Root crop harvester and trimmer
US4182420A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 23, 1978 |
| Grant date | Jan 8, 1980 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 23, 1998 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
- CPC primaryA01D27/04
- WIPO fieldOther special machines
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A harvester and trimmer for carrots, which can also be used on root crops such as red beets, turnips, parsnips and rutabaga, embodies a wheeled vehicle having a conventional plowshare and an upwardly and rearwardly extending harvesting frame. The harvesting frame mounts opposed endless harvesting or lifter belts having adjacent reaches for grasping and lifting the tops of the plants. A pair of laterally opposed gauging belts is disposed above a downstream portion of the lifter belts and these belts are upwardly and rearwardly inclined from the lifter belts at an acute angle of about 6-7 degrees for independently grasping the tops to pull the tops up through the underlying lifter belts, bringing the crowns of the roots against the lifter belts. The gauging belts are driven at a linear speed that is about 7% slower than that of the lifter belts so that the latter swing the roots rearwardly until their axes are substantially normal to the lifter belts, whereupon trimming knives trim off small upper portions of the roots in a plane parallel to the plane of the lifter belts and perpendicular to the axes of the roots. The gauging belt idlers exert a stronger force on the tops than the li…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.