An Improved Potato Harvester.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Dec., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 20th Aug., 1891-Accepted, 3rd Oct., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Potato Harvester.
I, JOSEPH NORTH COCKER, of West Devonport, in the Colony of Tasmania,
Farmer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention has been devised for the purpose of providing a machine which
will raise potatoes from the ground, clean them and deposit them in bags or
elsewhere without bruising or otherwise injuring them and without requiring the
expenditure of so much time and labour as has hitherto been necessary.
The essential feature of this improved potato harvester consists in the employment
of a large elevator wheel having projecting vanes or blades arranged to work inside
a fixed screen extending about a third round its circumference and enclosing it on
three of its sides. This clevator wheel is driven by contact with the ground and
serves to carry the potatoes turned into the fixed screen by a plough share, to the
upper end of said screen where they are delivered on to an inclined grated chute,
whereby they are delivered on to a grated platform over whose surface travel a
series of thin metal or wooden blades or bars attached to endless belts or chains
travelling around conveniently arranged rollers or pulleys. The soil which falls
through this grated chute is directed by another chute set at a suitable inclinė on
to the ground at the side of the machine.
The elevator wheel above described is mounted upon a fixed axle supported by
a frame of iron or other suitable material. In front of said wheel a plough share is
supported by links or otherwise from the frame of the machine in such a manner as
to form a shallow path or track which will be free from stones and inequalities and
along which said wheel will travel smoothly and at a lower level than the surface
of the ground.
A second plough share is secured to the frame of the machine alongside the lower
end of the screen which as above mentioned extends about a third of the distance
around the circumference of the elevator wheel and said share is arranged to turn
the soil and potatoes into the lower end of said screen as the machine travels.
This operation is to a certain extent facilitated by the said elevator wheel being
arranged to run in the track cut by the plough share on the front of the machine
whereby the height to which it is necessary to raise the soil is considerably
reduced.
The two plough shares above referred to are suspended from the frame of the
machine by a convenient arrangement of links and levers whereby their height may
be regulated so as to adjust the depth of their cut according to requirements.
In order to clear away the tops or haulm of the potatoes when necessary, say for
instance in the event of their being green, I secure a comparatively small frame to
the side of the machine and adapt said frame to support the spindle of a rotary
horizontal cutter having its edges formed somewhat after the fashion of a hay knife,
and arranged to work upon a second fixed cutter of corresponding construction,
thus forming as it were a pair of circular cutting shears or scissors. An endless
travelling belt passes around the spindle of the rotary cutter and is provided with
projecting teeth vanes or cups which engage with the potato tops or haulm and carry
them clear of the machine when they are cut. If preferred a fixed straight cutter
blade might be employed in lieu of these circular ones.
or
At the back of the machine is provided a bagging platform having a framing
other contrivance for supporting the bags whilst being filled; or if preferred a
hopper might be provided in which the potatoes might be received and from whence
they might be discharged at intervals either on to the ground or else into a
receptacle

page_text: The main frame of the machine is mounted upon three wheels of which the
foremost is made so that it will swivel to enable the machine to be steered, whilst
the others are mounted upon a frame or arm which is pivotally connected or hinged
to the main frame and is provided with an upwardly projecting arm or bar, through
whose upper end passes a set screw which bears against said main frame and so
enables the height of the land wheel to be conveniently adjusted to suit the
inclination or other variations in the ground as will be well understood.
The lower end of the screen which as above stated extends round about one third
of the circumference of the elevator wheel is shod or provided with a flat plate or
share to prevent the lower end of the bars of which said sereen is formed being
choked up with weeds and mud. These said bars can be made adjustable laterally
so that the spaces between them may be increased or decreased at will to suit
different requirements.
Dated this 15th day of December One thousand eight hundred and ninety.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Potato Harvester.
