A key element of a typical ground cotton harvesting machine is its resilient endless belt carried by a ground engaging belt supporting wheel and a spaced belt supporting drum, the belt moving at an angle to the ground rolls across the ground to pick up and hold the cotton for a predetermined time and then release same. The belt is provided with a plurality of resilient cuts which may be in the form of notches extending across the outer surface of the belt. As the belt travels over the belt wheel, the notches open and then close and as they clear the wheel, the closing action grasp pieces or bolls of cotton and hold it until the belt passes over the rear belt drum where the opening of the notches causes the cotton carried by the belt to drop for transfer to a screw auger. A typical example of such apparatus is the Rood Cotton Harvester disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,670,584.
The wheel assembly presently employed in such equipment for driving the resilient belt for collecting the cotton utilizes a mating male and female pair of wheel sections. The male wheel section has a cap screw welded to its center while the female wheel section has a jam nut welded to its center. When the wheel is assembled, the end of the cap screw is turned through the jam nut and then passed through a center hole in the female section wheel. The end of the screw is then welded to the edges of the center hole to secure the assembly.
In the disassembly of the wheel assembly for repair purposes, it is necessary to drill out the welded hole, place one wheel section in a vise and using a vise grip, break away the remainder of the weld before the two wheel sections can be unscrewed from each other. Repairs can then be made, but on reassembly, another welding operation is required. Thus, the repair or rebuilding of the wheel assembly for the resilient belt drive of the known cotton picking equipment must be performed in a shop. Furthermore, the cap screw and jam nut may be destroyed in the drilling operation and always discarded when replacement of the wheel sections are required. Accordingly, repair operations are time consuming and expensive.