Sod harvester with roller conveyor
Assignee1045929 Ontario Limited
InventorsGerardus J. BROUWER, Robert MILWAIN, Evan HOPKINS
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A sod harvester includes (a) a harvester frame and (b) a conveyor system supported by the harvester frame. The conveyor system includes at least one first conveyor for transporting one or more slabs away from a cutting assembly and at least one second conveyor downstream of the at least one first conveyor for receiving the slabs from the at least one first conveyor and transporting the slabs downstream to a pick-up area along the at least one second conveyor for pick-up of the slabs by a stacking head. The second conveyor comprises a roller conveyor including a plurality of rollers arranged for engagement with an underside of the slabs for transporting the slabs to the pick-up area.
Claims19
A sod harvester, comprising:
- a) a harvester frame;
- b) a cutting assembly mounted to the harvester frame for cutting sod into one or more slabs;
- c) a conveyor system supported by the harvester frame, the conveyor system including at least one first conveyor for transporting the one or more slabs away from the cutting assembly and at least one second conveyor downstream of the at least one first conveyor for receiving the one or more slabs from the at least one first conveyor and transporting the one or more slabs downstream to a pick-up area along the at least one second conveyor, each second conveyor comprising a roller conveyor including a plurality of rollers arranged for engagement with an underside of one or more respective slabs for transporting the one or more respective slabs to the pick-up area;
- and
- d) a stacking head movably mounted to the harvester frame, the stacking head moveable between a pick-up position above the pick-up area for picking up the one or more slabs from the pick-up area, and a drop-off position spaced apart from the pick-up position for depositing the one or more slabs at a drop-off area.
A sod harvester, comprising:
- a) a harvester frame;
- b) a cutting assembly mounted to the harvester frame for cutting sod into one or more slabs;
- and
- c) a conveyor system supported by the harvester frame for transporting the one or more slabs from the cutting assembly to a pick-up area for pick-up of the one or more slabs by a stacking head of the sod harvester, the conveyor system comprising at least one roller conveyor extending along the pick-up area for transporting the one or more slabs thereto.
A method of harvesting sod slabs, comprising:
- a) cutting sod from a ground surface into one or more slabs using a cutting assembly of a sod harvester;
- b) transporting the one or more slabs along a conveyor system of the sod harvester from the cutting assembly to a pick-up area, the transporting including engaging an underside of the one or more slabs with at least one roller conveyor of the conveyor system to position the one or more sod slabs at the pick-up area;
- and
- c) operating a stacking head of the sod harvester to pick up the one or more slabs from the pick-up area and deposit the one or more slabs at a drop-off area spaced apart from the pick-up area.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.