Abstract:
Reel tine assemblies including molded tines that have saddle-like hubs which attach to reel bat tubes using a single screw that extends through the reel bat tubes and threads into a receptacle formed in a post of those tines. The post protrudes into the interior of the reel bat tube and expands as the screw is tightened to provide a secure, stable tine that is held securely with two parts, the tine and the screw.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a molded harvester reel finger or tine for mounting on a reel bat tube that is collapsible in length, making the long individual bat tubes easier to service, easier to assemble, easier to ship and stronger. The molded fingers or tines are each mountable on the tubes with a single fastener to hold the reel tine or finger easily and securely for harvesting grain. 
     Clamp on reel tines or fingers are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,347. The tine hub forms a hook that goes around a reel tube and extends more than 180° around the tube. The tine or finger is held by snap in lugs. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,066,470 shows a split clamp rake tooth that has a clamp bolt for tightening the clamp onto a tube. A U-shaped saddle bolted to a bat blade is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,511. This also requires a cross bolt on the opposite side of the reel bat from the tine. U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,052 also shows a tine with a split hub to clamp the tine in place. Split hubs are not easy to form and thus are more expensive and installation on the reel bats is time consuming. 
     In the prior art, various types of reel constructions have been used for harvesting equipment, such as combines, and the bat tubes that are used for forming the reels on such implements are long, making the tubes hard to ship, and difficult to assemble. There are multi-section bats which, while reducing the length, are complex and relatively difficult to assemble. A reel is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,797. U.S. Pat. No. 3,796,030 shows essentially the same type of construction where reel bats are held together with a member that clamps onto the bats with a bearing journal between them. The formed metal bat sections are joined also by overlapping the ends and bolting them together. 
     However, it is desirable to have a tubular support bat since tubes are easily obtained and lightweight and also such tubes are easy to use with the tines that attach to the tubes as disclosed herein. 
     Other molded tines are made with imbedded or molded in place attaching bolts such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,151,436. A typical bolt-on saddle-shaped member is with a molded end tine is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,553,950. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present disclosure, in one aspect, shows a tine or finger for a tubular reel bat that is mounted with a single fastener that secures a hub on the finger to the tube. The tine or finger is made in one piece with a hub at one end with a post that also is formed unitarily in place, and when assembled to a tube extends through an opening into the interior of the tube. A single screw or other fastener extends into an opening on the opposite side of the tube and secures the tine post to lock the tine securely to the reel bat tube. 
     Another aspect of the invention is to provide multi-sectioned support bat tubes so that the bat tubes can be broken down into sections that are shippable by normal commercial shippers, and which can be assembled quite easily to form the reel. The tube sections are joined with shaft sections that also provide for bearing supports at the spiders used on the reel for holding the bats in position. 
     The tines of the present invention preferably may be molded and are easily used. The hubs are made so that they will tightly engage the tube on which they are mounted to reduce the likelihood of twisting or working loose. The head of the single fastener, as shown a screw, that is utilized can be drawn into a countersunk recess on the opposite side of the tube from the direction of the extension of the tine, so that there are no rough edges to catch straw or the like. 
     The tine or finger has a hub that has an interior surface that seats on the bat tube and which has a slightly smaller radius than the radius of the tube on which it is mounted so that the hub sides tend to spread as the tine is installed to ensure a secure mounting. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a typical combine having a reel utilizing the reel bat tube and fingers of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of two sections of a reel bat tube used in the device of FIG. 1, with tines or fingers of the present invention shown in exploded positions relative to the reel bat tube sections; 
     FIG. 3 is a side view of the tine of the present invention installed on a bat tube with parts broken away; 
     FIG. 4 is a front view of the time of FIG. 3; and 
     FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the hub portion of a bat illustrating a tube in dotted lines in position for the tine to be mounted on the tube. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a combine  10  that is of conventional design, having a header  12  between divider points  13  and  14 , and a cutter bar  15  along the forward edge. A reel assembly indicated generally at  16  as shown is a combined reel that includes an airflow assist, and has a large center support tube  18  on which end plates  20 ,  20  are mounted. The center support tube  18  also supports a number of individual reel spiders  21  having radial arms indicated at  22  that will support reel bat assemblies  24  at their outer ends. The bat assemblies  24  are rotationally driven as the reel rotates through a drive mechanism at the end plates  20  of the reel, so that the reel bats must turn in bearings used at the outer ends of the spider arms  22  as the reel rotates. In FIG. 1, one of the bats is broken away to show center tube  18  more clearly. 
     The reel tines or fingers indicated at  32  are made so that they will remain oriented substantially vertically as they move around the axis of the large support tube  18 . The drive for these reel bats, and the pivotal operation of the bat tubes through drive arms is well known, and FIG. 1 is provided merely for background to show the environment in which the present invention operates. 
