Deere + Company

Larry Neil Smith

Ronald Lee Reichen

David Lawrence Phillips

Roger Franet

Stanley Jerome Johnson

Stephen E O'Brien

Richard Lee Forest

Phillip Orland Swenson

Donald Emil Niosi

Matthew Mentzer

Eberhard Holtkotte

David Henry Diebold

Floyd Ernest Brown

Arlyn Ray Nelsen

James W Klimes

Stephen D Mayberry

Michael E Delaney

Karl-Josef Willeke

Marvin B Wagner

Rainer Richard Sch&auml;fer

Bradley W Thorvilson

Jean Francois Boucher

A forage harvester represents agricultural implements that include at least one rotating component which is driven through a drive train including a main clutch operable between engaged and disengaged conditions so as to selectively couple and disconnect an output of the implement power source with the rotatable component. A rotation alarm circuit is provided for causing a warning device or devices to be energized in the event that the operator leaves a seat, in which he sits for normal operation, for a predetermined minimum time period while the rotatable component is still rotating, as determined by a rotation sensor. The warning device will remain energized until the rotatable component spins down to a zero speed.

Agricultural implement component rotation alarm

The vehicle part of a self-propelled forage harvester includes a chassis supported on front and rear sets of wheels. A mower-conditioner unit is mounted to the front of the chassis and mounted to opposite sides of the chassis are second and third mower-conditioner units. Mounting each of the second and third mower-conditioner units to the chassis is a support arm having a first end region mounted to the chassis, either forward of the rear set of wheels, in accordance with a first embodiment, or rearward of the rear set of wheels, in accordance with a second embodiment, with the support arms being configured so that the first and second mower-conditioner units extend generally in transverse alignment with the rear set of wheels, when the support arms are in lowered working positions, and are disposed in positions above the individual wheels of the rear set of wheels when the support arms are in raised transport positions.

Self-propelled agricultural vehicle

A mower-conditioner includes a conditioning device which is mounted for being selectively shifted transverse the direction of travel so as to be offset relative to the longitudinal centerline of the mowing device. Associated with the conditioning device is a crop guide device which may be selectively adjusted to cause a narrowed stream of conditioned crop to be deposited to opposite sides of a longitudinal centerline of the conditioning device.

Mowing implement

A self-propelled mowing vehicle includes a chassis supported on front and rear pairs of transversely spaced wheels. At least a front-mounted mowing unit is attached to a front end of the chassis and operates to deliver cut crop to a longitudinally extending first section of a flat belt conveyor assembly which includes at least a second section that receives crop from the first section and delivers it transversely. In accordance with a first embodiment, the first conveyor section terminates at the rear sides of the front pair of wheels and the second conveyor section extends perpendicular to a longitudinal centerline of the vehicle and is mounted for sliding movement so as to selectively deliver crop to either side of the vehicle. In accordance with another embodiment the first conveyor section extends to the rear end of the vehicle and the second conveyor section is mounted for pivoting about an upright axis so as to selectively deliver crop to opposite sides of the vehicle or to strew the crop across its full range of movement. In accordance with still another embodiment, the conveyor arrangement includes second and third fixed conveyor sections located transversely to and on opposite sides of the vehicle centerline, with the first conveyor section being divided so as to divide the transported crop into two streams which are respectively deposited onto the second and third conveyor sections. Opposite side mowing units may be used with the front-mounted unit and when so used the second conveyor section operates to lay crop closely beside windrows formed by the first conveyor section so that the double windrows may be gathered by a wide pickup of a machine for further processing the crop.

Self-propelled mowing vehicle and conveyor arrangement for combining swaths of cut crop

A drive mechanism for a shiftable reel mower brush, the mechanisms including a drive gear driven by the power source, a driven gear fixed with the brush, and an idler gear for transmitting rotational motion from the drive gear to the driven gear. The idler gear is shiftable to remain meshed with the drive gear and driven gear as the brush shifts. A first pivot member is pivotal about the drive gear's axis of rotation, and the idler gear is operatively coupled with the first pivot member for keeping the idler gear in mesh with the drive gear when the brush shifts. A second pivot member is pivotal about the driven gear's axis of rotation, and the idler gear is coupled with the second pivot member for keeping the idler gear in mesh with the driven gear when the driven gear shifts relative to the drive gear.

Gear driven roller brush

A mechanism for shifting reel mower cutting units to a position whereat the undersides of the cutting units are exposed for service. A knuckle joint is provided for pivoting the cutting units as the lift arms are raised to thereby shift the cutting units to service positions. A connection point is provided between a yoke and the cutting unit which is located at the upper rear quadrant of the cutting unit's side frame for generally balancing the force distributed to the ground through the front and rear rollers during forward mowing operations.

Suspension mechanism for reel mowers

A suspension mechanism for a reel mower vehicle, having arm members coupled between a vehicle and a cutting unit, a lever member coupled with each arm member, and a hydraulic cylinder coupled the lever member. A hydraulic circuit actuates the cylinders for lifting the arm members and cutting units to a transport position. A variable restriction valve is provided for causing the cylinders to apply a downforce to the arm members and cutting units for securing the cutting units against the ground over irregular ground conditions, and is adjustable for varying the magnitude of the downforce.

A mower cutting unit is provided with a rear-mounted grass catcher. The cutting unit includes front and rear rollers and mounted between the rear roller and the grass catcher is a rotary brush. The brush is mounted for adjustment into and away from engagement with the rear roller and for adjustment into and away from engagement with the turf. The brush may be driven either in the same direction as or counter to the direction of rotation of the rear roller during forward mowing operation. When driven counter to the direction as the rear roller, the brush may either be positioned for only cleaning clippings from the rear roller and depositing them into the grass catcher or be positioned for additionally sweeping the turf. When the brush is driven in the same direction of rotation as the rear roller, it operates, depending on its positional relationship to the rear roller and turf, to either only clean the rear roller, to clean the rear roller while sweeping the turf to disperse clippings or to just sweep the turf to disperse clippings.

Rear discharge reel mower having multi-purpose rotary brush

A self-propelled, triplex greens mower has two front wheels and a single wheel mounted symmetrically relative to a longitudinal center line of the mower. Three mower units are mounted to the mower frame to cut grass ahead of each of the wheels. These mower units are offset so as to be located non-symmetrically relative to the center line with the offset being a distance equal to at least one-half the width of the wheels. Because of this offset, it is necessary only to reverse the mower direction for performing consecutive perimeter and cross cutting operations on a green in order to have the wheels follow different paths, thus avoiding undue compaction.

Growing community of inventors

Ottumwa, IA, United States of America

Larry Neil Smith