Walk-behind cotton harvester

#The present invention relates to cotton harvesting machines and more particularly to a powered walk-behind cotton harvester row unit suited for use in small cotton fields and in less developed countries where use of larger, more sophisticated and expensive harvesting machines is not feasible or warranted.

#In agriculturally advanced countries such as the United States of America, in the last century cotton harvesting has evolved from a largely manual task, to a completely automated task, wherein self-propelled machines are used to pick cotton at rates of up to several thousand pounds per hour from many rows of plants simultaneously. Reference in this regard Watkins U.S. Pat. No. 1,763,607 issued Jun. 10, 1930; Fachini et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,341,423 issued Jul. 27, 1982 to International Harvester Co.; and Covington et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,216 issued Feb. 19, 1991 to J. I. Case Co.

#While technological innovation and advancement have led to the use of technologically advanced, large capacity cotton harvesting machines in advanced nations, in poorer, less developed nations, cotton is still largely harvested by hand. Even old, relatively simple cotton harvesters such as disclosed in Watkins U.S. Pat. No. 1,763,607 are not now known to be used in developing countries for harvesting cotton. One anticipated shortcoming of using a harvester such as shown in Watkins, is the possible abrupt stoppage and jamming of the harvesting mechanism, for instance, due to abrupt stoppage of the wheels, such as if one or both of the wheels become lodged in a ditch or the like, or in the event the harvesting mechanism becomes entangled with thick cotton foliage, weeds, vines or the like. This possibility would appear to be increased if the harvester is only manually powered. One reason that this is a problem is an apparent lack of ability to disengage the picking apparatus from the drive wheels. The Watkins harvester also has a relatively blunt forward end, such that it would appear that large or wide cotton plants may be difficult to guide and receive into the relatively narrow front opening of the harvester. Also, using more modern harvesting mechanisms including picker rotors including columns of picker spindles and drives for rotating them, doffer columns, and the like, in a harvester such as disclosed in Watkins, would likely make the harvester too heavy to be moved under human power.

#FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic representation of a walk-behind cotton harvester according to the present invention;

#FIG. 2 is a simplified schematic top view of the walk-behind cotton harvester of FIG. 1;

#FIG. 3 is a perspective view of another walk-behind cotton harvester according to the invention;

#Referring now to the drawings, wherein preferred embodiments of the present invention are shown, in FIGS. 1 and 2 a walk-behind cotton harvester 10 is shown. Walk behind cotton harvester 10 includes a single row cotton picker 20 including a cotton picker housing 22. A pair of lateral plant lifters 30 are mounted to and extend forwardly of the cotton picker housing 22, defining a plant channel 36 extending back into housing 22 to a plant compressor sheet 34. At least one picker rotor 26 is mounted in cotton picker housing 22 adjacent to plant channel 36 and traverse to plant compressor sheet 34. A corresponding doffer column 28 is mounted in cotton picker housing 22 near picker rotor 26 for facilitating the picking action. Doffer column 28 removes picked cotton from picker rotor 26 and moves the picked cotton to an outlet 38 at the rear of cotton picker housing 22. A moistening column 29 is preferably disposed in picker housing 22 beside picker rotor 26 for moistening individual spindles or rotor 26. Rotor 26, doffer column 28 and moistener column 29 are all well known elements of cotton pickers such as picker 20. A power unit 12 is mounted on cotton picker housing 22 and is in mechanical communication with picker rotor 26 and doffer column 28 to impart appropriate rotational motion to such devices. Mounted on cotton picker housing 22 is a means for moving 40 the walk behind cotton harvester 10, means for moving 40 here including a pair of rotatable wheels 14 on opposite sides of picker housing 22 and a forward rotatable wheel 13. A handle 31 mounted on housing 22 may also be provided. FIGS. 1 and 2 depict the walk-behind harvester 10 in a single row configuration. It should be understood that a multiple row cotton picker unit can be configured as a walk behind harvester. One embodiment of the walk behind cotton harvester 10 has the means for moving 40 in mechanical communication with the power unit 12 via a drive shaft 41 and a gear box 24. It should be understood that means for moving 40 comprising wheels 13 and 14 are selected from a group also consisting of a pair of tracks or a pair of skids or other low friction elements to allow pulling by an animal or tractor. The wheels, tracks, skids and elements can be of any conventional and convenient style. Wheel 13 can be steerable, to assist the operator in maneuvering walk behind cotton harvester 10. In an embodiment of the walk behind harvester, power unit 12 can be a hydraulic motor, an electric motor, or a fossil fuel engine, such as an internal combustion engine, in mechanical communication with the means for moving 40. The cotton picked from the cotton plant rows is exhausted into a cotton collecting device (not shown) that can be attached to the walk behind cotton harvester, or towed or maneuvered behind or adjacent thereto, or the picked cotton can be deposited directly onto the ground for subsequent pickup by any convenient method. Trash such as plant debris can exit through a rear end of plant channel 36, denoted generally at 39. The elements of cotton picker housing 22, including picker rotor 26, doffer column 28, lateral plant lifters 30, plant compressor sheet 34, and plant channel 36, can comprise a cotton picker unit 20 as shown and described in related U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/511,462, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,408,605, the disclosure in which is incorporated herein by reference.

