A BELT-ROLLER MECHANISM FOR SOIL CLOD REDUCTION ON A POTATO HARVESTER

A clod crusher-elevator was developed to operate at the end of the pri mary conveyor of a potato harvester. The mechanism was designed to acc elerate the material leaving the primary bed while exerting pressure o n the mixture in order that soil clods would be broken into smaller si zes that would fall through the slots of the succeeding conveyors. Dur ing the process, the potatoes were elevated an additional 1.7 m by the first prototype and 1.0 m by the second prototype when compared to th e conventional system. The mechanism successfully reduced the amount o f clods by 79.9% as compared to a conventional primary anti cross conv eyor arrangement. The amount of soil that was recovered with the potat oes was also reduced (48.6%) when the clod crusher-elevator was utiliz ed. However, the level of mechanical injury imparted to the potatoes i ncreased by 69.8% when the mechanism was used.