Forage harvester blower

A forage harvester blower includes a blower fan having a plurality of pivotable blades which operate closely to a cylindrical surface of the blower housing. Forge is delivered into the blower housing along a path extending tangentially to an outer part of the blades and exits the housing at a location spaced approximately ninety degrees from the entrance point.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to forage harvesters and more particularly 
relates to a blower or impeller arrangement for receiving and delivering 
chopped forage. 
It is well-known in forage harvesters to provide a blower or impeller for 
receiving chopped forage either directly from the cutterhead or from 
kernel processing rolls or an impeller or other forage moving apparatus 
located between the cutterhead and blower and for delivering the chopped 
forage to a forage collecting container such as the box of a wagon or 
truck, for example. In an attempt to minimize plugging, designers have 
advantageously located the blower so as to receive the chopped forage in a 
relatively thin mat flowing along the outer periphery of the cylindrical 
blower housing where the forage is engaged and accelerated upwardly by 
blades or paddles extending radially from the blower rotor. It has been 
found, however, that when relatively heavy slugs of forage enter the 
blower that some forage may be carried around by the rotor or some may 
through centrifugal force be tightly frictionally engaged with the blower 
housing wall or may even become wedged between the outer edges of the 
blades or paddles and the blower housing wall resulting in a large amount 
of energy being required to impel the crop. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
According to the present invention, there is provided an improved forage 
harvester blower and more specifically there is provided an improved blade 
mounting for a fan of such a blower. 
A broad object of the invention is to provide a blower having good throwing 
distance with reduced power requirements. 
More specifically it is an object of the invention to situate a blower 
housing so that forage enters approximately tangentially to the housing 
outer diameter, follows the blower housing periphery through an arc of 
about ninety degrees and exits approximately tangentially to the housing 
outer diameter. 
A further object is to provide a blower which is situated as set forth in 
the immediately preceding object and which has fan blades mounted for 
pivoting about respective axes extending parallel to the fan axis whereby 
the fan blades may pivot back to prevent wedging and to assure that forage 
is discharged uniformly up the chute without any tendency to be carried 
around the blower housing. 
These and other objects will become apparent from a reading of the ensuing 
description together with the appended drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a self-propelled forage harvester 
10 which embodies the present invention, it being noted that the 
principles of the present invention could be applied to towed forage 
harvesters as well. 
The forage harvester 10 includes a main frame 12 supported on front and 
rear pairs of wheels 14 and 16, of which only one of each pair is shown. 
Located at an upper forward location on the frame 12 is an operator's cab 
18 which contains all of the controls (not shown) for the harvester. 
Mounted to the forward end of the frame 12 is a row crop harvesting head 
20 which is provided for severing a crop, such as corn or the like, from 
the ground and directing it to be chopped into forage by knives (not 
shown) of a transverse cylinder type cutterhead 22. Chopped forage is 
delivered rearwardly by the cutterhead 22 to an impeller or blower 
assembly 24 which, in turn, delivers the chopped forage upwardly into, and 
creates an airstream for expelling it through, a rearwardly extending 
discharge conduit or spout 26. 
The blower assembly 24 (FIGS. 2-5) includes a housing 28 having an inlet 
section 30 extending rearwardly and upwardly from a lower right quadrant 
of the cutterhead 22, as viewed in FIG. 1, to a lower bottom quadrant of a 
cylindrical section 32, and an outlet section 34 extending upwardly 
between an upper rear quadrant of the cylindrical section 32 and an 
entrance to the discharge spout 26. Located within the cylindrical section 
32 of the housing is a blower impeller 36 including a transverse shaft 38 
extending through and being journalled in opposite end walls 40 of the 
housing cylindrical section 32. A pair of generally square end plates 42 
is centered on and fixed to the shaft 38 at respective locations adjacent 
inner faces of the walls 40. The respective corners of the plates 42 are 
axially aligned with each other. Extending between the end plates and 
having opposite ends welded to the plates are four radially extending 
stiffener members 44 which are of U-shaped cross section with 
diametrically opposite pairs thereof being respectively arranged 
symmetrically relative to radial planes passing through the corners of the 
end plates. Bight portions 46 of the stiffener members 44 are respectively 
located adjacent the four corners of the end plates while the legs of the 
members 44 are welded to the shaft 38. Four impeller blade or paddle 
mounting rods 48 are respectively received in the bight portions 46 and 
each has its opposite ends respectively received in holes provided in the 
pair of end plates 42. The bight portion 46 of each stiffener member 44 is 
provided with three evenly spaced notches or cutouts 50. The mounting rods 
48 are each provided with a pair of circumferential grooves 52 
respectively located halfway between the middle and end notches 50 and 
received in each groove is one edge of a wedge key 54 which is received in 
aligned rectangular openings provided in the legs of the associated 
stiffener member 44. A keeper pin 56 is releasably received in a hole 
provided in each key 54 so as to retain the keys in place for preventing 
endwise movement of the associated rod. Pivotally mounted on each rod 48 
in the respective areas thereof which pass through the notches 50 are 
three paddles or blades 58. The paddles 58 each include an inner mounting 
or base section 60 formed by a plate having an inner end bent to form a 
cylinder 62 which is pivotally received on the associated rod. The 
cylinder 62 is narrower than the remainder of the mounting portion which 
widens to an outer, generally rectangular mounting section 64. A 
replaceable paddle end section 66 is fastened to the mounting section 64 
by a pair of bolt, washer and nut assemblies 68 arranged with the bolts 
extending through slotted openings 70 provided in the mounting section 64. 
The openings 70 permit the end section 66 to be adjusted outwardly to 
establish a desired relatively close clearance between the blower impeller 
paddles and the cylindrical section 32 of the blower housing. 
The position of the blower assembly 24 relative to the cutterhead 22 and 
discharge spout 26 together with the pivoted impeller paddles 58 is 
thought to result in a structure for efficiently conveying crop from the 
cutterhead to a forage collection container. Specifically, as viewed in 
FIG. 1, forage leaving the cutterhead 22 is fed directly into the 
periphery of the blower housing 28, at it lower front quadrant, 
approximately tangential to the outer diameter of the blower impeller 36 
and in the same direction of movement as that of the impeller paddles or 
blades 58. Each paddle 58 collects the crop at its outer end as it moves 
the crop along the blower housing periphery to and then discharges it 
uniformly up into and through the spout 26. The impact of the impeller 
blades 58 against the incoming crop is minimized because they have 
approximately the same direction of movement and thus the energy required 
to impel the crop is reduced. Also, while the crop is being transported 
along the periphery of the housing 28, the blades 58 may pivot back to 
prevent wedging, thereby reducing the energy required. Furthermore, as the 
amount of crop increases on a given blade 58, it will pivot back to 
somewhat balance the centrifugal force on the blade and reduce the force 
caused by friction of the crop on the blower housing. This rearward 
pivoting of the blades 58 assures that all crop is discharged at a uniform 
direction up the chute without any tendency to carry around the housing. 
Consequently, the impeller 36 has a good throwing distance with reduced 
power requirements. 
Should it be desired to condition the chopped forage exiting the cutterhead 
22, upper and lower counterrotating crusher rolls 71 and 72, respectively, 
may be installed within an inlet section 30' of the impeller or blower 
housing 28, as shown in FIG. 6. The bite of the rolls 71 and 72 is 
disposed so as to be in the tangential flight of the crop as it leaves the 
cutterhead 22 so as to deliver the crop into the housing 28 without 
altering its flight path. 
If it is desired to produce finely chopped forage, the arrangement shown in 
FIG. 7 may be used where an arcuate recutter screen 74 is mounted adjacent 
the lower rear quadrant of the cutterhead 22 and an auxiliary impeller 76 
is located in an inlet section 30" of the blower housing 28 for delivering 
the finely chopped crop tangentially into the periphery of the impeller 
blades 58. 
Thus, the variants shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 preserve the desired efficient 
flow of crop material from the cutterhead 22 and through the impeller or 
blower assembly 24 by continuing the tangential flight path of material 
leaving the cutterhead such that it enters the impeller 36 tangentially to 
the outer portions of the blades 58.