Abstract:
A large round baler includes a wide pick-up which lifts crop from the ground and transfers it to a rotary conveyor including crop centering augers which narrow the crop flow to the width of the baling chamber before it passes through the chamber inlet. The augers are each equipped with crop lifters and associated with each auger is an auger pan structure formed in such a way as to include a relief area into which foreign objects engaged by the crop lifters may go before they are ejected by the rotating crop lifters.

Description:
The present invention relates to crop conveying arrangements including a wide pick-up combined with a rotary conveyor, and more specifically, relates to a way of ejecting foreign objects, such as stones, pieces of wood and the like from the rotary conveyors of such arrangements when the rotary conveyors are equipped with centering augers having crop lifters. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     U.S. application Ser. No. 09/436,329 filed by Anstey et al. on Nov. 8, 1999 discloses a so-called wide pick-up for a large round baler. This pick-up is wider than the baling chamber and has a rotary tine reel equipped with spring tines that deliver crop to a rotary conveyor equipped with right- and left-hand co-axially mounted augers for narrowing the width of the picked up crop to the width of the baling chamber. The rotary conveyor includes a set of rigid tines located between the augers. In order to aid in the delivery of the crop, crop lifters are mounted between the flights of the auger spirals, each lifter having a first end fixed to the auger tubular core and curving radially outward from there to approximately the outer periphery of the auger spiral. Occasionally, a foreign object will be picked up with the crop. If the foreign object is picked up in a central area of the pick-up, little or no damage to the machine will occur due to the spacing of the tine elements which lets the object fall out or just feeds it on into the baling chamber to be rolled up with the crop. If, however, the foreign object enters either auger area, it may enter close to where the lifter joins the auger core tube and become wedged between the crop lifter and the auger pan, as the clearance between the lifter and pan decreases, causing damage. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to the present invention, there is provided an improvement to the crop conveying arrangement disclosed in the above-identified patent application. 
     An object of the invention is to provide a wide pick-up in combination with a rotary conveyor including centering augers and associated crop lifters wherein the auger pan is specially designed for aiding in the ejection of stones engaged by the augers. 
     A more specific object of the invention is to provide a wide pick-up in combination with a rotary conveyor, as set forth in the immediately preceding object, wherein each auger is associated with an auger pan provided with a relief area in the vicinity of the rotating crop lifters so that foreign objectss may enter this relief area and be engaged and kicked out by the rotating crop lifters. 
     A still more specific object of the invention is to provide a wide pick-up and rotary conveyor, as defined in the immediately preceding object, wherein a forward part of each auger pan is formed by comb-like projections which serve to mount upper rear ends of U-shaped, crop strippers, in the form of relatively flat bands, for stripping crop from the tines of the pick-up, with the projections in the vicinity of the crop lifters being angled downwardly relative to the other projections so as to define a relief area. 
     These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the ensuing description together with the appended drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a somewhat schematic left side elevational view of a large round baler equipped with a wide pick-up, together with a rotary conveyor of the type with which the present invention is particularly adapted for use. 
     FIG. 2 is an enlarged left side elevational view showing the wide pick-up and rotary conveyor of the present invention, but with structure, including the pick-up tine assembly, omitted for simplicity. 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective view looking towards the top of the right-hand side of the pickup, again with structure omitted, and the rotary conveyor showing the structure for allowing stones to be ejected from the auger pan. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a baler  10  for making large cylindrical bales. The baler  10  includes a main frame or chassis  12  supported on a pair of ground wheels  14  and from which a draft tongue  16  extends forwardly for being coupled to a towing vehicle, such as an agricultural tractor, not shown. The frame  12  includes a front section  18 , including a pair of opposite side walls  20 ; and a rear section in the form of a discharge gate  22  having opposite side walls  24 , the discharge gate  22  being pivotally attached to an upper rear location of the front section  18  for pivotal movement between a lowered working position, as illustrated, and a raised discharge position for permitting a formed bale to drop onto the ground. Extending between and mounted to the side walls  20  of the front frame section  18  and the side walls  24  of the discharge gate  22  are a plurality of bale-forming elements, here shown as a plurality of like rolls  26  and a larger floor roll  28  arranged in a substantially circular pattern so as to cooperate with the side walls  20  and  24  to define a fixed volume baling chamber  30 . The lower front roll  26  and the bale support roll  28  are spaced from each other so as to define an inlet  32  through which crop may be fed so as to be rolled into a bale by the action of the rolls  26  and  28 . It is to be noted that the present invention could be used with a baler having a variable volume baling chamber instead of the fixed volume baling chamber  30  disclosed here. 
     Provided for delivering windrowed crop into the baling chamber  30  by way of the inlet  32  is a crop conveying arrangement  33  including a wide pick-up  34  and a rotary conveyor  36 . The rotary conveyor  36  includes a center shaft  38  that is mounted to the front frame section  18  for rotation about a horizontal transverse axis. 
