Abstract:
A work machine for harvesting a cane crop having a lower crop material gathering device, the work machine including a chassis and an upper crop material gathering device coupled to said chassis. The upper crop material gathering device including at least one moving device configured to substantially surround a stalk of a cane crop plant as said at least one moving device moves, and a stalk engaging device positioned proximate to the at least one moving device. The stalk engaging device being configured to pull the stalk from the at least one moving device, thereby stripping grain from a head of the cane crop plant.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]    The present invention relates to agricultural harvesters, and, more particularly, to harvesters for harvesting cane or stalk-like crops. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]    Two known types of stalk-like crops in the North American market are sugar cane and sorghum. Other stalk or cane type crops are recently receiving more attention with increased interest in bio-energy such as miscanthus, energy cane and giant reed. During the harvesting of sugar cane, it is known to “top” the sugar cane plant by cutting off the top portion of the plant using a separate cutter head and allowing the top of the plant to simply fall to the ground. 
         [0003]    Sorghum is a major cereal grain that is one of the oldest known crops and is used as a staple food in many places in Africa and Asia. Sorghum is a major feed grain crop in the U.S., Mexico, Argentina, Australia, and South Africa. It is believed that sorghum was introduced into the United States in the 1700&#39;s and some believe that Benjamin Franklin introduced the first grain sorghum crop. The seed of grain sorghum is the smallest of the spring planted field crops, such as corn and soybeans. 
         [0004]    Sorghum is a member of the grass family that is classified into four groups, those being: grain sorghums, grass sorghums, sweet sorghums, and broomcorn. Broomcorn is grown for the brush or the branches of the seed cluster with the fibers thereof being used for the making of brooms. Sweet sorghums are grown for the production of sorghum syrup which is produced from the juices pressed from the stems that is then subsequently boiled to the proper thickness. Animal feed and silage can also be made from sweet sorghums. Grassy sorghums are grown for green feed and hay, often reaching 10 feet in height. Grain sorghums are grown especially for their rounded, starchy seeds. Some grain sorghums grow as much as 15 feet or more tall with the seed being used as seed grain and the plant utilized for silage. Nearly all grain sorghums are much shorter than the other three types of sorghum and as such the collection devices used to collect seed typical grain sorghum are not ideal for collecting seed from very tall cane crops. 
         [0005]    The use of sorghum for the production of ethanol has brought additional emphasis to the economics of sorghum production. It is known to gather sorghum grain by utilizing a regular grain header on a combine that is utilized to cut the heads from the sorghum and then process the heads through the threshing portion of a combine. A row crop attachment can be utilized to help the pickup and intake of the crop. The row crop attachments fit in front of the grain header cutter bar and have gathering points, gathering chains, and kicker wheels like a forage harvester head. Sorghum stems often catch and choke the straw walkers of a combine causing inconvenience and lost time in the cleaning of the straw walkers. Grain sorghum stalks are smaller and normally wetter to harvest than corn stalks and are more likely to be chopped up and delivered into the grain tank. Pieces of stalk return to the cylinder in the tailings and can exacerbate this condition. To handle this situation the chaffer section may be covered with sheet metal to keep the stalks out of the return flow to the cylinder. 
         [0006]    For the harvesting of the sorghum stalk, sugar cane harvesters can be utilized that cut the stalk into billets for transfer to a wagon for further processing. Sugar cane harvesters may include a top cutting tool for the cutting off of the seed portion of the sugar cane. The seed portion of the sugarcane plant is discarded in this harvesting system since it has low amounts of sugar content. In the harvesting operation it is advantageous to use a height of cut that is substantially close to the surface of the ground to optimize the amount of the stalk harvested yet high enough to minimize any damage to the equipment by contact with the ground. Another problem with harvesting the cane too close to the ground results in increased damage to the plant, thereby decreasing the long term productivity of the cane plantation. 
         [0007]    What is needed in the art is a sorghum or a cane or stalk-like crop harvester which removes and processes the seed in an effective and efficient manner. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]    The invention in one form is directed to a work machine for harvesting a cane crop having a lower crop material gathering device, the work machine including a chassis and an upper crop material gathering device coupled to said chassis. The upper crop material gathering device including at least one moving device configured to substantially surround a stalk of a cane crop plant as said at least one moving device moves, and a stalk engaging device positioned proximate to the at least one moving device. The stalk engaging device being configured to pull the stalk from the at least one moving device, thereby stripping grain from a head of the cane crop plant. 
