Abstract:
A self-propelled forage harvester is equipped with a header including intake and plucking arrangements which, in the case of corn, separate the ears from the stalk and conveys them in different streams to the harvester. The harvester has a conventional cutter drum that receives the stalks and cuts them into short lengths, and has a hammermill which receives the corn ears and chops them into small pieces. The corn stalk pieces and the chopped ears can be recombined and discharged from the harvester into a trailer as whole plant silage, or can be delivered in separate streams to separate trailers or separate containers of the same trailer.

Description:
[0001]    The invention concerns a corn harvesting machine equipped with a header having the ability to separate corn ears from the stalk and to process these separately from the remainder of the plant.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    DE 197 34 747 A describes a corn harvesting front attachment or header for attachment to a self-propelled harvesting machine, that can mow, independent of row arrangement, and pluck the corn ears from the plants, in order to process them separately from the rest of the plant, for example, to thresh them out. For the grasping and mowing of the plants independent of rows, the implement is provided with a mower head with conveyor disks rotating and arranged above one another provided with recesses in their outer circumference with a knife arranged below it, as is known practice in corn heads. The plants are conducted to conventional plucking devices attached downstream of the mower head as they are described in DE 30 29 424 A.  
           [0003]    The disadvantage here is seen in the fact that the conveyor disks equipped with recesses do not always reliably perform the transport of the plants. In particular, plants that stand at an inclination cannot be grasped.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0004]    According to the present invention there is provided an improved header of the rowless type.  
           [0005]    A broad object of the invention is to provide a header which is capable of recovering crop having stalks which stand at an inclination.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0006]    [0006]FIG. 1 is a longitudinal, vertical sectional view through an intake and plucking arrangement.  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the intake and plucking arrangement of FIG. 1.  
         [0008]    [0008]FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along line  3 - 3  of FIG. 2.  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken through the center of a conveyor disk assembly.  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the conveyor disk assembly of FIG. 4.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 6 is a schematic left side elevational view of a self-propelled forage harvester equipped with a crop recovery arrangement having intake and plucking arrangements according to the present invention.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the forage harvester shown in FIG. 6.  
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0013]    Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown an intake and plucking or ear snapping arrangement  1 , which, in its basic configuration, consists of an upper transport element  14 , a conveyor disk assembly with an upper conveyor disk  26  and a lower conveyor disk  44 , as well as a plucking arrangement with a sheet-metal stripper vane  22 , first and second plucking rolls  24  and  52 , as well as a rotating knife  28 . The intake and plucking arrangement  10  is arranged to be driven ahead along the forward operating direction V and to cut plants standing on a field from the ground, to separate their useful components by means of the plucking arrangement from the remainder of the plant, to transport the useful components by means of a first screw conveyor  34  extending in the transverse direction into a vehicle for further processing as well as also to transport away the remainder of the plants through a further channel  38 .  
         [0014]    The upper transport element  14  is used to grasp and draw in the plants and includes a flat disk  18  with fingers  16  fastened to its outer circumference, the fingers  16  extending generally radially outward. The fingers  16  are in themselves curved in the trailing direction with respect to the direction of rotation of the upper transport element  14  which rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 2 so that the leading surface exhibits a rejecting conveying performance. Plant components, in particular stalks, that possibly reach the operating region of the fingers  16  are therefore forced to the outside by the leading surface of the fingers  16 . The trailing (rear) surfaces of the fingers  16  operate as aggressive conveying elements by reason of their curvature, and hence draw plant components coming into contact with them inward.  
         [0015]    The upper transport element  14  is arranged coaxially to and above a conveyor disk assembly with an upper conveyor disk  26  and a lower conveyor disk  44  below it and again below these a driver disk  48  with projecting hook-shaped drivers. Such conveyor disk assemblies are known in themselves from corn heads. As can best be seen from FIG. 5, the upper conveyor disk  26  is equipped on its outer circumference with pocket-shaped recesses  46 , that are used to engage parts of plants, in particular stalks. The recesses  46  are generally semi-circular, and at the root of each recess, a tooth is arranged in each case. Semi-circular recesses with projecting elements arranged on the trailing edge, as illustrated in DE 197 34 747 A would be conceivable. The lower conveyor disk  44  is provided with an outer circumference with uniformly spaced teeth, where each third tooth is aligned with a tooth arranged at the root of the recess  46  of the upper conveyor disk  26 . This lowest disk, the so-called driver disk  48  is provided with a number of hook-shaped drivers, distributed over its circumference, the drivers being shaped so as to lead in the direction of rotation and are angled downward in their outer region.  
