Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

A machine for chopping strawberry plants or other row crops consisting of a rotating blade that describes a plane approximately parallel to the plane formed by the top of the beds on which the crop is planted, with a spacer rigidly attached to the underneath side of the rotating blade. Said spacer is circular in shape, with a flat top and a bottom curved in the shape of a dinner plate, with a smooth bottom surface, and rotates coaxially with the knife. The machine also has knives angled to reach down the sloping sides of the bed to chop the stems and leaves that hang into the furrow. Said side knives also have circular spacers rigidly attached, similar in shape to the top knife spacer, rotating coaxially with the side knives. Said spacers prevent said knives from digging into the plastic film laid on top of the bed and destroying it. The framework supporting these rotating knives is raised and lowered by a gauge wheel so that the height of the knives above the surface of the bed remains relatively constant. The framework is counterbalanced so that the gauge wheels exert minimum pressure on the plastic film.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim