Roll-up conveyor for a sod harvester
AssigneeSteiner Turf Equipment, Inc.
InventorsEmanuel A. Hendriks, Mathias M. Hendriks, Johannes G. Hendriks, Wilhelmus J. Hendriks, Thomas E. Noyes II
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A sod roller for automatically controlling the angular position of the end or flap of a roll of sod about the roll. A device senses the end, or trailing edge, of a strip of sod as a roll is formed on a roll-up conveyor. The sod roller holds the roll in the roll-up conveyor as it continues to roll and ejects the roll from the roll-up conveyor in a manner responsive to the position of the trailing edge of the strip of sod.
Claims17
An apparatus for rolling a sod strip into a sod roll comprising:
- a transport conveyer for displacing the sod strip;
- a starter for initiating the rolling of the sod strip in proximity to a leading portion of the sod strip as it is displaced by the transport conveyor;
- a tray for at least partially retarding displacement of an upper portion of the sod roll as it passes to assist rolling the sod strip;
- an edge detector for detecting a trailing edge of the sod strip as the sod strip is displaced on the transport conveyor;
- a roll-up conveyor for further rolling up the sod strip, the roll-up conveyor operating in a direction opposite the transport conveyor;
- and
- a holding conveyor, the holding conveyor maintaining the sod roll on the transport conveyor.
An apparatus for rolling a sod strip being displaced by a transport conveyor into a sod roll comprising:
- a trailing edge sensor for detecting a trailing edge portion of the sod strip;
- a retaining device for retaining the sod roll in the conveyor as the sod strip is rolled into a sod roll;
- and
- an ejector device for ejecting the roll in accordance with a position of the trailing edge portion of the sod strip.
The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the trailing edge sensor comprises a member in contact with the sod strip, the member being displaced to a first position when in contact with the sod strip and being displaced to a second position when not in contact with the strip, wherein displacement between the first and second positions indicates the presence of an edge portion of the sod strip.
A method for rolling sod strips into a sod roll comprising the steps of:
- providing a transport conveyor;
- locating a trailing edge portion of the sod strip;
- retaining the sod roll in the transport conveyor as the sod strip is rolled into a sod roll;
- and
- ejecting the roll in accordance with a position of the trailing edge portion of the sod strip.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.