This disclosure relates to an agricultural machine with a granular material supply container that can be removed without the use of tools.
Granular material has to be discharged in some agricultural work. Examples of this are to be found in sowing machines, in which seed is taken from a seed container and is discharged into a furrow in the ground, or centrifugal fertilizer spreaders, in which fertilizer particles are taken from a container and spread over the ground. Such supply containers are usually firmly and permanently connected with the machine and can, if necessary, be removed for repair purposes, in which case screws have to be loosened.
In sowing machines, the supply containers for the seed are, as a rule, correlated with individual series units—see EP 2 517 545 A1. If the type of seed is then to be changed while the supply container, however, is partially filled, it is necessary in the state of the art to empty the supply container manually, with a shovel or something similar, which is rather time-consuming in the case of sowing machines with a relatively large number of series units. Also, the supply container has to be detached from the sowing machine if maintenance work has to be carried out on a metering device, in order to be able to have access to the metering device and to be able to detach it from the sowing machine. Usually, it is necessary to loosen screw connections between the supply container and the sowing machine in order to be able to detach the supply container. This also requires a great deal of time. With sowing machines with a brush strip (see U.S. Pat. No. 7,918,168 B1), which is used to move the seed from the meter to a furrow formed in the soil, an access to the brush strip is advantageous for maintenance purposes, where it is not enough to only tilt the seed container forward in a manner which is, in fact, known (John Deere 1100 Planter).
Sowing machines have been manufactured in which the supply container for the seed can be detached from the sowing machine together with the metering device (John Deere 1790 Front Fold Planter). In placing the supply container, a recess on the supply container is pushed over a screw of the sowing machine frame; then a nipple of the metering device is introduced into an opening of the frame; and finally, a hook of the frame is coupled with a clamp on the metering device. The removal takes place in an analogous manner, in a reverse sequence. Since the supply container is firmly connected with the metering device, this procedure appears to be advantageous for maintenance on the metering device, but not for the emptying of the supply container.
This problem is solved with the teaching of claim 1, while features that further develop the solution in an advantageous manner are indicated in the additional claims.
An agricultural machine, which can be, for example, a sowing machine or a centrifugal fertilizer spreader, is equipped with a frame, on which a discharging device for granular material and a supply container for granular material are fastened, which can be supplied to the discharging device. The supply container can be either removed or connected with the frame and the discharging device without the use of tools. The invention under consideration is, in particular, advantageous also if on the row unit, the seed is supplied to the furrow by means of a brush strip (see U.S. Pat. No. 7,918,168 B1). A removable supply container is likewise advantageous here, since this allows for enough space for access to the brush strip and to remove it if necessary.
In this way, the supply container can be quickly and simply removed, emptied, and/or cleaned.
The frame can comprise a holder that can be moved between a first position and a second position; it can be locked in the first position with a manually activated locking means and it comprises a holding area, which, in a first position from the top, lies on a support element of the supply container and, in the second position, is at a distance from the support element.
The holder can comprise a guide path, which, from below, is next to the support element, so that the support element is enclosed in the first position between the holding area and the guide path.
The locking means can comprise a spring-loaded catch, which embraces the support element.
There are two holding areas on each side of the supply container; they interact with each of the support elements of the supply container, and at least one is provided with a locking means.
The support element can lie in an indentation of the frame, if the supply container is fastened on the frame.
The supply container can have an opening on the bottom, through which the granular material can be supplied from the supply container to the discharging device and which can be shut by a closure on the supply container, which is activated in the supply container fastened on the machine.
The machine is, in particular, a (series) row unit of a sowing machine. The supply container, a furrow opener, a depth adjusting wheel, a seed tube or seed delivery system, and a metering device, used as a discharging device, are located on the frame, wherein the metering device is set up to successively remove seed from the supply container and supply it to the sowing a seed tube or seed delivery system which releases it into a furrow created by the furrow opener, whose depth is specified by the depth adjusting wheel.
On the frame, an intermediate container can be located between the supply container and the metering device; the intermediate container can be reconfigured for the use of the machine with its own supply container and a use of the machine with a common supply container used with other machines, from which the seed is pneumatically conveyed to the machine. This intermediate container could also be used in connection with a supply container that cannot be detached without the use of tools.
The drawings show an exemplary embodiment which is described below in more detail. The figures show the following:
In a known manner, the frame 14 carries a supply container 26 for seed, a a seed tube or seed delivery system (which cannot be seen in the figure) and a (particularly pneumatic) metering device 28 (which works with a reduced pressure made available with a blower, which is not shown), which gradually releases individual seed grains from the supply container 26 into the a seed tube or seed delivery system, which deposits them into a furrow that has been created by the furrow opener 24, whose work depth is specified by a depth adjusting wheel 30. The furrow is closed by a pair of closing wheels 32. Reference is made to the disclosure of EP 2 517 545 A1 (U.S. Pat. No. 8,850,997B1) with regard to more details of the row units 12; the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in the documents under consideration. An intermediate container 34 is located between the supply container 26 and the metering device 28; the intermediate container is shown in detail in
The supply container 26 is fastened on the frame 14 in such a manner that it can be detached. To this end, the frame 14 is coupled, on both sides, with a holder 36 that can be moved, in the direction of travel, opposite the frame 14; the holder has a rear guide path 38 and a front guide path 38′; they are oriented horizontally and are made as an upper flat edge, which is lowered downward, opposite the upper holder 36. The supply container 26 is provided on its underside with rod-shaped support elements 40, which extend laterally outward; the support elements penetrate the V-shaped indentations 74 of the frame 14 (see
In the (first) position, shown in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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102014224058.1 | Nov 2014 | DE | national |