         [0009]    The invention in another form is directed to an upper crop material gathering device couplable to a work machine for harvesting a cane crop having a chassis to which is attached a lower crop material gathering device. The upper crop material gathering device including at least one moving device configured to substantially surround a stalk of a cane crop plant as said at least one moving device moves, and a stalk engaging device positioned proximate to the at least one moving device. The stalk engaging device being configured to pull the stalk from the at least one moving device, thereby stripping grain from a head of the cane crop plant. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a side view of an embodiment of an agricultural harvester of the present invention; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is a top view of the harvester shown in  FIG. 1 , illustrating simultaneous unloading of both seed crop material and biomass crop material; 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a side, partially sectional view of one embodiment of a seed harvester of the present invention; and 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  is a top view of the seed harvester shown in  FIG. 3 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0014]    Referring now to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , there is shown an embodiment of an agricultural work machine in the form of a harvester  10  for a stalk-like crop  12  including both biomass crop material  14  and upper seed heads  16 . The biomass crop material  14  may include both stalks and leaves, each of which may have value for certain applications, such as livestock feed, sugar production, ethanol production, etc.. In the embodiment shown, crop  12  is a cane crop in the form of sweet sorghum but could be a different type of crop. 
         [0015]    Harvester  10  generally includes a base unit  18  carrying both a biomass harvester sub-system  20  and seed harvester sub-system  22 . Each of biomass harvester sub-system  20  and seed harvester sub-system  22  are carried by the frame or chassis of base unit  18 , with seed harvester sub-system  22  being positioned generally above biomass harvester sub-system  20 . Biomass harvester sub-system  20  is used for harvesting the biomass crop material  14 , and seed harvester sub-system  22  is used for separately and independently harvesting and processing seed from seed heads  16 . Seed harvester sub-system  22  is also referred to as an upper crop material gathering device  22  and biomass harvester sub-system  20  is also referred to as a lower crop material gathering device  20 . 
         [0016]    More particularly, biomass harvester sub-system  20  has a general flow path  26  of biomass crop material  14  through harvester  10  ( FIG. 1 ) which is below a general flow path  28  of seed from the seed heads  16  through seed harvester sub-system  22 . The separate flow paths  26  and  28  allow the biomass crop material  14  and seed crop material from seed heads  16  to be separately processed and off-loaded from harvester  10 . 
         [0017]    Biomass harvester sub-system  20  includes a biomass harvester  24  carried by base unit  18 . The biomass harvester  24  includes a base cutter  30  which cuts the stalks of crop  12  near ground level. The biomass harvester sub-system  20  further includes a set of feed rollers  32 , chopper unit  34 , temporary storage bin  36  (also referred to as an “elevator basket”), elevator  38  and secondary extractor  40 . Each of feed rollers  32 , chopper unit  34 , elevator  38  and secondary extractor  40  are of conventional construction on a sugar cane harvester and thus not described further herein. For example, chopper unit  34  chops the stalks of the biomass crop material into predetermined size billets. 
         [0018]    However, according to an aspect of the present invention, temporary storage bin  36  at the downstream side of chopper unit  34  provides temporary holding of biomass crop material  14  prior to being discharged from secondary extractor  40  into a dump wagon  42  or other suitable portable container ( FIG. 1 ). The ability to temporarily hold the biomass crop material onboard harvester  10  can be beneficial, e.g., when opening a field where the dump wagon  42  cannot drive along side of harvester  10 . 
         [0019]    Seed harvester sub-system  22  generally includes a seed harvester  44 , grain storage tank  46 , and discharge conveyance  48 . Discharge conveyance  48  is used to discharge the processed seed from grain storage tank  46  to a dump wagon  50  or other suitable portable container ( FIG. 1 ). In the illustrated embodiment, discharge conveyance  48  is configured as an auger, but could also be configured, e.g., as a belt conveyor or chain conveyor. 
