Grain tank and grain conveyor means of harvesting machines

An agricultural harvesting machine comprising:

• a chassis adapted to travel across a field,
• an operator's platform mounted on the chassis at its forward end,
• first conveyor means mounted on the chassis at a location below the operator's platform for conveying crop material from the field to the chassis,
• threshing and separating means mounted on the chassis and adapted to receive crop material from the conveyor means and to thresh and separate grain from the crop material,
• grain cleaning means mounted on the chassis for receiving threshed and separated grain from the threshing and separating means and for cleaning said grain,
• a grain tank provided on top of the chassis and extending from adjacent the operator's platform in rearward direction to a location rearwardly of the rear end of the chassis and comprising a pivot axis disposed transversely of the harvesting machine for pivotally mounting said grain tank on the chassis, and the grain tank being adapted for temporarily holding cleaned grain therein,
• hydraulic means disposed between the grain tank at a location forwardly of the pivot axis, and the chassis for tipping the grain tank and for discharging grain contained therein rearwardly of the machine, and for pivoting the grain tank from its discharge position back to its generally horizontal position,
• second conveyor means mounted between the cleaning means and the grain tank for loading cleaned grain in the grain tank,
• said grain tank comprising;
• a front base portion extending generally horizontally when the tank is in a loading position,
• a rear base portion which is upwardly inclined relative to the front base portion and which acts as a chute for unloading grain from the grain tank when the latter is pivoted to the discharge position, and
• side walls extending generally vertically and parallel to one another.

An agricultural harvesting machine comprising:

• a chassis adapted to travel across a field,
• means mounted on the chassis for conveying crop material from the field to the chassis,
• means mounted on said chassis and adapted to receive crop material from the conveying means for threshing and separating grain from the crop material,
• means mounted on said chassis for receiving threshed and separated grain from the threshing and separating means and for cleaning said grain,
• a grain tank pivotally mounted on said chassis and adapted for temporarily holding cleaned grain therein,
• loading means for receiving clean grain and conveying it into the grain tank comprising;
• a first elevator means extending from the grain cleaning means to the grain tank,
• second elevator means mounted within the grain tank and aligned with said first elevator means when the grain tank is in a grain loading position and
• disengageable coupling means disposed between the first and second elevator means for coupling said elevator means to one another when the grain tank is in the grain loading position.