Title: Apparatus to detect the passage of ferrous material in crop harvesting machines

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Claims: Having thus described the invention, what we claim is:

1. A crop harvesting machine comprising:

a. a frame adapted to travel across a field;

b. means mounted to the frame for delivering crop material from the field to said frame;

c. means positioned rearwardly of the delivering means and mounted on said frame for processing the crop material delivered to said frame;

d. means operably associated with the processing means and positioned between said delivering means and said processing means to compress said crop material;

e. means for detecting ferrous metal in the immediate vicinity of said compressing means between said delivery means and said processing means; and

f. means for interrupting the operation of the harvesting machine, said interrupting means being responsive to the detection of ferrous metal in the vicinity of the comprising means by said detecting means.

2. A crop harvesting machine as set forth in claim 1, wherein, said compressing means comprise upper and lower feed rolls laterally disposed on said frame of the harvesting machine.

3. A crop harvesting machine as set forth in claim 1, wherein, the detecting means is mounted within said compressing means.

4. A crop harvesting machine as set forth in claim 1, wherein, the detecting means comprise;

means for providing a field of flux in the vicinity of the compressing means so that an electronic signal is produced under conditions where a piece of ferrous metal passes through the field of flux, said harvesting machine operation being interrupted in response to the production of said signal.

5. A crop harvesting machine as set forth in claim 4, wherein, the compressing means comprise upper and lower feed rolls laterally disposed on said frame of the harvesting machine and the flux providing means is stationarily mounted within one of said feed rolls.

6. A crop harvesting machine as set forth in claim 4, wherein, the detecting means further comprise:

means for generating a constant signal; and

means for relaying said constant signal to said interrupting means during the normal operation of the harvesting machine.

7. A crop harvesting machine as set forth in claim 6, wherein, the constant signal is changed by the signal produced by a piece of ferrous metal passing through the field of flux thereby activating the interrupting means to stop the operation of the harvesting machine.

8. A crop harvesting machine as set forth in claim 7, wherein, said flux providing means is mounted within the compressing means and said constant signal generating means is mounted on the frame of said harvesting machine.

9. A crop harvesting machine comprising:

a. a frame adapted to travel across a field;

b. means mounted to the frame for delivering crop material from the field to said frame;

c. means positioned rearwardly of the delivering means and mounted on said frame for processing the crop material delivered to said frame;

d. means operably associated with the processing means and positioned between said delivering means and said processing means to compress said crop material;

e. means mounted on said frame adapted to interrupt the operation of the harvesting machine; and

f. means operably associated with the compressing means for activating the interrupting means in response to the passage of undesirable objects in the immediate vicinity of said compressing means, said activating means including means for providing a signal during the normal operation of the harvester and means for changing the signal whenever undesirable objects pass in the immediate vicinity of said compressing means, said means for interrupting said signal being positioned within said compressing means.

10. A crop harvesting machine comprising:

a. a frame adapted to travel across a field;

b. means mounted to the frame for delivering crop material from the field to said frame;

c. means positioned rearwardly of the delivering means and mounted on said frame for processing the crop material delivered to said frame;

d. means operably associated with the processing means and positioned between said delivering means and said processing means to compress said crop material;

e. means operably associated with the compressing means for generating a signal during the normal operation of the harvester and for interrupting said signal whenever undesirable objects pass in the immediate vicinity of said compressing means, said generating means include a magnetic-coil means positioned with said compressing means; and

f. means mounted on said frame and adapted to receive said signal during the normal operation of said harvester and further adapted to interrupt the operation of the harvesting machine under conditions where an undesirable object passes in the immediate vicinity of said compressing means.

11. A harvesting machine as described in claim 10 further comprising means mounted to said frame for driving said delivering and said compressing means, the driving means being operably associated with said receiving means so that the operation of said delivering and compressing means is interrupted when said signal is interrupted.

12. A harvesting machine as described in claim 10 wherein said compressing means comprises rotatable feed means mounted to said frame and adapted to compress and feed said crop material into said processing means.

13. A harvesting machine as described in claim 12 wherein said rotatable feed means include a plurality of rollers rotatably mounted to said frame in juxtaposition to each other.

