JPH10201370A - Seedling box ground treatment machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To enable ground processing of a large number of seedling boxes in the left-right direction for deployment or collection on the ground, and to make the front and rear positions of the developed seedling boxes uniform. SOLUTION: A front-rear transfer mechanism 6 that can move a plurality of seedling boxes N in the left-right direction with respect to the ground while simultaneously placing a seedling box N thereon and back and forth is provided with a front-rear transfer means 18 and a front-rear transfer mechanism. A horizontal moving means 10 for horizontally moving the transport means 18 in the front-rear direction; and a box aligning means 16 for abutting the seedling box N on the ground by horizontal forward movement to align the position in the front-rear direction at the front of the front-rear transport means 18. The box aligning means 16 has a buffer means 139 for absorbing an impact generated by contact with the seedling box.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a seedling box ground processing machine for performing ground processing for unfolding or collecting, for example, such that a large number of seedling boxes are transferred to the ground at the same time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the raising of rice and vegetables, after germination, seedling boxes are arranged in a house in a unit of several hundreds to 1,000 sheets and are greened and / or hardened. Technology for mechanization has been developed for efficient operation within the system. A technique for unfolding and collecting seedling boxes is disclosed in JP-A-7-17-1.
There is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07817. This technology selects a traveling device that moves the aircraft forward and backward, a vehicle-mounted unit that places a seedling cart, a transport of seedling boxes from the ground to the aircraft, and a transport of seedling boxes from the aircraft to the ground. The seedling box transport device that can be performed automatically, the operation of loading the seedling box on the body into the seedling box trolley on the vehicle mounting part, and lowering the seedling box loaded in the seedling box trolley on the vehicle mounting part on the vehicle And a seedling box loading / unloading device capable of selectively performing operations.

[0003]

In the above prior art, two sets of seedling box transfer devices are provided on the left and right sides so that two seedling boxes can be unfolded and collected at the same time. However, it is difficult to construct so that three or more seedling boxes can be unfolded and collected simultaneously, and it is difficult to improve efficiency.

[0004] When the seedling boxes are sequentially unfolded in the front-rear direction by moving the traveling device, the left and right two seedling boxes may be displaced back and forth or a gap may be formed between the front and rear seedling boxes. The prior art does not have a means for correcting such dislocation of the seedling box, and if the seedling box is continuously expanded in a state of being displaced or leaving a gap, the number of seedling boxes that can be expanded in the house However, there has been a problem that is reduced. Also,
In order to solve this problem, the seedling boxes must be manually rearranged, which places a heavy burden on the operator.

A first object of the present invention is to provide a front-rear transport mechanism for simultaneously transferring a large number of seedling boxes to the ground in the left-right direction, and to simultaneously transfer the seedling boxes back and forth to the front-rear transport mechanism to transfer the seedling boxes. By providing a vertical and horizontal transport mechanism that horizontally moves between the transfer position and the base position on the left and right sides, it is possible to process a large number of seedling boxes simultaneously on the ground, and the front and rear transport means of the front and rear transport mechanism is horizontal. A box aligning means is provided in the front and rear transport means so as to be movable back and forth, so that the front and rear positions of the seedling boxes on the ground can be aligned by the horizontal forward movement of the front and rear transport means. The present invention provides a seedling box-to-ground treatment machine that can prevent damage to the seedling box, soil in the seedling box, and disturbance of the seedlings by providing a buffer means for absorbing a shock when the seedlings are boxed, so that the boxes can be properly aligned. is there.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a box pick-up mechanism, lift a seedling box laid on the ground, and scoop up the seedling box by moving the front and rear transport means horizontally forward to ensure delivery of the seedling box. It is an object of the present invention to provide a seedling box-to-ground treatment machine that can be used. A third object of the present invention is to move the front and rear transport means horizontally forward in accordance with two positions, a box alignment position by the box alignment means, and a lower position of the seedling box lifted by the box pick-up means. It is an object of the present invention to provide a seedling box-to-ground treatment machine capable of reliably performing alignment and scooping of a seedling box.

[0007] A fourth object of the present invention is to form a driving body for horizontally moving the front-rear transport means by a cylinder having a two-stage stroke, so that it can be moved to two positions: a box alignment position and a seedling box scooping position. It is an object of the present invention to provide a seedling box-to-ground treatment machine capable of more accurately moving the front and rear transport means. A fifth object of the present invention is to form a driving body for horizontally moving the front-rear transportation means forward and backward by using a cylinder having a detection sensor so that the front-rear movement to two positions of a box alignment position and a seedling box scooping reception position. It is an object of the present invention to provide a seedling box-to-ground treatment machine capable of more accurately moving a transport means.

A sixth object of the present invention is to provide a method in which the box aligning means abuts against a seedling box and is pushed to contact the seedling box which has already been deployed on the front side. By providing a stopping mechanism for stopping the horizontal forward movement of the front and rear transport means, the seedling box can be properly aligned by preventing the seedling box from being lifted or damaged, preventing soil and seedlings in the seedling box from being disturbed. An object of the present invention is to provide a box-to-ground processing machine.

A seventh object of the present invention is to provide a seedling box-to-ground processing machine in which box aligning means can be constituted with a simple structure.

[0010]

A first concrete means for solving the problem in the present invention is that a seedling box N is placed on a work traveling machine body A2 and can be moved back and forth, and can be moved with respect to the ground. A front-rear transport mechanism 6 for simultaneously transferring a large number of seedling boxes N in the left-right direction, and a plurality of seedling boxes N in the left-right direction can be transferred to the front-rear transport mechanism 6 for simultaneous transfer and A vertical / horizontal transport mechanism 5 for horizontally moving the box N between a transfer position and a lateral base position, wherein the forward / backward transport mechanism 6 can place the seedling box N and move forward and backward. Means 18 and a horizontal moving means 10 provided between the front-rear transfer means 18 and the work traveling machine body A2 for horizontally moving the front-rear transfer means 18 in the front-rear direction. Abuts the seedling box N on the ground by horizontal forward movement Hakosoroe means 1 for aligning the rearward position
6 is provided, and the box aligning means 16 is provided with a buffer means 139 for absorbing an impact generated by contact with the seedling box N.

Thus, when the seedling box N is used to expand the seedling box N, the seedling box N is laterally moved from the base position to the transfer position on the left and right sides by the vertical and horizontal transport mechanism 5, and a large number of sheets are transferred from the transfer position to the left and right directions. The seedling boxes N are simultaneously moved forward and transferred to the front-rear transfer mechanism 6, and the large number of seedling boxes N in the left-right direction are simultaneously transferred from the front-rear transfer mechanism 6 to the ground and discharged to the ground. It is developed side by side. On the other hand, when used for collecting the seedling boxes N, a large number of seedling boxes N laid in a row are transferred from the ground to the front-rear transfer mechanism 6 at the same time. Seedling box N by rearward movement of mechanism 5
Is transferred to a transfer position on the vertical and horizontal transport mechanism 5, and is moved from the transfer position to a lateral base position from the transfer position by the horizontal movement of the vertical and horizontal transport mechanism 5.

Then, after the horizontal row of seedling boxes N are unfolded, the front / rear conveying means 18 is moved horizontally and forward, and the box aligning means 16
Is pressed against the seedling box N deployed on the ground, the seedling boxes are aligned in a horizontal row, and the gap between the seedling box N and the developing seedling box N on the front side is reduced. Further, when the box aligning means 16 comes into contact with the seedling box N, or when the pushed seedling box N comes into contact with the already unfolded seedling box N on the front side, the shock is applied to the buffer means 1.
The seeds 39 are absorbed to prevent the soil and seedlings in the seedling box N from being disturbed and the seedling box N from being damaged.

A second concrete means for solving the problem in the present invention is, in addition to the first concrete means, a peripheral edge N of a seedling box N spread on the ground in front of the front-rear transport means 18.
a box pick-up mechanism 17 for hooking and lifting the horizontal moving means 10
Means that the front-rear transfer means 18 can be moved horizontally and forward to a position below the seedling box N lifted by the box pick-up mechanism 17.

Thus, when the peripheral edge Na of the seedling box N spread on the ground is hooked and lifted by the box pick-up mechanism 17, the horizontal forward movement of the front-rear transport means 18 can be used without moving the box pick-up mechanism 17 backward. The seedling box N is moved to a position below the lifted seedling box N, and the seedling box N is delivered as if scooped. A third specific means for solving the problem in the present invention is that, in addition to the second specific means, the horizontal moving means 10 includes a box aligning position by a box aligning means 16;
A drive unit 46 for switching the front-rear transport means 18 horizontally forward by switching to two positions, that is, the lower position of the seedling box N lifted by the box pick-up mechanism 17.

According to this, the front-rear transportation means 18 is horizontally moved in accordance with the box alignment position and the position below the lifted seedling box N, so that in the case of box alignment, the seedling box is surely moved. N so as to align the front and rear positions and close the gap with the front seedling box N, so that the seedling box N can be reliably scooped when the seedling box N is transferred by the front and rear transport means 18. Become.

