METHOD FOR HARVESTING CEREAL CROPS ₅ GRAIN HARVESTER AND

UNITS THEREOF

The invention relates to the agriculture, methods for harvesting cereal, leguminous crops and grass seeds, and also to the agricultural machinery industry, specifically, to grain harvesters and units thereof.

Currently, a combining method for harvesting cereal crops is most extensively used. The method and harvester, however, are characterized by a number of significant disadvantages conditioned by contradictions between the harvester development and laws of nature, technology development and economy.

Known in the present state of art is the method for harvesting cereal crops comprising grain combing and treatment in the harvester (US Patent No. 5,036,653 AOlD 45/30, published

6.08.1991). Subject to one of the versions, the harvesting method comprises combing, threshing a top-ear portion of the plants, grain cleaning, feeding grain to a trailer-accumulator and dumping threshed stalk portion of the plants onto the field surface. The grain harvester (Figs. 20 - 25), which is used to carry out the above version of the method, comprises a tractor, a combing header, a thresher, a grain separator, feed conveyors and a trailer-accumulator.

The disadvantages of the above method are as follows:

- inability to select biologically valuable grain: threshed during combing and being biologically valuable free grain after separation in a separating unit is mixed with the rest of the grain; - full loss of the chaff and top portion of the straw being a valuable fodder;

- spreading of weed seeds across the field by dumping them onto the soil jointly "with the straw and chaff from the thresher and cleaning unit;

- loss of grain from the conveyor during the operation of feeding it to the trailer, specifically when the harvesting unit turns.

The disadvantages of the above grain harvester are as follows:

- reduced output and lower maneuverability of the harvesting unit, because the trailer- accumulator is located behind the tractor;

- reduced output of the harvester because of stops required to change trailer-accumulators filled with grain;

- significant energy consumption for transporting the grain trailer-accumulator which is filled only partially most of the time.

The method for cereal crops growing and harvesting and the device for carrying out it is most technically similar to that provided herein (Eurasian Patent EP 002650, AOlC 1/00, 7/00, AOlD 91/04, 91/04 AOlF 12/44, published 29.08.2002). According to this method, a harvesting unit moves across the field, combs the top-ear portion of the plants, separates biologically valuable grain, feeds it to a tank, threshes the heap, separates grain, cleans grain and feeds it to the second tank.

A harvesting device comprises a tractor or a forage harvester with a harvesting module attached thereto, with the latter comprising a combing header, a biologically valuable grain separator, conveyors for feeding the grain to a sieve, a thresher, a threshed grain air-and screen cleaning unit and two tanks for collecting biologically valuable and threshed grain.

The disadvantages of this grain harvesting method are as follows:

- full loss of the chaff and top portion of the straw being a valuable fodder;

- spreading of weed seeds across the field by dumping them onto the soil jointly with the straw and chaff from the thresher and cleaning unit; - substantial transportation costs associated with a separate transportation of two grain grades harvested during the operation of the harvesting device, namely, biologically valuable and the rest of the grain.

The disadvantages of the grain harvester are as follows: - substantial transportation costs because a transportation means provided for receiving grain and moving in parallel to the harvesting unit across the field for the most of the time is in the idling state;

- reduced output because of stops required to unload the grain from tanks or change the filled tanks; - loss of grain while reloading it from tanks to the transportation means.

The following prior art members of the grain harvesters are characterized by significant disadvantages: a thresher, a cleaning unit, conveyors, packers and unloaders.

Thresher. Prototype. The thresher of a conventional grain harvester unit (Ukrainian Patent UA46148, AOlD 41/08, published 15.05.2002) is the most similar to the thresher provided herein

in terms of the technical essence. A threshing and separating assembly of this unit comprises a threshing rotor mounted transversely the longitudinal axis of the power unit, beaters for discharging straw onto the field surface mounted on both ends of the threshing rotor, a threshing rotor sieve, an unwinnowed heap auger mounted beneath the threshing rotor to which the grain separated through the sieve of the combed heap auger is also fed.

