Patent Application
20080148702
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a defoliating device, and in particular to a quick connecting flail element for use in defoliating sugar beet crops.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Flails are well known in the agricultural industry, and are used in a variety of different applications. In general, defoliating flails are used for removing leaves and other above-grade foliage and roughage in below grade tubers, such as sugar beets, in preparation of a sugar beet field for harvest. The flails are typically constructed from rubber or polyurethane and are formed in a variety of different shapes and sizes. Some flails include metal studs which are formed into the ends of the flails.
In various sugar beet harvesters, for example, multiple flails are arrayed about the circumference of a supporting drum. The flails mount to a number of spokes or rods, which laterally extend between the ends of the drum. Each rod contains a number of laterally displaced flails, which pivot as the drum is rotated. When rotated, the flails shred encountered foliage. Different sizes and types of flails may be mounted on the drums. Traditional flails often require spacers which are positioned between the flails. The vertical separation of the flails relative to the tuber being harvested, or in some situations the ground, may be adjusted as necessary to optimize contact with the foliage, without damaging the tuber. While existing flails have enjoyed considerable success, such known flails require at least partial dismantling of the defoliation machine in order to replace damaged or broken flails, with commensurate cost and downtime.
More specifically, prior art flails are mounted horizontally in a defoliation machine, as a group of three to ten units, on a bolt that passes through two plates welded to a round shaft or drum in the machine. Most commonly, known flails are made from rubber and are typically two inches wide with a ⅝ inch mounted hole through the top. Flails are mounted on brackets in clusters of 4 or 6 brackets. Brackets are typically 12 to 16 inches wide. The brackets hold five to seven flails each, one flail short of filling the bracket. Often replacing damaged or broken flails onto the brackets is both time consuming and difficult. For this reason, it is common to wait until the end of the harvesting season to replace the flails, as doing so at the time of failure will seriously interrupt production. The result of defoliating with a machine that includes damaged or broken flails is improperly cleaned or defoliated beets. Improperly cleaned beets leads to higher transportation costs, because the weight of the foliage is included but yields no end product.
While prior art flails are most commonly made from rubber, there have been attempts to manufacture them from polyurethane. However, the cost for polyurethane flails is nearly double the cost of rubber flails.
Flails fitted with steel studs have also been proposed. However, the steel studs have often proven to cause damage to the beets because every beet is impacted instead of only an occasional one. The steel studded products are not used in many areas where sugar beets are stored over the winter because the gouges from the studs cause bleeding, reducing the sugar content. With improvements in sugar beet seeds, resulting in producing much larger sugar beets that stand farther out of the ground then those known previously, knocking the beets out of the ground and damaging them is a more serious problem than it was about two decades ago.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a flail element includes a base coupled to a pair of elongated fingers. A narrow gap is formed between facing fingers. The base has a bore formed within a proximal region of the base and the bore is sized to receive a mounting rod. The elongated fingers and base form a substantially unitary flail element structure.
The quick connect flail of this invention has been configured to easily install on current rods in defoliation machines and makes replacing failed flail elements economically viable. The flails of this invention brush the tops off the sugar beet instead of scalping and shredding the foliage. The invention attaches to the cluster bracket of the defoliation apparatus with a split design so it slides over the rod instead of needing to disassemble the entire rod to replace one flail. The quick connect flail element is of a reversible construction. A flail comprised of one or more flail elements of the invention can be produced to he as long as any defoliating apparatus may require covering the entire width of the machine, or to be as short as to cover only a portion of the beet itself. As an example, the possible ranges are from as short as ½ inch to as long as 20 feet. The flail of this invention can be constructed from any elastomer or tough plastic. Specific examples, would be rubber, nylon elastomers, thermoplastics, other elastomers, and preferably, polyurethane. The flail can optionally include metal studs, or other hardened materials.
The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon consideration of the following description of preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures, wherein:
FIG. S is a perspective view of a defoliating apparatus implementing flails in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawing figures which form a part hereof, and which show by way of illustration specific embodiments of the invention. It is to be understood by those of ordinary skill in this technological field that other embodiments may be utilized and structural, as well as procedural, changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. As a matter of convenience, various components of a flail will be described using exemplary materials, sizes, shapes, and dimensions. However, the present invention is not limited to the stated examples and other configurations are possible and within the teachings of the present disclosure.
