Sod harvesting systems and related methods
Assignee1045929 Ontario Limited
InventorsGerardus J. Brouwer, Robert Milwain, Ian L. Morgan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of operating a stacking head of a sod harvester includes: (a) repeatedly transferring sod slabs from a transfer station located along a conveyor assembly of the sod harvester to a pallet station of the sod harvester to form a loaded pallet at the pallet station; (b) during replacement of the loaded pallet with an empty pallet, forming a stack of slabs at the transfer station; and (c) transferring the stack of slabs from the transfer station to the pallet station for deposit on the empty pallet when received at the pallet station, and repeating (a) to (c) in a continuous sod harvesting process.
Claims27
A method of operating a sod harvester, comprising:
- a) cutting sod slabs from the ground using a cutting assembly including one or more cutting heads;
- b) advancing the slabs along one or more conveyors of a conveyor assembly from the one or more cutting heads to a transfer station located along the one or more conveyors;
- c) repeatedly transferring the slabs from the transfer station to a pallet station spaced apart from the transfer station using a stacking head to form a loaded pallet at the pallet station;
- d) replacing the loaded pallet at the pallet station with an empty pallet;
- e) during the replacing step, operating the stacking head in a pre-stacking mode for forming a stack of the slabs at the transfer station with the stacking head;
- f) transferring the stack of slabs using the stacking head from the transfer station to the pallet station to deposit the stack onto the empty pallet when received at the pallet station;
- and
- g) repeating (a) to (g) in a continuous sod harvesting process.
A sod harvesting system, comprising:
- a) a harvester frame;
- b) a cutting assembly mounted to the harvester frame for cutting sod into slabs, the cutting assembly including one or more cutting heads;
- c) a conveyor assembly including one or more conveyors supported by the harvester frame for transporting the slabs away from the cutting assembly toward a transfer station located along the one or more conveyors;
- d) a pallet station supported by the harvester frame and spaced apart from the transfer station, the pallet station operable to hold a pallet for loading with slabs and to discharge the pallet when loaded;
- e) a pallet loader supported by the harvester frame for holding a plurality of empty pallets, the pallet loader operable to inject empty pallets one at a time to the pallet station;
- f) a stacking head movably mounted to the harvester frame, the stacking head moveable between a pick up position above the transfer station for picking up one or more slabs from the transfer station, and a drop off position above the pallet station for depositing the one or more slabs on a pallet at the pallet station;
- and
- g) a control system including one or more controllers configured to control operation of the stacking head to:
- i) repeatedly transfer slabs from the transfer station to the pallet station to form a loaded pallet at the pallet station;
- ii) during replacement of the loaded pallet with an empty pallet, operate the stacking head in a pre-stacking mode for forming a stack of slabs at the transfer station;
- and
- iii) transfer the stack of slabs from the transfer station to the pallet station for deposit on the empty pallet when received at the pallet station, and repeat (i) to (iii) in a continuous sod harvesting process.
A method of operating a stacking head of a sod harvester, comprising:
- a) operating the stacking head in a single layer mode, in which the stacking head transfers a single layer of one or more sod slabs during each trip from a transfer station located along one or more conveyors of a conveyor assembly to a pallet station for deposit of the single layer onto a pallet at the pallet station;
- and
- b) switching operation of the stacking head from the single layer mode to a pre-stacking mode, the stacking head forming a stack of slabs at the transfer station and transferring the stack to the pallet station when operating in the pre-stacking mode.
A method of operating a sod harvester, comprising:
- a) cutting sod slabs from the ground using a cutting head;
- b) advancing the slabs along one or more conveyors from the cutting head to a transfer station located along the one or more conveyors;
- c) forming a stack of the slabs at the transfer station using a stacking head;
- and
- d) transferring the stack of slabs using the stacking head from the transfer station to a pallet station to deposit the stack onto a pallet at the pallet station.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.