Hesston Corporation

Kenneth R McMillen

J Dale Anderson

Arnold E Goertz

Rex O Weigand

Daniel R Prichard

Ronald Dean Fulk

Jack Merriel Kountz

Quick attachment of crop handling headers to harvesters employs one or more wedge locks, utilizing the mechanical forces thereof to, in turn, tightly and firmly wedge an elongated tongue portion of the header into mating relationship with a header-supporting channel member on the harvester. For fast and easy attachment and release, reciprocable wedge-like latches are jammed into corresponding keepers with progressively increased tightness through use of reciprocable latch shifters readily accessible to the operator at ground level exteriorly of the ends of the header support. An exceptionally strong joint is effected as the latches and their keepers jam the tongue into the channel member.

Quick attach apparatus for crop harvest header and the like

Gathering conveyors of the forage harvesting header deliver upstanding, severed crop stalks by their lower ends to an outlet toward which all conveyors of the header converge. The upper ends of the crop stalks are guided and gathered laterally inwardly by apparatus above the conveyors, and a transversely disposed knock-down bar just forwardly of the outlet leans the stalks back toward the front end of the header as they approach the outlet so that the stalks tend to enter and pass through the outlet in a butt-first condition. The knock-down bar is mounted so as to yield upwardly under the influence of crops passing therebeneath in the event that the volume of the crops is so great that they could otherwise not pass through the restriction formed by the knock-down bar on the one hand and the conveyors on the other hand. The knock-down bar forms part of a generally U-shaped lower guiding unit pivoted at its front end to a similarly U-shaped upper guiding unit, both of which are adjustably mounted on the header in such a way that various adjustments can be made to accommodate tall, short and light or dense crops without adversely affecting performance of the knock-down bar.

Forage harvester with adjustable crop guidance apparatus

The gathering units of the harvesting header diverge downwardly and forwardly from a common discharge zone at the upper rear end of the header, the two middle units being disposed in a plane below that of the two outer units and having their upper crop discharge outlets spaced forwardly from the corresponding discharge outlets of the outer units. The conveying elements of the outer units at least partially overlap conveying elements of the two inner gathering units adjacent the discharge outlets of the latter. Each gathering unit has its own individual standing crop cutter assembly, the assemblies of the two inner units being set back with respect to those of the outer units but being substantially the same height for uniform stubble height. Each assembly has a rotary cutter in combination with a stationary shear plate, both of which are mounted on the same side of the crop conveying passage of the unit.

Growing community of inventors

Canton, KS, United States of America

Kenneth R McMillen