Plant harvesting machine

Claim 1

A machine for drawing plants from the soil comprising: an elevatable and lowerable frame having a front end and a rear end and being movable across the soil along a row of standing crop plants; three spaced pulleys rotatably mounted on the frame about parallel horizontal axes and of which one pulley is disposed towards the front of the frame, a second pulley towards the rear of the frame and a third pulley at an elevated position substantially above the first pulley while the said axes are at an obtuse angle relative to the operational direction of movement of the machine; a flexible endless conveyor member on the pulleys and having rigid spaced elements projecting outwardly from one side and arranged to project in axial directions beyond aligned side faces of the pulleys when passing over the pulleys, said conveyor member having a portion extending between the first and the second pulleys located horizontally and at an acute angle relative to the direction of movement of the machine and being further adapted for location substantially parallel to the surface of the soil, a portion between the second and the third pulleys slopingly disposed and a portion between the third and the first pulley substantially vertically disposed; a motion transmission mechanism from a power source to one of the pulleys for driving the conveyor member with the horizontal portion moving rearwardly and the vertical portion moving downwardly; substantially horizontal plaNt guide means on the frame located with the front portion in forwardly diverging relationship to the horizontal portion of the conveyor member and adapted to force standing plates between the spaced elements; a covering plate of that side of the second pulley beyond which the elements of the conveyor member projects when moving over the pulley; a rear portion of the guide means presenting an upwardly curved arcuately shaped face forming part disposed parallel to and with small clearance across the upwardly moving portion of the covering plate of the second pulley and attached to facilitate the holding of the plants against the side of the conveyor member and the covering plate during the initial upward movement of the conveyor member for pulling the plants from the soil; and means operatively associated with downwardly moving portion of the conveyor member for withdrawing and discharging plants, engaged and carried by the projecting elements of the conveyor member, and the projecting elements thereof in a substantially lateral direction.