US 4,730,444 AGranted

Air seal for preventing seed loss in crop pickup mechanism

OwnerLeon E. Leffel, Rick G. Leffelinventors

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Abstract

A high speed blower feeds airstreams to a plurality of lower ducts that produce sheets of high velocity lower air stream moving upward through various gaps in a rake plate through which tines of a rotary pickup drum pass as the drum lifts a windrow of dry, brittle sesame seed crop, creating a lower "air seal" that prevents loss of large numbers of sesame seeds that pop out of the dry pods as a result of snapping and cracking of the dry crop material. The air seal prevents the seeds from falling through the gaps to the ground. The blower also feeds a plurality of upper ducts that produce a high velocity air stream flowing rearward over the upper surface of the matt, intercepting large numbers of sesame seeds that pop outward and upward from the pods and otherwise would be lost as a result of the snapping and cracking of the dry crop material.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A method of preventing loss of seeds from dry, brittle crop material having open pods in windrows, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a crop pickup mechanism attached to a harvesting machine, the pickup mechanism including a rotary tined pickup drum for lifting windrows, a rake plate adjacent to the pickup drum and having narrow gaps through which tines of the pickup drum pass, the harvesting machine including an auger assembly for receiving lifted windrow material as the harvesting machine moves forward against the windrow;
(b) rotating the pickup drum so that its tines lift the windrow upward and over the pickup drum and into the auger assembly while the harvesting machine moves forward, the resulting stresses on the windrow causing a large number of seeds to be ejected from the pods in various upward, outward, and downward direction;
(c) producing a high velocity first sheet of air skimming over the upper surface of the lifted windrow and deflecting the upwardly ejected seeds and carrying them into the auger assembly;
(d) providing a high velocity second sheet of air beneath the lifted windrow and guiding the second sheet of air so a portion of it passes upward through the gaps, thereby preventing seeds from passing downward through the gaps.

1 more element

In a machine for harvesting seeds from brittle crop material in windrows, the machine including a rotary pickup drum for lifting the windrows over the pickup drum and feeding it into an auger assembly as the machine moves forward against the windrows, wherein the stresses applied to the windrow during the lifting cause large numbers of seeds to be ejected from open pods as a result of cracking of the stems and the resulting shock to the pods, an air seal apparatus comprising means for producing a high velocity first sheet of air that skims over the surface of the lifted windrow, including the upwardly sloped portion from which seeds begin to fly upwardly and outwardly, with sufficient velocity to deflect the flying seeds rearward into the auger assembly, and means for producing a second high velocity sheet of air beneath the lifted windrow and guiding the second sheet of air so that it passes at high velocity upward through gaps between the pickup drum and a rake plate over which the lifted windrow passes.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.