Harvested ears of corn come from the field sheathed in an enclosing husk, often surrounded by flag leaves, and occasionally still attached to portions of a stalk. For food processing, especially in the preparation of sweet corn for human consumption, all of the husk, leaves, and stalk must be removed from the ears containing the edible kernels of corn.
Husking is conventionally achieved by feeding the bulk unhusked corn onto conveyor tables formed with two or more parallel rows of husker rolls mounted on rotating axles. The rolls are typically molded from rubber or other resilient material and have a number of parallel ridges or flights extending therefrom. The flights may extend in parallel axially straight along the length of the husker rolls, or may extend circumferentially as well as axially to define a segment of a helix, to provide auger-like advancement of ears of corn from an infeed end of the husker apparatus to a discharge end thereof. Such husker rolls may be circular or elliptical in cross-section. Exemplary prior art husker rolls are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,645, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Many configurations of rolls may be employed to form a husker apparatus, although two types are predominant. In the first type, the surfaces of adjacent husker rolls are continuously meshed together. In the second, the circumferential surfaces of adjacent husker rolls are in contact, but are not meshed together. Adjacent corn husker rolls having radially extending flights that are meshed together have the desirable effect of firmly engaging the corn husks as the ears of corn pass over the rolls for removing the husks from the ears. However, such designs, while effective at discharging thin husk material between engaged rolls, may not be able to pass much thicker debris, such as pieces of stalk, without bending the axles on which the rolls are mounted. Axle flex can result in an over-tight grip, which can prevent release of a stalk or other debris, producing a blockage of the flow of ears along the husker conveyor table. In such a case, the husker rolls will turn ineffectively, eventually fraying or wearing away the obstruction, but in the process causing accelerated wear of the rolls, requiring premature replacement of at least some segments of the roll.
This problem may be solved by employing the husker rolls described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,184, issued to Dennis O. Mietzel, and incorporated herein by reference. This patent describes a corn husking device, and rotating husker rolls therefor, wherein radially extending flights of adjacent rolls are meshed with one another, and the rolls are rotated toward one another to engage husks therebetween. A helical recess is formed on portions of one or both adjacent rolls, extending along the length of the roll. The roll recesses provided relief for larger diameter debris and stalks, alleviating the flexing of the roll axles which might otherwise occur. The recesses serve as a relieved auger which advances gripped material. Stalks or other debris gripped in the helical recesses are moved forward at a rate faster than the progress of the ears of corn in the husker apparatus, and are either discharged beneath the roll table or carried along by the recesses to the discharge end of the device. A continuous rib, which may be internally reinforced with a metal blade, may be formed extending through the helical recess along the length of the roll. The rib engages debris within the recess of an adjacent roll by clamping the debris, such as a stalk, within the recess, and pulls the debris out of the recess straight down to be discharged from the device.
Although conventional husker rolls have been used effectively to remove husks from ears of corn, such conventional husker rolls are less effective on corn hybrids which have more husk layers and more tightly wrapped husks. Furthermore, corn silk wrapping and the build up of crushed kernels between radially extending flights are two problems which commonly occur with conventional husker rolls. Therefore, an improved and more effective husker roll is desired.