JP5512151B2 - Arm-linked mower - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a mower, and more particularly, to an arm-coupled mower connected to a work vehicle such as a tractor via an arm (arm mechanism).

  Mowing is performed using a hand-held or hand-held mower equipped with a prime mover and a so-called arm-coupled mower connected to the front or rear of a work vehicle such as a tractor via an arm. May be performed. An arm-linked mower is preferably used when the mowing area is wide, especially when mowing the shoulders and slopes of roads and the slopes of embankments.

  In mowing using an arm-coupled mower, normally, the work vehicle is driven while driving with the arm and the mower body mounted on the tip of the arm projecting to the side of the work vehicle. Is done. However, moving the work vehicle to the mowing work place with the arm or the like protruding to the side of the work vehicle should be avoided from the viewpoint of ensuring safety. The same applies to avoiding interference with obstacles such as utility poles and trees during mowing. For this reason, the arm-coupled mower is stored on the front side or the rear side of the work vehicle so that the whole is within the vehicle width range of the work vehicle when the mowing operation is not performed.

  As an example of an arm-coupled mower having the above-described configuration, one disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-94021 (Patent Document 1) is known. What is disclosed in this document is that a first arm pivotally supported by a support member mounted on a work vehicle, a lift cylinder that pivots the first arm up and down, and a pivot cylinder coupled to the first arm. The main part is composed of a swivel arm that swivels along with the telescopic movement, a second arm that is connected to the swivel arm and has a mower body attached to the tip. The arm-coupled mower having such a configuration turns the swing arm and linearly arranges the first arm, the swing arm, and the second arm (mower main body) along the entire length of the work vehicle. It is supposed to be stored in front of. On the other hand, during mowing work, the turning arm is turned, and the turning arm, the second arm, and the mower main body are disposed along the vehicle width direction of the work vehicle.

JP-A-9-94021

  However, an arm-connected mower having a mechanical turning mechanism including a turning arm and a turning cylinder for turning the turning arm as in Patent Document 1 is inevitably expensive due to the complicated structure.

  Therefore, there has been proposed an arm-coupled mower that omits a mechanical turning mechanism as shown in FIGS. In the arm-coupled mower 100 shown in the figure, a first arm 101 having a second arm 103 attached with a mower main body 104 connected to the tip, a lift cylinder 102 for rotating the first arm 101 in the vertical direction, Is pivotally supported by a turning member 111 that can turn with respect to the support member 110 installed at the rear of the work vehicle 120. Then, the retracted state and the mowing operation state can be switched by inserting / removing the pin 112 through which the support member 110 and the turning member 111 are inserted. However, in this case, since the driver (operator) of the work vehicle has to switch both states by manually inserting and removing the pin 112, there is a problem that it takes labor and labor of the operator when switching between the two states.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and the object of the present invention is to easily switch between the mowing operation state and the storage state without requiring an expensive drive mechanism or operator trouble. It is in providing the arm connection type mower which can do.

In order to solve the above-described problems, in the present invention, a first arm pivotally supported at one end in the vehicle width direction of a support member mounted on a work vehicle, a lift cylinder that rotates the first arm in the vertical direction, In an arm-coupled mower having a second arm that is pivotally coupled to one arm and has a mower main body attached to the tip, the lift cylinder and the support member are connected to the work vehicle in accordance with the expansion and contraction of the lift cylinder. By connecting through the first link that can rotate along the vehicle width direction, and connecting the other end of the second link, one end of which is connected to the first arm, to the longitudinal middle portion of the first link, The mowing operation state in which the first arm, the lift cylinder, the second arm, and the mower main body project to the side of the work vehicle, and the first arm, the lift cylinder, the second arm, and the mower main body are in front of or behind the work vehicle. And stored storage state, it is capable of switching by rotating along the vehicle width direction of the working vehicle with the first arm and the lift cylinder to the expansion and contraction operation of the lift cylinder, the lift cylinder in the retracted state One end and the other end of the lift cylinder are rotatably connected to the first arm and the first link, respectively, so as to be shortened .

  As described above, if the mowing operation state and the storage state are switched by rotating the first arm and the lift cylinder along the vehicle width direction of the work vehicle in accordance with the expansion and contraction operation of the lift cylinder, the turning It is possible to switch between the retracted state and the mowing operation state without providing an expensive turning mechanism including an arm and a turning cylinder, and without requiring the operator's effort.

