Abstract:
A bale-grouping and shredding device includes at least a rotor ( 4 ) equipped with said discs whereof the periphery is smooth. The discs ( 12 ) are provided with cutting members in the form of sectioning pairs ( 11 ). The sectioning pairs are V-shaped and co-operate with the teeth ( 17 ) of the barrier ( 11 ) to cut up and drive the products.

Description:
This application is a 35 USC 371 of PCT/FR00/03652 filed Dec. 21, 2000. Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to Ed Tolan whose telephone number is 571-272-4525. 

   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates to a device for unraveling and shredding products intended for preparing seed for cattle or preparing litter therefor and, more specifically, products of the forage or straw type packaged as bales or products of the silage kind or the like. 
   DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART 
   This device may, in particular, be incorporated into the body of a distribution machine of the kind described in the documents EP-A-384 791 and FR-A-2 727 280 in particular. 
   The trickiness of the operation of shredding bales of fodder is dependent on the nature of the material, that is to say the length of the fibers and their hardness and toughness. 
   All the solutions developed, as described in document U.S. Pat. No. 3,208,491 and in documents FR-2 718 604, WO 95 95/28077 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,774,855 in the name of the Applicant, tend to employ means which allow this bale-shredding operation to be performed to great effect. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention proposes an unraveling and shredding device which is of a universal nature, that is to say that it makes it possible to unravel and shred, under optimum conditions, all kinds of bales, particularly bales of forage. 
   In order to achieve this result, the device comprises, on the one hand, at least one rotor and, in particular, a rotor equipped with members for cutting said bale and driving the fragments of forage or straw toward, for example, ejection and distribution means and, on the other hand, collaborating with said rotor equipped with cutting members, a barrier in the form of a harrow, whose task is to hold said bale back and/or to recirculate the products, this cutting rotor being equipped with at least one disk the periphery of which is plain and this plain disk collaborates with a tooth of said harrow, which tooth is placed in the same plane as the disk and forms a retaining front, thus avoiding the phenomena of clogging by facilitating the recirculation of the products in the body, which disk comprises, on its periphery, pairs of cutters or sections, which cutters or sections pass across the flanks of the tooth which collaborates with the periphery of the plain disk equipped with said cutters or sections. 
   This unraveling/shredding device tolerates all kinds of long, soft, hard forage and fibers, and other products, straw, silage. It may also have several rotors depending on the field of use. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention is further detailed hereinafter in conjunction with the drawings which are appended by way of indication and in which: 
       FIG. 1  depicts, schematically in longitudinal vertical section the unraveling/shredding device according to the invention incorporated, by way of example, into a machine which is depicted in part and which serves to distribute products of the forage or straw type for feeding cattle or for forming litter; 
       FIG. 2  shows, in perspective, an example of a rotor according to the invention; 
       FIG. 3  shows, in greater detail, a pair of sections fixed to a disk collaborating with a tooth; 
       FIG. 4  is a rear schematic view of the machine depicted in  FIG. 1 , in addition depicting an alternative form of embodiment of the rotor; 
       FIG. 5  depicts, in perspective, a pair of superposed rotors, the upper rotor of which collaborates with the teeth of a barrier; 
       FIG. 6  is a side view of the two rotors depicted in  FIG. 5 ; 
       FIG. 7  depicts, in part and in greater detail, the positioning of the disks and of the teeth of the lower rotor with respect to the upper rotor; 
       FIG. 8  depicts another embodiment consisting of three superposed rotors, that is to say of an upper rotor collaborating with the teeth of the barrier, an intermediate rotor and a lower rotor which is identical to said upper rotor; 
       FIG. 9  depicts an alternative form of embodiment of the rotors of  FIG. 5  with a view to unraveling and shredding into fine particles using a great many disks equipped with sections; 
       FIG. 10  is a side view of  FIG. 9  which also shows a particular feature of the disks and their connection to the rotor; 
       FIG. 11  is an alternative form of  FIG. 9  with three superposed rotors; 
       FIG. 12  shows, viewed from face-on, the three superposed rotors of FIG.  11  and the teeth arranged at the upper part, collaborating with the upper rotor. 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   As depicted in  FIG. 1 , the unraveling/shredding device is incorporated, by way of example, into a machine consisting of a body  1  the bottom of which is equipped with a conveyor device  2  of the cross bar conveyor belt type. This belt allows a bale  3  depicted in the form of fine chain line, which is cylindrical or parallelepipedal, to be advanced, which bale travels toward the unraveling/shredding device consisting of a rotor  4  whose task is to break it into pieces. 
