Firefly Automatix, Inc.

Austin J Neuner

William M Decker

Steven R Aposhian

Mark C LeBlanc

Eric Edwin Aston

Seth W Jeppson

Mark Leblanc

Sam B Jensen

Andrew W Limpert

Andrew Limpert

A sod harvester can employ a roll forming mechanism that includes a roll starter that is configured to initiate the formation of rolls. The roll starter can include pivoting supports and front and rear slab flippers that also pivot to cause the rolls to be tightly and consistently formed. The roll forming mechanism can also include a roll advancer that continues the formation of the rolls. The roll advancer can be suspended to cause it to conform to the shape and size of the rolls as they advance.

Sod roll forming mechanism

A roll forming mechanism can include a passive roll-up mechanism that initiates the roll and an active roll-up mechanism that completes the roll. The active roll-up mechanism can include an upper conveyor that is rotated in different directions. The upper conveyor can initially be rotated in a direction opposite that of an inclined conveyor to cause a forming roll to advance along the inclined conveyor. The rotation of the upper conveyor can then be reversed to cause the roll to be completed. Then, the upper conveyor can again be rotated in the direction opposite that of the inclined conveyor to cause the completed roll to be transferred towards the stacking conveyor. The amount by which the upper conveyor is rotated in the reverse direction can be based on a detected length of a tail of the forming roll.

Forming a sod roll

A mower can dynamically adjust the cutting height of a mower deck based on a mower's location. As a mower travels over an area of grass to be cut, a control system can track the current location of each mower deck on the mower. The control system can compare the current location of a mower deck to a boundary of one or more sections defined within the area to thereby determine which section the mower deck is within. When the control system detects that a mower deck has crossed or will cross into a section, it can identify a particular cutting height assigned to the section and dynamically adjust the cutting height of the mower deck to the particular cutting height. When a mower includes more than one mower deck, the control system can be configured to independently adjust the cutting height of each mower deck based on its location.

Dynamically adjusting the cutting height of a mower deck based on a mower's location

A stacking head for stacking rolls of sod can include a number of screw assemblies that are employed to secure and remove sod rolls from a stacking conveyor. Each screw assembly can include a center stake and a corkscrew that pierce a roll as the stacking head is forced into the roll. The rate at which the stacking head is moved vertically relative to the roll can be synchronized with the rate at which each screw assembly is rotated. This synchronization ensures that the corkscrew will pass into the roll while the stacking head is simultaneously forced into the roll without damaging the delicate sod.

Sod roll stacking head

A cutting head for a sod harvester is configured to counterbalance forces that are generated during operation. When the cutting head is operated, the cutting blade oscillates to sever sod from the ground. This oscillation of the cutting blade generates significant horizontal vibration forces that are transferred to the cutting head and other components of the sod harvester. The cutting head can include a crankshaft assembly with counterweights that are designed to balance these horizontal vibration forces. The cutting head can also include a countershaft assembly with counterweights that are also designed to balance these horizontal vibration forces while also balancing vertical vibration forces that the counterweights of the crankshaft assembly create.

Counterbalanced cutting head for a sod harvester

Sod harvesters are configured to stack rolls of sod in layers on a rectangular pallet. A sod harvester can include control circuitry that is configured to operate a stacking head and a stacking conveyor in a manner that produces a first type of layer that includes spaced groups of accumulated rolls and a number of offset rolls positioned between the groups. The stacking head can pick up and stack each offset roll in isolation and may pick up the offset rolls in a center position of the stacking head.

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Layton, UT, United States of America

Austin J Neuner