover plate 62 and the cross member 64 are rigidly connected to the struts 52 and increase the stability of the bracket 48. The cover plate 62 and the sheet 58 can be manufactured as a single piece or rigidly attached to each other. In addition, vertically and transversely extending triangular sheets 66 are connected to the plate 50 and the struts 52 on the sides of the struts 52 above the plate 50.

[0021] As already described, the plate 50 extends parallel to the plane in which the cutting disc 24 and the conveyor discs 28 rotate. The plate 50 has a total of four arc-shaped elongated holes 68, which are arranged concentrically to the axis of rotation of the cutting disc 24 and the conveyor discs 28.

[0022] It will now be referred to as Fig. Reference is made to Figure 4, which shows the holder 46 for the divider tips 32. The holder 46 comprises a transversely extending profile 70, from which a number of retaining elements 72 (five in the illustrated embodiment) extend forward, at the front ends of which a divider tip 32 can be attached. An arc-shaped transverse stiffener 74 connects the retaining elements 72 to each other in front of the profile 70. The divider tips 32 are fixed to their respective retaining elements 72, for example, by two screws each, which are guided from below through holes in the front flanges 76 of the retaining elements 72 and screwed into internal threads on the underside of the bodies 78 of the divider tips 32, which are equipped with guide fingers 80, and tightened (see Figure 4). Fig. 5) Four U-shaped retaining brackets 82 are rigidly attached to the profile 70. Vertically extending openings 86 are provided in the upper, horizontal legs of each bracket. Two retaining brackets 82 are positioned in front of and two behind the profile 70. The openings 86 in the retaining brackets 82 are arranged such that they can be aligned with the elongated holes 68 in the plate 50 of the bracket 48. The retaining brackets 82 located behind the profile 70 are spaced further apart than those located in front of it, and the same applies to the corresponding elongated holes 68.

[0023] The connection between the bracket 46 on the one hand and the console 48 on the other hand is made by screws 84 (see figure). Fig.2), which extend through the openings 86 of the retaining brackets 82 of the support 46 and the elongated holes 68 in the plate 50 of the console 48. In the illustrated embodiment, the openings 86 are rectangular, which makes it possible to create a rotationally fixed connection between the screws 84 and the retaining brackets 82 by means of screws 84 with matching sections adjacent to the head, and to fix the screws 84 from above by nuts (not shown in the figures) on the top of the plate 50. However, it would also be conceivable to mount the screws 84 rotatably in the retaining brackets 82 and to turn or hold both the nuts and the screws 84 with a suitable tool, or to arrange the nuts (or the screws, which in this case interact by nuts bearing against the underside of the retaining brackets 84) rotationally fixed in the elongated holes 68.

[0024] The described attachment of the bracket 46 of the divider tips 32 to the console 48 by the screws 84, in conjunction with the arc-shaped elongated holes 68 in the console 48, allows the screw connection to be loosened and the bracket 46 to be rotated relative to the console 48. This rotation occurs solely around the axis of rotation of the cutting disc 24 and the conveying discs 28. Therefore, there is only one degree of freedom when adjusting the bracket, namely rotation around the axis of rotation of the cutting disc 24 and the conveying discs 28. This ensures that when adjusting the position of the bracket 46 with the divider tips 32, the distance between the divider tips 32, including the guide fingers 80, on the one hand, and the cutting disc 24 and the conveying discs 28 on the other hand, remains constant, thus preventing problems with crop intake.Once the desired rotation angle of the holder 46 relative to the console 48 is reached, the screw connections are tightened again. Thus, the present invention enables the position of the divider tips 32 to be adjusted to the row spacing of the plants to be harvested with minimal effort.

[0025] If a possibility for radial adjustment of the divider tips 32 relative to the axis of rotation of the cutting disc 24 and the conveyor discs 28 should be desired, this can be provided in the connection between the retaining elements 72 and the bodies 78 of the divider tips 32, for example by QUOTES INCLUDED IN THE DESCRIPTION

[0000] This list of documents cited by the applicant was automatically generated and is included solely for the reader's convenience. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA accepts no liability for any errors or omissions. Cited patent literature

[0000] DE 10 2007 035 797 A1

[0003] DE 10 2014 114 101 A1

[0003] DE 10 2016 207 788 A1

[0003] DE 102 30 236 A1 [0004, 0007] DE 10 2005 027 586 A1 [0005, 0007] Cited non-patent literature

[0000] https: / / www.youtube.com / watch?v=019MQP0bMaY

[0006]

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