Abstract: A plant harvesting machine is organized as a wheeled tricycle having a plant elevator, plant inverter assembly, and plant sticking assembly and designed to move along a row of tobacco plants and successively harvest the plants. The plant elevator includes a powered circular saw blade at its base that severs the stem of each successive plant as the plant is gripped between opposed spike chains of the plant elevator. The severed plant is carried by the plant elevator and transferred to a plant inverter assembly that inverts the plant. The plant inverter assembly includes a spike-plate and cooperating pressure plate assembly that inverted the plant. The pressure plate assembly includes a spring-loaded pressure plate that accommodates plant stems of different diameters and shapes as the plant is inverted. Another set of spike chains engage the inverted plant and impale the plant onto a spear-shoe that is carried on a wooden stick.

Abstract: A road-sweeping machine designed to be towed behind a truck for removing road debris, including motor vehicle tires and tire fragments, includes a brush assembly that engages the roadway surface and sweeps debris from the roadway onto a first conveyor belt that transports the debris away from the brush. The debris is then constrained between the first conveyor and a second conveyor for delivery to debris receptacle. Both conveyor belts are entrained about a series of rollers supported by related frame structures including rollers mounted on pivotable links that allow the two confronting conveyor belts to move toward and away from one another in response to the size of the debris being constrained between the two conveyors. The tension on the self-adjusting conveyor belts is controlled by a pivotally mounted roller that maintains tension on both belts while self-repositioning in response the separation between the belts caused by the size of the debris being accommodated.

Abstract: A vacuum trailer for picking up litter in cut and uncut grass areas having a frame towable behind a tractor. The trailer has a fan to generate a suction force which is powered by the power take-off shaft of the tractor. A closed container receives the litter and the litter is volumetrically compressed inside the container and then discharged from the container. A pivoting intake and exhaust deck is provided to maintain a constant distance from the ground during operation and to allow for fast transporting of the trailer.

Abstract: Apparatus for counting a number of sheet-like articles such as corrugated sheets of paper is disclosed as comprising a platen mounted to be driven rectilinearly from a topmost position to engage the top of the stack, a motor for reversibly driving the platen and a counter for counting the number of pulses required to drive the platen from its topmost position to the top of the stack, thus providing an indication by the number of counted pulses of the distance between the topmost platen position and the top of the stack. Further, a circuit is provided for determining the difference between the first measured distance and the total distance between the bottom of the stack to thereby provide an indication of the stack height, which stack height in a particular unit of measurement, e.g., inches, is multiplied by a factor corresponding to the number of sheets per unit measurement to provide the number of sheets in the stack.

Abstract: A sheet thickness monitoring system includes a motor driven threaded rod extending across a conveyor above the path of corrugated sheets fed by the conveyer; the rod supports transversely reciprocating first and second linear variable differential transformers each having a vertically movable armature with a roller on its lower end positioned to engage the sheets so that thickness variations in the sheets provide voltage variations from the transformers. Output voltage signals from the transformers are averaged over a predetermined time period and a warning signal is actuated when the average signal strength falls below a predetermined value.