GB2169182A - Agricultural grass conditioning apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The grass cutting and conditioning implement which is shown in part in Figure 1 has two mowing drums 2 and 3 which are mounted in juxtaposition on the carrier 1 transversely with respect to the direction of travel and which are driven in opposite directions. Disposed rearwardly of the mowing drums 2 and 3 is a grass treatment apparatus 7 comprising a conveyor drum 11 rotatably drivably mounted in side walls 8 and 9, and a guide wall 3 which is disposed above the conveyor drum to form a conveyor passage 14. The grass material mown by the mowing drums 2 and 3 is conveyed through the conveyor passage 14 by the conveyor drum 11, subjected to processing as it goes, and then put back onto the ground rearwardly of the conveyor drum 11. For the purposes of adapting the machine to different crop conditions and to a desired level of intensity of treatment of the grass material, the guide wall 13 is held in slots 19 and 20 serving as guides in the side walls 8 and 9, by way of pins 18 projecting laterally from the front and rear transverse edges 16 and 17 of the guide wall, and is adjustable tangentially and radially with respect to the conveyor drum 11, in a fixed relationship, by way of an adjusting arrangement 21, 22 and 23. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Agricultural grass conditioning apparatus The invention relates to agricultural grass conditioning apparatus for use downstream of a mowing mechanism, comprising a conveyor drum which is mounted to rotate between side walls and which can be driven about an axis disposed transversely with respect to the direction of travel, the conveyor drum being provided with conditioning tools and being enclosed over a part of its periphery by a guide wall which forms therewith a conveyor passage.

An agricultural implement for cutting and conditioning grass and including such grass conditioning apparatus, is disclosed for example in published European Patent Specification No. 115.

For the purposes of adapting the grass conditioning apparatus to different crop conditions such as density, height or nature of the growing grass, the apparatus has a spindle adjusting device which engages the front transverse edge of the guide wall and by way of which it is possible substantially to adjust the radial spacing of the front part of the guide wall with respect to the conveyor drum and thus the size of the intake opening into the conveyor passage for the mown crop material. The spacing of the rearward part of the guide wall from the conveyor drum remains the same and, when the apparatus is adjusted, the middle part also experiences only a slight change in spacing, compared to the front transverse edge. This means that it is not possible to achieve all desired degrees of the intensity of treatment of the crop material.

Furthermore, there is the possibility that, when a large amount of material is fed to the apparatus, the outlet cross-section at the end of the conveyor passage is not sufficiently large and thus blockages can also occur. In addition, it has been found that the variation in radial spacing of the front part of the guide wall from the conveyor drum is not adequate alone to provide a blockage-free delivery flow between the mowing mechanism and the conveyor drum, under all crop conditions, such as for example when the grass level is very high.

According to the invention, there is provided agricultural grass conditioning apparatus for use downstream of a mowing mechanism, comprising a conveyor drum which is mounted to rotate between side walls and which can be driven about an axis disposed transversely with respect to the direction of travel, the conveyor drum being provided with conditioning tools and being enclosed over a part of its periphery by a guide wall which forms therewith a conveyor passage, wherein the guide wall is held by guide means at the side walls and both the front and rear edges of the guide wall are adjustably movable by means of an adjusting device in predetermined directions which have both a radial component and a tangential component with respect to the conveyor drum.

In one form of the invention, the adjusting device comprises an over-ridable spring-loaded detent means for the shaft in the form of a ratchet-toothed dog clutch. With such an arrangement, using the adjusting device is very quick and simple. Releasing and locking the adjusting device for adjustment of the guide wall is effected simultaneously with the adjustment operation and thus does not involve any additional amount of time. Other preferred features are set forth in the sub-claims.

An embodiment of the invention is described by way of example in greater detail hereinafter and shown in diagrammatic form in the drawing. In the drawing: Figure lisa side view of a grass cutting and conditioning implement according to the invention, comprising a rotary mowing mechanism and a conveyor drum which receives cut grass directly from the mechanism, conditions it and deposits it on the ground.

Figure 2 is a view of an upper part of the implement of Figure 1 as seen from the front of the implement (i.e. the left of Figure 1) but with the hand lever in a different position.

The rotary mowing mechanism illustrated in Figure 1 is of basically known kind in regard to its design and its mode of operation, and, in respect of the details thereof, is of no significance from the point of view of the present invention, so that it will not be described in greater detail herein. As can be seen from the accompanying drawing, the rotary mowing mechanism may be in the form of a drumtype mowing mechanism or also in accordance with published European Patent Specification No. 64 115, it may be in the form of a disc-type mowing mechanism.

Mounted on the carrier 1 are for example two mowing drums 2 and 3 which are driven in rotation in opposite directions. In their lower region, the drums 2 and 3 have a cutter plate 5 provided with cutter blades and, during operation of the mechanism, they are supported on the ground by way of support shell members 6. The mowing drums 2 and 3.may be driven by way of intermediate transmissions (not shown) from the power take-off shaft of a tractor which draws or carries the mowing mechanism.

Disposed behind the mowing drums 2 and 3 is a grass conditioning or treatment apparatus which is generally denoted by reference numeral 7 and which may be for example in the form of a built-on implement without its own wheeled chassis and which is secured to the carrier 1 of the mowing mechanism in a manner which is not described in detail herein. The housing of the treatment apparatus 7 includes two side walls 8 and 9 which are disposed in spaced relationship in the direction of travel and in which a conveyor drum 11 which is provided with conditioning tools 10 is mounted drivably in a clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 1 about a shaft 12 disposed transversely with respect to the direction of travel. The conveyor drum 11 may be driven in a manner not described in detail herein, for example by way of a V-belt transmission, from the main drive shaft of the mowing drums 2 and 3.

