Other

Deere & Company

Chamberlain John Deere Pty. Ltd.

Homer D Witzel

E Cordell Lundahl

Neil L West

The type of machine in which the invention finds maximum utility is the self-propelled, user-guided garden machine such as a rotary tiller. A typical machine of that genre has a straight-through axle without a differential and opposite ends of the axle project as right and left shafts to which right and left ground-engaging wheels are respectively affixed. The improvement provided by the present invention resides in right and left clutch-brake units arranged symmetrically at each side of and external to the transmission case. The keys normally fixing the wheels to their shafts are removed and the wheels are instead journalled on the respective shafts and the clutches are alternately engaged and disengaged between the shafts and wheels to facilitate steering of the machine. Each clutching unit includes a brake and controls are provided for effecting braking and clutch disengagement at either side of the machine.

Clutch-brake steering for small agricultural machines

A harvester strips seeds from a standing crop while essentially leaving the stems of the crop attached to the soil. The harvester comprises a mobile main frame and a vertically adjustable harvesting header carried thereby. A first axially transverse rotor is mounted on the header with its axis generally below the level of substantially all the seeds on the standing crop. The first rotor includes a hub and outwardly projecting stripper elements. The stripper elements define longitudinally spaced openings on the rotor periphery of a width greater than upper seed-bearing heads of the crop, permitting the introduction of the seed-bearing heads into the rotor interior as the machine advances so that the seeds are impacted by sides of the stripper elements interiorly of the outer end thereof. A second axially transverse rotor is disposed parallel to, above and forwardly of the first rotor and has a generally cylindrical outer periphery adjacent the periphery of the first rotor. The axis of the second rotor is generally above the level of substantially all the seeds on the standing crop. A motor drives the rotors in opposite directions with the front side of the first rotor moving upwardly and the front side of the second rotor moving downwardly. The first rotor is driven so that the sides of the stripper elements impact the seeds disposed within the openings in the rotor in a generally stemwise direction to knock the seeds from the stems and propel them tangentially from the rotor. A crop collector is mounted on the header behind the rotors to receive the seeds propelled rearwardly from the rotors.

Harvester for the impact-stripping of seed from a standing crop

In a combine harvester axial flow rotary separator, crop material is propelled in a generally spiral path as a relatively thin mat, maintained in contact with the inner wall of a cylindrical separator housing due to centrifugal force from the motion imparted to the mat by a rotor. The rotor, in each of several embodiments disclosed, carries finger-like elements which intermittently penetrate and positively propel portions of the mat without compressing it, the finger action and motion providing the desired axial displacement as well as circumferential movement of portions of the mat without relying on additional axial indexing aids such as guide vanes in the housing.

Axial flow rotary separator

A harvesting combine having a crop gathering means supported by a first wheeled chassis, a crop treatment means supported by a second wheeled chassis, and a drawbar on said crop treatment means for connection to a tractor vehicle. The crop gathering means being pivotally supported on the first wheeled chassis for rotation about a substantially vertical axis between a first position lying transversly across the first wheeled chassis and a second position lying longitudinally thereon. The first wheeled chassis being pivotally mounted to the second wheeled chassis to be movable from a first position beside the crop treatment means to a second position trailing behind the crop treatment means, wherein when the first wheeled chassis is in its first position and the crop gathering means is in its first position on the first wheeled chassis the crop gathering means extends transversly in front of the crop treatment means and the outlet of the crop gathering means is in communication with the inlet of the crop treatment means, and when the first wheeled chassis is in its second position and the crop gathering means is in its second position both the first wheeled chassis and the crop gathering means are located behind the crop treatment means.

Tractor drawn harvesting combine

A self-propelled harvesting combine having a crop treatment means and a crop gathering means. The crop treatment means supported on a first wheeled chassis, which supports a power source for propulsion of the combine, operation of the crop separating and operation of the crop gathering means. The crop gathering means is supported on a second wheeled chassis which is pivotally mounted to the first wheeled chassis to be movable between a first position lying beside the first wheeled chassis and a second position trailing behind the first wheeled chassis. The crop gathering means is pivotally mounted on the second wheeled chassis for rotation about a substantially vertical axis between a first position lying transversely on the second wheeled chassis and a second position lying longitudinally thereon, wherein when the second wheeled chassis is beside the first wheeled chassis and the crop gathering means is located transversely on the second wheeled chassis, the crop gathering means lies transversely in front of the crop treatment means and the outlet of the crop gathering means is in communication with the inlet of the crop treatment means.

Growing community of inventors

Englewood, FL, United States of America

Homer D Witzel