  The above-described configuration can be obtained by configuring the first arm and the lift cylinder so that the first arm and the lift cylinder are rotated by more than 90 ° along the vehicle width direction of the work vehicle as the lift cylinder expands and contracts. This is because the lift cylinder and the first arm can be tilted in different directions in the mowing operation state and the retracted state with respect to the vertical direction of the work vehicle. Specifically, for example, a first link is provided between the lift cylinder and the support member, the first link being rotatable along the vehicle width direction of the work vehicle as the lift cylinder expands and contracts. And the first arm can be obtained by connecting with a second link. In this way, it is possible to switch between the storage state and the mowing operation state at a lower cost than in the case of providing an expensive turning mechanism as in the prior art.

  However, in this case, if the first link can be rotated too much along the vehicle width direction, the degree of tilting of the first arm or the like in the retracted state becomes too large. It becomes difficult to fit within the vehicle width range. For this reason, it is desirable that the support member is provided with a restricting portion for restricting the rotation angle of the first link so as to restrict the rotation angle of the first link within a predetermined range.

  The mower main body can be attached to the tip of the second arm via the swing mechanism, and in this way, the mower main body can be swung freely with respect to the second arm. In the mowing work state, the mowing machine body can follow the unevenness of the ground without fine adjustment of the arm posture, etc., so that high-precision mowing work can be easily performed. Since the posture of the mower main body can be arbitrarily set, the storage property can be improved. However, even if the mower main body swings in the retracted state, there is a risk of hindering safe operation of the work vehicle. Therefore, it is desirable to provide the first arm with a locking portion that locks the mower body in the retracted state.

  An agricultural tractor can be mentioned as a work vehicle which mounts the arm connection type mower according to the present invention described above.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an arm-coupled mower that can switch between a retracted state and a mowing operation state without requiring an expensive drive mechanism or an operator.

It is a figure showing the arm connection type mower concerning one embodiment of the present invention with which the rear part of the work vehicle was equipped, and the figure showing the mowing work state of the mower. It is a figure which shows the state which shortened the arm from the state shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the state which further shortened the arm from the state shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the retracted state of the arm connection type mower shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the conventional arm connection type mower. It is a figure which shows the retracted state and mowing work state of the arm connection type mower shown in FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an arm-linked mower 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention mounted on the rear part of an agricultural tractor T (hereinafter simply referred to as “tractor T”) as a work vehicle. It is a figure which shows the mowing work state of the connection type mower.

  The arm-coupled mower 1 in the illustrated example enables mowing at a location separated from the tractor T by projecting the mower main body 6 attached to the tip through the arm to the side of the tractor T. is there. This arm-coupled mower 1 has, as a main structure, a first arm pivotally supported at one end in the vehicle width direction (right end in the illustrated example) of the support member 20 attached to the rear three-point link of the tractor T. 2, a first cylinder 3 as a lift cylinder that rotates the first arm 2 in the vertical direction, a second arm 4 that is connected to the first arm 2 with a mower body 6 attached to the tip, A second cylinder 5 or the like for rotating (moving toward and away from) the second arm 4 with respect to the first arm 2 is provided. Although not shown in detail, hydraulic piping extending from the vehicle body of the tractor T is connected to the first cylinder 3, the second cylinder 5, and the mower main body 6, and hydraulic fluid supplied via the hydraulic piping Thus, the cylinders 3 and 5 (the cylinder rods thereof) and the mower main body 6 are driven.

  The mower main body 6 is attached to the tip of the second arm 4 via the swing mechanism 7. By interposing such a swing mechanism 7 between the second arm 4 and the mower main body 6, the mower main body 6 can swing with respect to the second arm 4. Therefore, the mower main body 6 can be made to follow the unevenness of the ground without finely adjusting the postures of the arms 2 and 4 (the height of the mower main body 6), etc., so that highly accurate mowing work can be easily performed. It becomes possible. A specific example of the swing mechanism 7 is a four-bar linkage mechanism. Although a detailed description of the mower main body 6 is omitted, the mower main body 6 can be of a type in which the frame constituting the mower main body 6 does not bend, or can be of a type that bends. it can.