By way of example only, various embodiments will be described in conjunction with a flail for defoliating sugar beets. However, it is to be understood that the present disclosure applies equally to other types of applications such as removing leaves and other above-grade foliage and roughage, prior to harvesting below grade tubers.
Each finger 15, 16 of flail element I 1 is thin compared with respective head 17, 18. Ribs 21, 22 are formed along the sides of fingers 15, 16 to reinforce and stiffen the fingers.
Bore 13 of base 12 is split at gap 23 so that slot or space 24 between fingers 15, 16 provides a continuous opening from slot 24 into bore 13. The base is made of somewhat rigid, but sufficiently flexible material so that gap 23 may be opened sufficiently to fit over mounting rod 14. This enables base 12 to be pivotally secured to mounting rod 14 as seen in
The distal portions of the fingers are formed so that there is increased mass at heads 17, 18 than would be in equivalent lengths of the fingers between the base and the heads. This weight distribution provides for maximum impact force and enhances centrifugal recovery, or bounce back, after the flail impacts the beet foliage, for example. Because fingers 15, 16 are relatively thin and made of flexible material, reinforcing ribs 21, 22 are provided to somewhat stiffen the fingers.
Another functional element of flail element 11 is cleaning projection 19. This cleaning aspect comes into play when flail elements 11 are engaged on rod 14 and the thus formed flail 32 is mounted to a drum by means of brackets 25, 26. This will be explained below.
In a typical implementation, a number of flails, each having a plurality of flail elements (
Base 12 and fingers 15, 16 of each flail element 11 may be formed from any suitable material which provides flexing combined with suitable stiffness to accomplish the desired defoliation or topping, for example, of row crops. By way of non-limiting example, these flail elements may be formed from rubber, plastic, elastomers, nylon elastomers, thermoplastics, polyurethane, and the like. The overall length of flail element 11, as defined by the distance from the center of bore 13 and extending to the distal end or tip of fingers 15, 16, may be about 8-24 inches, with 12 inches being typical. The overall width of base 12 of segment 11 is preferably about two inches, but other widths could be employed. A flail 32 may be very narrow, having only a single flail element, or it may be very wide for a very large defoliating machine, as wide as 20 feet.
As can be seen more clearly in
This means that there is minimal space between adjacent distal ends or heads 17, 18 of flail elements, as seen in
Linear beads 34, 35 on the operative length of respective heads 17, 18 have two functions. In the first place, they provide wear surfaces. Because they project outwardly from the foliation-engaging surfaces of heads 17, 18, each flail element has an enhanced functional life. Further, beads 34, 35 add yet additional mass to the distal ends of the flail elements, further adding to the impact of the flail heads with the foliage. These beads may also be formed in a grid pattern, or they may be circular, angular, horizontal, or any combination thereof.
Because each flail element in this embodiment is two sided, its life is further increased because it is reversible on rod 14. Since drum 31 normally rotates in only one direction, only one of facing flail element heads makes contact with the foliage. When this leading flail element head is worn or is damaged, a flail element can be easily removed from rod 14, reversed, and reinstalled in seconds.
With specific reference to
The rotor illustrated in
From
As shown in
In operation, defoliator 40 may be pulled through the field such that the tops of the crops, such as sugar beets, would be removed due to the flails on the rotating flail clusters striking the tops of the plants. Note that the spacing between the flail clusters may be adjusted as necessary. Also, flail clusters 30 are shown in the same positions in each row. The flail clusters could be staggered so that there are no gaps undefoliated after defoliater 40 makes a single pass over the ready-to-harvest crop.
An alternative flail element embodiment is shown in
Flail element 51 also includes counterweight finger 57, which finger is shorter than finger 52, and is formed with head 61 of enlarged mass. As with the
The flail element of
While the invention has been described in detail wit reference to disclosed embodiments, various modifications within the scope of the invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in this technological field. It is to be appreciated that features described with respect to one embodiment typically may be applied to other embodiments. Therefore, the invention properly is to be construed only with reference to the claims.