         [0020]    Grain storage tank  46  is carried onboard base unit  18 , preferably at the front of the operator&#39;s station  52  on base unit  18 . Grain storage tank  46  may be constructed with a suitable shape (such as a rectangular shape with a V-bottom) from a suitable material (such as a metal or plastic). A cross-auger  54  positioned in the V-bottom moves the processed seed toward discharge conveyance  48 . Cross-auger  54  and discharge conveyance  48  may be actuated using a single actuator, such as an electronic switch on a console panel within operator&#39;s station  52 . 
         [0021]    Seed harvester  44  is positioned above and forward of base cutter  30  (relative to a working direction of harvester  10 ). Seed harvester  44  generally includes a seed removal unit  56  and seed conveyance  58 . Seed conveyance  58  conveys the seed or seed heads from seed harvester  44  to base unit  18  for further processing within seed harvester sub-system  22 . In  FIGS. 3 and 4 , seed conveyance  58  is configured as an auger  58  for transporting seeds to base unit  12 . However, seed conveyance  58  can be differently configured depending on the application, such as a chain driven conveyor or a cleated belt, etc. 
         [0022]    Seed removal unit  56  harvests the seed from seed heads  16  by stripping the seeds from seed heads  16 . Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , a seed removal unit  56  is shown including a seed stripper  60  which strips the seeds from seed heads  16 . 
         [0023]    During a field operation, and referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the seeds are stripped from seed heads  16  using seed stripper  60 . The seeds are held in a grain gathering tunnel  64 , which can accommodate a changing height of seed removal unit  56 , and thus accommodate a changing angular orientation relative to auger  58 . The seed is conveyed through auger  58  to grain storage tank  46  where it is held until discharged from base unit  18  using discharge conveyance  48 . Concurrently, the biomass crop material (i.e., stalks and leaves) are aligned with snout  66 , cut off with base unit  18 , conveyed to chopper unit  34  using feed rollers  32 , and deposited in temporary storage bin  36 . The biomass crop material can then be selectively discharged from temporary storage bin  36  by an operator through engagement of elevator  38  and secondary extractor  40 . 
         [0024]    The stalks of crop  12  include a peduncle  68 , which is generally defined as the section of the stalk between the uppermost leaf of crop  12  and head  16 . The leaves of crop  12  being omitted for the sake of clarity. Seed stripper  60  includes moving devices  70  in the form of gathering chains  70  to which are attached a plurality of stripper plates  72 . Stripper plates  72  are connected to chains  70  and are configured to meet in such a way as to form stripper plate holes  74  which surround the stalk of crop  12  as the stalks are gathered toward seed stripper  60 . Stalk engaging device  76 , in the form of a roller  76 , rotates about a substantially horizontal axis  78 . Protrusions  80  extend from roller  76  and engage the stalks causing the stalks to be pulled in a downward direction. The stalks are bent toward grain gathering tunnel  64  by the combined effect of the movement of chains  70  and the stalk encountering roller  76 . As protrusions  80  move the stalk in a downward direction the seeds on seed head  16  are stripped from the stalk. The seeds are collected by grain gathering tunnel  64  and conveyed to a holding area by way of seed conveyance  58 . 
         [0025]    Protrusions  80  may be in the form of a wavy plate configured to grip the stalk to pull it through stripper plate hole  74 . The pulling of the stalk is additionally assisted by the movement of harvester  10  along the ground. 
         [0026]    Grain gathering tunnel  64  includes a top plate  82 , a back plate  84  and a bottom plate  86 . Hinges  88  allow plates  82 ,  84  and  86  to move as seed conveyance  58  may be repositioned to accommodate different heights of crop  12  and specifically the locations of heads  16 . An alternate position of grain gathering tunnel  64  and of seed conveyance  58  is illustrated by the dashed lines in  FIG. 4 . Seed conveyance  58 , which may for example be in the form of a conveyor or auger, has an opening that corresponds to an opening in bottom plate  86  so that grain gathered in grain gathering tunnel  64  can be conveyed therefrom. Although bottom plate  86  is shown as being along the top edge of seed conveyance  58  it may be located along the side of seed conveyance  58  and may be sloped to direct the grain to seed conveyance  58 . Grain gathering tunnel  64  also has sides that are generally parallel with the direction of movement of harvester  10  and may be in the form of a plate or a flexible element configured to adapt to the movement of plates  82 ,  84  and  86 . 
         [0027]    Having described the preferred embodiment, it will become apparent that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the accompanying claims.