Macdon Industries Ltd

Bell, Andrew William Dean

Enns, John Edward

Patterson, Roger L.

John Edward Enns

Roger L Patterson

Andrew William Dean Bell

Bernie Penner

James Thomas Dunn

Geoffrey U Snider

Thomas R Fox

David J Jordan

Blair Zoski

Arvinder Singh Jabal

Christopher MacDonald

Thomas Russell Fox

Andrew William Bell

A header assembly for a combine harvester includes a header carried by an adapter on the feeder house of the combine controlling an angle of the header defined by a tilt cylinder and height of the header at the feeder house. Wings of the header are carried on gauge wheels the height of which relative to the header frame can be adjusted by cylinders. A driver interface inside the cab includes inputs to be set by the driver of cutter bar height and header angle. These are converted by the controller program into inputs for the tilt cylinder and the gauge wheel cylinders.

Controlling cutting height and angle of a combine header

In a swather a support arm is attached to the header to carry the heavy hydraulic hoses which are connected to the tractor for supplying the drive fluid to the hydraulic system of the header. The support arm is articulated so as to accommodate the up-and-down and twisting movement of the header relative to the tractor during harvesting action and this supported to prevent collapse when the hoses are disconnected from the tractor manifold. The support arm is attached at the rear to the tractor preferably at the wheel strut by a releasable ball joint coupling. From the coupling at the wheel strut, there is a free portion of the hydraulic hoses which extends to the manifold at the tractor where the ends of the hoses are attached to manually graspable handle portions which can be lifted away and the attached to a bracket on the support arm.

Crop harvesting machine with a header separable from a tractor

A crop feeding roller for a header includes a plurality of finger units within the roller each having a pair of fingers projecting outwardly for engaging crop outside the peripheral wall of the roller. The peripheral wall has opposed finger guide holes associated with the pair of fingers. Each finger unit including an inner member carrying the fingers and containing an elongate guide slot transverse to the axis of the roller and a stationary guide member within the guide slot at a position within the roller arranged to cause the inner member with the fingers of each of the finger units to reciprocate during the rotation of the roller. The guide slot is shaped with at least one curved lobe to one side of a transverse center section so that the slot can be S-shaped or C-shaped to improve the dwell time and swept area obtained by the finger movement.

Finger drive for a crop feed roller

A crop header has generally horizontal flail disks mounted for driven rotation about generally upright axes of a cutter bar. A tilting system is provided for tilting the cutter bar about an axis transverse to the machine so as to tilt the cutting plane from a generally horizontal position forwardly and rearwardly. A sensor is provided which is responsive to upward and downward floating movement of the cutter bar relative to the support frame and is arranged to analyze changes in the signal to determine times when the cutter bar is moving upwardly when the cutter bar is tilted rearwardly, times when the cutter bar is moving downwardly when the cutter bar is tilted forwardly and times when the cutter bar is remaining at a constant height.

Rotary crop harvesting machine with cutter bar tilt control

A tractor has hydraulically driven wheels at a cab end and castor wheels at an engine end. It can be driven cab forward in a working mode with a header on the forward end. It is rotated to engine forward in the transport position for more stable higher speed travel. There is provided a float module with adjustable and calibrated springs on the header which allows the header to float relative to the lift system on the tractor. The float force is adjusted by raising and lowering the lift system in dependence on an angle measurement of the lift position. The lift system includes a lift cylinder and tilt cylinder controlled to change cutter angle while maintaining a sight line to the cutter bar for the operator.

Crop harvesting machine with calibration of the header float springs

A swather tractor has hydraulically driven wheels at a cab end and castor wheels at an engine end. It can be driven cab forward in a working mode with a header on the forward end. It is rotated to engine forward in the transport position for more stable higher speed travel. There is provided a float module with adjustable and calibrated springs connected between a mounting assembly on the tractor and pivotal support arms of the float assembly where the mounting assembly can be raised and lowered by a lift system on the tractor. This allows the header to float relative to the lift system on the tractor. The float force of the springs is adjusted by raising and lowering the lift system in dependence on an angle measurement of the lift position of the header as it floats relative to the mounting assembly.

