LEVELING MECHANISM FOR COMBINE CLEANING APPARATUS

摘要

A cleaning apparatus (20) for a combine harvester (10) is disclosed wherein the grain pan (22) and chaffer sieve (26) are mounted in a shaker shoe (35) pivotally supported on the main frame (12) of the combine (10) for movement about a transversely extending axis (57). Hydraulic actuators (60) interconnecting the main frame (12) and the shaker shoe (35) effect a pivotal movement of the shaker shoe (35) to level the cleaning apparatus (20) under conditions where the combine (10) has an inclined fore-and-aft orientation. An inclinometer (90) is utilized to control the flow of hydraulic fluid to the hydraulic actuators (60) to permit the shaker shoe (35) to be leveled in response to a sensing of a non- horizontal fore-and-aft inclination by the inclinometer (90). According to a further characteristic of the invention, a cleaning apparatus (20) for a combine harvester (10) is disclosed wherein the grain pan (22) and chaffer sieve (26) are mounted for pivotal leveling movement about both a transversely extending axis (57) and a longitudinally extending axis (53).The grain pan (22 and chaffer sieve (26) are mounted in a subframe (31) pivotally supported by a shaker shoe (35) such that the subframe (31) is pivotable about a longitudinally extending axis (53) relative to the shaker shoe (35), which in turn is pivotally supported on the combine main frame (12) for pivotal movement about a transversely extending axis (57). A pair of inclinometers (80, 90) disposed to sense the inclination of the combine (10) are utilized to control the flow of hydraulic fluid to hydraulic actuators (50, 60) arranged to pivotally move the shaker shoe (35) and the subframe (31) in response to a sensing of a non-horizontal inclination by the inclinometers (80, 90). A combination of the fore-and-aft and transverse pivotal movements permits the grain pan (22) and chaffer sieve (26) to be maintained in an overall horizontal orientation irrespective of the attitude of the combine main frame (12).