Patent GB-709005-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to a combined harvesting and threshing machine
IPC: A23N15/10
Filed: 1950-10-19
Abstract: 709,005. Legume picking and threshing machines; combine harvesters. FOOD MACHINERY & CHEMICAL CORPORATION. Oct. 19, 1950 [March 15, 1950], No. 25482/50, Classes 6 (3) and 58 In a combined harvesting and threshing machine for harvesting vine crops and threshing legumes such as peas from vines, including a crop pick-up mechanism, a threshing mechanism, and discharging means separately removing the peas and vines from the machine, the threshing mechanism includes a plurality of apertured vine supports and a plurality of rotors spaced therefrom ,and there are provided means to feed a supply of vines into the space between the supports and the rotors, drive means simultaneously rotating the rotors in phase to bring successive blades of adjacent rotors into alignment with each other and subsequently into a position substantially perpendicular to the supports to beat and advance the vines and to thresh peas therefrom. As shown the machine comprises a wheeled body portion A adapted to be propelled along a side of a field of unharvested peas, a lifter reel B of conventional type with a power driven spider 23 mounted on one end thereof and a freely rotating eccentrically mounted spider 24 mounted on the other end and connected by levers 24a to a plurality of cross rods 25a (not shown) to each of which a plurality of tine fingers 25 is secured so that the latter are maintained in upright position while the reel B is rotated in the direction of the arrow (shown in Fig. 1), the lift reel being mounted on the forward end of the machine and adapted to engage a mass of tangled vines on the field, a pick-up drum C mounted rearwardly of the lifter reel and having eccentrically mounted fingers 29 adapted to penetrate and engage a mass of vines freed by the lifter reel, a vertical cutter D mounted in advance of the one end of the pickup drum and adapted to sever a strip of vines from an unharvested portion thereof and of the nature of a short mowing machine sickle of ordinary type the usual serrated sickle knife 36, Fig. 3 (not shown), being adapted to be reciprocated in a usual manner by a bell crank lever 39, Fig. 3 (not shown), oscillated by a link 40, Fig. 3 (not shown), connected on its rearward end to an eccentric pin mounted on a rotating pulley 41, Fig. 3 (not shown), a feed rotor housing 32 having a smooth upright wall 45 mounted rearwardly of the pick-up drum, a transfer roller 44 at a lower end of the feed housing for guiding the mass of vines from the pick-up drum into the feed housing, a plurality of feed paddle rotors E spaced from the upright wall 45 a distance sufficient to pass the mass of vines therebetween, means 52 at the upper end of the feed housing 32 for diverting the mass of vines rearwardly, a vertical flight of threshing paddle rotors F mounted with the lowermost rotor of the flight positioned to engage the vines diverted rearwardly from the feed housing, loosely mounted screens 57 having openings therein of a size to pass milled peas and to support the vine mass spaced from the threshing paddle rotors by a distance sufficient to pass the mass of vines therebetween, a transfer paddle rotor 67 mounted in offset relation to the plane of the first flight of threshing paddle rotors and on the opposite end thereof from the feed rotors, a curved grating 65 over which the vines are diverted by the transfer rotor, a second vertical flight threshing rotor F' to receive the vines passing over the grating and to pass the vines down one side of the second flight of the threshing rotors, around the lowermast thereof, and up the other side of the said flight, loosely mounted screens 71 spaced from the second flight of the threshing rotors by a distance sufficient to pass the mass of vines therebetween, a conveyer G for discharging threshed out vines from the rearmost flight of the threshing rotors, a conveyer 73 mounted beneath the threshing rotors to receive material including hulled peas and unopened pods discharged through the screens, which is discharged over the rear end of the conveyer separated from a second short conveyer 80 by an air gap 81, through which a draught of air is discharged angularly upwardly by a blower 78 so that portions of the material of a greater specific gravity including hulled peas and filled pods are retained in the machine and other portions of lesser specific gravity are carried exteriorly of the machine, an elevator I for elevating the portions of greater specific gravity including the hulled peas and filled pods to a perforated drum K having perforations of a size to pass hulled peas to a hopper H and to retain unopened pods, a gravity return 100 mounted adjacent the ends of the drum opposite the elevator, the lower end of the gravity return opening into the interior of the machine adjacent a flight of the threshing paddle rotors therein, and conveyer means mounted in the drum to convey unopened pods forwardly through the drum and to discharge them into the gravity return for reprocessing through the machine.