US 4,655,667 A · Harvesting apparatus having detachable wings

Abstract

A harvesting system for wet soil crops, such as broccoli and cauliflower, includes a harvest/shuttle vehicle and complementary trailer. The vehicle may be operated in a harvest mode in concert with detachable harvesting wings to accumulate a load of produce during a harvest. Thereafter, the harvest vehicle may either transfer the load to a similar vehicle used in a shuttle mode to transport the load to the highway, or the wings may be detached from the vehicle and the vehicle may be operated in the shuttle mode to transport the load to the highway. In either application, the harvest remains uninterrupted because the harvesting wings continue to remain in use in the field. After a load is transported from the field to the highway, it is readily transferred to a trailer. The trailer includes a trailer bed that is readily adjusted between a load receiving elevation and a load transporting elevation. All such transfers between harvester, shuttle, and trailer are automated using palletized loads and self-powered transfer mechanisms.

Claims7

Dependent claims

A harvest vehicle for use as a prime mover for moving harvesting apparatus through a field or as a shuttle vehicle for transporting product from a point of harvest in a field to a point of transport adjacent the field, said vehicle comprising in combination:

a vehicle platform forming a flush, upwardly exposed deck for said vehicle for retaining pallets of harvested product on said deck;
a conveyor mounted flush to the deck of said vehicle for conveying said pallets of harvested product from and over the rear end of the deck of said vehicle across said vehicle and to and over the front end of said vehicle;
an operator station recessed below the deck of said vehicle in said conveyor path to permit said pallets of harvested product to be conveyed over said operator station;
and
gathering means for engaging a similar vehicle having a flush deck to enable the flush decks of said harvest vehicles to be engaged end to end at the same level whereby said conveying means can transfer cargo to and from said similar vehicle, said gathering means being located at the forward and rear ends of said harvest vehicle.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Harvesting apparatus having detachable wings

Life of this patent

Harvesting apparatus having detachable wings

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims7