Massey-ferguson Services N.v.

Donald J Quick

Sugar cane billet planter

Apparatus for automatically planting billets of sugar cane as produced by a chopper-type sugar cane harvester, comprises a hopper for billets, an elevator to convey billets upwards and out of the hopper, and a billet delivery chute to receive the billets from the elevator and deliver them to a furrow in the ground. The elevator has at least two series of staggered slats which meter the billets. The delivery chute has a funnel-shaped upper portion and a trough-shaped downwardly and rearwardly-sloping lower portion, which guide and channel the billets in an endwise flow towards the furrow. The lower end of the chute is positioned close to or in contact with the ground so that billets can engage the ground before they leave the chute whereby billets can build up at the lower end of the chute and be discharged into the furrow at a rate corresponding to the forward speed of the planter.

Mobile planting apparatus

A harvester for sugar cane sticks or similar crops having a feed roller with feed elements extending lengthwise of the roller to successively engage the sticks on rotation of the roller, to feed the sticks in a direction at right angles to the axis of rotation of the roller. At least one of the feed elements being in the form of a resiliently deformable hollow structure of elastomeric material.

Cane feed roller

Trash removal apparatus in a sugar cane harvester comprises an axial flow extractor fan having multiple blades to draw trash out of harvested cane and to discharge it through a duct on the pressure side of the fan. The duct is in the form of a helical trash guide member which collects the trash out of the air flow and discharges the trash laterally. The diameter of the fan blades is chosen so as to leave a relatively large annular gap between their ends and the wall of the duct through which most of the trash passes thereby reducing power consumption by the fan.

Trash removal apparatus for sugar cane harvesters

Sugar cane harvester has stick alignment device mounted at forward end of harvester crop feed passage to promote longitudinal alignment of canes with said passage. The device comprises an arm mounted centrally in the passage and carrying driven sprockets and a chain. Cane stick engaging bars project from the chain to comb cane sticks into alignment with the passage.

Mobile sugar cane harvester

A sugar cane harvester has power-rotated rollers to convey severed cane sticks between stick-serving base cutters and stick dividing choppers. The rollers extend across the path of the cane sticks and at least one of the rollers below the cane path has stick-engaging paddles of differing radial lengths whereby the cane sticks are shaken up and down to dislodge earth mixed with the mat of cane sticks.

Harvester for sugar cane

Trash removal apparatus in a sugar cane harvester comprises an axial flow extractor fan to draw trash out of harvested cane and to discharge it through a duct on the pressure side of the fan. The duct is in the form of a helical trash guide member which collects the trash out of the air flow and discharges the trash laterally. The trash guide member is mounted for pivotal movement about the duct axis and a mechanism is provided for turning it to discharge trash in a desired direction.

Air intake for trash removal apparatus of a cane harvester. The air intake forms the lower portion of the housing of the trash removal apparatus and also serves to guide cane billets into the hopper of a pivotally-mounted billet discharge conveyor. The air intake is formed as a deflectible air permeable curtain of perforated rubber sheeting which avoids both damage to the air intake and jamming of the conveyor during use.

Sugar cane harvester has base twin contra-rotating cutters driven by flat profile gearboxes positioned above the base cutters within the throat of the harvester. The base cutters are positioned between the harvester's front wheels (as viewed in a horizontal direction at right angles to forward travel of the harvester) so that the cutting height is unaffected by pitching of the harvester when traversing uneven terrain.

Sugar cane harvesters

Torque limiting clutch for drive to cane chopping mechanism in sugar cane harvester. Torque is transmitted through a ball and ramp self servo device. Axial thrust generated by the self servo device is transmitted through hydraulic fluid in a piston and cylinder assembly generating hydraulic pressure proportional to the torque. A pilot operated pressure limiting valve vents the cylinder and thereby stops torque transmission when a predetermined torque is reached. Selective disengagement of the clutch is provided by a manual control valve which vents the cylinder.

Clutches

A sugar cane harvester has cane cutting apparatus for chopping cane sticks into billets. The apparatus comprises a pair of rotatable cutting elements carrying projecting axially extending blades which co-operate as the cutting elements rotate in timed relationship. The blades each have a bevelled cutting edge and are mounted so as to come into back-to-back relationship i.e. with the bevelled surfaces facing outwards, when the blades overlap. This minimizes servicing requirements and improves the quality of the cut.

Cane cutting apparatus

A sugar cane harvester has a pair of contrarotatable base cutters with projecting blades to sever cane sticks from their roots. The base cutters are constructed to minimize the quantity of earth fed into the harvester with the crop. A large free area is provided between successive blades for earth and rocks to drop out, but each blade has a long exposed cutting edge to prevent cane sticks entering said area without being cut. The blades are mounted on a support member having a flat profile to minimize the paddling action of the base cutters on earth and rocks.

Base cutting apparatus for sugar cane harvesters

Butt lifter roller for lifting the butts of sugar cane sticks immediately after severing by the base cutter in a sugar cane harvester. The roller has V-shaped grooves of varying width extending round its periphery. Cane butts at least partially enter the grooves and are pinched or gripped therein and lifted over the roller by rotation thereof.

Butt lifting roller for sugar cane harvesters

Roller for feeding wholestick cane from the base cutters towards the can chopping apparatus in a sugar cane harvester. Cane engaging bars are mounted on a central shaft by means of curved leaf springs and accommodate themselves to variations in the thickness of the layer of cane fed, by deflection of the leaf springs.

Stick feeding roller for sugar cane harvesters

Chain and slat type elevator for pieces of chopped sugar cane in a sugar cane harvester has a slope of between 50.degree. and 90.degree. with respect to the horizontal. An endless belt of wire mesh above the working run of the elevator engages the cane pieces and prevents them rolling back.

Growing community of inventors

Bundaberg, Australia

Donald J Quick