According to a fourth specific means for solving the problem in the present invention, in addition to the third specific means, the driving body 46 moves the front-rear conveying means 18 horizontally forwardly to each of the two positions. It consists of a cylinder with two possible strokes. According to this, the driving body 46
Is constituted by a so-called multi-stage cylinder having two-stage strokes. When the seedling boxes are aligned, the cylinder is extended and contracted by one full stroke of the two-stage strokes.
8 is accurately moved forward and horizontally to securely align the seedling boxes, and when the seedling box N is to be scooped, the cylinder is extended and contracted by the other full stroke, and the front and rear transport means 18 is accurately moved horizontally and forward to securely Scoop a seedling box.

According to a fifth specific means for solving the problem in the present invention, in addition to the third specific means, the driving body 46 is farther from the work traveling machine A2 among the two positions. A cylinder having a stroke capable of moving the front-rear transport means 18 horizontally forward in a position and having a detection sensor for detecting a stroke corresponding to a position in the middle of the stroke and at a short distance from the work traveling machine body A2 Is to be done.

In order to move the front-rear transporting means 18 horizontally and forward to a position closer to the work traveling machine A2 among the two positions of the seedling box alignment position and the seedling box scooping receiving position, the cylinder is detected. Expand and contract until the stroke is detected by the sensor. In addition, the front and rear transport means 18 is located at a far position.
To move the cylinder horizontally forward, extend and retract the cylinder by a full stroke. As a result, the front-rear transporting means 18 can be accurately moved to the above two positions, so that the seedling boxes can be aligned and the seedling boxes N can be scooped.

A sixth concrete means for solving the problems in the present invention is the horizontal moving means 10 in addition to any of the first to fifth concrete means.
Accordingly, a stop mechanism for stopping the horizontal forward movement of the front-rear transport means 18 when the force for pushing the seedling box N is greater than or equal to a predetermined value is provided. Accordingly, when the force for pushing the seedling box N is equal to or more than a predetermined value, for example, even if the space between the pushing seedling box N and the already-developed seedling box N on the front side is narrowed, the front-rear transporting means 18 still operates. In the case of moving the seedling box N horizontally forward or the like, the horizontal movement of the front and rear transport means is stopped to prevent the seedling box N from being pushed more than necessary. ， Prevents seedling disturbance.

A seventh concrete means for solving the problem in the present invention is that, in addition to any of the first to sixth concrete means, the box aligning means 16 includes a front part of the front-rear conveying means 18. And a buffering means 139 which is provided so as to be able to move back and forth and abuts on the seedling box N on the ground. It is composed of an elastic body interposed therebetween.

Thus, the structure of the box aligning means 16 can be simplified.

[0022]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1 to 5 show an entire seedling box unfolding and collecting machine which can be changed to a seedling box unfolding machine and a seedling box collecting machine as a seedling box to ground processing machine. This seedling box unfolding and collecting machine has a configuration in which 5 to 10 seedling boxes N on each side can be unfolded and collected simultaneously side by side while forming a sidewalk in the center.

The seedling box unfolding and collecting machine comprises at least one working unit 3 and a main unit 4, and a box feeding mechanism 8 and a box collecting mechanism 9 can be selectively mounted on the main unit 4. By mounting the box supply mechanism 8 on the main unit 4, a seedling box unfolding machine (shown in FIG. 4) is obtained.
Is attached, a seedling box collecting machine (shown in FIG. 5) is obtained, and the working unit 3 alone can unfold and collect a number of seedling boxes N that can be placed thereon, and can be used alone.

In FIG. 1 to FIG. 23, the work unit 3 is roughly divided into a case where the seedling box N is placed, and distribution from the base position on one side in the left-right direction to the transfer position and collection from the transfer position to the base position are performed. A vertical and horizontal transport mechanism 5 that is capable of moving back and forth at a transfer position, and a front and rear capable of mounting a seedling box N and transferring it to the vertical and horizontal transport mechanism 5 and transferring the loaded seedling box N to the ground The transport mechanism 6 and a box pick-up mechanism 1 that lifts the seedling box N spread on the ground onto the front-rear transport mechanism 6
7 are mounted on the work traveling machine body A2.

In the present invention, the front side is the side where the seedling box N is deployed, and the working unit 3 moves backward at the time of deployment,
Move forward at collection. In addition, when the working unit 3 is connected to the main unit 4, the base position is a position on the delivery mechanism 7 of the main unit 4 which is arranged at an outer position on one side end of the vertical and horizontal transport mechanism 5. 3 is used alone, it is located on one side end of the vertical and horizontal transport mechanism 5 and the seedling box N is artificially supplied and taken out on one side end of the vertical and horizontal transport mechanism 5. .

In FIG. 1 to FIG.
Has a caster-type front wheel 26 and a rear wheel 27 in the machine body 25 and can be pushed vertically and horizontally by hand. As shown in FIG. By connecting the bracket 133 pivotally supported and provided on the front wheel support 131 to the machine main body 25 with a pin 134, the vehicle can be set to run forward and straight.

The left and right sides of the machine body 25 are formed with connecting portions 24 projecting left and right in the front and rear direction, so that the working unit 3 and the main unit 4 can be connected and the working units 3 can be connected side by side. . A vertical and horizontal transport mechanism 5 is disposed on the machine main body 25.
The vertical transport means 5A which simultaneously moves the seedling boxes N back and forth and transfers the seedling boxes N to the forward and backward transport mechanism 6; A lateral transport unit 5B for transferring the entire seedling box N and moving the entire seedling box N laterally at the ascending position;
And lifting means 5C for lifting and lowering.

The vertical conveying means 5A is a belt conveyor in which five sets are arranged, supports three front and rear rotating shafts 28 via brackets erected on the machine main body 25, and controls the rear rotating shaft 28 by a motor 29. When driven, a belt 30 is wound around a pulley provided on each rotation shaft 28, and one seedling box N is placed and transported by two belts 30 arranged at an interval in the left-right direction. It has become.

The horizontal conveying means 5B is a roller conveyor having a length corresponding to the left and right lengths of the vertical conveying means 5A. A plurality of rollers 32 rotatable around the front and rear axes are supported on a conveyor frame 31. The plurality of rollers 32 use a rotation roller (a roller with a built-in motor) and are rotatable. A timing belt is wound around all the rollers 32, and all the rollers 32 are rotated synchronously by the rotation rollers.

The rollers 32 are all disposed between the belts 30 of the vertical conveying means 5A, and at a lowered position, the rollers 32 are located lower than the upper surface of the belt 30.
0 and the stacking state is set in the height direction.
Can be transferred to and from the belt 30. Lifting means 5
C is an elevator type, and a mounting body 38 is erected on the rear part of the conveyor frame 31 of the horizontal conveying means 5B, and a guide pillar 33 made of a mold steel material erected on the work traveling machine body A2.
A mounting body 38 is guided via a roller so as to be able to move up and down, and a chain 35 of an elevator driving tool 34 is connected to the mounting body 38.

The elevator driving tool 34 is a work traveling machine A
Up and down shafts 36 provided on the upper end 2 of the guide support 33
A and 36B are provided with sprockets, and a chain 35 wound between upper and lower sprockets is connected to a mounting body 38. A motor 37 is mounted on a receiving base 49 fixed to the machine body 25, and the lower shaft 36A is Are driven forward and backward to push and pull the chain 35 to move the conveyor frame 31 up and down. The pedestal 49 also serves to mount the rear wheel 27.

The raising and lowering means 5C raises and lowers the roller 32 of the horizontal conveying means 5B from a lowering position located below the upper surface of the belt 30 to an ascending position of an upper required height (for example, a person's waist height or about 1 m). I do. And the horizontal transport means 5B
When the seedling box N is lowered with the seedling box N placed thereon, the seedling box N is transferred to the vertical transport means 5A, and when the seedling box N is lifted from the lowered position with the seedling box N placed on the vertical transport means 5A, The seedling box N is lifted to enable the lateral transfer means 5B to move the seedling box N left and right.

A stopper 40 is provided on the square of the conveyor frame 31 of the horizontal transport means 5B via a vertical axis 39, and the vertical axis 39 is rotated via an actuator such as a motor or solenoid (not shown). With the stopper 40
Can be changed to a required posture, such as a posture for restricting the lateral movement of the seedling box N, a posture for restricting the backward movement, and a posture for guiding deployment and collection.

That is, in FIGS. 12 and 13, when the seedling box N is supplied from the delivery mechanism 7 to the lateral transport means 5B, the stopper 40 on the outer end side of the lateral transport means 5B is set to the regulating position of 40a, When the box N is prevented from falling out of the conveyor frame 31 to the outside, and when the seedling box N transferred to the vertical transfer means 5A is transferred to the front-rear transfer mechanism 6, the front stopper 40 should be set at 40.
When the seedling box N is guided toward the center in the left-right direction of the front-rear transfer means 18 in the deployment guide posture of the narrowing of the tip of b, and when the seedling box N is transferred from the front-rear transfer means 18 to the vertical and horizontal transfer mechanism 5, The front stopper 40 is set to the recovery guide posture of 40c and the rear stopper 40 is set to the restriction posture of 40d, and the seedling box N is moved rearward from the vertical and horizontal transport mechanism 5 while moving toward the center in the left and right direction of the vertical transport means 5A. I try not to fall.

