Device for harvesting randomly grown plants

Claim 2

An accumulator for harvesting randomly grown plants of stalklike configuration for mounting on a harvester comprising in combination: a frame, a pair of plant-gathering arms mounted on said frame and adapted to astride and collect between them a given patch of plants, said arms comprising upright members mounted on said frame and converging inwardly of said accumulator, a platform mounted on said frame below said arms, said platform being provided with a protrusion extending forwardly of said accumulator between said arms for defining with each of said arms at least one passageway for said stalklike configuration into said accumulator, a shaft rotatably mounted on said frame one adjacent each Passageway, one of said shafts having at least one knife rotated thereby for cutting at least some of the plants as they move through the adjacent passageway.

Claim 3

The combination set forth in claim 1 wherein said platform provides at least a pair of passageways through the accumulator, only one of said shafts having a knife rotated thereby for cutting said plants, the shaft adjacent the other passageway being knifeless and causing the stalklike configuration to pass through the accumulator uncut.

Claim 4

The combination set forth in claim 1 wherein said one of said shafts is provided with a plurality of knives spacedly arranged around its circumference.

Claim 5

The combination set forth in claim 1 wherein said arms each comprise outer plates mounted on said frame and each formed to provide an inverted curve and converging inwardly into said accumulator.

Claim 6

An accumulator for harvesting randomly grown stalklike configurations for mounting on a harvester comprising in combination a frame, a pair of plant-gathering arms mounted on said frame and adapted to astride and collect between them a given patch of growing plants, said arms comprising upright members mounted on said frame and converging inwardly into said accumulator, a substantially horizontally arranged two-piece platform mounted on said frame below said arms, said two-piece platform being provided with a protrusion extending forwardly of said accumulator between said arms for providing with each of said arms a different converging passageway into said accumulator, the pieces of said two-piece platform defining between them a slot to provide one path for uncut plants to pass through said slot and said accumulator and a second path for cut plants to pass over said platform and through said accumulator, a plurality of pairs of spaced shafts rotatably mounted on said frame laterally of and above said platform, said shafts being provided with cylindrical surfaces and so arranged so that their cylindrical surfaces define a converging chute through the accumulator; one of said pairs of shafts being mounted adjacent each of said passageways, said shaft of said one of said pairs positioned adjacent said second passageway having at least one knife mounted thereon, means for rotating said shafts, and means mounted on at least some of cylindrical surfaces of said shafts for moving the cut and uncut plants through the accumulator upon rotation of said shafts.

Claim 7

An accumulator for harvesting randomly grown stalklike configurations for mounting on a harvester comprising in combination a frame, a pair of plant-gathering arms mounted on said frame and adapted to astride and collect between them a given patch of growing plants, said arms comprising upright members mounted on said frame and converging inwardly into said accumulator, a substantially horizontally arranged two-piece platform mounted on said frame below said arms, said two-piece platform being provided with a protrusion extending forwardly of said accumulator between said arms for providing with each of said arms a different converging passageway into said accumulator, the pieces of said two-piece platform defining between them a slot to provide one path for uncut plants to pass through said slot and said accumulator and a second path for cut plants to pass over said platform and through said accumulator, a plurality of pairs of spaced shafts rotatably mounted on said frame laterally of and above said platform, said shafts being provided with cylindrical surfaces and so arranged so that their cylindrical surfaces define a converging chute through the accumulator; one of said pairs of shafts being mounted adjacent each of said passageways, said shaft of said one of said pairs positioned adjacent said second passageway having at least one knife mounted thereon, means for rotating said shafts, and means mounted on at least some of cylindrical surfaces of said shafts for moving the cut and uncut plants through the accumulator upon rotation of said shafts.

Claim 8

The combination set forth in claim 5 wherein said means for moving the cut plants through the accumulator comprise ridges mounted longitudinally of an on the cylindrical surfaces of said shafts.

Claim 9

The combination set forth in claim 6 wherein said means comprises ridges provided on the cylindrical surfaces of each of said shafts and each of the ridges on the cylindrical surfaces of the shafts pass the cut plants to the next cylindrical surface of the next shaft in the direction of convergence of said chute.

Claim 10

The combination set forth in claim 5 wherein the diameters of the cylindrical surfaces of said pairs of shafts are of decreasing size as they converge in said chute.

Claim 11

The combination set forth in claim 8 wherein said means for rotating said shafts comprises a common chain drive for engaging sprockets on each shaft of corresponding diameter to the diameters of the cylindrical surfaces of the associated shafts.

Claim 12

The combination set forth in claim 5 wherein said means mounted on at least some of said cylindrical surfaces for moving the cut plants through the accumulator is a belt driven by said shafts.