Attachment for Harvesting Stalk-Like Stem Crops

Abstract

The invention relates to an attachment for attaching to a harvesting machine, comprising a number of picking devices (2) distributed adjacent to one another over the working width, said picking devices having at least a first and a second picking rotor (10a, 10b), which can be driven in counterrotation. The drawing edges (14) on the drawing bodies (12) on the first and second picking rotors (10a, 10b) are arranged in relation to one another in such a way that, during rotary movement of the first and second picking rotors (10a, 10b), two adjacent drawing edges (14) of the first picking rotor (10a) hold, in the range of action of said drawing edges into the downward movement path of a plant stalk (8), the plant stalk (8) temporarily against the drawing edges (14) of the second picking rotor (10b) preceding and lagging behind the two adjacent drawing edges (14) of the first picking rotor (10a) and clamp the plant stalk (8), by means of the four contact points (26) of the plant stalk (8), against the drawing edges (14) of the first and second picking rotors (10a, 10b) into an arc shape approximating the enveloping circle (16) of the first picking rotor (10a), and on the second picking rotor (10b) a knife blade (20) is arranged between the preceding and lagging drawing edges (14) of the second picking rotor (10a), which knife blade cuts into the outside of the plant stalk (8) clamped in an arc shape.

Claims

1.-12. (canceled)

13. An attachment for mounting on a harvesting machine, the attachment comprising: picking devices arranged adjacent to one another and distributed over a working width of the attachment; the picking devices each comprising: a first picking plate and a second picking plate delimiting between them a picking gap; a first picking rotor arranged underneath the first picking plate and a second picking rotor arranged underneath the second picking plate, wherein the first and second picking rotors are configured to be driven in rotation in opposite rotational directions relative to each other; wherein the first picking rotor comprises first intake bodies provided with radially protruding first intake edges, wherein the radially protruding first intake edges comprise a first enveloping circle; wherein the second picking rotor comprises second intake bodies provided with radially protruding second intake edges, wherein the radially protruding second intake edges comprise a second enveloping circle, wherein the first and second enveloping circles mesh with one another; wherein the radially protruding first intake edges of the first picking rotor delimit between them first intermediate spaces located within the first enveloping circle, wherein the first intermediate spaces extend along a longitudinal direction of the first picking rotor and wherein the radially protruding second intake edges of the second picking rotor plunge into the first intermediate spaces when the first and second picking rotors rotate; wherein the radially protruding first intake edges of the first picking rotor and the radially protruding second intake edges of the second picking rotor are arranged in relation to one another so that, when the first and second picking rotors rotate, two adjacently positioned radially protruding first intake edges of the first picking rotor temporarily hold a plant stalk, moving in a downwardly oriented trajectory through the first and second picking rotors, by pressing the plant stalk against the radially protruding second intake edges of the second picking rotor that are trailing and leading in relation to the two adjacently positioned radially protruding first intake edges of the first picking rotor, and temporarily clamp the plant stalk in an arc shape approximating the first enveloping circle of the first picking rotor by four contact points of the plant stalk on the two adjacently positioned radially protruding first intake edges of the first picking rotor and on said radially protruding second intake edges of the second picking rotor that are trailing and leading; wherein a cutter blade is arranged on the second picking rotor between said radially protruding second intake edges of the second picking rotor that are trailing and leading and cuts into an outside of the plant stalk clamped in the arc shape.

14. The attachment according to claim 13, wherein the first enveloping circle of the first picking rotor protrudes past a front edge of the first picking plate into the downwardly oriented trajectory of the plant stalk being pulled down between the first and second picking plates.

15. The attachment according to claim 14, wherein the second enveloping circle of the second picking rotor protrudes past a front edge of the second picking plate into the downwardly oriented trajectory of the plant stalk pulled down between the first and second picking plates.

16. The attachment according to claim 13, wherein a cutting movement of the cutter blade, when the first and second picking rotors rotate, is oriented into the intermediate space between the two adjacently positioned radially protruding first intake edges of the first picking rotor.

17. The attachment according to claim 13, wherein the picking devices each further comprise a cutter blade arranged on the first picking rotor and interacting with the cutter blade arranged on the second picking rotor.

18. The attachment according to claim 17, wherein the second envelope circle is larger than an envelope circle of the cutter blade arranged on the second picking rotor, and wherein the first envelope circle is larger than an envelope circle of the cutter blade arranged on the first picking rotor.

19. The attachment according to claim 17, wherein the cutter blade arranged on the first picking rotor and the cutter blade arranged on the second picking rotor are ground on one side, respectively.

