US 4,067,454 AGranted

Support rail for tobacco sticks

OwnerFrancis A. Helblinginventor

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Abstract

A support rail has openings extending therethrough throughout its length to receive tobacco sticks with tobacco stalks thereon with adjacent openings having the tobacco sticks supported from opposite sides to balance the support rail. The support rail is mounted on a carrier or sled to enable the support rail with the tobacco sticks to be pulled into a tobacco barn by a tractor, for example. The support rail is mounted in vertically spaced relation to a base of the carrier so that the tobacco carried by the support rail will not engage the ground or the base. The support rail has a hook at the end of each of two ropes extending from its upper side to enable cables connected to a winch, which is mounted in the barn, to be connected thereto to lift the support rail from the carrier when the winch is activated. When the carrier returns to the barn a second time with another of the support rails, knots in each of the two ropes, which also extend from the bottom of the support rail connected to the winch through the connected cables, are connected to the hooks on the upper side of the support rail on the carrier to enable the support rail on the carrier to be connected to the support rail in the barn so that the support rail on the carrier may be lifted therefrom when the winch is activated. This process is continued until each bent of the barn is filled with a plurality of support rails in vertically spaced relation to each other with the uppermost support rail in each bent connected to one of the winches.

Claims10

Dependent claims

An apparatus for harvesting tobacco including:

a support rail;
said support rail having a plurality of substantially parallel openings extending therethrough along its length, said openings being substantially equally spaced from each other;
each of said openings receiving therein one end of a tobacco stick with tobacco thereon for support by said support rail with the ends of adjacent sticks disposed on alternate sides of said support rail;
and said support rail having a pair of connecting means connected thereto, each of said connecting means including first and second means extending from opposite sides of said support rail in a direction substantially perpendicular to said openings, said first means extending from one of the opposite sides of said support rail and connecting to lifting means within a barn to maintain said support rail in vertically spaced relation thereto when said support rail is the uppermost support rail and connecting to the second means of the connecting means of a support rail disposed above said support rail to maintain said support rail in a vertically spaced relation to the support rail disposed thereabove when said support rail is not the uppermost support rail, and second means extending from the other of the opposite sides of said support rail and connecting to the first means of the connecting means of a support rail disposed beneath said support rail to maintain said support rail in vertically spaced relation to the support rail therebeneath, wherein each of said connecting means of each of said support rails has its first means aligned vertically with the second means of the connecting means on the support rail disposed above said support rail and has its second means aligned vertically with the first means of the connecting means on the support rail disposed beneath said support rail when the support rails are vertically disposed.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.