Grain Cart With Movable Conveyor System
OwnerSidney Johnsoninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A granular commodity wagon or grain cart assembly that includes a movable conveyor assembly supported by the grain cart. The conveyor assembly is movable between a stowed position and an in-use position. When in the stowed position, the conveyor assembly facilitates a compact footprint of the grain cart assembly for storage and/or transportation. When in the in-use position, the conveyor assembly can be oriented in generally longitudinal alignment with the longitudinal axis associated with the direction of travel of the grain cart assembly to facilitate loading of the cart with a commodity, such as grain, seeds, or beans collected by a harvester or other secondary harvest or collection and/or transport and/or storage vehicle or container.
Claims21
A grain cart assembly comprising:
- a container having a top that is shaped to receive a granular commodity and a discharge opening associated with removing a granular commodity from the container;
- a conveyor that extends in an axial direction;
- a space frame that secures the conveyor to the container, the space frame comprising:
- a first portion that extends in the axial direction and supports the conveyor;
- a second portion that extends in a transverse direction relative to the first portion;
- a pivot engaged with the second portion of the space frame and the container, the pivot defining a pivot axis that is laterally inboard of an outer longitudinal edge of the container, the space frame cooperating with the container to rotate about the pivot axis to be moveable from a stored position along a longitudinal side of the container and an in-use position wherein the conveyor overhangs a forward edge of the container and such that the axial direction of the conveyor is generally aligned with a travel direction of the container and the conveyor is within a lateral footprint that is normal to a longitudinal axis of the container.
A granular agricultural commodity transport vehicle comprising:
- a hopper having a plurality of upstanding walls that define a volume for containing an agricultural commodity and an opening at an upper end thereof;
- at least one vehicle frame member attached to the hopper;
- at least one running gear attached to the at least one vehicle frame member;
- a conveyor defined by a longitudinal axis;
- a conveyor support attached to the conveyor and pivotably attached to the at least one vehicle frame member to move the conveyor between a stowed position wherein the conveyor is oriented in close proximity to the hopper and aligned with a longitudinal axis thereof and an in-use position wherein a load end of the conveyor is offset from the hopper and an unload end of the conveyor is positioned proximate the opening defined by the hopper;
- and
- at least one actuator attached between the at least one vehicle frame member and the conveyor support, the at least one actuator being operable to selectively move the conveyor between the stowed position and the in-use position.
A method of forming a grain wagon comprising:
- forming a container having an opening proximate a top end thereof;
- supporting the container with a running gear;
- and
- attaching a conveyor to the container such that the conveyor is movable relative to the container to move between a stowed position wherein the conveyor extends along a longitudinal side of the container and an in-use position wherein the conveyor extends forward relative to a container and at a greater pitch than a pitch of the conveyor associated with the stowed position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.