At the front of the conveyor frame 31, a small-diameter roller 136 (shown in FIGS. 6 and 8) for facilitating the transfer of the seedling box N to the front-rear transport means 18 is provided. A transfer roller 137 (shown in FIGS. 10, 12, and 13) for facilitating the transfer of the seedling boxes N between the horizontal transport means 5B when the work units 3 are connected side by side to the side of the frame 31. ) Are provided detachably, and the transfer roller 137 is removed when not needed.

In FIGS. 1 to 7 and FIGS. 12 to 16, a front-rear transfer mechanism 6 is provided with a front-rear transfer means 18 capable of placing a seedling box N and moving back and forth. A2, and a horizontal moving unit 10 that horizontally moves the front-rear transportation unit 18 in the front-rear direction. The front-rear conveying means 18 is formed by a belt conveyor, and five rows of belt conveyors 42 are supported by a support frame 41, and are simultaneously driven by a motor 43 provided below the support frame 41. The seedling box N can be placed and simultaneously transported in the front-back direction.

The belt conveyors 42 in each row are arranged in two sets (42A, 42B) in a straight line with the rollers 44 therebetween, but may be one long set. However, if two pairs (42A, 42B) are provided in front and rear, the front belt conveyor 42A is bent downward and steeply inclined, the rear belt conveyor 42B is tilted downward slowly and gently, and the rear belt conveyor 42B Between the seedling box N and the vertical conveying means 5A
Smooth delivery without shock is possible.

A pair of left and right grounding wheels 45 are provided below the support frame 41, and five box aligning means 16 corresponding to the belt conveyors 42 in each row (five rows) are mounted on the front part. Have been. This box aligning means 16 is located close to the ground on the extension of the belt conveyor 42,
The lateral width is slightly narrower than the short side of the seedling box N, and is approximately C in side view
Alternatively, a plurality of bar members 138 projecting rearward are fixed to the abutting member 23 formed of a U-shaped sheet metal, and the bar members 138 penetrate through the front portion of the support frame 41 movably back and forth. 13
The abutment member 23 is urged forward by a compression coil spring (elastic body) 139 fitted in 8. Reference numeral 140 denotes a retaining pin for preventing the bar 138 from coming out of the support frame 41 from the front.

The box aligning means 16 makes contact with the seedling box N released by the abutment tool 23 to the ground during forward movement, and pushes the seedling box N to move the front and rear positions of the plurality of seedling boxes N in the left-right direction. Align and eliminate the front-back spacing with the seedling box N already deployed. In addition, the upper surface of the abutment member 23 has a forward downward slope disposed substantially on the same straight line as the slope of the belt conveyor 42, and serves to reduce the head when discharging the seedling box N to the ground. I have.

The above-mentioned compression coil spring 139 absorbs the shock when the contacting tool 23 comes into contact with the seedling box N, and the pushing seedling box N comes into contact with the already expanded seedling box N. It is a buffer means for absorbing the shock when the seedling box N is disturbed, so that the soil and the seedlings in the seedling box N are not disturbed and the seedling box N is not damaged, and the horizontal movement described later is performed. Abrupt load application to the air cylinder 46 of the moving means 10 is avoided.

The cushioning means is not limited to a compression coil spring, but may be replaced by a spring having elasticity and capable of absorbing a shock (for example, a leaf spring, rubber, an air damper, etc.). The horizontal moving means 10 includes an air cylinder (driving body) 4 connected to a rear portion of the support frame 41 with a pin.
6 and a pair of left and right guide rods 47 similarly connected with pins. The air cylinder 46 is attached to the machine body 25, and the pair of left and right guide rods 47 is guided to the machine body 25 slidably back and forth. Have been.

The fore-and-aft transport means 18 is a horizontal moving means 10
The main body 25 is connected to the machine body 25, and is inclined forward and downward when the grounding wheel 45 is grounded, and is movable in the front-rear horizontal direction by the operation of the air cylinder 46. Enable operation. The support frame 41 and a pair of left and right guide rods 47 are provided.
An actuator for rotating the tip of the support frame 41 upward is provided between the work unit 3 and the grounding wheel 45 and the abutment 23 when the work unit 3 is carried in and out of the house. Preferably.

The air cylinder 46 is a cylinder having two strokes, that is, a telescopic type (having a double cylindrical cylinder) or a digital type (having a piston arranged in front and rear in the cylinder). The so-called multi-stage cylinder is used.
6 and a lower position of the seedling box N lifted by a box pick-up mechanism 17, which will be described later. Can be moved horizontally forward (see FIG. 16). Note that the distance for moving the seedling box is set longer than the distance for moving the front and rear transport means 18 for aligning the seedling boxes, and the box alignment position is closer to the work traveling machine A2. , The seedling box delivery position is far away.

Therefore, of the two strokes, the front / rear transport means 18 is moved horizontally forward to align the seedling boxes by one (shorter) full stroke expansion / contraction, and the seedling box is moved by the other (longer) full stroke expansion / contraction. Since the front / rear transport means 18 is moved horizontally forward for delivery, the front / rear transport means 18 can be accurately moved to each position, and box alignment and box delivery operations can be reliably performed.

The air cylinder 46 may be replaced with a multi-stage cylinder as described above and a cylinder with a stroke sensor (detection sensor) may be used.
The seedling box is set to be delivered with the full stroke of the cylinder, and the sensor detects the slot of the cylinder corresponding to the box alignment position in the middle of the full stroke. I can do it. Further, without using a stroke sensor, the stroke of the cylinder corresponding to the box alignment position in the middle of the full stroke is temporally controlled by a timer so that the front / rear transportation means 18 is stopped at the box alignment position by expansion and contraction for a predetermined time. You may.

As described above, even in the case of a cylinder with a stroke sensor and the one in which the expansion and contraction of the cylinder is temporally controlled by a timer, the front-rear transportation means 18 can be accurately moved. The movement of the seedling box N to the transfer position is performed by the full stroke of the cylinder, so that the seedling box N is more accurate.

In the horizontal moving means 10, the pneumatic circuit for supplying compressed air to the air cylinder 46 is provided when the force for pushing the seedling box N by the box aligning means 16 exceeds a predetermined value. Is provided with a relief valve for releasing compressed air to be supplied into the air cylinder 46 when the load pressure applied to the air cylinder 46 is equal to or higher than a predetermined value.
A stop mechanism for stopping the horizontal forward movement of the shutter 8 is configured.

Therefore, by expansion and contraction of the air cylinder 46,
When the contact tool 23 of the box aligning means 16 is brought into contact with the seedling box N spread on the ground and pushed, and the pushed seedling box N comes into contact with the seedling box N which has already been deployed on the front side. For example, the seedling box N pushed by the seedling box N on the front side is stopped, and the load pressure applied to the air cylinder 46 increases. By setting the pressure at this time to the relief pressure and allowing the compressed air to escape, excessive pushing of the seedling box N is avoided, and the pushing seedling box N is placed on the abutment 23 or on the front seedling box N on the front side. To prevent the seedling box N from being raised or damaged, not to disturb or damage the soil and seedlings in the seedling box N, and to prevent the front row of the seedling box N from being disturbed. ing.

The driving body 46 may be a hydraulic cylinder instead of an air cylinder. In this case as well, a multi-stage hydraulic cylinder, a hydraulic cylinder with a stroke sensor, etc. are used, and the stopping means is provided in the hydraulic circuit. What is necessary is just to provide and provide a relief valve. Further, a pressure switch may be used as a stop mechanism to disconnect and supply the compressed air and the pressure oil at a predetermined pressure.

The support frame 41 of the front-rear transport means 18
A box guide plate 48 is provided on the upper surface of the left and right sides of the box. The box guide plate 48 has a wide front to guide the seedling box N at the time of collection. The horizontal transport unit 5B and the front-back transport unit 18
The conveyor frame 31 and the support frame 41 form the minimum required horizontal width, and the five seedling boxes N to be processed simultaneously are processed in an adjacent state, and the width of the seedling boxes N approximates the width of the five seedling boxes N. Width.

Within such a width of the conveyor frame 31 and the support frame 41, the vertical transport means 5A including the motor 29, the elevating means 5C having the receiving table 49, the motor 43 of the front and rear transport means 18, the horizontal moving means 10 and the like are provided. The work unit 3 is arranged in the left-right direction and forms a compact work unit 3. In FIGS. 1 to 3, 5, 16, and 18 to 23, five sets of left and right box pickup mechanisms 17 are provided on a front frame 56 protruding forward from the left and right sides of the machine body 25.
A hook 22 for hooking the periphery Na of the seedling box N from below,
The hanging tool 22 includes a plurality of hooks 153 for hooking the periphery Na of the seedling box N from below, and each hook 153 is provided around the seedling box N. And an interference avoiding means 53 for avoiding interference with the rib Nb.

The front frame 56 has an L-shape in side view and a gate shape in plan view, and its left and right ends are fixed to the machine main body 25 or detachably attached via bolts or pins. On the left and right sides of the front frame 56, the front frame 5
A wheel 52 supporting a weight of 6 is provided. In the elevating means 51 of the box pick-up mechanism 17, five guide rails (guide bodies) are provided on the left and right sides of the front portion of the front frame 56.
60 is fixed and one lift cylinder 62 with brake
Are supported, and two guide rods 59 are guided so as to be able to move up and down, and a lift 61 is attached to the lower ends of the two guide rods 59. A piston rod is connected.

