JPS6153001B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to combines, and more particularly to a draper pickup apron for use in grain harvesters or agricultural machinery of the type that rows cropped sheaves, such as combines.
Concerning improvements to flexible belt conveyors.

The prior art includes numerous models of draper loading aprons (hereinafter referred to as pick-up aprons). Crop gathering tines in each of these
A number of devices have been implemented for attaching.
These needle teeth are used in combine augers for bundling or other processing of crops.
It was attached to a pick-up apron so that it could be sent to Most of these prior art conveyor types rely on the use of various components such as plates, brackets, and fasteners to attach the needle teeth to the flexible apron.
If various needle teeth and/or fasteners are damaged or lost under these conditions, the machine downtime required to repair the damaged or missing parts will ensure that the harvest is completed within the desired period. It will be expensive to complete the proposition that it must be done. Furthermore, due to the complex structure made up of such a variety of parts, more protrusions appear on the apron, which can be used to catch crop stalks, vines, etc., and then tangle them on the conveyor and periodically remove them manually. The need arises to remove it.

To solve these and other problems with conventional draper combine harvesters, it is an object of the present invention to eliminate various parts such as fasteners and adopt a simple mechanism for installing and removing crop harvesting needle teeth. An object of the present invention is to provide a flexible belt conveyor.

Another object of the invention is to provide a pick-up belt for a combine harvester that is easy to repair and facilitates field replacement of individual belts and/or damaged or missing needle teeth.

These and other objects and advantages are achieved by a flexible seamless conveyor for a harvester pick-up apron in accordance with the present invention. Specifically, the present invention has a reinforced base body and a plurality of cast elastomer wedge-shaped stops projecting from the surface of said base body and arranged in a plurality of rows across the width of the belt over the entire length of the belt. In an elastic belt having cleats (hereinafter referred to as cleats), a plurality of adjacent cleats in one row have openings in the belt base at portions separated by spaces, and each of the cleats is parallel to the belt base. an elastomeric belt having through-holes cast on axes such that the axes of the holes in the plurality of cleats in each row are oriented substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the belt; a plurality of flexible needle teeth mounted on the rod within openings in the belt base between adjacent plurality of cleats in each row; This is a flexible seamless conveyor for the pick-up apron of a harvester that includes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a better understanding of the subject matter and advantages of the present invention, it will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Front section 10 of the combine shown in FIG.
includes a draper pick-up assembly 12 which collects and feeds the crop of interest to a conventional harvesting auger 14. Pickup assembly 12
It includes a flexible conveyor 16 which is driven from combine power via a countershaft sprocket 18 and a belt/pulley arrangement 20. Conveyor 16 typically includes a series of parallel mounted flexible belts 22. This flexible belt has numerous crop harvesting needle teeth 24 on its surface.
As the belt rotates and the harvester moves forward, the harvester takes in the crops. Draper pick-up equipment for combine harvesters of the type described above is manufactured by The Melroe Division, Clark Equipment Company, Gwinner, North Dakota, USA.
Division of The Clark Equipment Company
Gwinner, North Dakota, USA).

The unique structure of the conveyor will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 to 5. As mentioned above, the pick-up conveyor includes a series of parallel belts 22.
Each belt 22 consists of a piece 26. This piece 26 can be wire laced, hooked or stapled 28 to form a continuous loop.
The belt has end portions 26a and 26b at both ends thereof, which are connected together through the belt. Alternatively, belt 22 may be fabricated and cured into a seamless belt by methods known in the belt art. Furthermore, for very long belts,
Longer pieces 26 or more pieces 26 are knitted together depending on the required length of each piece 26 and the required length of the respective belt. Therefore, the invention is not limited by the length of the piece 26 or the length of the belt 22.

The belt piece 26 includes a reinforced cast elastomeric substrate 30 and a plurality of cast elastomeric cleats 3 disposed intermittently along the length of the piece 26.
Includes 2. The material of the belt may include, for example, orthogonally woven polyester or other stable fiber fibers embedded within a suitable elastomer, the specific bonding of which fibers with the elastomer being well known in the art. belongs to. The cleat 32 has a horizontal hole 34 cast therethrough, the axis 36 of the hole being the belt 22.
characterized by being oriented at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the The belt piece 26 shown in FIG. 2 has three wide cleats 32 across the width of the belt and two narrow cleats 32a at the ends. The number of wide cleats is naturally related to the required width of the belt.
For narrow belts, there are a few, and for wide belts, there are many. Cleat 32 is further characterized as having an angled leading edge 38 that has an angle φ of about 15° to 45° with respect to belt base 30 and has a radius 42 about cleat hole axis 36. It has a depending edge 40. The depending edge 40 may have a rear stress relief section, such as an arc 40' having a large radius as shown at 42' in FIG. Between each adjacent cleat 32 and centered on the axis of the cleat hole 34, a stamped or cast aperture 44 is provided through the belt base 30. is for attaching the needle teeth 24 as will be explained in detail below.

To attach the crop harvesting tooth 24 to the belt piece 26, the needle tooth is placed in the opening 44 between the cleats and the rod 46 is then slid across the width of the belt through the hole 34 in the cleat. Each needle tooth may be loaded as it passes through the opening. The rod 46 is held in the center of the rod by an opening 50 in a central cleat 52 at a midpoint between the ends of the belt using a fastener 48 such as a clasp.

