Agricultural harvester with paddles rotated about an axis of rotation that is parallel to a longitudinal axis of the harvester

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10257984-B2
Application number	US-201515526918-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 13, 2015
Priority date	Nov 14, 2014
Publication date	Apr 16, 2019
Grant date	Apr 16, 2019

Abstract

An agricultural harvester ( 10 ) defining a longitudinal axis (LI) includes a chassis; at least one ground engaging traction member carried by the chassis ( 12 ); a cleaning system ( 26 ) carried by the chassis that is configured to clean crop material; and a generally vertical crop material elevator ( 60 ) carried by the chassis. The crop material elevator ( 60 ) includes a housing ( 78 ) having an inlet ( 76 ) formed therethrough; a driving loop ( 88 ) held within the housing; a plurality of paddles ( 90 ) connected to the driving loop; and a rotating element ( 92 ) configured to rotate the plurality of paddles about an axis of rotation that is generally parallel to the longitudinal axis. The agricultural harvester ( 10 ) also includes a crop material conveyor ( 70 ) configured to supply cleaned crop material to the inlet of the crop material elevator from the cleaning system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An agricultural harvester defining a longitudinal axis, comprising:
a chassis;
at least one ground engaging traction member carried by said chassis;
a cleaning system carried by said chassis and configured to clean crop material;
a generally vertical crop material elevator carried by said chassis, said crop material elevator including:
a housing having an inlet formed therethrough;
a driving loop held within said housing;
a plurality of paddles connected to said driving loop; and
a rotating element configured to rotate said plurality of paddles about an axis of rotation that is generally parallel to said longitudinal axis; and

a crop material conveyor configured to supply cleaned crop material to said inlet from said cleaning system, said crop material conveyor defining a conveyor axis of rotation that is generally transverse to said axis of rotation about which said plurality of paddles rotate.

2. The agricultural harvester according to claim 1 , wherein said crop material conveyor does not extend into said housing.

3. The agricultural harvester according to claim 1 , further comprising a side sheet having a crop material opening formed through, said crop material conveyor being configured to convey cleaned crop material through said crop material opening.

4. The agricultural harvester according to claim 3 , further comprising a second crop material conveyor, said side sheet having a second crop material opening formed through, said second crop material conveyor extending through said second crop material opening, said housing including a second inlet formed therethrough, said second crop material conveyor being configured to supply cleaned crop material to said second inlet.

5. The agricultural harvester according to claim 4 , wherein said second crop material conveyor defines a second conveyor axis, said crop material elevator being carried by said chassis between said conveyor axis of rotation and said second conveyor axis.

6. The agricultural harvester according to claim 5 , wherein said housing includes a front surface and a rear surface, said second inlet being located on said front surface and said inlet being located on said rear surface.

7. The agricultural harvester according to claim 4 , wherein said second crop material conveyor includes a transition area connecting said crop material conveyor to said second inlet, said transition area gravity feeding the cleaned crop material to said second inlet.

8. The agricultural harvester according to claim 4 , wherein said rotating element includes an elevator shaft defining said axis of rotation, at least a portion of said elevator shaft including an auger flighting to form an elevator auger.

9. The agricultural harvester according to claim 8 , wherein said housing has a boot portion with a boot bottom and said second crop material conveyor is located above said boot bottom, said second crop material conveyor including a transition area gravity feeding the cleaned crop material to said elevator auger.

10. The agricultural harvester according to claim 4 , wherein said housing has a side surface and a front surface, said first inlet being formed on said side surface and said second inlet being formed on said front surface.

11. The agricultural harvester according to claim 3 , wherein said side sheet defines a side plane, said axis of rotation being generally parallel to said side plane.

12. The agricultural harvester according to claim 3 , wherein said side sheet has a bottom, said bottom of said side sheet defining a bottom of said agricultural harvester, and said housing has a boot portion with a boot bottom, said boot bottom being held level with said bottom of said side sheet.

13. The agricultural harvester according to claim 1 , wherein said crop material conveyor is an auger including an auger axle defining said conveyor axis of rotation and an auger flighting rotated about said auger axle.

14. The agricultural harvester according to claim 1 , wherein said inlet is an opening formed through said housing defining a center that is aligned with said conveyor axis of rotation.

15. The agricultural harvester according to claim 1 , wherein said inlet is an opening formed through said housing defining a perimeter, said housing having a boot portion with a pair of straight edges, at least one of said pair of straight edges being tangential to said perimeter.

16. The agricultural harvester according to claim 1 , wherein said crop material conveyor is configured to convey cleaned crop material to said inlet generally transverse to said axis of rotation.

17. A crop material transport system, including:
a cleaning system including a side sheet defining a side plane and having a crop material opening formed through and a crop material conveyor extending through said crop material opening, said cleaning system being configured to clean harvested crop material; and
a generally vertically crop material elevator supplied with cleaned crop material from said crop material conveyor, said crop material elevator including:
a housing having an inlet formed therethrough, said inlet being supplied with the cleaned crop material;
a driving loop held within said housing;
a plurality of paddles connected to said driving loop; and
a rotating element configured to rotate said plurality of paddles about an axis of rotation that is generally parallel to said side sheet, said crop material conveyor defining a conveyor axis of rotation that is generally transverse to said axis of rotation about which said plurality of paddles rotate.

18. The crop material transport system according to claim 17 , further comprising a second crop material conveyor, said side sheet having a second crop material opening formed through, said second crop material conveyor extending through said second crop material opening, said housing including a second inlet formed therethrough, said second crop material conveyor being configured to supply cleaned crop material to said second inlet.

19. The crop material transport system according to claim 18 , wherein said inlet is an opening formed through said housing, said opening defining a center that is aligned with said conveyor axis of rotation.

Assignees

• Cnh Ind America Llc

Inventors

• Coppinger Jason R
• Vandevelde Pieter
• Veikle Eric E
• Willem Pieter J P
• Boriack Cale N

Classifications

• A01F12/446

  Sieving means · CPC title

• A01F12/46 Primary

  Mechanical grain conveyors · CPC title

• A01D41/12

  Details of combines · CPC title

• A01D41/1274

  for drives · CPC title