Root crop harvester and trimmer

A field harvester and trimmer for root crops such as carrots, beets or the like, said harvester being of the type comprising a wheeled vehicle having a frame mounting a plow share for loosening the soil around the roots, a harvesting frame extending upwardly and rearwardly from the ground, two laterally opposed endless lifter belts in said harvesting frame having adjacent reaches extending from said plow share to the rear of the harvester for grasping and lifting the tops of the plants, said lifter belts having continuous unobstructed under surfaces from front to rear, means for driving said lifter belts, trimming means at an upper rearward portion of said harvesting frame for topping the roots, and means for collecting the topped roots;

• the improvement comprising a gauging belt frame diverging upwardly and rearwardly from said harvesting frame, laterally opposed gauging belts mounted on said gauging belt frame and disposed above said lifter belts, said gauging belts being upwardly and rearwardly inclined at an acute angle to said lifter belts for grasping and pulling the tops of the crop up through the lifter belts to bring the crowns of the roots against the underside of said lifter belts, and means for driving said gauging belts at a speed sufficiently slower than that of said lifter belts for causing the latter to retard advance of the upper portions of the foliage tops gripped by the gauging belts relative to the lower portions of the foliage tops gripped by the lifter belts to swing the roots rearwardly relative to the top portions gripped by the lifter belts until root axes are substantially normal to the lifter belts before the roots reach said trimming means, said trimming means comprising knife means disposed below, substantially parallel to and closely adjacent to said lifter belts.