DISC CUTTER BAR

Abstract: A disc cutter bar consists of an upper part (10) and a lower part (11) which are welded together along an edge (13) to form a housing for the row of gear wheels (26) through which the cutter discs (14) are driven. The bar is provided with an elongation (33) extending rearwardly in cross-section from the gear wheel row, which partly results in an increase of the stiffness and strength of the bar with a simulteneous low constructional height and partly makes it possible to increase the oil amount in the housing.

Description: DISC CUTTER BAR The invention concerns a disc cutter bar of the type defined in the introductory portion of claim 1. The DE Patent Specification 2825665 discloses a disc cutter bar with a longitudinal reinforcement, where the drive transmission is provided with a through-going shaft and pairs of conical gear wheels. Such a structure invol¬ ves a large constructional height of the beam so that it will be possible to incorporate a longitudinal reinforce¬ ment in the beam in the vicinity of the through-going shaft. When, like in the present disc cutter beam, a plu¬ rality of cylindrical gear wheels is used, which i.a. enables a very low constructional height, a corresponding position of a longitudinal reinforcement relatively close to the cutter disc shaft would necessitate a very considerable increase in the constructional height. The object of the invention is to remedy this drawback by providing a disc cutter bar of the present type with a longitudinal reinforcement making it possible to maintain the low constructional height. This object is achieved in that the bar is constructed as stated in the characterizing portion of claim 1. In addi¬ tion to greater stiffness and low constructional height this structure also provides the advantage that more oil can be accommodated so that lubrication of the many movable parts will be improved and the life thereby prolonged. The reinforcement may either be formed by a welded struc¬ ture as stated in claim 2 or an elongation of the upper part and lower part.. In the latter case, a reinforcement element as stated in claim 3 may additionally be incorpo¬ rated. The openings in the short leg or cross member are necessary owing to the circulation of oil. The invention will be explained more fully below with re¬ ference to the drawing in which, fig. 1 is a cross section through an embodiment of the disc cutter bar of the invention through a cutter disc axis, fig. 2 is a cross section of the same bar through an idle wheel axis, fig. 3 is a cross section of a second embodiment of the bar of the invention through the axis position of a cutter disc, which is not shown, but may be of the same type as one shown in fig. 1, and fig. 4 is a cross section of a third a embodiment of the bar of the invention through an idle wheel axis. In figs. 1 and 2, 10 is the upper part and 11 the lower part of a disc cutter bar. The two parts are welded together along the edges as shown at 12 and 13 to form a housing for the gear wheels driving the cutter discs. Such a cutter disc is shown at 14 in fig. 1. It carries cutters 15 at two diametrically opposite positions at the peri- phery, said cutters being pivotable about bolts 16. The disc is secured by bolts 17 to a hub 18 which is welded to a shaft 19, which is journaled in a bearing ring 22 by means of ball bearings 20 and 21. The bearing ring 22 is secured to the upper part 10 by means of bolts 23 and nuts 24 which are welded to the inner side of the upper part. An 0-ring 25, fitted in an annular groove in the bearing ring, is interposed between the bearing ring 22 and the upper part 10. The inner end of the shaft 19 has wedged to it a gear wheel 26 which is additionally kept in position by a retaining disc 27 and a bolt 28 screwed into the end of the shaft. The cutter carrying bolts 16 also serve to secure a ring- shaped disc 29, which, at its inner edge, carries a cylin¬ drical guard 30 coaxial with the cutter disc. A longitudinal, cross sectionally substantially U-shaped reinforcement bar 33 is welded to the rear edge of the upper part 10 and the lower part at 31 and 32, respective¬ ly, said reinforcement bar 33 serving to increase the resistance of the disc cutter bar against bending. The rear end a plurality of slide rails 35 is secured to the reinforcement bar by means of bolts 34, and the front end of said slide rails 35 is welded to a substantially wedge shaped front part 36, which is secured to the front edge of the housing 10, 11 by means of a welded angular member 37. Fig. 2 shows an idle wheel 37 in the same disc cutter bar. This idle wheel is rotably journaled through a ball bear- ing 38 on a hub cylinder 39 extending through an opening in the upper part 10 and is secured by means of a collar 40, which engages over the edge of this opening, as well a bolt 41, which extends through a hole in the lower part 11 and is screwed into the hub cylinder, in the housing 10, 11 through its outer end, which is provided, for the same reason, with an opening suitable for the purpose. The disc cutter bar embodiment shown in fig. 3 differs from the one shown in figs. 1 and 2 in that the reinfor- cement is not welded, but is formed by the actual upper part 10 and lower part 11, which are here provided with an extra large width to form the elongation extending rearwardly in cross-section. A cross sectionally L-shaped reinforcement element is arranged between the extended parts and has its long leg 41 in engagement with the upper part 10 and its short leg 42 at right angles to the two parts with the lower edge in engagement with the lower part. A similar construction shown in fig. 4 has a cross sec- tionally U-shaped reinforcement element with the long legs 43 and 44 engaging the upper part 10 and the lower part 11, respectively, and the short leg or cross member 45 arranged aai right angles thereto. Both the leg 42 in fig. 3 and the cross member 45 in fig. 4 may be provided with openings 46 so that the space formed by the elongation may be utilized for increasing the amount of oil in the bar. The embodiments shown and described above of the disc cutter bar of the invention are just to be considered as examples since the reinforced, rearwardly extending elongations and the optional extra reinforcement elements may be provided in many other ways than those shown and described. The invention has been explained on the basis of a disc cutter bar consisting of the two parts, an upper part and a lower part which are welded together along the edges. However, the disc cutter bar may also be made of a single plate which is bent and only welded along one edge of the bar.

Claims: P a t e n t C l a i m s: 1. A disc cutter bar consisting of an upper part (10) and a lower part (11) which are welded along the edges (12, 13), and having a plurality of cutter discs (14) which are rotatable about substantially vertical axes and whose shafts carry gear wheels (26) which are arranged in the housing formed by the two parts and are in drive connec- tion with each other through a row of idle gear wheels (37), and having a longitudinal reinforcement, c h a ¬ r a c t e r i z e d in that the longitudinal reinforcement is in the form of an elongation of the bar (33) extending rearwardly in cross-section from the gear wheel row. 2. A disc cutter bar according to claim 1, c h a r a c¬ t e r i z e d in that the reinforcement is formed by a cross-sectionally substantially U-shaped plate element (33) whose legs are welded to the rear edge of the gear wheel housing (31, 32). 3. A disc cutter bar according to claim 1, c h a r a c¬ t e r i z e d in that a cross-sectionally substantially L-shaped or U-shaped reinforcement element (41, 42) is additionally incorporated in the cross sectionally rear¬ wardly extending elongation of the bar, said reinforcement element (41, 42) having its short leg or transverse member extending between and substantially at right angles to the upper part and the lower part and being provided with one or more openings (46).

Inventors: LAURITSEN GEORG, LAURITSEN, GEORG
Applicants: TAARUP AS MASKINFAB, MASKINFABRIKEN TAARUP A/S
Application year: 1990
Main classification: A01D34
IPC codes: A01D34