#In FIG. 2, cotton harvester 10 is positioned such that plant channel 36 therethrough is aligned with and receives one row of cotton plants P of a pair of rows of cotton plants spaced a distance D1 apart. This pair of rows is spaced a distance D2 from an adjacent pair of rows P which themselves are also spaced a distance D1 apart. This represents a narrow row cotton planting configuration prevalent in many developing countries particularly in the Peoples Republic of China. In such a planting pattern, the distance D1 is approximately 30 centimeters and the distance D2 is approximately 60 centimeters. In this view, it can be observed that cotton harvester 10 is of an asymmetrical configuration wherein plant channel 36 is to one side of a front to rear center line 35 of harvester 10, while picker rotor 26 and doffer column 28 are located mostly on an opposite side of the center line 35. Picker rotor 26 includes a plurality of columns of generally horizontally projecting spindles (not shown) that move as the rotor is rotated so as to project across plant channel 36 to adjacent to an opposing surface of compressor sheet 34, so as to be capable of removing cotton from bolls of plants passing through plant channel 36, the cotton plants being compressed laterally with respect to the length of rows P during passage through picker housing 22 in the well known manner to allow a majority of the cotton on the plants to be picked from one side.

#In FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 6, another walk-behind cotton harvester 50 constructed and operable according to the teachings of the present invention is shown, like parts of cotton harvester 50 and cotton harvester 10 being identified by like numbers. Cotton harvester 50 includes a single row picker unit 20 including a picker housing 22 containing a rotatable picker rotor 26 and an associated rotatable doffer column 28, and a moistener column 29. Picker housing 22 as previously described includes a pair of forwardly extending lateral plant lifters 30 defining a plant channel 36 extending rearwardly into housing 22 to a plant compressor sheet 34. Picker rotor 26 is located adjacent to plant channel 36 traverse to plant compressor sheet 34 so as to be operable in the above-described manner. Doffer column 28 is also mounted in picker housing 22, near picker rotor 26, and removes picked cotton from picker rotor 26 and moves it to an outlet 38 at the rear of cotton picker housing 22, as previously described. A power unit 12 is mounted on cotton picker housing 22 and is selectably engageable in mechanical connection with picker rotor 26 and doffer column 28 to impart appropriate rotational motion thereto. A plurality of rotatable wheels 13 and 14 are connected to and support picker housing 22 for movement over a surface, such as ground surface 52 of a cotton field. A rearmost of wheels 14 is rotatably mounted to the bottom of a generally upstanding column 54 connected to a rear support structure 56. Column 54 and rearwardly located wheel 14 are preferably connected to rear support structure 56 for rotatable or pivotable movement as denoted by arrow 58, column 54 including handles 31 to allow steering harvester 50.