     Referring to FIG. 2, a partial assembly of a reel bat tube assembly  24  is shown. The reel bat tube is made up of tube sections  28 A and  28 B, that are identical. The sections  28 A and  28 B shown are the sections that would extend on either side of a typical spider  21  and the control lever  30  at one end is used for controlling the position of the reel bats relative to the spiders, to keep the tines or fingers  32  properly oriented as the reel rotates. The sections of the reel bat tube shown at  28 A and  28 B are but two of perhaps four or more sections of the reel bats that would be used in a combine reel. Tube sections  28 A and  28 B are cut to a desired length, for example, something under eight (8) feet, so that they can be shipped, and when they are assembled, the individual tube sections that are supported on the ends of reel spider arms  22  are joined with a solid junction shaft  36 , that has hub ends  38 ,  38  that are of a diameter that fits closely on the interior of each of the bat tube sections  28 A and  28 B. The junction shafts  36  have reduced diameter center sections  40  which are used for receiving a bearing or bushing mounted at the outer ends of the arms  22  on the reel spiders  21 . The center section  40  can rotate or pivot in bushings on arms  22 . 
     The tube sections  28 A and  28 B are slid over the hub end  38 , and held tightly in place with fasteners such as bolts or cap screws shown at  42 , so that a very rigid overall bat made up of multiple lengths of tubes  28 A and  28 B is formed. The drive lever  30  also has a shaft portion  44  which is of size to fit into the interior of the end bat tube  28 A and be held in place with a fastener such as a cap screw  42 , as well, although the fasteners for shaft portion  44  are not shown in FIG.  2 . 
     The tines or fingers  32  are made in a unique manner and form an important aspect of the invention. The tines are preferably molded, for example, from a high strength nylon material, so that they can be made relatively cheaply. As shown, the tines have a hub section  46  at an upper end or wall portions. The hub section  46  is formed by arms  51  which form an open-ended saddle that fits partially over the periphery of the tubes  28 A and  28 B. A narrowed finger portion  45 , extends from the hub of each tine. The sides of the hubs  46  are planar along surfaces such as that shown at  48 , and the upper or inner surface of the saddle arms  51  are formed into part cylindrical surfaces  50 . The part cylindrical surfaces  50  are preferably molded and a molded end fastener receiving post  52  is formed along the central axis  54  of the hub of the tine. The outer end of post  52  is illustrated as being split with a slot  56  along a diametral line. The post  52  and a portion of the hub have an interior bore  58  that is of size selected to provide for retaining a fastener as shown for threading in and retaining a threaded screw shown at  60  in FIG.  2 . There is one fastener or screw for each one of the tines. 
     The bat tubes, for example, the bat tube shown at  28 B in FIG. 3, has a bore or opening  64  at the lower side that receives the cylindrical post  52 , so that the post  52  protrudes into the interior  29  of the tube  28 B. The length of post  52  is greater than the thickness of the tube wall. The surfaces  50  are preferably, but not necessarily made to be of slightly smaller radius than the outside radius of the tube  28 B. Arms  51  will spread slightly as the tube is received in the saddle formed so that the arms will provide a clamping force onto the bat tube. Then one fastener, as shown, one screw  60  is placed through an opening  66  on the opposite side of the bat tube, and is held in the interior bore  58  of the port  52  and will spread the slots  56  as the fastener is seated. The screw  60  illustrated will thread into the bore  58  for substantially the full length of the bore. The spreading of the post  52  on the interior of the tube will cause a tight locking action as the disclosed screw  60  pulls the saddle surfaces  50  up tight against the outer surfaces of the tube  28 B. The opening  66  in bat tube  28 B is countersunk so that the head of the fastener  60  does not protrude from the bat tube to cause snagging of straw or other materials as the reel is operated. 
     The length of the hub  46  axially along the tube, which is indicated generally by the dimension indicated by double arrows  70  in FIG. 2, can be much greater than that needed for the lower finger portions  45  of the tines, which should be tapered and small so that they operate satisfactorily in various types of grain. Hub length axially can be independent of the axially directed width of the lower portions of the tine and the width indicated at  70  is selected to obtain good stability against sideward loads, and reduce the likelihood that the tines or fingers will work loose. 
     The mounting of the tine or finger  32  is thus by using a single screw or other fastener, such as a threaded bolt, rivet, expansion plug or other anchor, (only two parts total) that expands into the post. The slit on the post on the interior of the bat tube causes expansion of the post on the interior of the tube so that the finger or tine is held tightly in the hole through which the post extends. The length of the fastener or screw  60  can be controlled, in order to control the flexibility of the tine. The longer fastener or screw will make the tine less flexible, while a shorter fastener or screw permits more flexibility in the junction area where the hub  46  meets the lower finger portion  45  of the tine. 
     As stated, the saddle or hub surfaces  50  of the tine or finger  32 , are made slightly undersized relative to the bat tube diameter to fit very tightly onto the tube. The width  70  that is shown provides side-to-side stability. 
     The multi-sectioned bat tubes use a standard round tube with a junction shaft inserted at the junction areas, and a very simple bearing support is thus made as well as a very strong junction between tube sections. Tightening of the bolts to hold the junction shaft  36  in place, as well as the shaft  44  at the end arms  30  that control pivoting, deflect the tube walls onto the shaft. The use of a standard sized tube means there is no need for machining the bore. 
     Cost is reduced, shipping is enhanced because of the multi-sectioned bat tubes, and the tines or fingers  32  can be molded with an open hub at the top and eliminate the need for a separate clamp or a split clamp which makes the tines difficult to install and more expensive. The single screw or fastener provides adequate support for the hub for holding the fingers or tines onto the reel bat tubes. 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, workers skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.