The needle tooth 24 is made of heavy-gauge spring steel of a type known in the art, but is characterized in that the crop-contacting portion 24a is bent at an angle α from the longitudinal centerline of the belt 22. . The reason why the part 24a of the needle teeth is set at such an angle is that the attachment positions of the needle teeth are arranged in a row along the longitudinal direction of the belt, so that no interference occurs between them and the needle teeth in the subsequent row. . Incidentally, since the needle teeth arranged alternately are staggered, in this case, the tips 24a of the needle teeth do not need to be bent and can remain straight from their respective mounting positions. In both of the above cases, the needle tooth 24
is further characterized by a coil portion 24b and a loop portion 24c. The coil portion 24b has a hole diameter such that the rod 46 is loaded, and the loop portion 24c has an angle β of 80° to 110° with respect to the needle tooth tip 24a as shown in FIG. It protrudes from the portion 24b.

Regarding the operation of the conveyor, the belt 22
travels on a front pulley 54 (see FIG. 3) and a rear pulley (not shown) and moves in the direction of arrow 56 toward the combine auger. To take in the crop, the belt moves in the direction of arrow 58 and picks up the crop 60.
I will discuss it in connection with. As shown, the needle teeth 24 are suspended downward during the crop harvesting operation and are able to accommodate obstacles on the terrain or ground. This is because the needle teeth are not fixed on the belt but can pivot around the rod 46. However, the loop portion 24c of the needle tooth
When the front pulley 54 contacts the front pulley 54, the needle teeth are held tightly between the pulley surface and the belt to lift the crop onto the conveyor belt surface. When the loop portion 24c leaves contact with the pulley 54, the needle teeth pivot to a prone position on the belt. In this position, the crop uptake portion 24a, which is bent at an angle α, rests on the cleat of the trailing row as shown in FIG. In this way, the needle teeth are prevented from interfering with the needle teeth of the following row.

Although the conveyor belt configuration described above is most suitable for the requirements of crop harvesting operations, the cleat holes 3
There are cases where it is necessary to reinforce 4. In such a case, 6 indicated by the dotted line in Fig.
It is also considered to insert a metal bushing into the elastomer of the cleat and harden it as in 2. In this case, the rods 46 are retained by bushings 62 recessed within their respective cleats, and the rods 46 are held centrally by spring-loaded lock washers mounted on the rods 46 at the two outer openings 44 in the row. It can also be held in position. In addition, when it is required to increase the flexibility of the belt, the base 30
Additional openings 44a can be provided by stamping or casting. This additional opening relieves the pressure between the belt and needle tooth loop portion 24c as the belt passes around pulley 54.

Although typical embodiments and details thereof have been shown above to explain the content of the present invention, it should be noted that various modifications of the present invention can be made within the scope of the present invention. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a harvester platform fitted with the draper pick-up conveyor characteristic of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows some of the crop harvesting teeth mounted on the belt. FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating the cooperation between the belt and the needle teeth as the belt moves around the pulley; FIG.
4 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional side view taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 2, and FIG. 5 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional front view taken along line 5--5 of FIG. The numbers in the drawings and their corresponding names are as follows. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Front part of combine, 12... Draper pick-up assembly, 14... Harvesting auger, 16... Flexible conveyor, 18... Countershaft sprocket, 20... Belt/pulley arrangement, 22... Flexible belt, 24... Crop harvesting. Needle tooth, 26... Part piece, 28... Hook or staple, 30... Reinforced cast elastic substrate, 32... Cast elastic cleat, 34... Horizontal hole, 36... Shaft, 38... Sloped leading edge, 40... Drop. Lower edge, 44... Opening, 46...
Rod, 48... Fastener, 50... Opening, 52... Central cleat, 54... Front pulley, 56, 58... Arrow,
62...Metal bushing.

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. An endless flexible conveyor belt for a harvester loading apron, the conveyor belt comprising a reinforced reinforced conveyor belt having a plurality of integrally molded raised elastic adjacent wedge-shaped stops. has an elastic base,
The wedge-shaped stops are arranged in a plurality of rows across the belt width along the entire length of the belt, and adjacent wedge-shaped stops in a row are separated by gaps between adjacent wedge-shaped stops in a row and the gaps between adjacent wedge-shaped stops in a row. interrupted by openings in the base of the belt in defined areas, each of said wedge-shaped stops having a through hole having an axis parallel to the base surface of the belt, said through-hole of each wedge-shaped stop being An endless flexible conveyor belt for a loading apron of a harvester, characterized in that it is aligned in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the belt. 2. The conveyor belt has a forward and reverse direction distinction, and each elastic wedge-shaped stop has a leading edge inclined in the forward direction of the conveyor belt. endless flexible conveyor belt. 3. The endless flexible conveyor belt according to claim 1, wherein metal bushings are cast into the through holes of each of the elastic wedge-shaped stops. 4. The endless flexible conveyor belt of claim 2, wherein each of said angled leading edges is at an angle of 15-45 degrees with respect to the surface of said conveyor belt. 5. Claim 1, wherein the through holes in the elastic belt base are holes formed during molding thereof.
The endless flexible conveyor belt described in . 6. The endless flexible conveyor belt according to claim 1, wherein the through holes in the elastic belt base are punched holes.