Cotton harvester and tandem row unit therefor
AssigneeDeere & Company
InventorsTimothy A. Deutsch, Arthur L. Hubbard
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cotton picker row unit includes tandem drum structure for harvesting cotton from one side of a row of cotton. A front drum trash slot directs trash and cotton discharged from the front drum into the row and permits the rear drum to pick the discharged cotton. Fore-and-aft spaced discharge doors are located on the side of the unit and are connected so that cotton from the rear door is combined with that from the front door. The combined cotton is conveyed through a single duct to the basket. The tandem drum and side door structure provide a narrow row unit configuration, and a plurality of identical units are spaced on a harvesting frame forwardly of the drive wheels for picking narrow row cotton.
Claims35
A narrow row unit for a cotton harvester, comprising:
- a fore-and-aft extending unit frame including a fore-and-aft row-receiving area for receiving a single row of cotton plants therein;
- harvesting means located on one side only of the row-receiving area, said harvesting means including a first forwardly located upright harvesting drum rotatably supported by the unit fram adjacent said one side of the row-receiving area and including spindle means projecting into the row-receiving area for removing cotton from the plant and a second harvesting drum rotatably supported by the unit frame rearwardly adjacent of, and on the same side of the row-receiving area as the first drum, said second drum including additional spindle means projecting into the row-receiving area rearwardly of the first-mentioned spindle means for removing cotton left on the plants by the first-mentioned spindle means;
- pressure means located on the side of the row-receiving area opposite the harvesting means for urging the cotton plants toward the first and second drums whereby cotton is removed substantially exclusively by the harvesting means;
- and
- means for conveying the removed cotton from the first and second drums.
A cotton harvester including a fore-and-aft extending main frame and adapted for harvesting cotton from at least two consecutive rows of cotton spaced apart approximately thirty inches or less, said harvester including a first row unit defining a first fore-and-aft extending row-receiving area for receiving a row of cotton plants therein, said row unit comprising tandem drum structure including a first upright harvesting drum located on one side of the row-receiving area;
- a second upright harvesting drum located rearwardly of, and on the same side of the row-receiving area as, the first drum, the drums rotatable about upright axes and including spindle means projecting into the row-receiving area for removing cotton from the plants;
- means urging the cotton plants towards the first and second drums for causing the first and second drums exclusively to remove the cotton from the row of plants;
- doffer means associated with drums for doffing cotton from the spindles, said doffer means including first and second upright doffer columns supported for rotation about axes located outwardly of the drum axes on the opposite side of the drum axes from the row-receiving area;
- at least a second row unit located closely adjacent the first row unit and defining a second fore-and-aft extending row-receiving area, said second row unit including upright drum structure located on the side of the second row-receiving area adjacent the first row-receiving area, and lift arm structure connected to the row units and supporting the row units substantially entirely from the foward end of the main frame.
A cotton harvester having a fore-and-aft extending main frame supported for forward movement over a field of cotton plants by forward drive wheels, a plurality of narrow row units transversely spaced and supported in side-by-side relationship on the main frame forwardly of the drive wheels and adapted for harvesting cotton from consecutive narrowly spaced rows of cotton plants, each row unit including a row-receiving area, first and second fore-and-aft spaced picker drums, means supporting the drums on one side only of the row-receiving area for rotation about upright axes, pressure plate means located on the opposite side of the row-receiving area for urging the plants towards the drums, a narrow fore-and-aft extending door structure extending adjacent the drums and on the opposite side of the drums as the corresponding row-receiving area, doffer means for directing cotton picked by the drums transversely into the door structure, and means for conveying the picked cotton away from the door structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.