The disadvantages of this thresher of the given grain harvester are as follows:

- a long rotor of a threshing assembly almost equaling the length and width of a combing module increases the energy consumption for threshing and, hence, reduces output thereof; - biologically valuable grain threshed during combing and separated by the grain heap auger on the sieve is further mixed with the grain threshed by the thresher;

- once threshed, the combed portion of the straw and chaff is discharged onto the field surface and lost, while they provide a valuable fodder in the cattle breeding;

- after threshing, combed weed seeds are discharged onto the field surface resulting in the weeds growth.

Cleaning unit. Prototype. A cleaning unit of the conventional harvester for harvesting, cleaning and collecting grain and stalks (US Patent No. 6,358,141 AOlF 012/48; B07B 001/50; B08B 005/00, published 22.05.2000) is technically most similar to the cleaning unit provided herein. The harvester cleaning unit has the following similar features with the provided one: - a stalk portion is collected in a harvester collecting chamber after threshing and cleaning;

- a fan is used to feed the stalk portion to the collecting chamber from the cleaning unit and thresher;

- a grain heap is supplied to the front part of the cleaning unit sieves by conveyors;

- conveyors feeding the stalk portion to the collecting chamber are mounted at the distal end of the air-and screen cleaning unit.

The disadvantages of the cleaning unit of the given harvester are as follows:

- additional augers for supplying the stalk portion to the fan-conveying channel make the harvester design more complicated and reduce the harvester output; - grain feed-conveyor augers are not efficient in providing a uniform grain heap flow both lengthwise and widthwise of the sieves, thereby increasing the grain loss;

- a heap is separated in an open chamber, thereby reducing separation efficiency and increasing energy consumption by the fan drive;stops for unloading grain and stalk portion reduce the harvester output.

Conveyor system. Prototype. A conveyor system of the conventional grain harvesting unit (Ukrainian Patent UA46148, AOlD 41/08, published 15.05.2002) is technically the most similar to the conveyor system provided herein. The conveyor system of this harvesting unit comprises a fan, a cyclone and a tube.

The disadvantages of the conveying system and grain harvester are as follows:

- low efficiency and high energy intensiveness of the grain air conveyance;reduced harvester reliability and output caused by large tube deformations when the harvester turns. Packer. Prototype. A packer of the conventional Claas SF grain harvester (Vasilenko LF. et al. Grain Harvesters of the USSR and Foreign Countries. M. 1958, p.l 13) is technically the most similar to the packer provided herein in which the threshed straw is compacted and the grain is bagged. The packer of the stalk portion comprises a straw-feeding device transporting the straw from a straw walker to a suspended baler, a bale-tie machine and guides for bales.

The disadvantages of this packer are as follows:

- reduced output when operating on the slopes because mounting a grain packer on the thresher top and a baler at a height of a straw walker results in a high center of gravity of the harvester and lower transverse stability;

- the packing device bales all cut straw, thereby increasing the energy intensity of the harvester and reducing the output thereof;

- feeble grain is lost because it is blown out by the cleaning unit fan and exhauster to the field;

- a bale bales only the straw leaving the walkers of the straw walker, while the chaff being the most valuable as a fodder is not baled;

- chaff and weed seeds after they are forced from the cleaning unit by the exhauster are spread over the field soil, thereby resulting in the loss of the total chaff and field weeding.

Unloading conveyor. Prototype. The unloading conveyor of the conventional unit for harvesting agricultural crops (Great Britain Patent No. 1,120,628 B65D 81/50, published 24.06.1968) is technically the most similar to the unloading conveyor provided herein. The unloading device comprises a chute for conveying filled bags from the platform to the field, a gate for holding the bags in the chute, accumulating and batch unloading thereof onto the field while the unit is running and a gate control mechanism. The chute is mounted angularly on the platform so that the bags slide along it by gravity.

The disadvantages of the given unloading device are as follows:

- low unloading efficiency, because only small bags which may be handled manually are used;

- labor-intensive manual operations to handle bags from a filling device to the chute;

- side bag unloading from the chute reduces output because swath harvesting is not possible. The object of the present invention is to increase harvesting productivity, reduce grain loss, collect the top portion of the straw, chaff, weed seeds, while harvesting the crops and to increase the harvester output and reliability.

The object of the present invention is to be attained as follows: the cereal crops are harvested with a grain harvester by combing the top-ear portion of the plants, treating a combed heap, while leaving a part of grain in the stalk mass, conveying the treated grain and stalk portion with a part of grain, packing them separately and unloading the packages without stopping the grain harvester.

A modular grain harvester comprises a power unit, a harvesting-treating unit attached thereto from the front, an accumulating-unloading unit attached thereto from the rear and a conveyor for conveying the grain and stalk mass to the front and rear units. The harvester front and rear units are made in the form of platforms to mount the respective modular tools thereon. The front platform mounts the following modules in the sequence of operations: a combing machine, a separator, a thresher and a cleaning unit which are provided with control mechanisms to control the grain threshing and separation efficiency. The rear platform mounts the modules for packaging the grain and stalk mass containing a part of grain and also conveyors for unloading the filled packages onto the field without stopping the grain harvester. The front and rear platforms are semi-mounted and wheel-mounted. The rear platform may be also the power unit frame-mounted or trailer-mounted. The harvester modular thresher mounted on the front platform is installed within a hood provided with an inlet and outlet ports, with the outlet port discharging the threshed stalk mass containing a part of grain into the stalk mass conveyor. The harvester modular cleaning unit mounted on the front platform beneath the thresher is intended to clean two independent grain flows, while feeble grain, straw and chaff particles and weed seeds are unloaded onto the stalk mass conveyor. In this case, only sieves form vibrating components of the cleaning unit. The grain harvester conveyor system comprises a stalk mass pneumatic conveyor including a fan-blower, a tube, a cyclone and two flexible augers for conveying grain.

A packer separately packages the grain and stalk mass, while the stalk mass is baler-compacted before packaging and a wrapping film is used as a packaging material to wrap a round-bale or a bale with a wrapping machine. A big-bag type of flexible package is used for packaging grain.

The packer may be provided with a separate engine to drive the members thereof. The unloading conveyor is intended to unload Filled packages without stopping the grain harvester. To handle the packaged grain and stalk mass from the packer to the unloading conveyor, additional conveyors are mounted. They are provided with the package weighing, marking and counting devices. The conveyor is provided with a drive and a mechanism allowing it to be transformed from the operational to the transportable state.

The improvements of the harvesting method and grain harvester design provided herein allow new technical results to be attained, specifically, reduced grain loss, increased harvester output and reliability and weed seeds/chaff collection:

— the provided method and harvester allow for avoiding grain loss and significantly increasing the output of the thresher, cleaning unit and harvester as a whole owing to the fact that the stalk mass of the combed heap jointly with the unthreshed, unseparated and feeble grain is collected and further used as a fodder; — the provided modular grain harvester is not equipped with grain tanks. The harvested grain is discharged into containers to be unloaded on the field without stopping the grain harvester. This allows the operating weight of the harvester to be reduced and output thereof to be increased;

— the provided modular harvester bales the fed chaff and straw to be further unloaded onto the field surface after packaging. This increases the harvester output; - discharging the grain into containers and baling the stalk mass make it possible only one transport current to be used on the field in the provided harvesting method - to pick up and transport containers and bales simultaneously. This increases the output of the harvesting method provided;

- the claimed method and harvester comb the weed seeds together with the seeds of the crop being harvested. In the process of threshing, separation and cleaning, these seeds are collected and baled together with the stalk mass of the combed heap. Therefore, the weed seeds are removed from the field, thereby reducing the weed control costs;

- in the method and harvester provided, the harvest tools are made modular. In case of failure, this facilitates the harvester repair by replacing the failed modules with serviceable ones. This improves the harvester reliability and output.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS :Fig.l illustrates the diagram of carrying out the method. Fig.2 illustrates the side view of the modular grain harvester.

