Patent GB-831432-A (GB)
Title: A potato harvesting machine
IPC: A01D19/14
Filed: 1957-01-15
Abstract: 831,432. Potato harvesters. ROMLOV, L. S. H. Jan. 15, 1957 [Jan. 17, 1956 ; Oct. 16, 1956], No. 1514/57. Class 6(3). A potato harvester comprises a digging member 2, a conveyer wheel 4 rotatable about an inclined axis 5, pronged flaps rotatably mounted round the conveyer wheel, means for keeping the pronged flaps in their conveying position, means for turning the flaps at a given point to discharge potatoes and subsequently for restoring the flaps to their conveying position, and a shoot 16 for receiving potatoes from the flaps and supplying them to a sifting drum 3 in which means are provided for conveying the potatoes from the drum. The conveyer wheel is carried by a stationary shaft 6 and has a hub 7 and spokes 8. Each pronged flap consists of a bar 9, mounted in radial projections 11 of the conveyer wheel, and prongs 10. Each bar 9 has a branch 14, which, as the wheel 4 rotates, engages below a guide rail 12, the rail ending opposite the sifting drum 3, at which point the flaps are free to rotate and to discharge the potatoes into the shoot 16. Longitudinal bars of the shoot 16 may be either individually or jointly, resiliently or pivotably mounted on a fixed bracket 32, and may be kept against a fixed abutment 33 by means of biasing springs 34. The drum 3 contains a grating 18 suspended at it ends by links 37, 38 rotatably connected at 39 and 40 to stationary parts 43 and 77 respectively, Fig. 3. The grating 18 is rocked to and fro in the axial direction of the drum 3 by means of an eccentric 41, on a transmission shaft 25, and a connecting rod 42. The rod 42 extends through a trunnion 45 on which the part 77 is rigidly mounted. The parts 43, attached to the frame 1, also serve as a mounting for one of the rollers 44 of a conveyer belt 19. The belt 19 supplies the potatoes to a further belt 20 and thence to a hopper 21. The drum 3, the conveyer belts 19, 20 the conveyer wheel 4, and other movable members, e.g. the grating 18, may be coupled to a common driving means, e.g. the power take-off shaft of a tractor, by a common shaft 22, the drive being transmitted from the shaft 22 by shafts 23, 24 and 25 accommodated in tubes forming part of the frame 1. Other transmission shafts between the conveyer wheel 4 and the belt conveyer 19 are shown at 70 (Fig. 2-dotted lines). The rear end 31 end of the guide rail 12, extending beyond the circumference of the conveyer wheel 4, collects the branches 14 as the wheel 4 rotates in a clockwise direction so thet the prongs 10 resume their position radially of the wheel 4. The rail 12 may be in a plane parallel to the plane of rotation of the conveyer wheel 4 and may be stationary and so bent as to cause the branches 14 to rock. Alternatively, the rail 12 may be operated on by a vibrating member, e.g. shaft 71, driven by one of the transmission shafts and carrying eccentric discs 72 engaging the rail. The digging member 2, Fig. 5, consists of prongs 2<SP>1</SP> with stems 36 and having V-shaped cutting edges 35, the stems 36 being rigidly connected with a pivoted frame member 73 which also carries a supporting wheel 74, Fig. 2, having a cutting edge 75 for controlling the depth of the digging prongs 2<SP>1</SP> when in operation. Each stem 36, or the hub of the wheel 74, is connected to the shaft 6 by a rod 76 which keeps the relative positions of the wheel 4 and the digging prongs 2<SP>1</SP> constant. In a modification, Figs. 6 and 7 (not shown), each of the flaps is rotatably mounted at its outer end, its inner end being held up by a hook until the flap reaches a position opposite the sifting drum,. and the conveyer wheel has a cylindrical or frustoconical grating against which the potatoes on the flaps may ride.