         [0016]    The driver disk  48 , the lower conveyor disk  44  and the upper conveyor disk  26  are connected by a hollow shaft  56  with the disk  18  of the upper transport element  14  and are therefore arranged to rotate in the same direction and at the same rotational speed as the upper transport element  14 , that is, in the counterclockwise direction about the vertical axis  20  as seen in FIG. 2. It would also be conceivable that the axis  20  be inclined slightly in the forward operating direction V. There are twice as many recesses  46  as there are fingers  16 , although their numbers could coincide. The fingers  16  and the recesses  46  in the upper conveyor disk  44  form a sort of tapered notch, in which the stalk of a plant can be engaged and transported.  
         [0017]    A gearbox  30  is used to drive the upper transport element  14 , the lower conveyor disk  44  and the upper conveyor disk  26 . The gearbox  30  is driven through elements, not shown, by a self-propelled harvesting machine. The gearbox  30  also brings into rotation a knife  28  rotating about the axis  20  arranged underneath the lower driver disk  48 , the knife  28  rotating at a higher rotational speed that the transport element  14  and the conveyor disks  26  and  44 .  
         [0018]    The transport element  14  and the conveyor disk assembly is preceded in the forward operating direction V of the intake and plucking arrangement  10  to the left and the right by a stalk divider  32 , each of which bend any plants standing to the side of the operating region of the intake and plucking arrangement  10  in the direction of its central axis, so that the plants can be grasped without any problem. Furthermore, the transport element  14  and the conveyor disk assembly are preceded by two divider points  40  that deflect the plants to the side. On the rear sides of the divider points  40 , guide elements  42  are arranged that extend from the divider points  40  in the direction of rotation of the conveyor disk assembly, and are angled with respect to a tangent of the conveyor disassembly towards the direction of the axis of rotation  20 . The guide elements  42  are straight and generally in the form of a circular cylinder. They extend approximately to the following divider point  40  or to the entrance of the plucking channel  50 . The divider points  40  and the stalk dividers  32  define, in the intervening spaces remaining between them, intake and intersecting points, in which the plants can be grasped by the transport element  14  and the conveyor disk assembly, where the knife  28  cuts the plants from the stubble remaining on the field.  
         [0019]    The plants grasped in this way are conveyed by the transport element  14  and the conveyor disks  26  and  44 , and the driver disk  48 , in the counterclockwise direction as seen in FIG. 4, and conducted to the plucking arrangement in a plucking channel  50 , which is provided in a sheet-metal stripper vane  22 . Over the greatest part of its length, the plucking channel  50  extends parallel to the direction of the forward movement V and is bent in its end region in the direction towards the axis  20 . The horizontal sheet-metal stripper vane  22  is arranged in the vertical direction between the upper transport element  14  and the upper conveyor disk  26 . A first plucking roll  24  and a second plucking roll  52  are positioned underneath the sheet-metal stripper vane  22  and above the upper conveyor disk  26 . Between the first plucking roll  24  and the second plucking roll  52 , a slot is defined that extends parallel to the plucking channel  50  and underneath the latter. Therefore, the longitudinal axes of the first plucking roll  24  and the second plucking roll  52  extend horizontally and parallel to the direction of forward movement V. The second plucking roll  52 , that is arranged between the axis  20  and the first plucking roll  24 , is provided with a forward point that is located ahead of the axis  20  with respect to the direction of forward movement V. The first plucking roll  24  is longer than the second plucking roll  52 , but it is configured as a screw conveyor in its forward regions. Approximately at the level of the point of the second plucking roll  52 , the first plucking roll  24  is provided with drivers  54  oriented radially that extend over the length of the plucking rolls  24  and  52 , as is generally the entire second plucking roll  52 , which can best be seen in FIG. 2.  
         [0020]    The operation is performed as follows: Plants standing in the direction of forward operation V ahead of the intake and plucking arrangements  10  are deflected to the side, if necessary, by the stalk dividers  32  and/or the divider points  40  and reach in the intake and cutting locations defined between these, the upper transport element  14  and the upper conveyor disk  26  and the lower conveyor disk  44 , as well as the driver disk  48 . The plants are mowed by the knife  28 .  
         [0021]    The plants that come to lie against the leading surface of the fingers  16  of the upper transport element  14  are conveyed to the outside due to the rejecting conveying performance of the fingers  16  and come to lie in contact with the trailing surface of the same or of a following finger  16 .  
         [0022]    The plants are therefore conveyed, if need be, further in a slightly inclined position, but generally oriented vertically. By means of the guide elements  42 , the stalks of the plants grasped by the upper conveyor disk  26  are forced into the roots of the recesses  46  of the upper conveyor disk  26  during the rotation of the conveyor disk assembly, so that they are clamped by the teeth of the upper conveyor disk  26  and the lower conveyor disk  44  and a safe transport of the plants is assured. In case they are grasped by the drivers of the driver disk  48 , the lower ends of the plants slide radially inward along the surfaces of the drivers that are leading in the direction of rotation. As a result the plants are supported and retained by the disks of the conveyor disk assembly and the fingers  16  of the upper transport element  14 .  
