Deere + Company

Howard Thomas Uehle

David Joseph Easton

Adam Joe Shuttleworth

James E Thompson

John W Schletzbaum

Kendall D Tjepkes

David L Mixdorf

Claire E Rojohn

An agricultural tractor or other work vehicle having an operator's station is described. A steering column assembly is mounted in the operator's station and has a steering shaft disposed in a steering shaft barrel. The steering column assembly is adapted to both tilt and telescope. A left hand forward-neutral-reverse lever is mounted in a housing. A key is mounted on the steering shaft barrel and a first housing half is journaled on the steering shaft by way of a bushing. The first housing half has a plurality of lever support bolsters and a plurality of fastener bosses. A second housing half is disposed on the steering shaft barrel and has a plurality of lever support bolsters, a keyway and a plurality of fastener bosses. One of the first or second housing halves has a groove around a peripheral edge thereof, the other of the first or second housing halves has a tongue around a peripheral edge thereof. Similarly, one of the first or second housing halves has a circular lip at an end of each fastener boss. The keyway of the second housing half engages the key mounted on the steering barrel so that the housing cannot rotate with respect thereto and the tongue of one housing half matingly engages the groove of the other housing half, while the circular lips of the fastener bosses of one housing half engage the fastener bosses of the other housing half. The left hand forward-neutral-reverse lever is sandwiched between the upper and lower housings and is supported therein by the lever support bolsters of both housing halves so that loads are transmitted from the left hand forward-neutral-reverse lever to the housing assembly and in turn to the steering column assembly. The control housing assembly is able to move with the steering shaft and steering wheel as the steering shaft and steering wheel are telescoped and tilted, but cannot rotate.

Control housing for work vehicle

A lever assembly includes a lever pivotally coupled to a housing for movement in a fore-and-aft direction and in a transverse direction. A guide plate is fixed to an end of the housing and has a guide slot which receives the lever. The guide slot has a fore-and-aft extending main slot. The guide slot also has first, second and third fore-and-aft extending sub-slots spaced apart from the main slot. Each of the sub-slots is connected with the main slot by a transverse extending connecting slot. A sector member is pivotally mounted between the housing and the lever. A first magnet is mounted on the lever. A second magnet is mounted on the sector member. Hall effect sensors are mounted on the housing. The sector member, the magnets and the Hall effect sensors cooperate so that signals are generated representing the position of the lever within the guide slot. A lever return spring is biased to urge the lever towards an aft end of the main slot. A transverse return spring is biased to urge the lever towards the sector member. A centering spring is biased to urge the sector member towards a centered position. Detent mechanisms operate to releasably maintain the lever within the sub-slots.

Transmission shift lever assembly

A collar shift type transmission is arranged to provide an increased number of speed changes from a reduced number of gears and shafts. The transmission has a main shaft, an output shaft and two intermediate shafts with a plurality of intermeshing gear sets located about each shaft. Collar shift elements for engaging different gears to provide a multiplicity of speed and range changes are provided only on the main shaft and one intermediate shaft. Arrangement of the gears of each set in pairs maximizes the number of gear changes while minimizing the required number of gears, collar shift elements and control mechanisms. The main shaft preferably is provided with synchronizer clutches and close coupled to the driven portion of a main clutch to minimize the momentum transfer through the synchronizers. A sectional housing for the transmission supports an eccentrically mounted hydraulic pump which can be rotated to a plurality of positions. An additional housing section can be added to hold a planetary gear system between the clutch and a power source to double the number of speeds while still minimizing the momentum transfer across the synchronizer clutches. The main shaft preferably is hollow to allow insertion of a PTO shaft connected directly to the power source.

Multi-range synchronized transmission and housing therefor

A seat suspension system, which includes a height adjustment valve for positioning a seat at a desired height in response to manual positioning of a height adjustment lever by controlling the amount of hydraulic fluid supplied to a cylinder having a piston therein coupled to the seat, provides damping of vertical motion of the seat by an accumulator coupled to the cylinder via a conduit so as to receive the hydraulic fluid from the cylinder and two different valves disposed in the conduit. A manually adjustable flow control valve has an adjustable orifice within the conduit for providing the seat with a nominal amount of damping. The damping of the suspension system is increased beyond the nominal amount in response to seat velocity in a downward direction by the second valve which responds to the pressure of hydraulic fluid flowing from the cylinder to the accumulator so as to restrict the flow of the fluid by an amount dependent upon the fluid pressure and thereby the rate of change of downward movement of the seat. At the same time the second valve is generally unresponsive to the pressure of fluid flowing in an opposite direction from the accumulator to the cylinder so as to be unidirectional in nature.

Growing community of inventors

Cedar Falls, IA, United States of America

Howard Thomas Uehle