An elevating table 61 has an L-shaped connecting member 63 in a side view.
Is fixed to the lower part of the connecting member 63 via a pin, and a middle part of a swinging member 64 in an L-shape in a side view is pivotally supported. A roller 65 engaged with the guide rail 60 is provided. The lower portion of the guide rail 60 is bent rearward, and when the roller 65 passes through the bent portion 60A, the swinging tool 64 swings and the vertical cylinder (vertical moving means) 67
Is changed from a substantially vertical posture to a forward leaning posture.

The elevating cylinder 62, the vertical cylinder 67 and the like are actuators of the elevating means 51. The guide rail 60, the connecting member 63, the swinging member 64, the roller 65 and the like tilt the locking member 22 forward and downward. Means are configured. A forward / backward moving cylinder (forward / backward moving means) 68 is attached to a lower part of the piston rod of the vertical cylinder 67, and a mounting base 69 is attached to a front part of the piston rod of the forward / backward moving cylinder 68. Two guide rods 70, 71 are fixed to the front-rear movement cylinder 68 and the mounting base 69, respectively. The respective guide rods 70, 71 hold the vertical cylinder 67 and the front-rear movement cylinder 68, respectively. The member is guided to be movable in the longitudinal direction.

A substantially triangular side plate 72 is mounted on the left and right sides of the mounting base 69.
A and 73B are provided, and these wheels 73A and 73B are grounded and follow the ground, and maintain the position and posture of the hook 153 with respect to the ground. A rectangular support 145 is supported on the mounting base 69, and a back plate 146 is mounted behind the support. The support 145 is attached to the mounting base 69 by screwing a nut to the vertical axis 147 at the center in the left-right direction, and can swing slightly left and right about the vertical axis 147. The pair of elastic receiving members 148 are elastically held at the swinging neutral position (posture along the left-right direction).

The support 145 has two support rods 149.
Are penetrated in the front-rear direction, and a claw attachment 150 is attached to the front end of the support rod 149, and is urged forward by a spring 151 fitted on the support rod 149. The inside of the nail attachment body 150 is hollow, and the upper part is the holding plate 15.
2 and the front surface is open, and the bases of four hooks 153 are pivotally supported in the hook mounting body 150 via pins 156 so as to be able to swing in the left-right direction.

The holding plate 152 is provided with a stopper pin 157 for restricting the swing of each hook 153 in one direction and setting it to a forward position.
A leaf spring (biasing member) 158 is provided to bias each hook 153 in a direction in which it comes into contact with the stopper pin 157, and the hook 153 can escape in another direction. It should be noted that a torsion coil spring or the like may be used instead of the leaf spring 158 as the urging member.

The hook 153 has an upwardly projecting shape that hooks a portion of the seedling box N having a downward flange at the front end of the seedling box N in a side view, and a surface on the stopper pin 157 side in a plan view. When the inclined surface 153a comes into contact with the rib Nb on the back side of the downward flange of the seedling box N, the leaf spring 158 is pressed against the leaf spring 158 so as to avoid the rib Nb and engage with the peripheral edge Na. Swings in the escape direction.

The support 145, the support rod 149, the claw mounting body 150, the spring 151, the holding plate 152, the hook 153, and the like together constitute the hook 22 and make the hook 153 swingable. Configuration, inclined surface 153a,
The stopper pin 157, the leaf spring 158 and the like constitute an interference avoiding means 53 for engaging the hook 153 with the peripheral edge Na while avoiding interference with the rib Nb.

Reference numeral 154 denotes the mounting plate 15 on the mounting base 69.
5 is a seedling box detection sensor provided through the hook 5, and detects when the hook 153 comes into contact with the seedling box N and the nail mounting body 150 moves backward, thereby detecting the presence of the seedling box N. It has become. The seedling box detection sensor 154 can adjust the front and rear position. The latch 22 has a hook 153.
When the hook is hooked on the peripheral edge Na of the seedling box N from below, the holding means 54 for regulating the escape of the peripheral edge Na to prevent the detachment of the seedling box N is provided.

The holding means 54 is provided with each holding plate 152
An air cylinder 160 or an elevating actuator formed by a solenoid or the like is attached to the bracket 159, and a pressing member 161 is provided at the lower end of the rod of the air cylinder 160, and the pressing member 161 is moved downward. It has an upper escape restricting portion 161a close to the upper surface of the peripheral Na, and a front escape restricting portion 161b that enters the inside (the seedling side) of the peripheral Na, and the front escape restricting portion 161b has a pair of right and left pins on the pressing member 161. Is formed.

Accordingly, the hook 153 is connected to the periphery Na of the seedling box N.
Air cylinder 1 while hooking it from below
When the pressing member 161 is moved down to lower the pressing member 161, the pressing member 161 is close to the upper surface of the peripheral edge Na, and the upper escape restricting portion 161 a is coupled with the hook 153 to clamp the peripheral edge Na, or at least in the upward direction of the peripheral edge Na. , And the front escape restricting portion 161b enters the inside of the peripheral edge Na to prevent the seedling box N from escaping forward,
The hook between the hook 153 and the periphery Na of the seedling box N is ensured.

The box pick-up mechanism 17 of this embodiment lowers the elevating table 61 to the lower limit position of the elevating cylinder 62, lowers the hanging members 22 by the weight of the vertical cylinder 67, and lowers the wheels of each of the hanging members 22. 73 is independently grounded to the ground, and wheels 7
When the front and rear moving cylinder 68 is operated to protrude while the ground 3 is grounded, or when the work traveling machine body 2A is moved forward while the front and rear moving cylinder 68 is in the protruding operation state, the hook 2
The hook 153 at the front end of the second abutment comes into contact with the unfolded seedling box N, and the claw mounting body 150 elastically moves rearward, and the seedling box detection sensor 154 detects it and projects or moves the forward and backward moving cylinder 68. The forward movement of the body 2A is stopped (FIGS. 20 and 2).
2).

At this time, even if the front and rear positions of the unfolded seedling box N are not aligned on the left and right, the seedling box N is absorbed by the back and forth movement of the claw mounting body 150 via the spring 151,
Even if the seedling box N is inclined, the support 145 swings through the vertical axis 147 and the pair of left and right elastic receivers 148 to be absorbed, and the four hooks 153 engage with the peripheral edge Na of the seedling box N. I do.

When any one of the four hooks 153 comes into contact with the peripheral rib Nb of the seedling box N, the action of the inclined surface 153a of the interference avoiding means 53 causes the hook 153 to move the leaf spring 1
Rocking against the peripheral rib Nb to avoid the peripheral rib Nb.
Enter underneath. With the hook 22 stopped moving forward, the vertical cylinder 67 is actuated to slightly raise the hook 22, so that all hooks 153 lower the lower flange of the periphery Na of the seedling box N. Then, the hook 22 is raised by the lifting cylinder 62 to lift the rear portion of the seedling box N.

In parallel with this or after lifting the rear part of the seedling box N, the pressing means 54 is operated to press the pressing member 161.
And the pressing member 161 is brought close to the upper surface of the peripheral edge Na to secure the hook between the hook 153 and the peripheral edge Na of the seedling box N. Since the roller 65 enters the bent portion 60A of the guide rail 60 with the rise of the hook 22, the swinging tool 64 swings while rising, and moves the front-rear moving cylinder 68 and the hook 22 to the front-rear transportation means 18. Forward and downward so as to be substantially along the upper surface of the.

Next, the front / rear conveying means 18 is moved to the horizontal moving means 1.
At 0, it is inserted and moved so as to be scooped below all the hooks 22 (the state of FIG. 22). At this time, since the front and rear transport means 18 comes into contact with the seedling box N, even if there is a movement such that the peripheral edge Na is detached from the hook 153, the pressing means 54 prevents the movement. In a state in which the rear half of the seedling box N is arranged to be scooped on the front and rear transport means 18, the vertical cylinder 67 is moved down and the holding means 54 is released, and the entire seedling box N is transported by the front and rear transport mechanism 6. And the hooks 153 are released from engagement with the peripheral edge Na of the seedling box N. Thereafter, the hooking tool 22 is moved backward by the front-rear movement cylinder 68 along the upper surface of the front-rear transportation means 18. Then, it is separated from the seedling box N and the elevating cylinder 62 is actuated to move up (the state shown in FIG. 23).

The seed box unfolding operation can be performed while the box pick-up mechanism 17 is mounted on the work traveling machine A2. As the box pick-up mechanism 17, a large number of hooks 22 are attached to the lifting platform 61 or the swinging tool 64, and the engagement and disengagement of the hooks 153 with respect to the seedling box N is performed by the operation of the lifting / lowering cylinder 62 and the travel of the work traveling machine 2A. Alternatively, instead of the guide rail 60 of the tilting means, a cylinder may be provided between the connecting tool 63 and the swinging tool 64, or the lift cylinder 6 may be provided.
2 may be provided in a forward leaning posture.