  The first arm 2 is provided with one or more locking portions for locking the mower main body 6 when the arm-connected mower 1 is in the retracted state shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, the first arm 2 is provided with first and second locking portions 2 a and 2 b for locking the one end portion 6 a and the other end portion 6 b of the mower main body 6. The first locking portion 2 a is provided at a substantially intermediate portion in the length direction of the first arm 2, and the second locking portion 2 b is provided at the proximal end portion of the first arm 2.

  The base end of the first cylinder 3 (the tip of the cylinder rod 3a in the illustrated example) has a substantially boomerang shape in which one end 8a is pivotally supported by the support member 20 and is rotatable along the vehicle width direction. One link 8 is connected to the other end 8b. The other end of the second link 9, one end of which is connected to the base end of the first arm 2, is connected to the substantially intermediate portion 8 c of the first link 8. With this configuration, when the cylinder rod 3a of the first cylinder 3 extends and shortens, the first link 8 rotates along the vehicle width direction, and accordingly, the first arm 2 and the first cylinder 3 are connected to the tractor T. It rotates integrally along the vehicle width direction.

  Both the rotation angles (rotatable angles) of the first arm 2 and the first cylinder 3 are set to be larger than 90 °. In this embodiment, the rotation angle of the first arm 2 is approximately 130 °. Further, the rotation angle of the first cylinder 3 is set to about 120 °. In addition, from said structure, the rotation angle of the 1st arm 2 and the 1st cylinder 3 can be set to a predetermined value by restricting the rotation angle of the 1st link 8 to a predetermined value. In the present embodiment, by providing the support member 20 with a restricting portion C that contacts the first link 8 that has been rotated a predetermined amount inward in the vehicle width direction (counterclockwise direction in the illustrated example), the first link 8 and thus the first link. The rotation angles of the one arm 2 and the first cylinder 3 are set to the above values. Here, the restricting portion C is configured by the end surface 20a of the support member 20.

  The arm-coupled mower 1 having the above configuration is switched from the mowing operation state shown in FIG. 1 to the retracted state shown in FIG. 4 by operating as follows.

  First, as shown in FIG. 2, the cylinder rod 3a of the first cylinder 3 is shortened, and the first arm 2, the first cylinder 3, and the first link 8 are integrally rotated inward in the vehicle width direction. Then, the cylinder rod 5 a of the second cylinder 5 is shortened to move the second arm 4 and the mower main body 6 closer to the first arm 2. Thereby, the overhang | projection amount to the side of the arm connection type mower 1 reduces.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3, when the cylinder rod 3a of the first cylinder 3 is further shortened and moved to the shortened limit, the first arm 2, the first cylinder 3, and the first link 8 are moved in the vehicle width. The convex part 8d provided in the vicinity of the one end part 8a of the first link 8 contacts the regulating part C (end face 20a) of the support member 20 by rotating inward in the direction. Thereby, the further rotation of the 1st link 8 and by extension the 1st arm 2 and the 1st cylinder 3 is controlled. At this time, since the first arm 2 and the first cylinder 3 are rotated over 90 °, the first arm 2 and the first cylinder 3 are opposite to the mowing operation state with respect to the vertical direction of the tractor T. Tilt by a predetermined angle. Thereby, the tip of the first arm 2 (base end of the second arm 4) is at the left end in the vehicle width direction of the tractor T, and the tip of the second arm 4 (mower machine body 6) is at the right end in the vehicle width direction of the tractor T. As a result, the entire arm-connected mower 1 is generally within the vehicle width range of the tractor T.

  As described above, after the cylinder rod 3a of the first cylinder 3 is shortened to the shortening limit, as shown in FIG. 4, when the second cylinder 5 is shortened to the shortening limit, the mower main body 6 is lowered, One end 6a and the other end 6b of the mower main body 6 are locked by the first and second locking portions 2a and 2b of the first arm 2, respectively. Thereby, the arm connection type mower 1 will be in a retracted state.