   The fragments are driven by the rotor  4  and, depending on the type of use, toward a blower  5 , for example, arranged in the front part of the body. 
   The rotor  4  turns about a horizontal axis  6  perpendicular to the direction of travel of the bales  3 . The blower  5  turns about a horizontal axis  7  which is perpendicular to the axis  6  of the rotor  4 . 
   The blower  5  is arranged in a shroud  8  situated at the front of the body and allows the fragmented products to be ejected tangentially. 
   This type of machine may have one or several rotors  4  arranged one above the other, in front of the blower  5 , all turning in the same direction as detailed later on. 
   In the exemplary embodiment of  FIG. 1 , the machine is depicted with just one rotor. 
   This rotor  4  comprises a cylindrical drum  9 , the diameter of which may be chosen to offer a circumference of a length greater than the maximum length of the fibers of the product that is to be fragmented. This particular feature makes it possible to avoid the risks that fibers will become wound around the drum. 
   The drum  9  is equipped with appropriate means for unraveling, shredding and breaking up the bale by pulling the fibers and cutting them. 
   These means consist, for example, of pointed teeth  10  distributed around the periphery of the drum  9 ; they also consist of cutting members in the form of cutters or sections  11 , distributed around the periphery of circular disks  12  each of which is positioned in a radial plane and which are distributed along the length of the drum  9 . 
   As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2  in particular, the disks  12  are placed in register with a barrier  16  and, in particular, with the teeth  17  of this barrier. These teeth  17  are in the form of plates of sheet metal and are fashioned at their lower part to follow the contour of the disks  12 , the periphery of which is plain, with the smallest possible clearance. 
   The role of this barrier  16  is to hold back excessively large chunks of product and recirculate them in the body. 
   The various teeth  17  are fixed to a beam  21  which is arranged over the rotor  4 , leaving a passage opening the height of which approximately corresponds to the radius of said rotor. 
   A deflector  22 , detailed later on, is placed above the beam  21  to guide the products that are to be recirculated in the body. 
   The teeth  17  together with the associated disks  12  form a veritable barrier. To cross this barrier, the fibers are cut or pulled by means of the teeth  10  or of the sections  11 . The space or pitch between two adjacent teeth is chosen according to the field of use of the machine. 
   The sections  11  are distributed around the periphery of the disks  12 . These sections  11  are arranged, as depicted in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , in pairs, one on each side of the disk  12 ; they are fixed together and fixed to the periphery of the disk  12  by bolts  23  or the like. 
   The thickness of the disk  12  is the same as, or even slightly greater than, that of the corresponding tooth  17 . The sections  11  may be straight but, to avoid simply shearing the fibers, these sections  11  may form a kind of vee which extends on each side of each tooth  17 , on the lateral faces of said tooth  17 . 
   The angle α between the cutting part  24  of the section  11  and the tooth  17  or alternatively the plane of the disk  12  is between 0 and 45°; preferably of the order of 20°. The sections form a kind of dihedron and are joined in pairs at their heel  25  by means of the bolts  23  or the like. 
   Each disk may be equipped with three to twelve pairs of sections depending on the nature of the materials that are to be cut. These pairs of sections may also be offset from one disk with respect to another, so as to reduce or even eliminate vibration phenomena. 
   The barrier  16  may, depending on the field of use, be able to move about the rotor  4 . Its beam  21  is, for example, fixed on lateral arms  26  which are partially depicted in FIG.  4  and these arms are guided appropriately with respect to the body  1  or with respect to the axis  6  of the rotor  4 . It is thus possible, depending on the type and nature of the product to be distributed, for the output rate to be slowed or speeded up by altering the pass depth. 
   Starting out from normal, the amplitude of the movement of the barrier is of the order of 35 to 40° in the upstream direction, that is to say toward the entry to the body  1 . 
   This movement of the barrier  16  about the rotor  4  is, for example, achieved by means of a ram, not depicted, or according to the means described in the document FR-A-2 718 604 by the Applicant. The movement of the barrier  16  may be accompanied by a movement and a pivoting of the deflector  22 . 