A seedling box detection sensor may be provided on the front frame 56, and the seedling box N may be detected in front of the hook 153 to stop the forward movement of the working unit 3.
The hook 22 can be formed by using a plurality of hooks 153 other than four, or by directly attaching the hook 153 to the mounting base 69, and instead of the hook 153 or the hook 22. It is also possible to change the box pick-up mechanism 17 to the box aligning means 16 by attaching the abutment 23 to the box.

In order to make the wheels 73 conform to the irregularities of the ground, it is preferable that the mounting base 69 can be slightly swung up and down around the longitudinal axis with respect to the piston rod of the longitudinal cylinder 68. The working unit 3 can be formed in a size that can simultaneously process 1 to 4 or 6 or more seedling boxes N. The working unit 3 for simultaneously processing 3 or more sheets can be used alone or in the main unit 4. The one or two-sheet processing unit is used by being connected to the work unit 3 connected to the main unit 4.

The main unit 4 is shown in FIGS.
13 and 24 to 32, the delivery mechanism 7 is provided at the front of the main traveling body B2, the box supporter support mechanism 12 is provided at the rear thereof, and the box supply mechanism 8 and the box collection mechanism are provided at an intermediate portion thereof. Mechanism 9
And one of them can be used. The main unit 4
The working unit 3 is connected to at least one of the left and right sides so as to be able to travel together. In the embodiment, the working unit 3 is paired left and right,
Working unit 3 for processing the same or different number of seedling boxes N
Are connected side by side, and both working units 3 transfer the seedling boxes N between the horizontal transport means 5B.

The main traveling body B2 includes a driving source such as an electric motor, a hydraulic pump, an air compressor,
An operation panel and the like are mounted, and the left and right crawler running units 77 are driven by a hydraulic motor. The self-propelled device 13B is provided so that the running and steering can be performed independently. The delivery mechanism 7 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIGS. 6 and 10 to 13, the work unit 3 is disposed at the center of the pair of left and right working units 3, that is, at a base point on one side of the horizontal transfer unit 5 </ b> B at the ascending position. It has a distributing means 7A for transferring the sheets one by one, and a feeding means 7B for moving the seedling box N between the distributing means 7A and a position behind the distributing means 7A.

The distributing means 7A includes a roller conveyor 117 having a plurality of rotation rollers 116 having a built-in motor, and a chain conveyor having a plurality of pawls 118 on a distribution frame 115 provided on a front projection 76a at the front of the machine body 76. 1
19 are provided. The rotation roller 116 is arranged in parallel with the roller 32 with the axis thereof oriented in the front-rear direction, and when the horizontal conveying means 5B is at the raised position, the roller 32 becomes substantially the same as the rotation roller 116, and N is delivered.

The chain 120 of the chain conveyor 119
Are disposed between the rotation rollers 116 and the distribution frame 115
And a plurality of pawls 118 provided at one or a distance from each other. Can be driven.

The feed means 7B is formed by a roller conveyor supported by a feed frame 122, and the rollers 124 are driven via a motor and a chain transmission means (not shown). Located, seedling box N
Can be conveyed in the front-rear direction, and the rear portion of the chain conveyor 119 is arranged to overlap with the front portion of the feeding means 7B.

The seedling box N supplied from the rear onto the feeding means 7B is sent by the rollers 124 until it reaches the chain conveyor 119, and is pushed by the claws 118 of the chain conveyor 119 to be provided at the front of the distribution frame 115. Stopper 1
It is moved until it comes into contact with 25. In this state, the seedling box N
The sheet is completely transferred onto the roller conveyor 117, and is distributed and supplied to the horizontal conveying means 5B of each of the left and right working units 3 by rotating the roller conveyor 117 forward and backward.

The transfer of the seedling box N from the horizontal transfer means 5B to the feed means 7B is the reverse of the above operation, and the roller conveyor 11
7 and the seedling box N taken in by the chain conveyor 1
19 is pushed by the pawl 118 onto the roller 124. A front protruding portion 7 supporting the delivery mechanism 7 of the main traveling body B2
6a is provided with a pair of front and rear connecting portions 127 on the left and right. The connecting portion 127 of the work traveling machine body A2 can be connected to the connecting portion 127.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 6, FIG. 8, and FIG. 10, the connecting portions 127 and 24 have a bifurcated shape on the left and front sides, are formed of a single plate on the right and front sides, and A front opening groove a is formed, and the other is formed with a bolt hole b. When connecting the work traveling body A2 to the main traveling body B2, bolts (or pins) may be inserted into the respective left front bolt holes b, and the respective right front grooves a may be engaged with the bolts. The bolts are inserted while aligning the bolt holes b on the rear side.

When the work traveling machine A2 is further connected to the work traveling machine A2 connected to the main traveling machine B2, the same operation as described above is performed. Further, the work traveling machine A2 can be connected to either the left or right of the main traveling machine B2 or another work traveling machine A2. FIG. 17 shows a connecting tool 1 for moving the working unit 3 with the traveling power of the main unit 4 by using the connecting portions 127 and 24 at the time of loading and unloading into the house.
28 and 129 are shown.

The first connecting member 128 is connected to the main traveling body B2.
And a rear connecting portion 128a which is fitted to the front protruding portion 76a from the front side and connected to the left and right front connecting portions 127 by bolts, and a rear connecting portion 128a which is connected to the front and rear connecting portions 127 by bolts. Left and right connecting portions 24
And a front connection portion 128b for bolt connection. The second connecting member 129 is for connecting the work traveling machine A2 to the work traveling machine A2 in a forward series, and is connected to the main traveling machine B.
2 is connected from the front side to the work traveling machine body A2 connected to the front side 2 and is bolt-connected to the left and right front side connection sections 24.
And a front connection portion 129b that is fitted to the second work traveling machine body A2 from the rear side and is bolted to the left and right rear connection portions 24.

By using the first and second connecting members 128 and 129, a plurality of working units 3 can be connected in series to the main unit 4, and the main unit 4 is driven into a house with a narrow entrance. The work unit 3 can be carried in only by power, the work unit 3 is disconnected in series in the house, and is manually pushed and moved to be connected to the main unit 4 side by side using the connection parts 127 and 24 side by side. .

The box supply mechanism 8 is a mechanism that stores the seedling boxes N in a stacked state and supplies the seedling boxes N to the delivery mechanism 7 one by one. Transport conveyor means 75 formed of a wheel conveyor or a roller conveyor or the like disposed on the upper portion of the machine base 74; and box holding means provided on a frame 78 disposed over the transport conveyor means 75. 79 and a lifting means 80 which moves up and down to a position where the seedling box N on the transport conveyor means 75 is held by the box holding means 79.

The frame frame 78 is open on the rear side, so that seedling boxes N stacked in, for example, 30 tiers can be inserted from the rear while placed on the conveyor means 75. The box holding means 79 has a pair of left and right plate-shaped holding members 81 supported by the frame 78, and an egress / retract means 82 for moving the left and right holding members 81 into and out of the frame 78.

The left and right holders 81 can hold the periphery Na of the seedling box N, and can hold the stacked seedling box N at a height more than one seedling box N from the conveyor means 75.
By retreating by the retracting means 82, the laminated seedling box N which is being held can be opened. The retracting means 82 is configured to move a screw shaft having the holder 81 attached to the tip in the axial direction by a motor, and may be constituted by an air cylinder or the like.

The lift means 80 is located below the conveyor means 75, and has a lift table 83 which can project upward from between the wheels of the conveyor means 75, and a lift drive means 84 which moves up and down the lift table 83. ing. The lift base 83 is guided by a machine base 74 so as to be lifted and lowered. A lift drive unit 84 drives a cam plate 85 that comes into contact with a cam follower on the lower surface of the lift base 83 with a motor or the like to move the lift base 83 up and down. Has become. The lift driving means 84 can be constituted by a hydraulic cylinder or the like.

The lifting means 80 moves the right and left holding members 81 backward, and the transport
8 is lifted by operating the lift driving means 84 to raise the lift table 83, and when descending, the second seedling box N from the bottom is held by the holder 81.
27, and the lift table 83 is lowered below the conveyor means 75, so that the seedling box N at the lowermost position is again placed on the conveyor means 75 and Transport to

Next, when the lift base 83 is raised, the laminated seedling box N held by the holder 81 is lifted, and when descending, the holder 81 is retracted once to lower the lower seedling box N. Then, the second seedling box N from the bottom is received when the holding tool 81 advances. The box supporter support mechanism 12 includes a lateral movement mechanism 97 on which the box supporter 14 can be placed and laterally moved, and a stacked seedling box N lifted from the box supporter 14 on the lateral movement mechanism 97 and moved forward. And a stacked seedling box feeding means 92 for feeding.

The box receiving member 14 is a pallet used for the greening process and into which a fork claw can be inserted.
It is formed in such a manner that five stacked products can be placed in the left-right direction. The box receiver 14 may be a frame that can be transported by a forklift or a transport vehicle with wheels. Lateral moving mechanism 9
7 is provided with a large number of wheels 90 in the left-right direction at the front and rear portions of a frame 89 fixed to the rear upper surface of the machine body 76.
A mounting movable table 91 having front and rear rails engaging with the first movable member 0 is disposed so as to be movable in the left-right direction, and a driving means 168 for driving the mounting movable table 91 on the frame 89 is provided.

