INT HARVESTER CO (US)
| US2713241A | 1955-07-19 | |||
| US1980252A | 1934-11-13 | |||
| US3626678A | 1971-12-14 | |||
| FR1235315A | 1960-07-08 | |||
| GB1264615A | 1972-02-23 | |||
| FR2432830A1 | 1980-03-07 |
| 1. | A tine assembly for an agricultural machine, the assembly comprising a substantially Ushaped tine structure having a bight and two spaced substantially parallel legs at least one of which constitutes a tine, a tine support bar having a support' region formed with two holes through which the legs of the tine structure pass to support the tine structure with the bight lying adjacent to the support region, and a removable anchoring member having a first opening"resiliently engaging around part of the bight and a second opening resiliently en¬ gaging around part of the support region. |
| 2. | A tine assembly according to claim 1 in which the support bar is of channel section having a base and two parallel flanges, one of said flanges constituting said support region and the other of said flanges being formed, for each tine, with a hole through which that tine passes, said hole being aligned with a hole in said support region. |
| 3. | A tine assembly according to claim 2 in which each hole in said support region is elongated to accom¬ modate part of the radiused section joining the bight to the respective leg of the tine structure. |
| 4. | A tine assembly according to any one of the preceding claims in which the first and second openings of the anchoring member are open in opposite directions. |
| 5. | A tine assembly according to claim 4 insofar as dependent on claim 2 or claim 3 in which, regarding the base of the channel as uppermost, the first opening of the anchoring member engages around the bight from the upper part thereof and the second opening of the anchor¬ ing member engages the two faces of said flange forming said support region from below the edge of said flange. |
| 6. | A tine assembly according to claim 5 in which the anchoring member is a spring clip, and two such OM spring clips engage the bight of each tine assembly. |
| 7. | A tine assembly according to claim 1 in which the support bar is of solid crosssection, the holes pass through the full width of the bar and the first opening of the anchoring member engages around part of the bar. |
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a tine assembly for an agricultural machine.
Tines occur in various types of crop-handling machines including rectangular balers, cylindrical balers, combine harvesters, hay rakes, tedders, swathers and forage harvesters.
Some tines are attached to power—driven elements and serve to propel the crop. Other tines are attached to non-driven elements and serve to guide or constrain the crop. One example of this second type are the pickup cover tines provided on a rectangular hay and straw baler.
A baler travelling forwards gathers crop from the ground by means of a rotating pickup. The crop is lifted from the ground by the spring tines of the rotating pick¬ up and is fed over the body of the pickup on to a cross conveyor deck from which it is fed laterally into the bale chamber for compression into bales. Pickup cover tines are provided to assist the crop flow over the upper surface of the pickup by guiding it rearwards. The cover tines are usually made from round steel bar which may be spring steel or non-spring steel, and they project generally at right angles from their supporting bar which is positioned parallel to and in front of the rotating pickup with the tines projecting rearwards somewhat over
the top of the body of the rotating pickup. To accommodate fluctuating amounts of crop flow the tines are able to move up and down. In some balers the res¬ ilience of the tine due to its material and shape, provides for this movement. In other balers the cross bar supporting the tines is pivotally mounted on the baler so that it is able to pivot upwards and downwards as varying amounts of crop flow under the cover tines. In both these types of balers the connection between the cover tine and the cross bar must be secure so that relative movement between the two is virtually prevented.
The present invention relates to a connection of a tine to its support which is cheaper to produce than the known connections. It has been developed and applied to the attaching of pickup cover tines to a supporting cross bar of a conventional rectangular baler, but it is not limited to,this application.
BACKGROUND ART
Tine-supporting cross bars of various cross sections are known including channel, angle, square, round and rectangular tube. It is known for the attaching end of each tine to pass through lateral holes provided in the cross bar, and to be secured to the cross bar by welding. It is known for the attaching end of each tine to be welded to the flat face of the cross bar. It is known for the attaching end of the tine to have a swaged shoulder near to the end and a screw thread at the end whereby the swaged shoulder abuts one side of the cross bar and the screwed end passes through the cross bar and is secured by tightening of a nut. These known methods are relatively expensive to produce.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
According to the present invention a tine assembly for an agricultural machine comprises a substantially
OM
U-shaped tine structure having a bight and two spaced substantially parallel legs at least one of which constitutes a tine, a tine support bar having a support region formed with two holes through which the legs of the tine structure pass to support the tine structure with the bight lying adjacent to the support region, and a removable anchoring member having a first opening resiliently engaging around part of the bight and a second opening resiliently engaging around part of the support region.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
Figure 1 shows schematically the rotating pickup of a conventional rectangular baler with the cross bar and cover tines in position; Figure 2 shows an enlarged cross section taken on line D-D of Figure' 1;
Figure 3 is a view in the direction of arrow B of Figure 2;
Figure 4 is a cross-section on the line C-C of Figure 2;
Figure 5 is a cross section on the line E-E of Figure 2, with parts omitted;
Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 2 of a second embodiment of the invention.
MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Figure 1 shows three pairs 1 of cover tines attached to a support cross bar 2, the cross bar 2 being attached to the body of a conventional rectangular baler 3. Each tine has a bight and two spaced substantially parallel legs 5,6 which project rearwardly over the top of the rotating pickup 4. Cross bar 2 is of channel section having a base 7 and two parallel flanges 8 and 9. Flange 9 is formed with two circular holes 10 which are each slightly larger than the diameter of tine leg 5 or 6.
Flange 8 has two slotted holes 11, the height of each slotted hole 11 being slightly greater than the diameter of tine leg 5 or 6. The length of each slotted hole 11 is slightly greater than the sum of the diameter of tine leg 5 or 6 and the bight 12 of the tine. Slotted hole 11 thus allows the bight 12 to lie closely adjacent to the flange 8, thus achieving a compact non-protruding asse bly.
Two spring clips 13 snap over the bight 12, and also snap on to flange 8- Spring clips 13 are edge type pipe/cable retaining clips. One example of a suitable type of clip is the heavy duty cable clip (edge type) supplied by F. T. Fastenings - United — Carr Ltd., the size of clip being chosen to provide a snap fit to the bight 12. Thus, each spring clip has a first opening resiliently engaging around part of the bight 12 and a second opening resiliently engaging around part of the support flange 8. Depending on the bight length one, three or more clips may be used rather than two. It will be understood that the cross bar 2 may have a cross-section other than channel shaped, for example of solid or hollow circular, square or rectang¬ ular tube. Figure 6 shows an example utilising square tube 15, the bight 16 of a tine structure being anchored by one or more clips 17 having a first opening resiliently engaging around part of the bight and a second opening resiliently engaging around part of the full cross- section of the cross bar.
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Modification may also be made to the tine structure by forming this with one long leg and one short leg extending from the bight of the structure. Only the long leg constitutes a tine, the short leg merely assists support of the structure on the support bar.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY
The invention is applicable to fixed and movable tine assemblies for rectangular balers and for cylindrical balers and forage harvesters. It may also be applied to the .attaching of tines to their supports in the case of other agricultural machines, for example hay and straw handling machines including- hay rakes, tedders, swathers and combine harvesters.