   This deflector  22  is, for example, articulated on the beam  21  and guided on the upper lateral edges  27  of the body  1  by means of fingers  29  which stretch out laterally. 
   Thus, when the beam  21  of the barrier  16  moves, as depicted in fine chain line in  FIG. 1 , it takes with it the deflector  22  which tends to stand up if the beam  21  moves toward the entry to the body  1  whereas, conversely, the deflector tends to lay down when the beam  21  moves toward the blower  5 . 
     FIG. 4  shows a rotor equipped with disks some of which collaborate with the teeth  17  of the barrier  16 . 
   The disks  12  are distributed along the length of the rotor. There is a central disk  121  and lateral disks  122  which may, for example, have the same diameter. 
   Between these disks  121  and  122  there are disks  123  the diameter of which may be slightly smaller. On each side of the disks  123  there are disks  124  which have a diameter similar to that of the disks  121  and  122 . 
   The disks  121 ,  122  and  123  are placed in register with teeth  17 . 
   The disks  124 , that is to say the disks which do not face teeth of the barrier  16 , may have simple sections  11 , that is to say straight sections. They may also have sections in the form of dihedra as with the other disks  121 ,  122  and  123 . 
     FIG. 5  depicts an alternative form of embodiment of FIG.  2  and of  FIG. 1 , showing two superposed rotors the axes of rotation of which are mutually parallel: the upper rotor  4 , as described in  FIG. 2 , the disks  12  of which are fitted with pairs of sections  11  and collaborate with the teeth  17 , and the lower rotor  30  equipped also with disks  32 . Each disk  32  of the rotor  30  comprises sections  31  bolted onto one of the faces of the disk, on one and the same side. These sections  31  lie in the plane of the disks  12  of the rotor  4  whereas the disks  32  are slightly offset from the disks  12  of said rotor  4 . 
   The sections  31  form inside a circle which is tangential, with a reasonable operating clearance, with the periphery of the corresponding disk  12 . 
   The two rotors  4  and  30  turn in the same direction as depicted by the various arrows placed in FIG.  5  and FIG.  6 . 
   The rotational speed of the rotors may differ. The speed of the lower rotor  30  is, for example, higher than that of the upper rotor  4 . This difference in speed may be in a proportion of the order of 10 to 30% for example. 
   The lower rotor  30  may have, on its disks  32 , a greater number of sections  31  than the pairs of sections  11  arranged on the disks  12  of the rotor  4 . In this way, cutting of the products which then pass between the two rotors  4  and  30  is obtained, and this has the effect of spreading the delivery of cut product between, on the one hand, said rotors  4  and  30  and, on the other hand, the upper rotor  4  and the barrier  16 . 
   Depending on the products to be treated, it is also possible to have fewer disks  32  on the rotor  30  by comparison with the rotor  4 . Thus, in  FIG. 5 , the rotor  30  may have two or three disks distributed along its length but which remain in register with the corresponding disks  12  of the rotor  4 . 
     FIG. 6  shows, viewed from the side, the rotor  4  and the rotor  30 . At the upper part of the rotor  4  there are the teeth  17 , which teeth can move over a circular sector as detailed beforehand in FIG.  1 . 
   The lower rotor  30  comprises, like the upper rotor  4 , pointed teeth  10  distributed around the periphery of the drum. 
     FIG. 7  depicts, in greater detail, viewed face-on, the upper rotor  4  the disk  12  of which collaborates with a tooth  17 , which tooth lies in the plane of the disk  12 . The lower rotor  30  comprises a disk  32  equipped with sections  31 . These sections  31  lie in the plane of the upper disk  12 . The lower disk  32  is slightly offset laterally with respect to the upper disk  12 . 
   The number of sections installed on each disk of the two rotors  4  and  30  may vary as necessary, from three to twelve pairs for example, in the case of the rotors  4  and  30 . 
     FIG. 8  shows an alternative form which consists in an addition of a lower rotor  34 . This lower rotor  34 , like the upper rotor  4 , has disks  12  and, on their periphery, pairs of sections  11 . The rotor  30  acts as an intermediate rotor. 
