Patent ID: 8813861

Claim:
A sod harvester for harvesting a strip of sod from a field and forming the strip of sod into a sod roll, the harvester comprising: a) a cutting head for cutting the strip of sod from the field; b) a transport conveyor located behind the cutting head for conveying the strip of sod from the cutting head; c) a roll-up mechanism operatively connected to the transport conveyor, wherein the roll-up mechanism is adapted to contact the strip of sod when the strip of sod is on the transport conveyor and to form the strip of sod into a completed sod roll; d) an accumulator disposed downstream from the transport conveyor, the accumulator comprising a receiving surface to receive the sod roll from the transport conveyor; e) a guide member spaced apart from and downstream of the roll-up mechanism and positioned above the accumulator to contact an outer surface of the sod roll when the sod roll is on the receiving surface of the accumulator, wherein the guide member comprises a roller positioned to rollingly contact the outer surface of the completed sod roll when the sod roll exits the roll-up mechanism and is transferred from the transport conveyor to the receiving surface, thereby inhibiting unrolling of the sod roll.