20. The attachment according to claim 17, wherein the first picking rotor further comprises a first rotor shaft and a first angle profile fastened on the first rotor shaft, wherein the second picking rotor further comprises a second rotor shaft and a second angle profile fastened on the second rotor shaft, wherein the cutter blade arranged on the first picking rotor is formed at an outer end of a leg of the first angle profile, and wherein the cutter blade arranged on the second picking rotor is formed at an outer end of a leg of the second angle profile.

21. The attachment according to claim 20, wherein the first intake bodies are third angle profiles fastened on the first rotor shaft, and wherein the second intake bodies are fourth angle profiles fastened on the second rotor shaft.

22. The attachment according to claim 21, wherein a first common screw connects both the first angle profile and one of the third angle profiles to the first rotor shaft, and wherein a second common screw connects both the second angle profile and one of the fourth angle profiles to the second rotor shaft.

23. The attachment according to claim 13, wherein the second picking rotor further comprises a rotor shaft and an angle profile fastened on the rotor shaft, wherein the cutter blade is formed at an outer end of a leg of the angle profile.

24. The attachment according to claim 13, wherein the second picking rotor further comprises a rotor shaft and two angle profiles fastened on the rotor shaft, wherein the two angle profiles each have a leg with an outer end, wherein the legs are contacting each other and the outer ends together form the cutter blade.

25. The attachment according to claim 13, wherein the picking devices each further comprise a cutter blade arranged on the first picking rotor, wherein the radially protruding second intake edges of the second picking rotor delimit between them second intermediate spaces located within the second enveloping circle, wherein the first intermediate spaces occupy a small or a large circular arc component, respectively, wherein the second intermediate spaces occupy a small or a large circular arc component, respectively, wherein the cutter blade arranged on the first picking rotor is positioned, in a cutting position thereof, opposite an intermediate space of the second picking rotor with a small circular arc component, and wherein the cutter blade arranged on the second picking rotor is positioned, in a cutting position thereof, opposite an intermediate space of the first picking rotor with a small circular arc component.

Description

[0028] In the figures:

[0029] FIG. 1: shows a view of a pair of picking rotors of a picking device in a first rotational position,

[0030] FIG. 2: shows a view of the pair of picking rotors shown in FIG. 1 in a second rotational position,

[0031] FIG. 3: shows a view of an alternatively designed pair of picking rotors of a picking device in a first rotational position,

[0032] FIG. 4: shows a view of the pair of picking rotors shown in FIG. 3 in a second rotational position.

[0033] FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a pair of picking rotors 10a, 10b in a picking device 2. Above the two picking rotors 10a, 10b, two picking plates 4 are located, which delimit a picking gap 6 between them. When harvesting stalk-like stem crops, the plant stalks 8 are pulled down using the picking rotors 10a, 10b. Fruit clusters that are located on the plant stalk 8 are torn off of the plant stalk 8 by the lateral edges of the picking gap 6. The fruit clusters are then separately removed in the attachment and processed further, while the plant stalks are chopped up by the picking rotors 10a, 10b and discarded onto the field.

[0034] Intake bodies 12 are arranged on the circumferential surface of the picking rotors 10a, 10b. The intake bodies 12 are designed in such a way that intake edges 14 are located on them in the outer circumferential area, which laterally grasp, accelerate, pull down, and then discard a plant stalk 8 in the course of the rotational movement of the picking rotors 10a, 10b in opposite directions, During the rotational movement of the picking rotors 10a, 10b, the intake bodies 12 each describe with their intake edges 14 an enveloping circle 16, in which the intake bodies 12 having the intake edges 14 revolve. The rotor shafts 18 of the picking rotors 10a, 10b are positioned so close to one another that the enveloping circles 16 of the two picking rotors 10a, 10b overlap in an angular range.

[0035] In order not only to convey the plant stalks 8 downwards, but also to cut them in the process, additional cutter blades 20 are also located on the picking rotors 10a, 10b. The cutter blades 20 revolve in the enveloping circle 22. In the exemplary embodiment, the enveloping circles 22 of the cutter blades of the two picking rotors 10a, 10b touch at one point, but they do not overlap. The size of the enveloping circles and the distance of the respective enveloping circles from one another can be designed differently from the exemplary embodiment in an attachment.

[0036] In the picking rotors 10a, 10b, there is an intermediate space 24 in each case between adjacent intake edges 14 on the intake bodies 12. Different distances of the successive intake edges 14 from one another result in different intermediate spaces 24 between the adjacent intake edges 14, depending on which adjacent intake edges 14 are considered. On the two picking rotors 10a, 10b in FIG. 1, on the one hand, two adjacent intake edges are comparatively close to one another, and if one jumps one intake edge 14 further in the consideration of the intermediate spaces 24 in a pair of the intake edges 14, a larger intermediate space 24 is located. Larger and smaller intermediate spaces 24 are thus formed in a continuous sequence on the picking rotors 10a, 10b.

