Combine harvester with ready adjustment of discharge positions of straw and chaff

Abstract

A combine harvester has a straw chopper attached to a rear hood behind the rear edge of the sieve assembly with a chaff guide system to bypass the chaff in front of the chopper and a straw guide system to bypass the straw above the chopper and over the tailboard. The chopper has a housing with a feed opening into which straw and/or chaff can be fed depending upon the positions of the chaff guide system and the straw guide system. A chopping assembly mounted in the housing discharges through a discharge opening through onto the tailboard having a plurality of guide fins for spreading. The housing bottom wall has a pivotal adjustment portion to allow chaff entering the feed opening and engaging the chopping assembly to discharge from the housing at a discharge position different from the discharge opening for spreading onto a supplementary spreading device.

1 - 14 . (canceled)  
   
   
       15 . A chopper and discharge apparatus arranged to be mounted at the rear hood of a combine harvester for receiving the straw and chaff from the combine harvester and for discharging the materials from the combine harvester, the apparatus comprising: 
 a housing having a feed opening into which straw and/or chaff can be fed from the combine harvester;    a chopping assembly mounted in the housing and comprising a hub member mounted for rotation about a longitudinal axis of the hub member and a plurality of blade members mounted on the hub member for rotation therewith about said axis for chopping the fed materials and accelerating the chopped materials for discharge;    the housing having a discharge opening through which the chopped materials are discharged;    a tailboard mounted on the housing and having a plurality of guide fins; 
 the tailboard being arranged such that in a first operating condition, the chopped material from the discharge opening is directed in a spread pattern;  
 the tailboard being arranged such that in the second operating condition, the straw from the combine which has bypassed above the chopper and discharge apparatus passes over the top of the tailboard for windrowing the straw;  
   and the housing having an adjustment portion to allow chaff entering the feed opening and engaging the chopping assembly to discharge from the housing at a discharge position angularly different from the discharge opening for spreading.    
   
   
       16 . The apparatus according to  claim 15  wherein the housing has a bottom wall over which the chopped material passes to the discharge opening and wherein the bottom wall includes a portion which is movable to provide said adjustment portion.  
   
   
       17 . The apparatus according to  claim 16  wherein the bottom wall has a pivotal portion which can pivot downwardly to provide said adjustment portion.  
   
   
       18 . The apparatus according to  claim 15  wherein there is provided a chaff spreading device arranged such that the chaff discharging from the different position engages onto the chaff spreading device for spreading.  
   
   
       19 . The apparatus according to  claim 18  wherein the chaff spreading device comprises a second set of fins.  
   
   
       20 . The apparatus according to  claim 18  wherein the chaff spreading device comprises a chaff board having fins thereon which is pivotally mounted on the housing below the discharge opening of the housing.  
   
   
       21 . The apparatus according to  claim 15  wherein the bottom wall comprises a part cylindrical wall partly surrounding the axis of rotation of the chopping assembly and extending from the inlet to the discharge outlet and wherein a portion of the bottom wall is pivotal about an axis across the bottom wall so that a trailing edge of the portion defines said different discharge position leaving a fixed part of the bottom wall between the different discharge position and the discharge opening.  
   
   
       22 . The apparatus according to  claim 21  wherein there is provided a chaff spreading device mounted at the fixed part of the bottom wall.  
   
   
       23 . (canceled)  
   
   
       24 . A chopper and discharge apparatus arranged to be mounted at the rear hood of a combine harvester for receiving the straw and chaff from the combine harvester and for discharging the materials from the combine harvester, the apparatus comprising: 
 a housing having a feed opening into which straw and/or chaff can be fed from the combine harvester;    a chopping assembly mounted in the housing and comprising a hub member mounted for rotation about a longitudinal axis of the hub member and a plurality of blade members mounted on the hub member for rotation therewith about said axis for chopping the fed materials and accelerating the chopped materials for discharge;    the housing having a discharge opening through which the chopped materials are discharged;    a tailboard mounted on the housing and having a plurality of guide fins;    the tailboard having a first operating condition in which the chopped material from the discharge opening is directed onto the guide fins for guiding by the guide fins in a spread pattern;    the tailboard having a second operating condition in which the tailboard is inclined downwardly to allow straw from the combine which has bypassed the feed opening to pass over the tailboard without contacting the fins for windrowing the straw;    wherein the guide fins of the tailboard are adjustable when the tailboard is in the second operating condition for spreading chaff.    
   