14. An agricultural harvesting machine comprising:

a. a frame adapted to travel across a field;

b. means mounted to the frame for delivering crop material from the field to said frame;

c. means positioned rearwardly of the delivering means and mounted on said frame for processing the crop material delivered to said frame;

d. means mounted to said frame and interposed between said delivering means and said processing means to compress said crop material;

e. signal generating means consisting of a constant signal generating means mounted to said frame of said harvester for providing a constant signal during the normal operation of the harvester and a constant signal interrupting means mounted within said compressing means and adapted to interrupt said constant signal whenever undesirable objects pass through said compressing means; and

f. means mounted on said frame adapted to receive said signal during the normal operation of said harvester and further adapted to interrupt the operation of the harvesting machine under conditions where an undesirable object passes in the immediate vicinity of said compressing means.

15. An agricultural harvesting machine as described in claim 14 wherein said constant signal interrupting means comprises at least one magnet stationarily mounted within said compressing means, the magnets being adapted to generate a magnetic field in the immediate vicinity of said compressing means.

16. An agricultural harvesting machine as described in claim 14 wherein said compressing means are constructed of non-magnetic material in order that the magnetic field generated by said magnets will not be attenuated.

17. An agricultural harvesting machine comprising:

a. a frame adapted to travel across a field;

b. means mounted to the frame for delivering crop material from the field to said frame;

c. means positioned rearwardly of the delivering means and mounted on said frame for processing the crop material delivered to said frame;

d. a plurality of rotatable feeding means interposed between said delivering means and said processing means to feed said crop material into said processing means;

e. means mounted to said frame for driving said delivering means and said feeding means;

f. signal generating means consisting of a constant signal generating means mounted to said frame for providing a constant signal during the normal operation of said harvester and a constant signal interrupting means mounted within said feeding means for interrupting said constant signal whenever undesirable objects pass through said feeding means; and

g. means operably associated with the drive means and adapted to receive said signal during the normal operation of the harvester and further adapted to interrupt the operation of said drive means under conditions where an undesirable object passes in the immediate vicinity of said feeding means.

18. An agricultural harvesting machine as described in claim 17 wherein said rotatable feed means comprises a plurality of cylinders rotatably mounted to said frame in juxtaposition to each other and positioned such that said crop material will move between the cylinders prior to entering said processing means.

19. An agricultural harvesting machine as described in claim 18 wherein said cylinders are constructed of non-magnetic material.

20. An agricultural harvesting machine as described in claim 19 wherein said constant signal interrupting means comprises at least one magnet stationarily mounted within said cylinders and a plurality of coils of wires wrapped around the magnet in such a way as to generate a signal whenever a ferrous object passes through the generated magnetic field.

21. A crop harvesting machine comprising:

a. a frame adapted to travel across a field;

b. means mounted to the frame for delivering crop material from the field to said frame;

c. means positioned rearwardly of the delivering means and mounted on said frame for processing the crop material delivered to said frame, said processing means comprise a cutting reel rotatably mounted to said frame;

d. means interposed between said delivering means and said processing means and mounted to said frame for confining and directing the crop material into said processing means;

e. means operably associated with the confining and directing means for generating a signal during the normal operation of the harvester and for interrupting said signal whenever undesirable objects pass in the immediate vicinity of said confining and directing means; and

f. means mounted on said frame and adapted to receive said signal during the normal operation of said harvester and further adapted to interrupt the operation of the harvesting machine under conditions where an undesirable object passes in the immediate vicinity of said confining and directing means.

22. A crop harvesting machine as described in claim 21 wherein said signal is an electronic impulse.

Other info:

Inventors: Garrott, William L. (Gainesville, FL, US)

Application Number: 529305
Filing Date: 1974-12-04
Publication_date: 1976-06-01
Assignee: Sperry Rand Corporation (New Holland, PA)
Primary Class(es): 460/3 56/DIG1, 56/DIG15, 460/16
Other Classes:
US Patent Ref:

2749696	Jun, 1956	Innes	56/10.
3757501	Sep, 1973	Bennet, Jr.	56/10.

Other Refs:
Primary Examiner: Mancene, Louis G.
Assistant Examiner: Eskovitz, J. N.
Attorney: Seemar; Frank A., Flanagan; John R., Brown; Joseph A.