On a part of its upper periphery, the conveyor drum 11 is enclosed by a guide wall 13 in such a way that a conveyor passage 14forthe grass material which is fed to the apparatus 7 by the mowing drums 2 and 3 in operation of the implement is formed between the guide wall 13 and the conveyor drum 12.

Conditioning tools 15 may be secured to the guide wall 13, the conditioning tools 15 projecting intothe conveyor passage 14 and co-operating with the conditioning tool lOon the conveyor drum 11 during operation ofthe apparatus.

Theguidewall 13 is held and guided infrontand rearslots20 in the side walls8 and 9 bywayofpinsor bolts 18 which project laterallyfrom itsfrontand rear transverse edges 16 and 17 respectively. The guide wall 13 is adjustable tangentially and radiallywith respectto the conveyor drum 11, in a fixed relationship, by way of an adjusting device 21,22 and 23 which is actuable by means of a hand lever 28. For that purpose, the slots 19 and 20 which serve as guides are provided in the side walls 8 and 9 in such a waythattheir longitudinal axes form an acute angle, in a downstream direction, to a tangentto the periphery ofthe conveyor drum 11.It will thus be seen that when the guide wall 13 moves outwardly it also moves rearwardly and thatwhen it moves inwardly, it also moves in a foward direction. As shown in the drawing, the slots 19 and 20 are so angled thatthe front edge 16 moves in a direction with a greater radial component than the direction of movementofthe rearedge 17.

For adjustment pu rposes, to adaptthemachineto different crop conditions,the guide wall 13 is connected pivotablytotwo cranks 22 which areofthe same configuration, byway oftwo coupling members 23 are pivotally connected to the guide wall 13 in spaced relationship. The cranks 22 are connected to a shaft 21 which is disposed parallel to the guide wall 13 and which is mounted rotatably in the side walls 8 and 9.The shaft 21 is mounted in such a way asto be axially displaceable againsttheforce of a spring 24 which bears against side walls 8, and is coaxially connected to a collar 25 which has radially extending triangularteeth on its end face, in such a waythatthe collar 25 engages into the spaces 29 between the teeth of a complementary collar 26 connected to the side wall 9, by virtue ofthe force of the spring 24,forthe purposes of iocking theshaft21 against rotational movement thereof.

In orderto adjustthe position of the guide wall 13, the shaft 21 only has to be turned by the required amount, bywayofthe hand lever 28 which is connected thereto. At the beginning of such an operation, the shaft 21 is first displaced axially againsttheforce ofthe spring 24 by the teeth on the collars 25 and 26. Afterthe shaft 21 has been rotated to give the desired position of the guide wall 13,the shaft 21 is again automatically locked to prevent rotary movement thereof by virtue of the teeth on the collars 25 and 26. The spring 24 and the collars 25 and 26, thus provide an over-ridable spring-loaded detent meansforthe shaft in the form of a ratchettoothed dog clutch. Of course the detent effect should be sufficientto avoid the clutch being overridden by pressure of crop material in the conveyor passage.

It will be seen thatthe illustrated apparatus provides an improved construction with which the grass can be conditioned or treated to the desired extent, in accordance with the crop condition, and which can be adjusted in such a way that blockages can be avoided, even with extreme crop conditions, both at the intake opening of the conveyor passage and also throughoutthe conveyor passage itself.

Claims (10)

1.Agricultural grass conditioning apparatus for use downstream of a mowing mechanism, comprising a conveyor drum which is mounted to rotate between side walls and which can be driven about an axis disposed transversely with respectto the direction of travel, the conveyor drum being provided with conditioning tools and being enclosed over a part of its periphery by a guide wall which forms therewith a conveyor passage, wherein the guide wall is held by guide means at the sidewalls and both the front and rear edge of the guide wall are adjustably movable by means of an adjusting device in predetermined directions which have both a radial component and a tangential component with respect to the conveyor drum.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the guide means comprise slots in the side walls and pins laterally projecting from the front and rear transverse edges of the guide wall into the slots.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the front edge moves in a direction which has a greater radial component than the direction of movement of the rear edges.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1,2 or3 wherein the front and rear edges are arranged to move rearwardlyasthey move outwards.

5. Apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein the adjusting device comprises a shaft which is disposed paraileltotheguidewaliand which is mounted rotatably and arrestably in the side walls, a crank connected to the shaft which pivotally connects it directly or indirectly to the guide wall, and a hand leverfor rotating the shaft.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein the guide wall is pivotally connected to the free end of the crank by way of a coupling member pivoted to the guide wall.

7. Apparatus according to claim 5 or 6 wherein the adjusting device also comprises an over-ridable spring-loaded detent meansforthe shaft in the form of a ratchet-toothed dog clutch.

8. An agricultural implementfpr cutting and conditioning grass comprising a mowing mechanism and apparatus according to any preceding claim.

9. An implement according to claim 8 wherein the grass is fed from the mowing mechanism to the conditioning apparatus without touching the ground.

10. An agricultural implementfor cutting and conditioning grass substantially as described with reference to the drawing.