I, JOSEPH NORTII COCKER of West Devonport in the Colony of Tasmania,
Farmer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
This invention has been devised for the purpose of providing a machine which
will raise potatoes from the ground, clean them and deposit them in bags or
elsewhere without bruising or otherwise injuring them and without requiring the
expenditure of so much time and labour as has hitherto been necessary.
The essential feature of this improved potato harvester consists in the employment
of a large elevator wheel having projecting vanes or blades arranged to work inside
a fixed screen of bars extending about a third round its circumference. This
elevator wheel is driven by rolling along the ground and serves to carry the
potatoes turned into the fixed screen by a plough-share to the upper end of the
screen where they are delivered on to an inclined inner screen leading them by a
lateral shoot to a trough whence they are from time to time discharged.
The soil which falls through this inner screen is directed by another inclined
shoot to the ground at the side of the machine.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings is a side view,
Fig. 2 is a plan and
Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken in front of the axle of the elevator wheel
looking from the front, of a potato harvester according to my invention.
A framing A which is preferably made of angle or T iron is carried upon three
wheels AAA*. The axletree of the wheel A' is pivotted at A' to the framing
and can be adjusted by a screw A' worked by the driver who occupies a seat A® and
who by means of a lever A' can steer the front wheel A³. A share B carried on
an arm B¹ pivotted to the frame at B can be lowered or raised by a lever B³ so as
to penetrate more or less deeply into the ground. The rim C of the elevator
wheel, which is carried by spokes from bosses C¹ revolving on a fixed axletree
supported by the framing A rolls along at the side of the furrow formed by the
share B which has its back portion B formed as a curved mould board which
guides the ploughed up mould and roots on to a grating of bars forming a cage
enclosing part of the circumference of the wheel C and a number of obliquely set
blades carried by the wheel. The grated cage consists of a set of bars D'
attached to a plate D on the one side of the wheel, a set of bars D' outside its

page_text: circumference having their lower ends attached to a plate D³ and a set of bars D³
occupying an oblique position on the other side of the wheel. These gratings
extend up from the share B to D* enclosing about one third of the circumference of
the wheel. At about the height where the gratings enclosing the outside of the
wheel terminate another set of grating bars E are arranged parallel to the plane of
revolution but on an inclination towards the farther side, beyond them are a set of
inclined bars E¹ at right angles to the former and farther round another set
of bars E' all these forming a grated platform within the circumference in which
the blades Crevolve, all inclined down towards an outer inclined grating E' forming
the bottom of a trough having two sides E' and a hinged front E. To the one side
of and under the gratings E. E' E2 is fixed a curved plate E. The bars of the
gratings D D D and of E. E' E and E³ are placed at such distances apart as to
let soil freely through between them but not potatoes and these intervals may be
made adjustable to suit different soils or crops. The machine operates in the
following manner. The soil and roots ploughed up by the share B are guided by
its curved back B₁ on to lower part of the cage formed by the gratings D' D² D³
here they are caught by the blades C2 and carried up along the gratings, much of
the soil escaping through the interstices of the bars. As the blades C pass above
the level of the axis of the wheel they begin to incline inwards delivering the roots
and such soil as remains with them on to the platform consisting of the bars E. E' E'
whence they slide or fall on to the platform E³. The soil now almost entirely
separated from the roots falling through between the bars drops on to the curved
plate E by which it is guided away to the ground at the side of the machine.
When the trough E E E' is sufficiently filled the door E' is turned down on its
hinges as indicated by the dotted lines delivering the potatoes on to the ground or
into trucks or receptacles provided to receive them. In some cases it is of
advantage to arrange another ploughshare in front of the rim C especially when the
ground is stoney, in order to clear the way and form a path for the wheel.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
In a potato harvester, the combination of a frame carried on two side wheels and
a steering wheel, an elevator wheel carried on the frame and having inwardly
projecting blades, a share with mould board gratings enclosing three sides of the
elevator wheel over part of its circumference and a grated platform inclined to one
side within the upper part of the path of the wheel blades all arranged and
operating substantially as described.
Dated this 20th day of August 1891.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.