Worm harvester
US4187946A · kind A · utility
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 1, 1978 |
| Grant date | Feb 12, 1980 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 1, 1998 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S209/935
- WIPO fieldChemical engineering
- WIPO sectorChemistry
Abstract
This invention relates to a machine for harvesting market-size worms from their bedding that lays in the bottom of a flat-bottomed trough-like bed. The machine is self-propelled and travels lengthwise of the beds riding atop their side walls. A novel digger is provided on the front end of the unit made up of a rotating reel with rake-forming tined shafts, the tines of which remain in parallel relation at all times due to a pair of independently rotating eccentrically positioned hubs that rotate in unison therewith and are operatively connected thereto by a series of parallel links. The digger rakes the bedding along with the worms contained therein back onto a conveyor belt that carries the mixture upwardly and rearwardly and deposits it onto a shaker screen inclined downwardly and rearwardly above the open trough. The lead or forward section of the screen is of fine mesh adapted to separate the market-size worms from the mixture consisting of the bedding and undersize worms thus returning the latter to the bed. The market-size worms continue on to the trailing edge of the screen where a coarsely meshed section drops them through onto a transversely-running conveyor belt that disch…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.