   The three rotors turn in the same direction and form a substantial shredding and cutting front. Their rotational speed differs, decreasing from the bottom upward. The lower rotor  34  turns more quickly than the intermediate rotor  30  and said rotor  30  turns more quickly than the upper rotor  4 . The difference in speed between two adjacent rotors is in a proportion of 10 to 30%. Here again, the intermediate rotor  30  may have more sections  31  than the rotors  4  and  34 . 
   Because of its rotational speed which exceeds that of the rotor  4 , the rotor  30  drives some of the products which have been shredded between the pairs of sections  11  of said rotor  4  and the sections  31 . 
   The phenomenon is the same between the rotor  34  and the intermediate rotor  30 ; the rotor  34  also plays its part in delivering unraveled and shredded products. 
   The lower rotor  34  may also have a reduced number of disks  12 , either a number equal to that of the upper rotor  30 , or a lower number, depending on the field of use and on the products that are to be shredded. 
     FIG. 9  depicts an alternative form of  FIG. 5  showing a pair of rotors equipped with a multitude of disks which allow bales of forage or straw to be shredded and cut very finely. 
   The upper rotor  4 ′ is equipped with disks  12 , the periphery of which collaborates with teeth  17 , as before. The number of teeth and the number of disks is tailored to the desired end product and the intended use of the machine. 
   Each disk  12  has pairs of sections  11  bolted at its periphery, which sections  11  pass on each side of the corresponding teeth  17 . 
   Each disk  12  may comprise between three and twelve pairs of sections for example. Two adjacent disks are, for example, arranged in such a way as to angularly offset the pairs of sections so that they are positioned in a staggered configuration. 
   The lower rotor  30 ′ comprises disks  32  equipped, on one of their sides, with sections  31 . The number of sections  31  may exceed the number of pairs of sections  11  arranged on the rotor  4 . Two adjacent disks  32  of the rotor  30 ′ may be angularly offset so as also to place the sections in a staggered configuration. 
   As detailed previously in  FIG. 7 , the teeth  31  of the disks  32  of the rotor  30 ′ are in the plane of the disks  12  of the rotor  4 ′. 
   Here again, as in  FIG. 5 , the number of disks on the lower rotor may be lower than the number of disks on the upper rotor. 
     FIG. 10  shows the superposed rotors  4 ′ and  30 ′ and the teeth  17  of the barrier, in two different positions, as explained beforehand. 
   The way in which the disks are mounted is illustrated in this figure. The disks  12 ,  32  actually consist of two parts in the form of half-rings. Each half-ring  41 ,  42  is joined to an adapter collar  43  by any appropriate means, bolts  44  or the like, and they are also joined together by means of the bolts  23 , for example, of the pairs of sections  11  or of the sections  31 , as the case may be, at their ends. 
   The adapter collars  43  are in the form of small rings which are welded onto the drum that constitutes the rotor. These rings  43  are distributed along the length of the rotor and make it possible to fit the number of disks  12 ,  32  needed depending on the field of use and on the products that are to be shredded. 
   This constructional arrangement applies to all the rotors, whether there be just one single rotor or a great many, three, four or more, rotors. 
     FIG. 11  depicts an alternative form of the unraveling/shredding device which comprises three superposed rotors, and  FIG. 12  is a front-on view of  FIG. 11  showing the shredding and cutting front consisting of the three superposed rotors and of the teeth  17  arranged at the upper part. 
   The three rotors  4 ′,  30 ′ and  34 ′ turn in the same direction as indicated by the arrows in FIG.  11  and may turn at different speeds as indicated previously. 
   The number of disks may decrease between the upper rotor and the lower rotor as mentioned previously. 
   In general, the barrier  16  has as many teeth  17  as the upper rotor has disks. The pitch between two adjacent teeth is in fact chosen according to the field of use of the machine and the desired level of fragmentation of the products. It is, for example, of the order of 30 to 300 mm. 
   Depending on the diameter and the size of the rotors, it is also possible to produce a cascade of rotors, alternating rotors with disks identical to the upper rotor  4  or  4 ′, and rotors with disks identical to the rotor  30  or  30 ′. These rotors in a cascade configuration can also turn at different speeds, the speeds decreasing starting from the lower rotor, so as to spread the delivery between the adjacent rotors and between the upper rotor and the barrier  16 . 
   When several rotors are superposed, for example in a cascade, the number of disks can differ from one rotor to another, decreasing starting from the upper rotor; the straight sections  31  remain placed in the plane of the disks carrying the pairs of sections  11 .