     Referring now also to FIGS. 2 and 3, it can be seen that the rotary conveyor  36  includes right- and left-hand centering augers  40  and  42 . A plurality of rigid, plate-like tines  44  are mounted at transversely spaced locations between the augers  40  and  42 , and mounted in spaced side-by-side relationship, so that the tines  44  pass between adjacent ones of them, are a plurality of stripper members  45 , that, as viewed from the side, are oval-shaped. The right-hand auger  40  includes a pair of angularly offset, spiral flights  46  and  48  connected to a cylindrical core  50  (FIG.  3 ), and with the left-hand auger  42  including a pair of angularly offset, spiral flights  52  and  54  fixed to a cylindrical core  56  (FIG.  2 ). Located at the inner end portion of the right-hand auger  40 , and respectively associated with the spiral flights  46  and  48 , are first and second crop lifters  58  and  60 , each of which is in the form of an arcuately curved, plate tapered from a wide end disposed parallel to the rotational axis of the conveyor  36  and fixed to the core  50 , to a narrow end located adjacent the outer peripheries of the flights  46  and  48 . The lifters  58  and  60  are angularly offset 180° from each other about the axis of the core  50  and extends approximately 90° about the axis of the core  50 , with the curvature of the lifters  58  and  60  being such that the distance from the core axis gradually increases in the direction away from the wide end that is secured to the core  50 . An inner edge of each of the crop lifters  58  and  60  is respectively secured to a leading face of the spiral flights  46  and  48 , and respective outer edges of each of the lifters  58  and  60  terminate adjacent the inner end of the core  50  in a plane that is perpendicular to the axis of the core  50 . As viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2, the rotary conveyor  36  rotates clockwise so the wide end of each of the lifters  58  and  60  is a leading end. Thus it will be appreciated that the lifters  58  and  60  engage crop delivered to the auger  40  by the pick-up  34  and lift the crop to the outer periphery of the auger  40 . 
     The left-hand auger  42  includes crop lifters  62  and  64  which are respectively associated with the spiral flights  52  and  54  and are similar in shape to, and mounted in a manner similar to the mounting of, each of the crop lifters  58  and  60 . 
     Each of the augers  40  and  42  is provided with an auger pan structure  66  including a rear pan section  68  defined by various transversely extending support frame surfaces extending parallel to the axis of rotation of the rotary conveyor  36  so as to define three integral sides disposed adjacent a circular path  70  traced by the outer periphery of each of the augers  40  and  42 . Each rear pan section  68  is fixed to the main frame  12  and extends about the axis of rotation of the conveyor  36  from approximately the two o&#39;clock position to the five o&#39;clock position, as viewed in FIG.  2 . Each auger pan structure  66  further includes a lower front pan section  72 , that is separate from the rear pan section  68  and is formed partly by a pick-up frame  74 . 
     Specifically, the pick-up frame  74  comprises a weldment including opposite side plates  76  that have angular rear ends defined by converging bottom and top edge portions. A first angular member  78 , which is roughly Z-shaped in end view, extends between and joins the opposite side plates  76 . A side  80 , forming the top of the Z defines an intermediate part of the front pan section  72 , while a side  82 , forming the bottom of the Z forms a mounting surface for a lower rear end of each of a plurality of U-shaped stripper bands, a majority of the bands being long bands  84  (FIG.  3 ), while those bands that are in fore-and-aft alignment with the crop lifters at each side of the rotary conveyor  36  are somewhat shorter bands  86 , as will become apparent from the following description. A rear part of each front pan section  72  is formed by a transverse plate member  87  that is fixed to, and extends rearwardly from the top of the Z beneath the augers  40  and  42  in overlapping relationship to the lower front edge of the associated rear pan section  68  so as to define a gap g therebetween. Also extending between and joining the side plates  76  is a second angular member  88  having an upright, lower portion  90 , which constitutes approximately a lower half of the member  88  and is positioned against the front of the first angular member  78 . A top portion of the second angular member  88  is defined by a plurality of transversely spaced fingers having two different orientations. Specifically, the first fingers each include a lower section  94  angled upwardly and forwardly from the top of the lower portion  90  at a first angle of about 30° from the lower portion  90 , which disposes the lower finger section  94  so as to serve as part of the front pan section  72 , the first finger having a forwardly projecting end section  96  that is parallel to the bottom of the Z-shaped first angular member  78  and serves as a mounting surface for the upper rear end of a respective one of the long stripper bands  84 . Second fingers are located in respective zones on the opposite sides of the pick-up that are in fore-and-aft alignment with the crop lifters  58  and  60 , and with the crop lifters  62  and  64 . The second fingers include lower sections  100  that are also angled upwardly and forwardly from the lower portion  90  so as to serve as part of the front pan section  72 , but these are angled at approximately 60° from the lower portion  90 . Thus, the second finger sections  100  are spaced further away from the rotational path of the crop lifters  58  and  60 , or  62  and  64  so as to define respective relief zones  102  for providing a relieved area for foreign objects so that they do not become wedged between the auger pan structures  66  and the associated crop lifters  58  and  60 , or  62  and  64 . Once a foreign object is located in one or the other of the relief zones  102 , it is likely expelled forwardly by the rotating crop lifters  58  and  60 , or  62  an  64 . 
     It is here noted that the pick-up frame  74  further includes opposite side members  104 , which extend up and toward the rear and are mounted to the frame  12  for pivoting about the axis of the center shaft  38  of the rotary conveyor  36 , thereby establishing an axis about which the pick-up  34  may float vertically during operation. Thus, each front auger pan section  72  will float with the pick-up  34  and remain properly disposed for functioning as an auger pan. It is noted that when the pick-up  33  is in a normal working range, as shown in FIG. 2, the plate member  87  will be angled upwardly from front to rear so that crop pieces will be retained. However, when the pick-up is raised to its transport position, the plate member  87  will be downwardly inclined from front to rear so that crop pieces will fall out and water will drain through the gap g so that accumulations of water and/or crop do not occur such as to result in rust and spoiled crop which would increase resistance to floatation of the pick-up and/or the proper feeding of crop during operation. 
     A pair of float spring assemblies  106  are respectively mounted between the main frame  12  and the pick-up frame  74  so as to support a major portion of the weight of the pick-up  34 . Each float spring assembly  106  includes a coil tension spring  108  connected between a spring end coupler, not shown, anchored to the frame  12 , and an L-shaped link  110 , carrying a roller  112  received in a kidney shaped aperture  114  provided at a lower rear location of the adjacent pick-up side member  104 .