Cotton harvester

摘要

A cotton harvester includes plant cutting apparatus to sever cotton plants from a ground surface, plant conveyor apparatus to convey the severed plants into and through a picking chamber, and cotton picking apparatus including picker spindles that move upwardly into the picking chamber through a floor of the chamber to pick cotton filaments from bolls of the plants conveyed as a flattened mat therethrough and carry the cotton downwardly through the floor to doffers that remove the cotton from the spindles. Cotton conveyor apparatus also below the floor conveys the cotton to a receiver, while the plant residue passes from the chamber.

主权项

1. A cotton harvester, comprising:
a cutting apparatus configured to sever cotton plants from a ground surface of a field; a plant conveyor apparatus configured to convey the severed plants through a picking chamber; and a picking apparatus comprising a plurality of spindles configured to move into the picking chamber and pick cotton filaments from bolls of the severed plants conveyed through the picking chamber and to carry the picked cotton into another area of the harvester, and doffers in the other area configured to remove the cotton from the plurality of spindles;
wherein the plant conveyor apparatus bounds and encloses an upper periphery of the picking chamber, the plurality of spindles extend upwardly through a surface that forms a lower periphery of at least a portion of the picking chamber, the plant conveyor apparatus is configured to cause the severed plants to flow in a first direction from an upstream end of the picking chamber to a downstream end of the picking chamber, and the plurality of spindles are configured to move through the picking chamber in a second direction transverse to the first direction.