Patent ID: 6419028
Filing Date: 2002-07-16
Classification: A01D

Abstract:
An apparatus for harvesting ground surface crops comprising:(a) a plurality of bars each of which is bent in the front half thereof in at least one place with an obtuse angle, each having a front first part and a second part, the front first part being in front of the obtuse angle and the second part being in back of the obtuse angle; (b) one or more cross-members to which the second part of each bar is connected with spacing between adjacent bars, such spacing between adjacent bars being smaller than the size of the crop-parts being harvested, so that the crop-parts do not fall through the spaces between adjacent bars; and (c) one or more means for adjustably maintaining the proper depth of the front first parts of said bars as they move through the soil surface; wherein none of the front first parts of said plurality of bars are connected to anything to which the front first part of another of said plurality of bars are connected to anything to which the front first part of another of said plurality of bars is connected; wherein the second part of each of the bars inclines rearwardly upward from the vertex of the obtuse angle of the bar when the front first part of the bar is in a substantially horizontal orientation; and wherein moving said bars forward along and through the soil surface in a direction substantially parallel to the front first parts of the bars slides the bars underneath the crop-parts, thereby lifting the crop-parts in rearward motion relative to the bars, and sufficiently ramps the crop-parts upward along the rearward incline of the bars so that the crop-parts are detached from the soil.