Agco Corporation

Douglas Ray Treffer

Brendon C Nafziger

Shane A Bollinger

Martin E Pruitt

Daniel S Jost

Mark M Glade

Daniel J Soldan

Jeffrey Funk

Dane Austin Mosel

Mark Glade

A windrower with a header has a conveying medium with first and second portions connected with a pivot joint and moveable across a plural rollers configured to receive crop material from the header and direct the crop material to a side of the windrower to form a windrow on the ground to the side of the windrower. In an operational position and with the frame selected to one of the predetermined angular adjustments, the conveying medium discharges the harvested crop material at an angle of trajectory determined by the selected angular position of the second portion. The windrower harvests crop with the header, receives the mowed crop on the conveyor system, adjusts a rate at which the mowed crop is discharged from the conveyor system, and adjusts an angle of trajectory at which the mowed crop is discharged from the conveyor system.

Crop conveyor deck with adjustable discharge angle

In one embodiment, a swathboard control system, comprising: a header comprising fore and aft a cutting assembly and a conditioning system; a forming shield assembly; a swathboard located between the conditioning system and the forming shield assembly, the swathboard pivotably adjustable about a transverse axis; a position sensor configured to sense a position of the swathboard; and a computing system operably coupled to the position sensor, the computing system configured to provide an indication of the position of the swathboard based on feedback from the position sensor.

Automatic control of windrower swathboard

In one embodiment, a system, comprising: one or more pairs of oppositely rotatable, laterally extending rolls, wherein for each pair, at least one of the rolls is moveable relative to the other of the rolls; a hydraulic circuit, comprising: a tensioner circuit comprising: for each pair of rolls, one or more pairs of hydraulic cylinders arranged in parallel, each configured to resist movement of the at least one of the rolls at a respective end of the at least one of the rolls; an accumulator arranged in parallel to the hydraulic cylinders; and plural control valves; and a computing system configured to cause the one or more pairs of hydraulic cylinders to adjust the resistance to movement of the at least one of the rolls of the respective pair of rolls by sending signals to one or more of the plural control valves.

Computer controlled hydraulic conditioner roll tensioning adjustment

A windrower includes a header having a crop cutting and a crop conditioning mechanism for conditioning crop material severed from the field and for discharging the conditioned material in a rearwardly directed stream as the windrower moves across the field. The windrower has a crop merger attachment with a conveyor configured to receive crop material from the crop conditioning mechanism and direct the crop material to a side of the windrower to form a windrow on the ground to the side of the windrower when in an operation position or to direct the crop material to the ground beneath the windrower when in a nonoperational position.

Windrow merger attachment

A windrower has a crop merger attachment with a conveyor configured to receive crop material from a crop conditioning mechanism and direct the crop material to a side of the windrower, the crop merger attachment being mounted for adjusting movement between a lowered and a raised position. The windrower has a swathboard mounted for adjusting movement between a fully raised position in which the crop material passes beneath the swathboard for engagement with the merger attachment and a lowered position in which the crop material down to the ground under the merger attachment under the windrower. A control system automatically adjusts movement of the swathboard when movement of the merger attachment is detected.

Swathboard control with windrow merger attachment

A windrower with a header has a conveying medium with first and second portions connected with a pivot joint and moveable across a plurality of rollers configured to receive crop material from the header and direct the crop material to a side of the windrower to form a windrow on the ground to the side of the windrower. In an operational position and with the frame selected to one of the predetermined angular adjustments, the conveying medium discharges the harvested crop material at an angle of trajectory determined by the selected angular positon of the second portion. The windrower harvests crop with the header, receives the mowed crop on the conveyor system, adjusts a rate at which the mowed crop is discharged from the conveyor system, and adjusts an angle of trajectory at which the mowed crop is discharged from the conveyor system.

Method of adjusting the discharge angle of a crop conveyor deck

A windrower has a first dual-path steering mode, causing a left drive wheel and a right drive wheel to concurrently rotate, wherein the rotation of the left drive wheel is in a direction opposite that of the rotation of the right drive wheel and the position of tailwheel casters are not controlled but are permitted unconstrained rotation. The windrower also has a second tailwheel steering mode non-overlapping in operation with the dual-path steering mode, causing the left drive wheel and the right drive wheel to rotate concurrently in only a same direction and the tailwheel casters are steered based in part on tailwheel caster steer position information received from a sensor.

Self-propelled agricultural machine with dual driving modes

A pull-type mower conditioner includes a crop cutting assembly that severs crop material from the ground and a lift mechanism configured to raise and lower the crop cutting assembly to a desired height having at least one lift cylinder and a hydraulic lift circuit supplying hydraulic fluid to the at least one lift cylinder. The mower conditioner also includes a conditioning mechanism receiving the severed crop material from the crop cutting assembly. The conditioning mechanism includes a pair of counter-rotating conditioning rolls to condition the crop material and a tensioning assembly that urges the conditioning rolls relatively toward one another and resists their separation. The tensioning assembly includes a pair of hydraulic tension cylinders and a hydraulic conditioner circuit configured to supply hydraulic fluid to the tension cylinders. The hydraulic tension circuit has a supply line leading to a supply valve, wherein the supply line connects to the lift circuit.

Hydraulic conditioner roll tension in pull-type mower conditioner

A drawbar hitch mechanism has a fore-and-aft extending receiver, a gearbox assembly coupled to the receiver and a tongue assembly attached to the gearbox assembly. A first pivot mechanism couples the receiver with the gearbox assembly for side-to-side movement about a longitudinal axis of the receiver. A draft arm is configured to disperse draft loads between the tongue assembly and the receiver. A second pivot mechanism couples the gearbox assembly and the draft arm. The second pivot mechanism is oriented such that it pivots about an upright axis such that the gearbox assembly and second pivot mechanism enable pivoting movement of the tongue assembly relative the receiver.

Swivel drawbar hitch mechanism for pull-type implement

A working vehicle has a castor wheel assembly selectively providing steering assist. A pivoting caster spindle coupled with a caster wheel and an engagement plate connected to the caster spindle in a fixed manner such that the engagement plate pivots with the caster spindle. A pivoting steering arm is rotatably connected to the caster spindle and a steering cylinder is connected to an outward end of the steering arm with a tie rod configured to pivot the steering arm. A keyed connecting mechanism selectively couples the steering arm with the engagement plate. In an engaged position, the keyed connecting mechanism couples the steering arm with the engagement plate such that the steering cylinder pivots the caster spindle and caster wheel. In a disengaged position, the steering arm is uncoupled with the engagement plate such that the caster spindle and caster wheel are free to pivot independent of the steering cylinder.

Growing community of inventors

Newton, KS, United States of America

Douglas Ray Treffer