The driving means 168 winds a chain 169 around a sprocket supported by the frame 89, connects the chain 169 to the mounting / moving table 91, and
At 0, the sprocket is driven, and the mounting moving table 91 having the front and rear rails is pulled and moved by the chain 169 without moving the driving means 168.

As shown in FIG. 28, a positioning member 100 is provided on the upper surface of the mounting moving table 91 for holding the mounted box receiver 14 at an appropriate position in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction. The supply of the stacked seedling boxes N from the box receiving body 14 to the transport conveyor means 75 is performed by the stacked seedling box feeding means 92 arranged inside the frame 89. This stacked seedling box feeding means 92
Is configured such that a belt conveyor 95 driven by a motor 94 is supported on a lifting table 93, and the lifting table 93 is raised and lowered by lifting means 96. The elevating means 96 vertically drives a rod fixed to the elevating table 93 by a motor via a rack and pinion.

The driving means 168 and the elevating means 96 include
Although an electric motor is used, it may be configured to operate with an air cylinder or a hydraulic cylinder. The box holder 1
Reference numeral 4 denotes a window 14 on which five sets of the stacked seedling boxes N can be placed, and the belt conveyor 95 can show a face in correspondence with each seedling box placement position.
A is formed, and the stacked seedling box feeding means 92
When the elevator 93 is lifted by the lifting means 96 from the state shown by the solid line, the belt conveyor 95 rises from the window 14A to lift the stacked seedling box N (the state shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 27 and the solid line in FIG. 28), and When driven in this state, the stacked seedling boxes N can be sent forward, and can be transferred to the conveyor means 75.

The horizontal moving mechanism 97 takes out the stacked seedling boxes N from the end in the order of 5, 3, 1, 2, and 4 from the end in order to balance left and right when the stacked seedling boxes N are taken out. It has become. In addition, since the placing and moving table 91 greatly overhangs from the machine body 76 to the left and right, a grounding wheel 99 is provided via a support arm 98 at the left and right rear portions of the machine body 76 to support the left and right. A caster wheel is used as the grounding wheel 99, and the support arm 98 can change its posture from the outwardly protruding posture to the rearward direction, so that the rear portion of the main unit 4 can be supported.

The box receiving body 14 is provided with a seedling box N in a stacked state.
In place of the above, a box collecting frame 15 for storing the seedling boxes N in multiple tiers at an up-down interval can be placed. When collecting the seedling boxes, the box collecting frame 15 is placed and the same as described above. Then, the lateral movement by the lateral movement mechanism 97 is performed. The box collecting mechanism 9 is shown in FIGS. 5 and 30 to 32. The box collecting mechanism 9 is a mechanism that supplies the seedling boxes N one by one from the delivery mechanism 7 and collects the seedling boxes N in upper and lower tiers. It is mounted on the machine body 76 instead of the mechanism 8.

The box collecting mechanism 9 includes a wheel conveyor,
Conveying conveyor means 102 formed by a roller conveyor or the like
And a frame frame 103 laid over the transport conveyor means 102 and a seedling box N supported by the frame frame 103 and having growing seedlings on the transport conveyor means 102, spaced one by one. Lifting box multi-stage lifting means 1
04 and pusher means 105 for pushing out all the seedling boxes N on the box multistage lifting means 104 backward.

The box multi-stage lifting means 104 wraps a chain 109 around a plurality of front and rear sprockets fixed to upper and lower shafts 107 and 108 supported on the left and right sides of the frame 103, and places the side chains of the seedling box N around the front and rear chains 109. Metal fittings 110 for holding the seedlings N are arranged at regular intervals, and they are arranged to face left and right, and the seedling box N is lifted up from the conveyor means 102 by the left and right holding metal fittings 110. Can be collected at intervals, for example, in 30 stages.

The pusher means 105 is of a two-stage push-moving type, and has a pusher body 112 which comes into contact with all the seedling boxes N collected by the box multi-stage lifting means 104 on the frame frame 103; A first upper / lower air cylinder 113 to be moved, a pusher frame 114 to which the upper / lower air cylinder 113 is attached and which is supported on the frame frame 103 via a guide rail so as to be movable back and forth;
3 or the pusher frame 1 supported by the machine frame 101
14 for moving the air cylinder 14 back and forth.

When a required number of seedling boxes N are stored in the box multistage lifting means 104, the second air cylinder 111 is extended to move the pusher frame 114 backward (two points from the solid line position in FIG. 30). After moving all the seedling boxes N simultaneously by the pusher body 112 by approximately half of the box length, or simultaneously with this, the first air cylinder 113 is extended to push the pusher frame 114 against the pusher frame 114. The body 112 is moved backward (moved from the two-dot chain line position to the one-dot chain line position in FIG. 30), and the entire multi-stage seedling box N is pushed out to the rear of the frame frame 103 and transferred to the box collection frame 15.

The box collecting frame 15 is mounted on the box receiving body 14 and transported by a forklift or the like. The box collecting frame 15 has a receiving piece 15a for arranging seedling boxes N at, for example, 30 stages with an interval between them. The pieces 15a are arranged in five rows in the left-right direction to form five rows of collection units. Each collecting unit is capable of inserting the multi-stage seedling box N from the front side thereof, and stores the multi-stage seedling boxes N pushed out from the box collecting mechanism 9 by the pusher means 105 while keeping a vertical interval.

Since the pusher means 105 cannot push the seedling box N on the conveyor means 102,
The seedling box N is inserted into the lowermost part of the box collecting frame 15 using the conveyor means 102 and the seedling box feeding seed soft 92. However, the bottom of the box collecting frame 15 may be left blank without inserting the seedling box N. The machine body 76
A cart capable of moving left and right is provided above, a box supply mechanism 8 and a box collection mechanism 9 are provided on the cart, and the cart is moved to dispose the box supply mechanism 8 behind the delivery mechanism 7. In this case, the box supply mechanism 8 and the box collection mechanism 9 can be selectively used.

Next, a seedling box unfolding method in the case where the seedling box to ground processing machine described in the above embodiment is set to a state in which the box supply mechanism 8 can be used in the main unit 4 to form a seedling box unfolding machine will be described. I do. The required number of working units 3 are connected in series at the front of the main unit 4 via the connecting members 128 and 129,
It is moved by the self-propelled device of the main unit 4 and carried into the house. The work unit 3 is separated from the main unit 4 side by side in the house and connected side by side. The holding body 14 is transported by a lift vehicle and placed on the placement moving table 91 of the box holder supporting mechanism 12.

The stacked seedling box feeding means 92 of the box holder support mechanism 12 is operated to transfer the stacked seedling boxes N on the box holder 14 to the transport conveyor means 75 and supply them into the box feeding mechanism 8. I do.
The five rows of the stacked seedling boxes N are supplied from the center side of the box holder 14 and supplied, and the box holder 14 is moved left and right via the lateral movement mechanism 97 so as not to lose the left-right balance. Are supplied sequentially.

The stacked seedling boxes N that have entered the box feeding mechanism 8 are held by box holding means 79 via the lifting means 80, are sequentially taken out of the lower seedling boxes N onto the transporting conveyor means 75, and are taken out by the transporting conveyor means 75. It is supplied to the delivery mechanism 7. In the delivery mechanism 7, the seedling box N is sent to the distribution means 7A by the feeding means 7B, and is moved to the front end position by the chain conveyor 119 of the distribution means 7A.
7, the paper is distributed and conveyed to the vertical and horizontal conveying mechanisms 5 in the left and right working units 3.

In the vertical and horizontal transport mechanism 5, the horizontal transport means 5B is waiting at the ascending position, and the seedling boxes N carried one by one from the distribution means 7A are distributed and transported to the delivery position on the seedling boxes N while moving laterally. . When five seedling boxes N are supplied on the horizontal transport means 5B, the raising / lowering means 5C is operated to lower the horizontal transport means 5B to a position substantially overlapping with the vertical transport means 5A,
That is, the roller 32 is moved down from the upper surface of the belt 30 to a lower position, and the seedling box N on the roller 32 is transferred to the belt 3 of the vertical conveying means 5A.
Place on 0.

Thus, the seedling boxes N are delivered to the vertical transport means 5A, and all the seedling boxes N are simultaneously advanced by the operation of the vertical transport means 5A. At the same time, the front-rear transport means 18 of the front-rear transport mechanism 6 is operated. Then, all the seedling boxes N are transferred to the front and rear transport means 18 at the same time. Forward and backward transport means 1 inclined forward and downward
8 while operating unit 3 and main unit 4
To release the whole seedling box N to the ground and release the seedling box N
The backward movement of the work unit 3 is stopped in a state where the front-rear transport means 18 is separated by a predetermined distance. The backward movement distance of the work unit 3 at this time corresponds to the horizontal forward movement distance of the front-rear transportation means 18 for box alignment.