Fig. 3 - embodiment of the harvester configuration when geared to reversible tractors, forage harvesters, universal power units and a rear semi-mounted platform.

Fig. 4 - embodiment of the harvester modular configuration when geared to Xerion, Holmer universal power units, when the rear platform is mounted directly on the power unit frame. Fig.5 illustrates the top view of the harvester with a trailer-mounted rear platform. Fig.6 - cross-sectional view of a harvester thresher. Fig.7 - rear view of the thresher with an opened hatch. Fig.8 - rear view of a harvester cleaning unit. Fig.9 — cross-sectional view of a harvester cleaning unit. Fig.10 - flow diagram of the thresher and cleaning unit operation.

Fig.11 - the harvester rear platform as viewed from the side of the combed heap stalk mass packer.

Fig.12 - top view of the rear platform with the packaging and unloading modules.

The method (Fig.1) comprises the steps of combing the plants, treating the combed heap, conveying the harvested grain after treatment, grain packaging, unloading the packaged grain, conveying the stalk mass containing a part of grain, packaging it and unloading the packaged stalk mass.

The grain harvester (Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5) comprises a power unit 1 and a front harvesting-treating unit 2 and a rear accumulating-unloading unit 3 coupled thereto. The front unit 2 comprises the following modules mounted in the operation sequence: a combing machine 4, a separator 5, a thresher 6 and a cleaning unit 7. The rear unit 3 comprises grain and stalk mass accumulating- container modules 8 and 9 respectively and packaging modules 10, 11, 12. The front and rear units' modules are mounted on their own detachable frames installed on the front and rear platforms 13 and 14 respectively, with each being wheel -mounted 15, 16. In this case, a drum 17 of the thresher 6 is provided with a threshing efficiency control mechanism 19 mounted on the frame 18 thereof. The harvester front and rear units 2 and 3, respectively, communicate with each other through conveyors 47 and 48 for biologically valuable grain and cleaned grain. The harvester is equipped with a conveyor 20 for conveying the stalk mass containing chaff, straw and a part of grain to the rear unit 3. In addition to packaging modules 10, 11 and 12, the rear platform 14 also mounts conveyors 21, 22 and 23 to transport packages to the unloading conveyors 24 and 25 to unload the filled packages 26, 27 onto the field.

According to one of the embodiments of the present invention (Fig.4), the rear platform 14 is mounted on the frame of the power unit 1, while in the other embodiment (Fig. 5) it is mounted on the trailer 28 intended to store the filled packages.

The grain harvester thresher 6 (Figs. 6, 7, 10) comprises a threshing drum 17, a concave 29, and a mechanism 19 for adjusting the clearance between the drum 17 and concave 29. The thresher is mounted on its own frame 18 covered with a hood 30 provided with an inlet port 31 and outlet port 32. The hood 30 also mounts a control mechanism 19. The outlet port 32 is intended to discharge the stalk mass containing a part of grain onto the stalk mass conveyor 20. The frame 18 mounts a driving mechanism 33 of the thresher 6. The hood 30 is provided with a hatch 34 comprising a cover 35.

The grain harvester cleaning unit 7 (Figs. 8, 9, 10) comprises a fixed housing the bottom of which forms a grain pan, grain heap conveyors 37, 38 mounted such that the sieves 39, 40 are free to rock, a fan 41 and grain augers 42. The cleaning unit is provided with its own frame 43 mounting the fan 41, a housing 36, suspensions 44 of the frames of the upper and lower rocking sieves 39, 40 divided into two portions by flexible longitudinal partitions 45, a mechanism 46 for driving and controlling the sieves, fan and augers. The bottom of the housing 36 is made curvilinear in two directions and is provided with a port 46 to discharge the stalk mass containing a part of grain onto the stalk mass conveyor 20. Grain augers 42 are mounted at an angle with the plane of sieves 39, 40 in the direction from the front end to the rear end thereof.

The grain harvester conveyor system (Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5) for conveying the harvested mass from the front unit 2 to the rear unit 3 comprises a conveyor 47 for biologically valuable grain, a conveyor 48 for clean grain and a conveyor 20 for stalk mass. The conveyors 47, 48 and 20 communicate with each other. The conveyors 47 and 48 are made in the form of flexible augers. The conveyor 20 comprises a fan-blower 49, a tube 50 and a cyclone 51 mounted in series.

The grain harvester packer (Figs.11, 12) comprises the packaging modules 10, 11 for grain and 12 for the plant mass. The packer for the stalk mass containing a part of grain comprises a top- feed accumulator 9 communicating with a working chamber of a baler 52 and a device for packaging the compacted mass which is made in the form of a wrapping machine 53. Film 54 is used as a package for the stalk mass 27, while a flexible big-bag type container 26 is used for grain packaging. In one of the embodiments of the present invention, the packer (Fig. 5) is equipped with an individual engine 55 to drive tools thereof.

A device for unloading filled packages (Figs. 11, 12) comprises unloading conveyors 24 and 25 for grain and for stalk mass, a mechanism 56 for changing the conveyors from the transportable to operational state. The unloading conveyors are driven by the mechanism of supporting wheels 58. The conveyors 21 and 22 are used to convey the packaged grain from loading devices 10, 11 to an unloading conveyor 24, and an additional conveyor 23 is used for conveying the packaged stalk to a conveyor 25. The operating members of the conveyors handling the packages are made movable. The conveyors 21, 22 and 23 are equipped with the package counting, weighing and marking devices 57.

The harvesting method is carried out as follows:

Embodiment 1.

When a harvester (Figs. 2, 3) comprising a power unit 1, a front unit 2, a rear unit 3 and a unit of conveyors 47, 48 and 50 moves across the field, it combs and treats grain, chaff and the top portion of straw. The larger part of straw remains standing. A combing header 4 mounted on a frame of the platform 13 of the front unit 2 combs the top-ear portion of the standing plants. A separating device 5 separates the biologically valuable grain threshed out in the process of combing from the combed heap and feeds it through the conveyor 38 to the first half of the cleaning sieve 39 (Figs. 2, 8). The separated heap is then fed to the thresher 6 mounted on the frame 13 of the front platform.

The grain harvester thresher according to the present invention (Figs. 6, 7, 10) operates as follows: the combed heap after separation of biologically valuable grain therefrom is fed to the inlet port 31 of the thresher housing 30. The threshing drum 17 captures a heap with the paddles thereof and threshes out grain therefrom by pulling it across a grate of the concave 29. The grain, chaff and weed seeds drop through the grate to the conveyor 37 of the cleaning unit, while ears and straw with unthreshed and not fully separated grain are fed through the outlet port 32 to the stalk mass conveyor 20. The concave 29 is mounted on a frame and within a housing and is capable of moving relative to the drum by the action of the threshing efficiency control mechanism 19. The adjustable thresher driving mechanism 33, which is also mounted on the thresher frame 18, makes it possible the required speed of the threshing drum 17 to be adjusted. The thresher is unable to reach 100% grain threshing from ears and 100% grain separation from the stalk portion, therefore, a part of grain remains in the ears and straw. Inasmuch as the stalk portion is conveyed and packaged after threshing and then is used as fodder, this allows the grain

wastage to be avoided. This has enabled the overall dimensions and weight of the threshing module to be reduced and the design thereof to be simplified.

The cleaning unit 7 is mounted on a frame of the front platform 13 and is supported by its own frame 43 mounting a housing 36, a fan 41, suspensions 44 of the upper and lower rocking sieves 39, 40 and a mechanism 46 for driving the sieves, fan and augers.

