Deere & Company

Allan Wesley Rosenbalm

Michael Joseph Verhulst

Jason Chad Eubanks

Roger Dale Stephenson

Charles Scott Sloan

James C Walters

Craig Allen Richardson

Roger William Frimml

Daniel James Meyer

Matt Jay Scott

Henry Dennis Anstey

Thomas Daryl Bebernes

Stephen K Parsons

Michael James Mellin

David C Smith

Duane Huppert

A crop harvesting machine configured to move cut crop positively across a cutterbar and toward a conditioner element using an undershot rotating element or undershot auger. The crop harvesting machine includes a cutterbar having a plurality of rotary cutters having rotational axis aligned along a line transverse to a moving direction of the crop harvesting machine. The undershot rotating element is subtended by portions of the rotary cutters and is located between rotational axis lines of the rotating cutters and an exit of the crop harvesting machine. The undershot rotating element moves cut crop between the undershot rotating element and the plurality of rotary cutters and to a conditioner element which conditions the cut crop for placement of the conditioned cut crop in swaths on a field.

Method and apparatus for harvesting crop material

A mowing implement includes an improved crop and forage material converging arrangement for a wide mowing implement equipped with a rotary cutter bar and powered converging drums. One or more stripper elements are mounted for rotation with one or more converging drums so as to limit the tendency for cut material to wrap around the converging drums, and to more consistently transfer the cut material to the material discharge zone. Each stripper element can be located and dimensioned to sweep a path a near an adjacent converging drum and pass in close proximity to an auger of the mowing implement to effectively guide and converge material. Each stripper elements can be an oblong plate configured and arranged to strip cut material from an adjacent converging drum and deflect the stripped material towards a material discharge zone of the implement.

Converging drum and stripper arrangement

A material processing machine includes a rotary conveyer for delivering material to a material conditioner. The conveyer has a rotatable body and a paddle is mounted on the body. The paddle includes a support portion having a radially outer end and a radially inner end which is attached to the body. The outer end is not ahead of the inner end with respect to a direction of rotation of the body. The paddle also includes a lip portion which is supported by the support portion. The lip portion is forward or advanced with respect to the outer end of the support portion, with respect to the direction of rotation of the body.

Conveyer for a material processing machine

A wide cut harvesting platform includes a rotary cutter bar having right- and left-hand outer and inner cutting units having respective inner and outer cutting discs at its opposite ends rotating in appropriate opposite directions for conveying cut crop from outer ends of the cutter bar to a central crop discharge path leading to a crop conditioning arrangement extending across the path. A first embodiment includes horizontal, right- and left-hand converging augers mounted so as to diverge forwardly above inner and outer cutting discs at the opposite ends of the cutter bar from locations at opposite sides of the discharge path and forward of the conditioner arrangement. A second embodiment includes first and second forwardly diverging augers like the first embodiment but being shorter and respectively terminating outwardly adjacent right- and left-hand converging drums respectively mounted to, and for rotating together with the right- and left-hand outer cutting discs.

Harvesting platform having angled crop converging auger

A crop conditioner is equipped with an impeller including a rotor to which a plurality of conditioner tines are respectively pivotally mounted at one of their ends. The tines are contoured so that they release crop at an appropriate location for the crop to engage the forming shields and thus become part of a well-defined windrow.

Impeller conditioner rotor equipped with curved tines

A suspension arrangement for a work machine includes a frame and a rear axle rigidly carried by and substantially immovable relative to the frame. The suspension arrangement includes a caster wheel assembly having a shaft, a wheel arm, a suspension and a caster wheel. The shaft is pivotably couplable with an outboard end of the rear axle. The caster wheel is coupled with a lower end of the wheel arm. The suspension is in the form of a torsion spring including an outer tube, an inner member, and a plurality of elastomeric members interposed between the outer tube and the inner member. The outer tube is coupled with the shaft, and the inner member is coupled with an upper end of the wheel arm.

