Research in Developing More Efficient Harvesting Machinery and Utilization of Crop Residues

The main objective of farming is to grow energy in the form of digestible nutrients. Although the farmer measures his corn production in bushels per acre and his hay production in tons per acre, this does not give him a true measure of his productivity

Material-handling apparatus

A combination spreader and loader apparatus for handling fertilizer has a box open at the front end and tiltable for movement to a horizontally extended unloading position and to a forwardly tilted loading position wherein the front edge of the box bottom wall is engage able with the ground surface. An endless and reversibly operated upright conveyer \u27mean‘s, pivotally supported at the front end of the box, ‘has material engaging members thereon movable closely adjacent to the bottom wall. With the conveyer operated in one direct-and in an upright position to close the box front end, and with the box in the loading position, material scraped up by the front edge of the bottom wall is loaded into the box between the lower end of the conveyer and the bottom wall. When the box is in an unloading position and the conveyer means is reversely operated and pivoted rearwardly into the box against the material therein, the material is unloaded be tween the lower end of the conveyer means and the box bottom wall. The conveyer means has flexible side portions and flexible material engaging members for wiping engagement with the box side walls and bottom wall, respectively, to hold the material in the box

Apparatus for threshing grain

This invention relates generally to grain threshing apparatus and in particular to an apparatus for threshing grain wherein an impeller is rotatable within a concave or tubular screen. This application is a division of application Serial No. 560,552, now Patent No. 2,906,270. An object of this invention is to provide an improved apparatus for threshing grain

No Starving Billions: The Role of Agricultural Engineering in Economic Development

The agricultural situation in developing countries is much as it has always been. Using iron age tools and equipment developed long ago, the nomad follows his herd and the peasant farmer shifts from patch to patch. While the mechanical revolution has little affected his way of life, the chemical revolution is drastically affecting him today. Chemicals, insecticides and drugs, reduced the spread of disease and cured the afflicted. This lowered infant mortality, extended the life of the aged and launched the population explosion. Unless there is a simultaneous explosion in food production, the speedy death by diseases will be replaced by the slow death by starvation. The news is not so much what the situation is, but that it can be changed, that economic development can take place!https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/abe_eng_books/1002/thumbnail.jp

Rotary tiller slot planter and method for using the same

The rotary tiller slot planter of the present invention comprises a subsoiler shank positioned to engage the soil and make a trench therein. A pair of rotary tiller blades are rotatably mounted on the opposite sides of the sub-soil shank in planes parallel thereto. The center-lines of the rotary tiller wheels are located behind the subsoil shank. Each of the wheels have a plurality of blades extending radially outwardly from the rotational axis thereof and terminating in outer radial ends which engage the soil slightly ahead of the subsoiler shank and adjacent the lateral edges of the trench. A seed tube shank is positioned behind the subsoiler shank and between the tiller wheels. The seed tube shank has a lower end positioned to extend below the soil surface. A seed tube is positioned behind the seed tube shank for depositing seed in the soil. The rotation of the blades on opposite sides of the subsoil shank causes the soil to be mechanically aggregated and aerated and helps prepare a seed bed for the seeds. Also, the rotating tiller blades chop the debris which may be along the trench and throw soil backwards so as to cover the planted seed. Shorter rotary blades on the tiller wheels are shaped to throw debris and the upper one-half inch of soil sideways away from the row

Strain-gauge, brushless torque meter

A torque meter comprising hollow-keyed, input and output female shafts adapted to receive the male shafts of the power source and machine respectively. Each shaft has a circular flange whose face is perpendicular to the center line of the shafts. Each flange has a plurality of equally spaced cylindrical recesses machined into the inside face thereto adapted to receive conical inserts therein. Balls are contained by the conical inserts and transmit the rotational movement from the input to the output shaft. A stationary housing extends around the input and output shaft and has a transducer shell secured thereto. When force is applied to the input shaft to cause movement, the balls encounter torsional resistance which causes the balls to roll up the ramps of the conical seat inserts to separate the two torque flanges. The force transmitted through the balls causes rotation to the output shaft and produces tension to the stationary transducer shell. The stationary transducer shell is instrumented with semi-conductor strain gauges

Means and method for soil testing

An inexpensive device which is easily operated to accurately measure the Coulomb parameters of the soil. The Coulomb parameters are used in Coulomb\u27s equation to calculate the shearing stresses along a failure surface of the soil. The device includes an instrument to test soil shear strength to which several weights have been added. To obtain the Coulomb parameters, the instrument is placed on the soil to be tested and weights are incrementally added to it. The instrument is rotated at each weight increment and the shearing stresses are read from its calibrated dial. The stresses are plotted on a graph from which the Coulomb parameters are determined. The shearing stress of the soil with any known force applied to it can then be determined

Blade guard for rotary lawn mowers

A blade guard for rotary lawn mowers comprising a plurality of spaced apart elongated members which extend longitudinally in the intended direction of travel of the mower device. The space between the forward ends of the elongated members and the forward end of the mower cowling is open and free from obstructions to permit the grass to be sucked upwardly for cutting by the mower blade. The elongated members have varying lengths to define an effective area substantially the same as the area defined by the unsharpened center portion of the mower blade when rotating so that the sharpened ends of the blade extend outwardly beyond the effective area of the guard means. The guard means is hinged to the mower cowling to permit convenient cleaning of the mower. An ignition interlock means is also connected to the guard

Factors Affecting Corn Kernel Damage in Combine Cylinders

Since the introduction of the corn head attachment and other field-shelling equipment, many farmers have changed from ear-corn harvesting systems to high-moisture, field-shelling systems. The use of the grain combine and field-shelling attachment for corn pickers has brought into focus the problem of mechanical damage to corn kernels