Beet harvester with spring system for protecting its lifter wheels and

Abstract

A preferred number of lifter wheel assemblies each have a pair of lifter wheels rotatably carried at one end of a strut which is pivotally mounted at its other end to a clamp unit having a horizontal flange which projects forwardly past the front transverse beam of the main frame of the sugar beet harvester. An elongated rigid member is welded to the underside of each strut and has a flange at its forward end which projects beneath the clamp unit flange. Heavy-duty coil springs normally maintain the flanges together to cause the lifter wheels to be biased into the ground. Each spring individually yields or compresses when the lifter wheels associated therewith ride upwardly over a submerged rock, thereby preventing breakage of any of the components constituting the lifter wheel assembly. Sufficient upward movement of the lifter wheels in any given instance would cause the lifter wheels to strike the overhanging steel shaft carrying the paddles that knock the sugar beets from the various pairs of lifter wheels. Breakage of the paddle shaft is prevented by journalling the ends of the paddle shaft on arms pivotally mounted to the side portions of the main frame. Additional heavy-duty springs, one for each arm, normally bias the ends of the arms downwardly, these being the ends of the arms near which the paddle shaft is journaled, so that the last-mentioned springs yield or compress to permit upward movement of any one of the struts and its lifter wheels when deflected upwardly by a rock.