Thereafter, the horizontal moving means 10 is operated to move the front / rear conveying means 18 horizontally forward, and the contact means 23 of the box aligning means 16 disposed at the front thereof is brought into contact with the whole seedling box N which has released. The front and rear positions of all the seedling boxes N are aligned and pushed forward until they come into contact with the preceding development seedling box N, thereby reducing the spacing between the front and rear seedling boxes. At this time, the shock due to the contact is absorbed by the buffer means 139,
The seedling boxes are preferably aligned.

In the meantime, the subsequent seedling box N is introduced from the main unit 4 to the vertical and horizontal transport mechanism 5 via the distribution means 7A, and the horizontal moving means 10 is operated in reverse to move the front and rear transport means 18
Is retreated, the succeeding seedling box N is delivered, and the above process is repeated again. Between the unfolded 5 seedling boxes N on each side,
A sidewalk having a width substantially corresponding to the width of the distribution means 7A is formed.

When the seedling box unfolding machine has moved to the end of the house, the main unit 4 is separated from the working unit 3 and the seedlings remaining on the vertical and horizontal transport mechanism 5 of the working unit 3 and the front and rear transport means 18. The box N is unfolded only by the work unit 3, and then the direction of the main unit 4 is changed and moved to another house or unfolded area. After the movement, the work unit 3 is reconnected.

Next, a seedling box collecting method in which the seedling box collecting apparatus 9 is set in the main unit 4 so that the box collecting mechanism 9 can be used in the seedling box collecting apparatus shown in the above embodiment is used. explain. Only the working unit 3 is moved to the end of the deployment area in the house, and the box pick-up mechanism 17 is moved forward with the five seedling boxes N being deployed in one horizontal row, and the hook 153 of the hook 22 is moved forward. The movement of the work unit 3 is stopped by contacting the seedling box N. At this time, the hook 153
To protrude.

After the hook 22 detects the seedling box N, the hook 22 is raised by the raising operation of the vertical cylinder 67, and the hook 153 is hooked on the periphery Na of the seedling box N from below. At the same time or after, the pressing means 54 is operated to press the pressing member 161.
The position of the peripheral Na is regulated from the upper side and the inner side with the peripheral Na.
Of the hook 153 with respect to. In this state, the raising / lowering cylinder 62 is operated to lift the rear side of the seedling box N, and the front / rear conveying means 18 of the front / rear conveying mechanism 6 is inserted under the lifted seedling box N by the forward movement of the horizontal moving means 10. Then, the seedling box N is scooped so that the back surface thereof is placed on the front end of the front and rear transporting means 18. At this time, the seedling box N is pushed up by the front / rear conveying means 18, but the holding means 54 prevents the hooks 153 from coming off the peripheral edge Na.

When the seedling box N has been scooped, the vertical cylinder 67 is operated in reverse to lower the hook 153, and the holding means 54 is also operated in reverse to release the holding of the holding member 161.
Is transferred to the front-rear transportation means 18 and the front-rear movement cylinder 6
8, the lifting cylinder 62 or the vertical cylinder 67 is moved upward to release the hook 153 from the peripheral edge Na of the seedling box N, and then the conveyor 42 of the front-rear transportation means 18 is moved rearward to carry the front-rear transportation. The seedling box N is completely placed on the means 18.

After the front and rear transport means 18 on which all the seedling boxes N are placed are moved backward by the backward movement of the horizontal moving means 10, the front and rear transport means 18 are again moved backward and the vertical transport means 5A is actuated. N is transferred to the vertical transport means 5A, the horizontal transport means 5B, which is slightly lower than the overlap position, is raised to lift the seedling box N, and after reaching the raised position, the horizontal transport operation to the horizontal transport means 5B is performed. Is transferred one by one onto the roller conveyor 117 of the distribution means 7A of the delivery mechanism 7 located at the same height.

The seedling box N on the roller conveyor 117 is pushed by the claw 118 of the chain conveyor 119 and transferred to the feeding means 7B, and is moved by the feeding means 7B to the position above the conveyor means 102 of the box collecting mechanism 9 behind. I do.
The seedling boxes N conveyed onto the conveyor means 102 in the box collecting mechanism 9 are lifted one by one by the box multi-stage lifting means 104, whereby the seedling boxes N are collected in a multi-stage manner with a vertical interval.

When a predetermined number of seedling boxes N are stored in the box multistage lifting means 104, the first and second pusher means 105
The air cylinders 111 and 113 are operated to simultaneously push all the seedling boxes N rearward and store them in the box collecting frame 15 on the box receiving body 14. In the box holder support mechanism 12, the lateral movement mechanism 97
The position of the box collecting frame 15 is changed to the right and left through the box, and the multi-stage seedling box N is stored in the collecting section of the five rows of the box collecting frame 15. The box collection frame 15 is lowered by a lift vehicle while being placed on the box holder 14, and an empty box collection frame 15 and box holder 14 are placed instead.

The longitudinal and horizontal transport mechanism 5
After the seedling box N has been delivered, the operation unit 3 is advanced to perform an operation for collecting the next expanded seedling box N. Note that the first to third rows of the expanded seedling boxes N are collected only by the work unit 3, and the main unit 4 can be connected to the work unit 3 after the main unit 4 can be connected in the house.
And collect the picked-up seedling box N on the main unit 4.

However, if the interior of the house is sufficiently large, one or a plurality of working units 3 may be connected to the main unit 4 from the beginning. The above embodiment can be variously modified. For example, the number of seedling boxes N to be unfolded and collected at one time by the seedling box unfolding and collecting machine is 5
It may be set to a large number other than the number of sheets, in which case, the length of the vertical and horizontal transport mechanism 5, the number of sets of the front and rear transport means 18, the box alignment means 1
The number of the contact members 23 and the number of the hooks 22 of the box pick-up mechanism 17 are set according to the number of seedling boxes N.

The number of seedling boxes N handled by the box supply mechanism 8 and the box receiving body 14, the box collecting mechanism 9 and the box collecting frame 15, respectively, is exemplified by 30 stages, but the seedling boxes N are unfolded and collected at one time. It is preferable to set a multiple thereof according to the number of seedling boxes N. Cylinders 46, 62, 67, 6 provided for each mechanism
Although air cylinders are used for 8, 111, 113, etc., hydraulic cylinders or other mechanical or electric actuators may be used.

The main unit 4 uses an electric motor as a drive source so that it can be used in a house. However, when it is used outdoors, an engine may be used.
Instead of 7, wheels may be used. FIG. 33 shows a first modified example of the working unit 3. The working unit 3 includes a self-propelled device 13 </ b> A and a steering mechanism 187, and is capable of self-propelling without being connected to the main unit 4. I have.

The self-propelled device 13A supports a drive shaft 184 on the machine body 25 of the work traveling machine body A2, attaches the front wheel 26 to the drive shaft 184, and guides the support column 3 at the rear of the machine body 25.
3, an upper support 185 is fixed to the rear surface of the upper support 18.
5 is equipped with a motor 186, an air pump driven by a battery motor 186, an air tank, and the like.
Power is transmitted from the motor 6 to the drive shaft 184 by transmission means using shafts and gears.

The steering mechanism 187 is provided with an arc gear 188 on the support shaft of the rear wheel 27 supported by the pedestal 49.
A screw gear meshing with the arc gear 188 is formed on the rotating shaft 189 supported by the shaft 189 so that power can be transmitted from the handle shaft 190 supported by the upper support 185 to the rotating shaft 189 via a shaft and gears. By rotating the handle 191, the left and right rear wheels 27 can be simultaneously steered.

The work unit 3 may be provided with the box pick-up mechanism 17 and the box aligning means 16, but in this case, the front work tool 193 having both functions is supported by the support frame 4.
The front / rear conveying means 18 is provided at the front end of the first conveying means 1. The front working tool 193 is detachably fixed to the support frame 41 with a member having a triangular cross section. The front working tool 193 becomes a divider by being attached to the upper surface in a downwardly inclined state, and is forwarded while touching the ground, thereby expanding the seedling box. N can be picked up by being scooped up, turned upside down, and the upper surface thereof is mounted substantially horizontally or in a downwardly inclined state that is gentler than that of the divider action, thereby forming the abutment member 23 of the box aligning means 16 and the seedling box N Box alignment at the time of development is possible. Note that, in this modification as well, the buffer means 1 such as a compression coil spring is used.
By providing the front working tool 193 at the front of the front-rear transporting means 18 via 39, it is possible to buffer an impact caused by contact with the seedling box N at the time of box alignment.

According to the first modification, the working unit 3
Can be carried into the house alone without the main unit 4 and the seedling boxes N can be deployed and collected. A separate seedling box transporter can be used. N is transported and arranged, and the seedling box N is artificially taken out from the seedling box transporter and supplied to the lateral transport means 5B. At the time of collection, the seedling box N is artificially fed from the horizontal transport means 5B. The seedlings are taken out and stored in the box collecting frame on the seedling box carrier, and are taken out of the house by the seedling box carrier. The supply / removal of the seedling box N onto the horizontal transport means 5B is performed when the horizontal transport means 5B is at the raised position and is about the height of the waist of the person, so that the work can be facilitated.

The self-propelled device 13A may drive the rear wheel 27, or may be provided with a motor directly on the front wheel 26 or the rear wheel 27. The steering mechanism 187 may include a pitman arm, a tie rod, and the like. May be used.
FIG. 34 shows a modification of the lifting / lowering means 5C of the vertical / horizontal transport mechanism 5, and this lifting / lowering means 5C is of a pantograph type.

The lifting / lowering means 5C is provided on the machine body 25 of the work traveling machine body A2 and supports a pair of left and right pantograph supports 180 for supporting the conveyor frame 31 of the roller conveyor in a vertically movable manner, and operates the pantograph supports 180. And a pantograph drive 181 for raising and lowering the conveyor frame 31. The pantograph drive 181 is formed by a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder.

Each of the left and right pantograph supports 180 has two members connected in an X-shape, the front ends of both members are pivotally connected to the machine body 25 and the conveyor frame 31, and the rear ends are movable back and forth. The pantograph driving tool 181 has a cylinder provided on the conveyor frame 31 and a cylinder rod connected to the machine main body 25, so that the conveyor frame 31 can be moved up and down reliably and stably along the guide column 33 by the expansion and contraction operation. ing.

The pantograph driving tool 181 may be provided with a pair of cylinders on the left and right sides of the machine body 25, and each cylinder rod may be connected to the lower rear end of the left and right pantograph support 180.

[0126]

As described above in detail, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a large number of seedling boxes can be unfolded or collected simultaneously by the front and rear transport mechanism and the vertical and horizontal transport mechanism.
Further, when the seedling box is deployed, the front-rear transfer means is moved horizontally and forward, and the box aligning means abuts against the seedling box on the ground and is pushed, so that the row of seedling boxes is aligned and already deployed to the front side. The gap between the seedling box and the seedling box can be reduced, and the shock when the box aligning means comes into contact with the seedling box or the pushed seedling box is already deployed to the front side by the buffer means of the box aligning means. The shock at the time of contact with a certain seedling box is relieved, thereby preventing damage to the seedling box and disturbance of soil and seedlings, thereby making it possible to arrange seedling boxes in a suitable manner.

According to the second aspect, when the box pick-up mechanism hooks and lifts the peripheral edge of the seedling box unfolded on the ground, the front-rear transport means can be horizontally moved below the seedling box without moving the box pick-up mechanism backward. By moving forward, the seedling box is scooped and received, so that the seedling box can be reliably transferred from the ground to the front and rear transport means. According to the third aspect, the driving body of the horizontal moving means moves the front-rear transportation means horizontally forward in two different positions: a box alignment position by the box alignment means, and a lower position of the seedling box lifted by the box pickup means. It can be moved, and the box alignment and the delivery of the seedling boxes can be reliably performed.

According to the fourth aspect, since the driving body is constituted by a cylinder having a two-stage stroke, the front-rear transportation means can be accurately positioned at two positions: the box alignment position by the box alignment device and the transfer position of the seedling box. The seedling boxes can be securely aligned and the seedling boxes can be transferred. According to the fifth aspect, the stroke in which the driving body can move the front-rear transport means horizontally and forward to a position farther from the work traveling machine body among two positions of the box aligning position by the box aligning means and the transfer position of the seedling box. And a cylinder having a detection sensor that detects a stroke corresponding to a position in the middle of the stroke and at a short distance from the work traveling machine body. It is possible to move and secure the arrangement of seedling boxes and the delivery of seedling boxes.

According to the sixth aspect, the horizontal movement of the front and rear transport means is stopped so that the seedling box is not pushed more than necessary by the stopping mechanism, and the seedling box is lifted or damaged, soil,
The seedlings can be prevented from being disturbed, and the seedling boxes can be suitably arranged. According to the seventh aspect, the box aligning means is constituted by an abutting member provided on the front-rear conveying means so as to be movable back and forth, and an elastic body interposed between the abutting member and the front-rear conveying means. Can be simplified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a separated state of a seedling box unfolding and collecting machine as a seedling box-to-ground processing machine showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the seedling box unfolding and collecting machine.

FIG. 4 is an overall side view of the seedling box unfolding machine.

FIG. 5 is an overall side view of the seedling box collection machine.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a front central portion of the seedling box-to-ground processing machine.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the working unit.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a vertical and horizontal transport mechanism of the work unit.

FIG. 9 is a rear view of the vertical and horizontal transport mechanism of the work unit.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. 6;

FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken along line YY of FIG. 6;

FIG. 12 is an explanatory plan view showing the deployment of a seedling box.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory plan view showing collection of a seedling box.

FIG. 14 is a plan view of a front-rear transport mechanism.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional side view of the front-rear transport mechanism.

16A and 16B are front and rear transport means, wherein FIG. 16A is a sectional side view showing a state of horizontal movement, and FIG. 16B is an enlarged sectional view of a portion A in FIG.

FIG. 17 is a plan view showing a connector for connecting a work unit and a main unit in series.

FIG. 18 is a sectional plan view showing a main part of the box pick-up mechanism.

FIG. 19 is a front view of the box pick-up mechanism.

FIG. 20 is a cross-sectional side view of the lower part of the box pick-up mechanism showing the box pick-up operation during hooking.

FIG. 21 is a plan view of the lower part of the box pick-up mechanism.

FIG. 22 is an explanatory side view at the time of picking up the box picking operation.

FIG. 23 is an explanatory side view of the box picking-up operation when the seedling box is delivered.

FIG. 24 is a side view of a main unit including a box supply mechanism.

FIG. 25 is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 26 is a rear view of the same.

FIG. 27 is a sectional side view of the same.

FIG. 28 is a cross-sectional rear view of the box holder lateral movement mechanism.

FIG. 29 is a sectional front view of the box holding means and the lift drive device of the box supply mechanism.

FIG. 30 is a cross-sectional side view of a main unit including a box collection mechanism.

FIG. 31 is a sectional rear view of the box collecting mechanism.

FIG. 32 is a plan view of the box collecting mechanism.

FIG. 33 is a side view showing a modification of the working unit.

FIG. 34 is a side view showing a modification of the elevating means of the vertical and horizontal transport mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A2 Work traveling machine 5 Vertical and horizontal transport mechanism 6 Front and rear transport mechanism 10 Horizontal moving means 16 Box aligning means 17 Box pick-up mechanism 18 Front and rear transport means 23 Abutment tool 46 Driver 139 Buffering means N Seedling box

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A seedling box (N) is placed on a work traveling machine (A2) and can be moved back and forth, and a large number of left and right seedling boxes (N) are simultaneously transferred to the ground. A front-rear transport mechanism (6), and a large number of seedling boxes (N) in the left-right direction can be moved back and forth with respect to the front-rear transport mechanism (6), and can be transferred simultaneously. A vertical / horizontal transport mechanism (5) for laterally moving between a base position on the left and right sides, wherein the forward / backward transport mechanism (6) is capable of placing a seedling box (N) and moving forward / backward. Means (18), and a horizontal moving means (10) provided between the front-rear transport means (18) and the work traveling machine (A2) for horizontally moving the front-rear transport means (18) in the front-rear direction. Abutting on the seedling box (N) on the ground by horizontal forward movement at the front of the front-rear transporting means (18); The Hakosoroe means (16) to align the front-rear direction position Te is provided, this Hakosoroe means (16)
Comprises a buffer means (139) for absorbing an impact generated by contact with the seedling box (N). 2. A box pick-up mechanism (17) for hooking and lifting the periphery (Na) of a seedling box (N) spread on the ground in front of the front-rear transport means (18). ), Wherein the horizontal moving means (10) includes:
Seedling box (N) lifted by the box pick-up mechanism (17)
The seedling box-to-ground processor according to claim 1, wherein the front-rear transport means (18) can be moved horizontally and forward to a position below the center. 3. The horizontal moving means (10) is provided with a box aligning position by a box aligning means (16) and a box pick-up mechanism (1).
3. A driving body (46) for switching the front-rear transport means (18) horizontally forward by switching to two positions, that is, a lower position of the seedling box (N) lifted by (7). Seedling box ground treatment machine. 4. The driving body (46) is capable of moving the front-rear transport means (18) horizontally forward in each of the two positions.
The seedling box ground treatment machine according to claim 3, comprising a cylinder having a stepped stroke. 5. The driving body (46) has a stroke capable of moving the front-rear transportation means (18) horizontally and forward at a position farther from the work traveling machine body (A2) among the two positions, and this stroke. In the middle of the work traveling machine (A
4. The seedling box-to-ground processor according to claim 3, comprising a cylinder having a detection sensor for detecting a stroke corresponding to a position at a short distance from 2). 6. The horizontal movement means (10) stops the horizontal forward movement of the front-rear transportation means (18) when the force for pushing the seedling box (N) by the box alignment means (16) is equal to or more than a predetermined value. 6. A stop mechanism for causing a stop.
A seedling box-to-ground treatment machine according to any one of the above. 7. The contact device (23), which is provided at the front part of the front-rear transport means (18) so as to be able to move back and forth, and contacts the seedling box (N) on the ground. The buffer means (139), and the buffer means (139) is constituted by an elastic body interposed between the front-rear transport means (18) and the abutment (23). Claims 1 to 6
A seedling box-to-ground treatment machine according to any one of the above.