         [0023]    As soon as the stalks of the plants come into contact with the forward edge of the sheet-metal stripper vane  22 , they are conducted by its intake that narrows in a funnel shape into the plucking slot  50 . At the beginning of the plucking slot  50 , the screw conveyor of the first plucking roll  24  acts upon the plant and forces it to be drawn into the slot between the first plucking roll  24  and the second plucking roll  52 . At that time the lower part of the plant that is still held in the recess  46  bends, since the circular path described by the rot of the recess  46  extends outside the plucking slot  50 . The plucking rolls  24  and  52  that rotate in opposite directions draw the plants downward between them, and act to clear the conveyor disk assembly, where the pointed forward region of the second plucking roll  52  supports the clearing. Simultaneously, the fingers  16  of the upper transport element  14  transports the plant over the length of the plucking channel  50  opposite to the direction of forward operation V to the rear, where a subsequent finger  16  transport, if need be, the plants previously in contact with the trailing surface of a leading finger  16 . Therefore, the length of the fingers  16  of the upper transport element  14  is such that the fingers  16  are long enough to grasp the plants at the intake and intersection point, and that the intervening space remaining between each of two fingers  16  covers the entire plucking channel. Useful components of the plants such as ears, heads of sunflowers or other fruit are retained by the sheet-metal stripper vane  22 , and thereby separated from the remainder of the plant. The useful components are pushed into a trough  36  by the fingers  16  and by the following useful components. There they reach the operating region of a first screw conveyor  34 , which conducts them in a sideways direction to a harvesting machine or the like.  
         [0024]    Simultaneously, the remainder of the plants are conducted by the plucking rolls  24  and  52  in a channel  38  underneath the first screw conveyor  34  in which a second screw conveyor  80 , shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, or any desired other conveyor, such as a belt conveyor, conducts the plants to a harvesting machine. It would also be conceivable to dismember the plants by means of appropriate cutting elements of the plucking rolls  24  and  52  or a separate chopper and/or to deposit them directly onto the field, without transferring them to a conveyor.  
         [0025]    A harvesting machine  60  shown in FIG. 6 in the form of a self-propelled forage harvester is supported on a frame  62  that is carried by front and rear wheels  64  and  66 , respectively. The harvesting machine  60  is operated from an operator&#39;s cab  68 , from which a crop recovery arrangement  12  can be controlled while viewed by the operator.  
         [0026]    The crop recovery arrangement  12  is equipped with a total of six intake and plucking arrangements  10  that are arranged alongside each other, so that two different streams of crop are conveyed to the harvesting machine  60 . The remains of the plants are conducted to the center of the crop recovery arrangement  12  by a second screw conveyor  78  (FIG. 6) that is arranged in the channel  38  (see FIG. 1). There they are conducted by two pairs of intake rolls  76  to a conventional chopper drum  70 , that chops them into small pieces and delivers them to a conveying arrangement  72 . The chopped plant remains leave the harvesting machine  60  to an accompanying trailer through a discharge duct  74  that is mounted for pivoting about an upright axis.  
         [0027]    As can be seen in particular from the schematic plan view shown in FIG. 7, the useful components of the plants, that were separated by means of the plucking arrangement from the remainder of the plants, are conducted by means of the first screw conveyor  34  and a third screw conveyor  80  that extends transverse to the former, in another stream of crop to a reducing arrangement in the form of a hammermill  82  which is arranged alongside and coaxial to the chopper drum  70 . The hammermill  82  consists of arms rotating about a horizontal axis, hammers are attached to the ends of the arms so as to move as a pendulum, which separate the kernels from the corn ears and shatter them by interacting with a friction surface (not shown in the drawing) provided on a housing wall of the reducing arrangement. The use of the hammermill eliminates the need for a kernel processor used to break the kernels in the state of the art. The energy demand of the harvesting machine  60  is reduced considerably, since the power requirement of the hammermill is lower than that of a kernel processor. The reduced useful components of the plants are conducted through a conveying arrangement  72 ′, arranged alongside and coaxial to the conveying arrangement  72 , to a discharge duct  74 ′. As is the discharge duct  74 , the discharge duct  74 ′ may be configured so as to rotate separately, in order to conduct the crop to another accompanying trailer or to another, separate container of the same trailer. It is also conceivable that the streams of crop of the plant remains and useful components of the plants are again combined downstream of the chopper drum  70  or the hammermill  82 , in order to produce, for example, total plant silage.  
         [0028]    As can be seen from FIG. 7, the intake and plucking arrangements  10  are configured symmetrically to each other on both sides of the longitudinal centerline of the harvesting machine  60 ; the upper transport elements  14  and the conveyor disk assemblies of the three right-hand intake and plucking arrangements  10  shown at the top in FIG. 7 rotate in the clockwise direction while the other three intake and plucking arrangements rotate in the opposite direction.