Suspension arrangement for rear castered wheels on a work machine

Conditioning roll

A mower-conditioner implement is equipped with a rotary disc cutter bar and associated with the cutter bar are a plurality of crop-lifting units that cooperate to define an upright lip that works together with transversely spaced ramp sections, of the respective lifting units, that incline downwardly to the front from transversely spaced locations along the top of the lip for lifting and directing cut crop to the conditioner. In one embodiment, the crop-lifting units are releasably coupled to the cutter bar, and, in a second embodiment, are formed integrally with the cutter bar.

Mowing implement rotary disc cutter bar used together with a crop-lifting arrangement

An agricultural implement includes a frame, and a pair of crop processing rolls carried by the frame and defining a nip therebetween. At least one of the crop processing rolls includes an outer surface with a plurality of cleats. Each cleat has a leading edge with an undercut.

Crop processing roll with aggressive leading edge for an agricultural implement

A mowing implement is equipped with a rotary cutter bar and utilizes right- and left-hand sets of converging drums to aid those cutting discs located outboard of opposite sides of a discharge zone to converge crop to the discharge zone. The inner two of each of the sets of converging drums are identical and have inverted bowl shaped lower end plates having conical surfaces which aid in lifting crop. The insides of the bowl-shaped converging drum end plates form voids, which together with flat horizontal ejector plates, mounted on respective cutter discs for sweeping beneath the inner two of each set of converging drums, keep crop from packing beneath these converging drums. Associated with each of the innermost ones of the inner pair of converging drums is a guide element defining a horizontal shelf located for guiding crop, elevated by the conical surfaces of the lower ends of the inner most converging drums, to the discharge passage. Crop that passes beneath the shelves is guided to locations of the discharge passage inward of respective side walls bordering the discharge passage by respective legs depending from the back sides of the shelves.

Crop converging arrangement on mowing implement equipped with a rotary cutter bar

A mower-conditioner includes a pair of conditioner rolls oriented for feeding crop along a flight path extending upwardly toward an impact surface of a swath forming shield. A crop deflector includes a panel disposed so as to intersect the flight path at a location between the conditioner rolls and the impact surface of the swath forming shield so as to cause the crop to follow a steeper path so that it impacts the forming shield with greater impact than it would otherwise, which causes the crop to fall in a random orientation so as to form a fluffy windrow.

Crop deflector used with crop conditioner rolls for effecting formation of fluffy windrow

A mower-conditioner includes a header or platform which is equipped with a rotary disc cutter bar having a relatively long length with at least two cutting units being outboard of a central discharge passage where a pair of conditioner rolls are mounted for receiving the cut crop. Aiding in conveying crop to the discharge passage are right- and left-hand sets of three crop converging drums provided at each side of the discharge passage. The outer drums of the two sets are respectively mounted to the top of the right- and left-hand end cutting units of the cutter bar while the other two drums on each side are located behind an inward and rearward extending line that is tangent to the cylindrical path traced by the outer and inner ones of the drums on each side of the discharge passage. In one embodiment, a direct drive transmission is provided, and in a second embodiment a hydraulic motor is provided, for driving the inner two converging drums of each set.

Converging drum for mower-conditioner equipped with a rotary disc cutter bar

Drive arrangement for mower-conditioner equipped with a rotary disc cutter bar

Crop converging arrangement for mower-conditioner equipped with a rotary disc cutter bar

A trailer, for a header-equipped implement, has a T-shaped main frame, with the head of the T being defined by a beam extending in the direction of travel and with the stem of the T centered between a pair of loading ramps having first end portions coupled to the beam for pivoting about a fulcrum such that the ramps are moved from a loading to a transport position by the weight of the implement when the implement is backed up the ramps to a loaded position resting on the beam and in engagement with respective bumper/latch bars fixed to the beam. Stability of the trailer is maintained during loading of the implement by parking stands, at opposite ends of the beam, which are either manually or automatically moved between support and stored positions. The wheels are each mounted to an arm having a latch hook secured thereto and which moves into latched engagement with a respective one of the bumper latch/bars to secure the implement to the trailer when the arms are raised by the implement lift cylinders to lower the header onto the frame stem. The implement has a swing tongue used to tow the trailer/implement combination endwise relative to the header. Mounted to one of the ramps is a storable trailer tongue which may be used to tow the trailer when it is empty.

Growing community of inventors

Blakesburg, IA, United States of America

Allan Wesley Rosenbalm