Brief Description of the Drawings
FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the sugarcane planting device of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the rear end of the planting device of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a longitudinal, vertical sectional view of the sugarcane planting device;
FIG. 4 is a generally schematic plan view of one of the parallel aligning and discharge conveyor means incorporated in the sugarcane planting device; and
FIG. 5 is a longitudinal, horizontal section view taken generally along the line 5--5 of FIG. 1.
Description of a Preferred Form of the Invention
With reference to the drawings in which like reference characters designated like or corresponding parts throughout the various views and with particular reference to FIG. 1, the sugarcane planting device, indicated generally at 10, is comprised generally of an enlarged hopper portion 12, fixed to a main support frame 14, and a rear discharge end portion 16 including aligning and discharge conveyor means 18. Wheels 20 are rotatably carried by an undercarriage 22 fixed to the support frame 14. A pair of front wheels 24 (one illustrated) are rotatable on an axle 26 pivotally connected to an undercarriage portion 28 and a tongue 30, fixed relative to axle 26, is provided with a hitch means 32 at its forward end for attachment to a tow vehicle (not shown) in a conventional manner.
With reference to FIG. 3 and 5, the hopper 12 is comprised of a pair of side walls 34 and 36 and a forward, inwardly downwardly inclined front wall 38 defining an enlarged inner chamber 40. The side and front walls 34, 36 and 38 are supported by pluralities of vertical side beams 42 and 44 fixed between pairs of lower and upper horizontal side rails 46 and 48. Lower rails 46 are, in turn, fixed to a plurality of transverse rails 50 fixed across the main support frame 14.
The inner chamber 40 opens at its rear end into a chamber portion 52 which is defined by side wall extensions 54 and 56 of side walls 34 and 36. A downwardly rearwardly inclined roof 58 spans the top of side wall portions 54 and 56 between a pair of top downwardly inclined side rails 59, and a downwardly rearwardly inclined floor 60 is fixed between the lower edge of the respective side wall portions 54 and 56.
Side wall portions 54, 56 and inclined roof and floor 58 and 60 define a chute indicated generally at 62 which is divided into two rear end spaced apart chute portions 64 and 66 by a central divider 68 which is V-shaped in horizontal cross section being comprised of a pair of rearwardly diverging walls 70 and 72 from a central vertical edge 74.
As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 5, three continuous chains 80, 82 and 84 are disposed generally along the length of the bottom of inner chamber 40, chains 80 and 84 being spaced somewhat inwardly of the respective side walls 34 and 36, with the chain 82 being longitudinally centrally disposed therealong. Each of the chains is engaged around a rearward drive sprocket 86 and a forward idler sprocket 88, the drive sprockets 86 being fixed to a common transverse drive shaft 90 and the idler sprockets 88 being similarly carried by a shaft 92.
Referring to FIG. 5, drive shaft 90 is journaled in a plurality of bearings 94 and is drivingly connected to a hydraulic speed reducer motor 96, fixed to side wall portion 54. A floor 98 closingly spans the entire bottom of inner chamber 40 beneath the top run 100 of the chains 80, 82 and 84. As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 5, a plurality of spaced apart baffle strips 102 span the inner chamber 40 in a fixed relation to side walls 34 and 36 in a somewhat spaced above relation to the chains 80, 82 and 84.
Referring now to FIGS. 2, 3 and 5, the spaced apart side chute portions 64 and 66 terminate in open rear ends 110 and 122. Each open chute end such as 110 opens onto the top run 114 of a horizontal, longitudinally disposed conveyor 116, preferably of the belt variety as illustrated. Drive and idler drums 118 and 120, provided for each conveyor belt 116, are rotatably journaled between forward and rear pairs of vertical beams 122 and 124 fixed to and extending downwardly from side and rear rails 126, 128 and 130 of main support frame 14. The belt 116 is driven by a hydraulic motor 132 carried by one vertical beam such as 124. A second belt conveyor 140, somewhat shorter in length than conveyor 116 is vertically disposed above conveyor 116 and includes a drive drum 142 connected to a hydraulic motor 144 and an idler drum 146. As best illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, the conveyor 140 is angled rearwardly outwardly from the drive drum 142, which is located inwardly of the front portion of conveyor 116, to the idler drum 146 which is located generally centrally of the width of conveyor 116. As best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, the lower edge 148 of conveyor belt 140 is positioned very closely adjacent to or in kissing contact with the top surface of conveyor belt 116.
As illustrated in FIG. 4, conveyor belt 116 is driven in the direction indicated by arrow 150 to discharge sugarcane seed pieces S, which may be 20 inches long, for example, from the rear or drive end thereof into furrows F as illustrated in FIG. 1. Conveyor belt 140 is driven in the opposite direction to conveyor belt 116 as indicated by arrow 152. Therefore, when a piece of cane seed such as 154 is moving along with belt 116 in an unparallel relation to a furrow, contact with conveyor belt 140 will turn or orient it to a parallel relation to the conveyor belt 116, such as cane piece 156, which is always parallel to the furrows F during the planting operation because the sugarcane planting device is drawn along a path parallel with the furrows. The sugarcane seed pieces S are therefore discharged into the furrows F in a parallel relation therewith.
FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate hinged door closures 160 and 162 above the respective openings 110 and 112, the hinges being designated 164 and 166. If desired, windows may be provided in doors 160 and 162.
Between the main chamber 40 and rear chamber portion 52 is a pair of pivotal doors 170 and 171 as seen in FIG. 3. Each door such as 170 is pivoted at 172 along its top edge to a transverse support 174. A hydraulic piston and cylinder assembly 176, pivoted at 178 to a transverse support 180, is operably linked at 182 to the top of door 170. Selective operation of piston and cylinder assembly 176 serves to open or close door 170 relative to one-half of the width of the opening between main chamber 40 and rear chamber portion 52. The pair of alike hydraulically operated doors 170, 171 may therefore be selectively operated to open and closed positions to open or close the full width of the opening between main chamber 40 and chamber portion 52 or individually opened to supply a flow of cane seed pieces S to either chute portion 64 or 66 to accomplish a single row planting operation.
The box 190 carried at the front of planting device 10 houses a generally conventional hydraulic system including a motor driven hydraulic pump, fluid tank, controls, etc. What is claimed is: