Feed residue saver for combines
OwnerWendell E. Corbett, Jay D. Suttoninventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A feed residue saver attachment for combines has a trough adapted to be mounted in a transverse position beneath the rearward portion of a combine to receive residue which the combine would otherwise discharge onto the ground. A driven auger in the trough moves residue out an open end and into an impeller housing from which it is blown through a duct into a wagon. The attachment has alternative modes of operation so that it may be selectively used either to save substantially all the feed residue including chaff, or to save substantially only large material such as corn cobs, corn husks and pieces of stalk (known in some farming areas as "husklage") and permit chaff and other fine material to drop to the ground.
Claims8
A feed residue saver attachment for a combine which has a casing with sidewalls, and a chaffer screen in said casing, said attachment comprising:
- a trough adapted to be detachably mounted in a transverse position beneath the rearward portion of a combine to receive residue from the chaffer screen which is usable for animal feed, and which the combine would otherwise discharge onto the ground, said trough having a rearward side and a forward side, an end plate on the trough adapted to extend downwardly from one sidewall of the casing, and the trough having an open end adapted to be adjacent the other sidewall;
- conveyor means in the trough for moving residue toward said open end;
- an impeller housing secured to said open end of the trough, there being an infeed opening in said housing to receive residue from the trough and a discharge opening in the housing which opens directly into a discharge duct;
- an impeller journalled in the housing and rotatable to receive residue from the conveyor means and discharge it through said discharge opening and said discharge duct into a residue container adjacent the combine;
- first power transmission means to drive the impeller from a driven shaft of the combine at a relatively high speed;
- second power transmission means to drive the conveyor means from a driven shaft of said combine at a speed to deliver substantially 100% of the residue received by the trough into the impeller;
- and a deflector plate at the rear of the trough extending upwardly into the combine casing behind the chaffer screen so as to direct residue carried off the rear of said screen downwardly into the trough.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.