Patent ID: 7146789
Filing Date: 2006-12-12
Classification: A01D

Abstract:
1. A walk-behind cotton harvester comprising: a cotton picker housing having at least one plant lifter mounted forward of the housing and defining a plant row channel extending rearwardly through the housing; a plant compressor sheet in the housing extending along at least a portion of one side of the plant row channel; a picker rotor assembly, the picker rotor assembly consisting of a single picker rotor mounted in the cotton picker housing adjacent to the plant row channel and traverse to the plant compressor sheet, the single picker rotor limiting total weight of the walk-behind cotton harvester and allowing a plant to be picked only one time by the harvester, thereby allowing for manual movement of the walk-behind cotton harvester in small cotton fields and yielding a cotton harvest with less plant trash than a cotton harvest produced from a plant picked more than one time by more than one picker rotor; a doffer mounted in the housing adjacent to the single picker rotor for removing picked cotton from the single picker rotor and moving the picked cotton to an outlet adjacent to the rear of the housing; a power unit including an internal combustion engine mounted on the housing, the engine including a rotatable output; a first drive including an element selectably engageable for connecting the output of the engine in rotatably driving relation to the single picker rotor and the doffer for imparting rotation thereto; a second drive including an element selectably engageable for connecting the output of the engine in rotatably driving relation to at least one rotatable wheel of the harvester for moving the harvester over a surface; a rotatable support wheel coupled to the housing is located forward of the housing, the support wheel is disposed underneath the at least one plant lifter for supporting the at least one plant lifter a spaced distance above a surface on which the support wheel is supported, the support wheel being in a non-driving relation with the output of the engine; and handles connected to the rotatable wheel for rotating the wheel relative to the structure and the picker housing for steering the harvester.