   
       25 . The apparatus according to  claim 24  wherein the fins are adjustable by extending at least some of the fins along their length so as to increase their length on the same curvature.  
   
   
       26 . A chopper and discharge apparatus arranged to be mounted on a combine harvester for receiving the straw and chaff from the combine harvester and for discharging the materials from the combine harvester, the apparatus comprising: 
 a housing having a feed opening into which straw and/or chaff can be fed from the combine harvester;    a chopping assembly mounted in the housing for chopping the fed materials and accelerating the chopped materials for discharge;    the housing having a discharge opening through which the chopped materials are discharged;    a tailboard mounted on the housing;    the chopping assembly having a first operating condition in which the chopped material from the discharge opening is directed in a spread pattern;    the chopping assembly having a second operating condition in which straw from the combine |bypasses the feed opening and the tailboard|   
   
   
       27 . The apparatus according to  claim 26  wherein the chopping assembly has a second condition in which the tailboard is inclined downwardly to allow straw from the combine which has bypassed the feed opening to pass over the tailboard without contacting the fins for windrowing the straw; and wherein the guide fins of the tailboard are adjustable when the tailboard is in the second operating state for spreading chaff.  
   
   
       28 . (canceled)  
   
   
       29 . A chopper and discharge apparatus arranged to be mounted on a combine harvester for receiving the straw and chaff from the combine harvester and for discharging the materials from the combine harvester, the apparatus comprising: 
 a housing having a feed opening into which straw and/or chaff can be fed from the combine harvester;    a chopping assembly mounted in the housing for chopping the fed materials and accelerating the chopped materials for discharge;    the housing having more than one discharge openings through which the chopped materials may be selectively discharged;    the housing having an adjustment portion to allow straw and/or chaff entering the feed opening and engaging the chopping assembly to discharge from the housing at a selected one of said discharge openings.    
   
   
       30 . The apparatus according to  claim 29  wherein a spreading device is mounted on the housing and the discharge from one of the discharge openings engages onto the spreading device.  
   
   
       31 - 32 . (canceled)  
   
   
       33 . The apparatus according to  claim 29  wherein the housing has a bottom wall over which the chopped material passes to the discharge opening and wherein the bottom wall includes a portion which is movable to provide said adjustment portion.  
   
   
       34 - 37 . (canceled)  
   
   
       38 . The apparatus according to  claim 33  wherein the bottom wall comprises a part cylindrical wall partly surrounding the axis of rotation of the chopping assembly and extending from the inlet to the discharge outlet and wherein a portion of the bottom wall is pivotal about an axis across the bottom wall so that a trailing edge of the portion defines said different discharge position leaving a fixed part of the bottom wall between the different discharge position and the discharge opening.  
   
   
       39 . The apparatus according to  claim 38  wherein there is provided a chaff spreading device mounted at the fixed part of the bottom wall.  
   
   
       40 . The apparatus according to  claim 38  wherein the chaff spreading device comprises a series of fins mounted on a chaff board pivotally attached to the fixed part of the bottom wall.  
   
   
       41 . The apparatus according to  claim 29  wherein one of said openings is arranged to discharge to a secondary residue collection system.  
   
   
       42 . A chopper and discharge apparatus arranged to be mounted at the rear hood of a combine harvester for receiving the straw and chaff from the combine harvester and for discharging the materials rearwardly from the combine harvester, the apparatus comprising: 
 a housing having a feed opening into which straw and/or chaff can be fed from the combine harvester;    a chopping assembly mounted in the housing and comprising a hub member mounted for rotation about a longitudinal axis of the hub member and a plurality of blade members mounted on the hub member for rotation therewith about said axis for chopping the fed materials and accelerating the chopped materials for discharge;    the housing having a discharge opening through which the chopped materials are discharged;    a wagon discharge tube mounted to the chopper discharge opening to discharge the chaff and/or straw to a trailing collection wagon;    a tailboard mounted on the housing and having a plurality of guide fins;    the housing having an adjustment portion to allow the chopped materials to discharge from the housing at a second discharge position different from the discharge opening for collecting;    the wagon discharge tube being arranged such that in a first operating condition, the chopped material from the discharge opening is directed from the discharge opening onto the wagon discharge tube for collection of the chopped material;    the tailboard being arranged such that in the second operating condition with the chopped material discharged from the second discharge opening, the residue from the combine is directed onto the guide fins for guiding by the guide fins in a spread pattern.