Deere & Company

Maschinenfabrik Kemper Gmbh

Claus-Joseph Vogelgesang

Rainer Schäfer

Eberhard Holtkotte

Rainer Schafer

Joseph A Teijido

Dr Wolfram Elsner

Fritz Lauer

Thorsten Nowack

The invention pertains to a rolling element bearing for a product conveyor and/or product processing element of a harvesting machine, with the bearing including a rolling element chamber and an antechamber, that protects the rolling elements from the penetration of plant juices. A first lubricant feed is provided for supplying lubricant to the rolling elements and a separate second lubricant feed is provided for supplying lubricant to the antechamber.

Rolling element bearing having separate lubricant feeds for rolling elements and antechamber

A self-propelled forage harvester includes a main frame supported on front and rear pairs of wheels. A crop intake arrangement extends forwardly between the front wheels and releasably mounted thereto is the central component of a rowless header having right- and left-hand components pivotally attached to the central component for movement between a raised non-operative transport position for transport within a legal width and a lowered operative position wherein they extend outwardly beyond the front wheels. One of several transport wheel arrangements are selectively coupled to one or the other or both of the crop intake arrangement and the central component of the rowless header for supporting at least some of the weight of the header so that this weight is not borne by the axle of the front wheels of the forage harvester vehicle, thereby making the forage harvester legal to travel on roads where there is an axle load limit.

Agricultural vehicle and implement with wheels

A forage harvester is equipped with a milling arrangement or kernel processor comprising a pair of rolls which are mounted on parallel axes and adapted for being counter-rotated so as to operate on chopped crop products introduced into the nip of the rolls. The rolls each have an outer circumference defined by larger and smaller diameter sections arranged one after the other along the length of the roll. In one embodiment the larger diameter sections of one roll are located in an annular groove defined between the larger diameter sections of the other roll, these sections being opposite to the smaller diameter sections of the other roll. The overlap between the large diameter sections of the rolls defines shear faces at opposite sides of the sections for cutting crop parts into smaller pieces. The outer circumference of these smaller and larger diameter sections are each provided with a tooth profile and the respective profiles of the opposed sections are spaced apart to form a gap which is sized relative to the size of kernel being processed so that the kernel is split or crushed as it passed through the nip of the rolls. According a second embodiment, the large diameter sections of one of the rolls are each in the form of a flat cutting disk having an outer portion that runs through a slot defined between large diameter sections of the other roll. In this case, the one roll has small diameter sections which are identical to and respectively disposed opposite the large diameter sections of the other roll. These latter mentioned oppositely disposed sections are each provided with tooth profiles like those of the sections of the first embodiment.

Milling arrangement

A rotary conveyor includes a cylindrical housing forming part of a centering auger having opposite ends respectively mounted for in a pair of supports for rotation about a horizontal axis. A finger assembly is mounted in a central portion of the housing between auger flighting secured to opposite end portions of the housing. The finger assembly includes a crankshaft having a cranked central portion that is eccentric to and located in the central portion of the housing. Fingers are mounted for pivoting about the cranked central portion of the crankshaft and are slidably received in openings provided in the housing. Opposite ends of the crankshaft are supported in the pair of supports for rotating about said horizontal axis. One end portion of the crankshaft extends through one of the supports and has a retainer fixed thereto. A flange is releasably fixed to the one support just inwardly of the retainer and carries a rib extending arcuately about the crankshaft and having opposite ends defining a pair stops located in the path of movement of the retainer. Resistance of crop engaged by the end sections of the fingers projecting through the openings in the housing causes the crankshaft to be rotated to move the retainer from one stop to the other when the direction of rotation of the housing is reversed, as when a jam occurs in the flow of crop material through the conveyor.

Growing community of inventors

Mandelbachtal, Germany

Claus-Joseph Vogelgesang