Swather with floating header carried on a mounting assembly which can be raised and lowered

A hydraulically driven swather tractor can move in a cab forward orientation in a working mode with a header on the forward end and can be rotated to engine forward in the transport position for more stable higher speed travel. A system is provided for transferring the header from field to transport position automatically from the cab and includes an arm which permanently connects to the header from the tractor independently of the lift and float mounting system such that in the working position the arm remains connected to the tractor and the header while allowing movement of the header relative to the tractor. Also in the transport position, with the header disconnected from the mounting system, the arm extends from the tractor to the mounting system of the header for supporting the forward end of the header for towing the header longitudinally.

Header transport for a crop harvesting machine

Swather with float assembly and disconnect coupling

A crop harvesting header includes a sickle knife driven by a first hydraulic motor and a crop transfer system including three conveying drapers which is driven by at least one second hydraulic motor. A mechanical drive input from the combine harvester drives a first pressure regulated piston pump generating flow for the first motor and a second gear pump for the second motor. When the drive input is driven in the reverse direction, hydraulic fluid is supplied from the second pump in the reverse direction for driving the second motor in the reverse direction. As the first pump does not pump in the reverse direction the hydraulic control circuit is arranged such that, when the second pump is driven by the drive input in the reverse direction, hydraulic fluid is supplied from the second pump to the first motor for driving the first motor in the reverse direction.

Crop harvesting header with reversible drive to the sickle knife

A draper header for a combine harvester includes two side drapers each running from an outer end guide roller at a first end of the header to an inner end guide roller adjacent the discharge location of the header and a central feed draper located at the discharge location and including a front guide roller just behind the cutter bar and running to a rear guide roller in front of the feeder house of the combine harvester. An auger is located between the discharge rollers with a front edge of the flight forward of the rear end of the discharge rollers to feed the material inwardly and underneath the auger to the inlet of the feeder house. A pan member is located underneath the feed draper and is formed of a flexible polyethylene sheet which is tensioned between its front and rear edges by a front mounting strip which is spring mounted for up and down movement and a rear latch which can be released to allow the rear edge to be lowered.

Crop feed arrangement for the header of a combine harvester

A transport system for a crop header includes a first and a second wheel arrangement on the header frame adjacent a respective ends for acting as a stabilizer when the header is in the operating position and movable to a transport position for transporting the header when removed from the vehicle in a transport direction generally longitudinal of the header frame and at a right angle to the working direction with each being mounted on the header frame for rotation of a rolling direction of the first wheel arrangement between the working position and the transport position, in which the rolling direction is along the transport direction. Each of the wheel arrangements includes two parallel wheels coupled together. The wheel arrangement at the rear end includes a second wheel which is mounted on a swing arm so as to be moved to a position adjacent the cutter bar so that the header is stably supported on the first wheel arrangement, the first wheel of the second wheel arrangement and the second wheel of the second wheel arrangement. The first and second wheels of the second wheel arrangement include coupling members for connection together to operate as a common wheel arrangement in the operating position. The swing arm includes a tower which attaches to the cutter bar and can fold down on to the swing arm in the field position.

Self contained transport for crop harvesting header

A forage conditioner for conditioning cut crop material from a forage harvester includes a fixed bottom fluted roller carried in end housings and a top fluted roller which is pivotally mounted on the housings by a linkage pivotal relative to the housing about an axis lying in a plane at right angles to the roller axes so that the top roller is liftable from crushing position against the bias of a spring extending along the top roller. Rotation of the bottom roller is transferred to the top roller through a gear train which includes two idler gears each mounted on a respective arm with the arms constrained to move symmetrically relative to the rollers by intermeshing teeth on the arms so as to control the angular timing of the rollers to ensure accurate intermeshing of the flutes.

Growing community of inventors

Winnipeg, Canada

John Edward Enns