  In order to switch the arm-coupled mower 1 from the retracted state to the mowing operation state, a procedure reverse to the procedure described above may be performed. That is, first, the cylinder rod 5a of the second cylinder 5 is extended by a predetermined amount to separate the mower main body 6 from the first arm 2, and then the cylinder rod 3a of the first cylinder 3 is extended to operate the first link. 8. The first arm 2 and the first cylinder 3 are rotated outward (clockwise) in the vehicle width direction along the vehicle width direction. Then, the amount of extension of the cylinder rod 3a of the first cylinder 3 and the cylinder rod 5a of the second cylinder 5 is appropriately adjusted so that the postures of both arms 2 and 4 are in an appropriate state, so that the mower body 6 is mowing. Place on the ground.

  As described above, in the arm-coupled mower 1 according to the present invention, the mowing operation state and the retracted state change the first cylinder 3 and the first arm 2 as the lift cylinders to extend and contract the first cylinder 3. Accordingly, the tractor T is switched by rotating along the vehicle width direction of the tractor T. In this way, it is possible to switch between the retracted state and the mowing operation state without requiring an expensive turning mechanism including a turning arm, a turning cylinder, and the like, and the labor of the operator.

  The above configuration is obtained by configuring the first arm 2 and the first cylinder 3 so as to rotate more than 90 ° along the vehicle width direction of the tractor T as the first cylinder 3 expands and contracts. It is done. This is because the first arm 2 and the first cylinder 3 can be tilted with respect to the vertical direction of the tractor T in different directions between the mowing operation state and the retracted state. In the present embodiment, a first link 8 that is rotatable along the vehicle width direction of the tractor T as the first cylinder 3 extends and contracts is interposed between the first cylinder 3 and the support member 20. Since the above-mentioned configuration is obtained by connecting the first link 8 and the first arm 2 with the second link 9, the arm-connected mower 1 having the above-described configuration is provided at a relatively low cost. can do.

  However, if the first link 8 is pivotable too much along the vehicle width direction, the degree of tilting of the first arm 2 and the like with respect to the vertical direction becomes too large. It becomes difficult to fit within the vehicle width range. In this regard, since the restricting portion C is provided on the support member 20 and the turning angle of the first link 8 is restricted by the restricting portion C, this type of problem can be effectively solved.

  In the arm-coupled mower 1 described above, the first arm 2 (the base end thereof) is pivotally supported at the right end of the support member 20, but the pivot point of the first arm 2 is the support member 20. It can be set to any part. The above-described arm-coupled mower 1 is of a type that is attached to the rear portion of the tractor T, but the configuration of the present invention may be applied to a type that is attached to the front portion of the tractor T. Is possible.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Arm connection type mower 2 1st arm 2a, 2b Locking part 3 1st cylinder (lift cylinder)
4 Second Arm 5 Second Cylinder 6 Mower Main Body 7 Swing Mechanism 8 First Link 9 Second Link 20 Support Member C Restricting Part T Agricultural Tractor (Work Vehicle)

Claims (5)

A first arm pivotally supported at one end in the vehicle width direction of a support member mounted on the work vehicle, a lift cylinder that pivots the first arm in the up-down direction, and a pivotally coupled to the first arm. In an arm-coupled mower having a second arm with a mower body attached to the tip,
The lift cylinder and the support member are connected to each other via a first link that can be rotated along the vehicle width direction of the work vehicle as the lift cylinder expands and contracts, and one end is connected to the first arm. By connecting the other end of the connected second link to the intermediate portion in the longitudinal direction of the first link, the first arm, the lift cylinder, the second arm, and the mower main body are moved to the side of the work vehicle. A mowing operation state projecting over the first arm, the lift cylinder, the second arm, and a mowing machine main body stored in the front or rear of the work vehicle are the first arm and the lift. The cylinder can be switched by rotating the cylinder along the vehicle width direction of the work vehicle in accordance with the expansion and contraction operation of the lift cylinder .
One end and the other end of the lift cylinder are rotatably connected to the first arm and the first link, respectively, so that the lift cylinder is shortened in the retracted state. Arm-connected mower. The support member, the arm linked mowing machine according to claim 1 having a regulating portion for regulating a rotation angle of the first link. The arm-connected mowing machine according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the mower body is attached to the tip of the second arm via a swing mechanism. The arm connection type mowing work machine according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein the first arm has a locking portion that locks the mower main body in the retracted state. The arm-connected mowing machine according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein the work vehicle is an agricultural tractor.

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