Grain bags, typically made from plastic, are becoming popular for storing grain including corn, beans, and like agricultural produce. The bags come in packages that are attached to a loading machine which receives grain from a transport vehicle, and pushes the grain into the bag. As the bag fills, the machine moves ahead, such that the grain bag fills and stretches out behind the loading machine. A typical bag will be about nine or ten feet across, and 200 or more feet long.
To unload the bag, an extractor machine is provided that includes feed augers extending laterally right and left along the ground from the input end of an upright oriented main auger. The main auger can be oriented at an angle such that the discharge end is located at an elevated position to one side of the machine so that the main auger can discharge into a transport vehicle, or the main auger may have a bottom vertical section with a lateral section extending laterally from the top of the vertical section.
Thus to unload a bag, the end of the bag is cut open and the feed augers moved into the bag. The machine moves forward as the grain is collected by the feed augers and raised to the transport vehicle by the main auger. A knife at the top rear of the machine is oriented to slice the top of the bag as the machine moves forward as the grain is removed. In some machines the wheels of the machine pass over the inside of the bag, and in others the bag is taken up on a pinch roller so that grain left on the bag spills rearward and into the bag and is thus saved.
Such extractor machines can also be used for moving grain that is simply piled on the ground, or in a shed if access is sufficient. As with most such conveyors it is desired to have a high capacity to reduce the time required to unload the grain from the bag and transfer same to the transport vehicle.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds