Rotary stalk chopper apparatus

Claim 1

A rotary apparatus which is towable behind an agricultural vehicle for high speed operation in chopping vegetation and for churning and working the soil, and for high speed transportation to and from the field, said apparatus comprising: a horizontally disposed, rigid frame having a lateral axis in the direction of pulling and a longitudinal axis normal to the direction of pulling, and defining front and rear portions thereof; a plurality of downwardly extending shaft support plates disposed in spaced relation to said frame to define thereby a plurality of compartments for containing rotary shredder reels; a plurality of rotary shredder reels disposed in tandem within each compartment defined by said downwardly extending shaft support plates to form front and rear shredder assemblies, each rotary shredder reel having a reel shaft, a plurality of shredder blades connected to and extending longitudinally of each said reel shaft and radially protruding therefrom, and means for connecting said shredder blades to said reel shaft in radial and equicircumferential disposition, whereby said shredder blades are rapidly rotated by their engagement with the earth in response to such high speed towing of the apparatus along the ground, thereby to chop any vegetation within their path and simultaneously to churn and work the soil; paired, facing reel shaft bearing means carried by said support plates for journaling each of said reel shafts for independent rotation; wheel extension and retraction means carried in downward and rearward disposition for absorbing shocks to said wheel extension and retraction means such as may result from such rapid transportation thereof over rough ground during such high speed towing to and from the field, said wheel extension and retraction means carried by said frame for raising and lowering said frame between a raised position for transportation of the rotary apparatus to and from the field, and a lowered position for disposing the rotary shredder reels in operative contact with the surface of the ground for chopping present vegetation and for working and churning the soil; wheel means borne by said wheel extension and retraction means, said wheel means movable by means of said wheel extension and retraction means from a first disposition in contact with the ground corresponding to the lowered position of said wheel extension and retraction means and a second disposition above the ground corresponding to the raised position of said wheel extension and retraction means to dispose said rotary shredder reels below the level of said wheel means, said wheel means disposed approximately equidistant said front and rear shredder assemblies with respect to the lateral axis of said frame and disposed interior of the extremities of said shredder assemblies approximately equidistant from and laterally to said lateral axis, to dispose the center of gravity of the rotary apparatus substantially equidistant and substantially between said wheel means, whereby the high speed rotary apparatus is substantially symmetrically balanced both laterally and longitudinally for rapid chopping progress across the field of stalks to be chopped and for rapid transportation to and from the field to be worked; and a tongue for connecting the rotary apparatus to the agricultural vehicle, said tongue hingedly connected to the front portion of said frame for limited radial motion about the longitudinal axis of said frame, said tongue operatively connected to said wheel extension and retraction means for urging said tongue radially downward during extension of the wheel means and radially upwardly during retration, whereby the effective weight on said front and rear portions of said frame may be maintained in substantially balanced symmetry when said frame is lowered for chopping.