[0037] In FIG. 1, the plant stalk 8 is still located with its base outside the enveloping circles 16 of the intake edges, so that the picking rotors 10a, 10b have not yet grasped the plant stalk 8.

[0038] In FIG. 2, it is indicated how the plant stalk 8 has moved further when the picking rotors 10a, 10b have rotated further from the rotational position shown in FIG. 1 into the rotational position shown in FIG. 2. In the illustration shown in FIG. 2 it can be seen that the plant stalk 8 in the area of the picking rotors 10a, 10b rests in the middle area on the intake edges 14a, which press the plant stalk 8 in this section into the opposite intermediate space 24b, which is in located in the area of the picking rotor 10b. Since the plant stalk 8 is held above and below the intake edges 14a by the intake edges 14b, the result is an arc-shaped course of the plant stalk 8 in which the plant stalk 8 protrudes into the intermediate space 24b on the picking rotor 10b.

[0039] From the view in FIG. 2, it can be seen that the plant stalk 8 in the conveying position shown rests essentially at four contact points 26 on the picking rotors 10a, 10b, namely on the two intake edges 14a of the picking rotor 10a and the intake edges 14b which are further apart from one another, and which form the intermediate space 24b between them and are formed on the picking rotor 10b. Because the intermediate space 24b is larger than the intermediate space 24a, the plant stalk 8 can assume an arc-shaped formation in its passage through the conveying path passing through the two picking rotors 10a, 10b. In the arc shape, the upper side of the plant stalk 8 facing toward the cutter blade 20 is particularly pre-tensioned by the arc shape toward, while the side of the plant stalk 8 facing the intermediate space 24a is rather compressed. If the cutter blade 20 penetrates the plant stalk on the pre-tensioned side of the plant stalk 8 in the course of the rotational movement of the picking rotors 10a, 10b, the pre-tensioning of the side of the plant stalk 8 facing toward the cutter blade 20 results in a cleaner and comparatively less forceful cut of the plant stalk 8 in this area. The cutter blade 20 is arranged in relation to the opposite intake edges 14 in such a way that, in the rotational position shown, it points exactly into the intermediate space 24a in the opposite picking rotor 10a. In this rotational position, the plant stalk 8 has already been completely cut through by the cutter blade 20.

[0040] During a further rotation from the rotational position shown in FIG. 2, the trailing intake edge 14b would pull the plant stalk 8 farther down, while it is still held on the opposite side by the trailing intake edge 14a, which leads the trailing intake edge 14b. Although the plant stalk 8 has been cut through in the area of the cutter blade 20, the picking rotors 10a, 10b can thereby pull the plant stalk 8 farther down. In the process, the section of the plant stalk 8 that has already been cut off is discarded down by the two leading intake edges 14a, 14b.

[0041] When the picking rotors 10a, 10b continue to rotate in the direction of rotation from the rotational position shown in FIG. 2, one of the two cutter blades 20a formed on the picking rotor 10a approaches the three o'clock position, while the smaller intermediate space 24b is then located at the level of the cutter blade 20a. In this way, the blade sides and the support sides change continuously back and forth between the two picking rotors 10a, 10b during the rotational movement of the picking rotors 10a, 10b.

[0042] In the exemplary embodiment, the intake bodies 12 are designed as angle profiles 28, from which legs 30 protrude in the radial direction from the rotor shaft 18. In the exemplary embodiment, angle profiles 28 for the cutter blades 20 and for the intake edges 14 are superimposed and held on the rotor shaft 18 by common screws. This results in a compact and easily installable fastening of the respective components.

[0043] FIGS. 3 and 4 show views of an alternatively configured pair of picking rotors 10a, 10b of a picking device 2. Here a cutter blade 20 is located not only on one side of the two picking rotors 10a, 10b in a cutting point, but here cooperating cutter blades 20a, 20b are formed on both sides, using which a plant stalk 8 is cut through in the cutting area. However, as in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the plant stalk 8 is held in an arc-shaped pre-tension via at least four contact points 26, so that at least one of the two cutter blades 20a, 20b cuts into the plant stalk 8 in a pre-tensioned area.

[0044] So that the cutter blades 20a, 20b can cooperate better with one another, both cutter blades 20a, 20b are ground on one side. During the rotational movement of the picking rotors 10a, 10b, the cutting surfaces of the grind of the cutter blades 20a, 20b slide over one another, so that the two cutter blades 20a, 20b clean themselves in the process.

[0045] The invention is not limited to the above exemplary embodiments. A person skilled in the art will have no difficulty modifying the exemplary embodiments in a way that appears suitable to adapt them to a specific application.