초록 ▼

A tobacco harvester having a hydraulic control system for automatically and continuously controlling and maintaining the speed of a leaf defoliator assembly relative to and in proportion to the ground speed of the tobacco harvester. The hydraulic control system is adapted to continuously control the

A tobacco harvester having a hydraulic control system for automatically and continuously controlling and maintaining the speed of a leaf defoliator assembly relative to and in proportion to the ground speed of the tobacco harvester. The hydraulic control system is adapted to continuously control the horizontal rearward speed component of the defoliating elements of a leaf defoliator assembly such that the defoliating elements move rearwardly during leaf defoliation at approximately the same speed the harvester is moving forward. To provide for continuous speed control of the defoliator assembly, the hydraulic speed control system is operative to continuously effectively sense or monitor harvester ground speed and to continuously drive the defoliator assembly in proportion to the effectively sensed or monitored ground speed. In addition, the output of said hydraulic control system for controlling the speed of the defoliator assembly can be varied independently of harvester ground speed in order to synchronize or adjust the horizontal rearward speed component of the defoliating elements associated with said defoliator assembly to equal or nearly equal the forward ground speed of the harvester. Thus, the speed of the defoliator assembly is not only controlled and driven in proportion to the harvester ground speed, but the horizontal rearward speed component of the defoliating elements are driven at a speed approximately equal to the harvester ground speed. Consequently, once a certain speed relationship is established between the defoliator assembly and the harvester ground speed, this same speed relationship continues to exist for any and all harvester speeds. The result is that the defoliating elements during leaf defoliation move inwardly into the plane of the stalk row and outwardly therefrom in a continuous synchronized relationship with the passing tobacco stalks without significantly bending, breaking or cutting the stalks passing through the defoliator assembly.

대표청구항 ▼

In an automatic tobacco harvester of the type having a wheel supported mobile frame adapted to move through a tobacco field, a leaf defoliator assembly mounted on said frame and having defoliating elements that are adapted to defoliate tobacco leaves from successive tobacco stalks aligned in a row a

In an automatic tobacco harvester of the type having a wheel supported mobile frame adapted to move through a tobacco field, a leaf defoliator assembly mounted on said frame and having defoliating elements that are adapted to defoliate tobacco leaves from successive tobacco stalks aligned in a row as the harvester moves through the tobacco field, defoliator drive means operatively connected to the defoliator assembly for driving saiD defoliator assembly, and a leaf conveyor assembly means mounted on said mobile frame and operative to receive the defoliated tobacco leaves and to convey them to a collection area operatively associated with said tobacco harvester; the improvement comprising: an automatic hydraulic speed control system for continuously and automatically controlling and maintaining the speed of the defoliator assembly relative to and in proportion to the ground speed of said tobacco harvester as said harvester moves through the field during a harvesting operation, said automatic hydraulic speed control system including hydraulic motor means operatively connected to said defoliator drive means for driving the same; a hydraulic fluid flow control unit operatively connected to a source of hydraulic fluid and operatively associated with said hydraulic motor means for driving the same; and said hydraulic fluid flow control unit of said hydraulic speed control system having control means operatively associated therewith and continuously responsive to harvester ground speed and changes therein for automatically directing according to harvester ground speed a system of fluid with a volumetric flow rate generally proportional to the harvester ground speed from said hydraulic fluid flow control unit to said hydraulic motor means for continuously driving said defoliator assembly at a speed generally proportional to the ground speed of said tobacco harvester such that the speed of the said defoliator assembly is continuously controlled and maintained at a speed proportional to the ground speed of said tobacco harvester irrespective of changes in the harvester ground speed as it moves through the tobacco field.