According to the present invention, the grain harvester cleaning unit (Figs. 8, 9, 10) operates as follows: a grain heap is fed to the cleaning unit through two conveyors, of which the first conveyor 38 conveys combed and separated grain to the front end of the first half of the top sieve 39, while the second conveyor conveys the grain threshed and separated in the thresher 6 and discharges it to the front end of the second half of the top sieve 39 of the cleaning unit. The cleaning unit fan 41 generates two airflows. The fan casing directs the first airflow into the space between the bottom surface of conveyors 37 and 38 and the sieve, while the second one below and between the sieves 39 and 40. The heap falling from the conveyor belt to the cleaning unit sieve is in suspension. The grain heap falling from the conveyor belt enters the operating zone of an upper airflow generated by the fan 41. The heap in suspension is easily blown and light chaff particles, leaves, small weed seeds and culms having high windage are entrained by the airflow. At the end of the sieve, these particles enter the operating zone of the suction airflow generated by the fan-blower 49 and are fed to the stalk mass conveyor 20 through the stalk mass outlet port 46 in the casing 39 jointly with a portion of feeble grain. Therefore, the chaff and minor particles are entrained beyond the cleaning unit failing to reach the sieve surface. As a result, the sieves are loaded less, while cleaning capacity and grain purity increase.

The heap is finally separated by the action of vibrating sieves 34, 40 divided into two halves by flexible longitudinal partitions 45 and the second airflow blown by the fan 41 beneath the sieves and into the space therebetween. The bottom of the housing 36 is made curvilinear in two directions allowing the grain separated in the cleaning unit to roll toward flexible augers 42 which are intended to convey the grain toward the rear unit. The grain augers are mounted longitudinally at an angle with the plane of sieves 39 and 40 in direction from the front end toward the rear end thereof.

In the cleaning unit construction provided herein, the feeble grain blown by airflows out of the cleaning unit is not lost and is used as fodder. This allows airflow speed, cleaning capacity and grain harvester output to be increased. Higher airflow speeds compared to those in conventional

apparatuses make possible the grain to be cleaned to reach fodder and food conditions directly in the harvester cleaning unit.

According to the present invention, the grain harvester conveyor system provided herein comprises the conveyors for conveying grain and stalk mass from the front unit 2 to the rear unit 3. The conveyor system conveys biologically valuable grain by the conveyor 47, while the conveyor 48 is used to convey threshed grain. The stalk mass conveyor 20 conveys the feeble grain, ears with incompletely threshed grain, straw, chaff and weed seeds through the fan blower 49, tube 50 and cyclone 51 mounted in series. The harvester conveyor system provided herein uses multiple conveyors separately handling the flows of different products, namely, the grain and also the stalk portion containing the grain. This attributes novel features to the harvesting method provided herein, specifically, the reduced grain loss and possibility to collect straw, chaff and weed seeds. Flexible augers and tube convey the product not only along the direct path, but also along the curved path, thereby offsetting the change in the relative position of the units. The novel features of the conveyor system allow efficiency of the harvesting method and harvester to be improved.

During operation of the grain harvester, the conveyor system conveys grain and stalk portion from the front unit 2 to the rear unit 3 where the grain and stalk portion are packaged.

The packer provided in the present invention (Figs. 11,12) operates as follows: the augers 47 and

48 feed the grain to the accumulating tanks 8, from which the packaging modules 10, 11 feed it to the package 26 (flexible big-bag container). Packaging the grain in containers allows the grain wastage to be avoided in unloading, picking up, transporting and processing operations. The stalk portion including threshed ears, chaff, top portion of straw, feeble grain and weed seeds are fed through the tube 50 and cyclone 51 to the top-feed accumulator 9 communicating with the working chamber of the baler 52. The accumulator 9 accumulates the straw conveyed through the conveyor in case of outage of the baler intended for bundling and unloading a round-bale. In addition, the accumulator evens the straw and chaff flow fed to the baler both in width and supply. The baler 52 compacts the mass fed, binds a round-bale or a bale and unloads it to the packer 12 where it is packaged. A flexible container, a plastic tubing or plastic wrapping film may be used as a package. In the given embodiment, a wrapping machine 53 is illustrated and wrapping film 54, which wraps a round-bale or bale is used as an envelope of the package 27.

According to one of the embodiments (Fig. 5), the packer is equipped with an individual engine 55 to drive tools thereof. Packaging the stalk portion with a film or in a container allows the chaff and a top portion of straw to be totally collected without loss, spreading of weed seeds over the field to be avoided in the process of harvesting and weed control costs to be further reduced.

The grain harvester unloading device according to the present invention operates as follows: the packaged grain 26 and stalk 27 are conveyed toward the unloading conveyors 24 and 25 by the conveyors 21, 22 and 23 mounted on the rear platform 14. In the process of conveyance, devices 57 weigh and mark packages specifying the grain weight, harvesting and other data, with the data being entered into the harvester-borne computer (not shown).

When packages are fed to the unloading conveyors 24 and 25, they tilt them and press wheels 58 against the ground, thereby activating the conveyor belt to convey the packages onto the ground without stopping the harvesting unit. A device 56 is used to change the conveyors from an operational to transportable state.

The containerized grain and packaged bales are picked up from the field and loaded to the transportation means and hauled to a processing and storage point.

The standing straw may be removed from the field, if required, for example by using a cutter- loader or a harvester-swath maker and a pickup baler. It is preferable to leave the straw butt-end portion on the field as mulch and partially embed it into the 5...10 cm topsoil using a disk harrow.

Application of the method and harvester provided herein allows for increasing the harvester output by eliminating the harvester stops for unloading operations, reducing grain loss, soil compaction, number of machinery passages across the field, harvester operating, repair and modernization costs, cutting down expenses for harvesting the biologically valuable grain, and collecting chaff and weed seeds during harvesting operations.

Embodiment 2.

Fig. 4 illustrates the harvester embodiment when geared to the universal Xerion, Holmer power units.

These power units have a place on the frame thereof for mounting the equipment. This place mounts the rear platform 3 with a filler for feeding grain to the containers 10 and 11, a baler 52, a round-bale packer 12 and unloading conveyors 24, 25 for unloading containers and round-bales onto the field surface. The front harvesting-treating unit 2 is mounted on the front-end mounting

of the power unit 1 and it rests on wheels 15 during operation. The grain and stalk portion are conveyed from the front unit 2 to the rear unit 3 by conveyors 47, 48 and 50. The process in this modular harvester is similar to that of the above embodiment 1.

Embodiment 3.

Fig.5 illustrates the embodiment of the harvester when the rear unit with modules is trailer- mounted. The rear module 3 comprising the modules for packaging grain in the containers 10, 11, a baler 52, a round-bale packer 12 and conveyors for unloading containers and round-bales on the field surface is mounted in the trailer body 28. The trailer mounts an engine 55 to drive the operating members of the packers 10, 11, 12, baler 52, conveyors 21, 22, 23 for conveying the packages to the unloading conveyors 24, 25 to unload the filled packages 26, 27 onto the field surface. The grain and stalk portion is conveyed from the front unit 2 to the rear unit 3 by conveyors 47, 48, 50. The process in the given modular harvester is actually similar to that described in the above embodiments. The specific feature is that the grain and stalk portion containing a part of grain packaged in the packages 26, 27 are initially accumulated on the conveyors 21, 22, 23 and then unloaded at the field edge by conveyors 24, 25.

The field containers and packaged round-bales are picked up from the field surface and loaded to the transportation means by a unit comprising a tractor with a loading device and a trailer. The standing straw is used as mulch and may be partially embedded into the 5...10 cm topsoil using mulchers or disk harrows.

Application of the harvesting method and harvester provided herein allows for reducing grain loss, collecting chaff and weed seeds, harvesting the biologically valuable grain by combining and increasing harvester reliability and output.