Hesston Corporation

Richard James Buller

John Dale Anderson

Martin E Pruitt

John Johnson

Ronald K Guinn

David P Fritz

Bruce Leo Lutz

Deroy Ernest Mahagan

Allen Thomas Trego

The cutter box which houses a cutting cylinder on a harvester has an access opening in its top wall through which an abrasive, full-length sharpening stone may be alternately inserted and removed to engage and sharpen the peripherally located knives of the cylinder as the latter is rotated. Each time the stone is rocked down into the opening for a sharpening operation, it is indexed slightly further into the opening than during the previous operation in order to accommodate the slightly reduced diameter of the cylinder due to material which has been removed from the knives and the stone during the previous sharpening operation. A cover coupled with the stone is caused to move into closing relationship with the opening as the stone is rocked out of the same and, conversely, to pull away from and expose the opening as the stone is subsequently reinserted. All of the mechanical movements involved, including indexing of the stone, may be accomplished remotely through the use of an electric motor.

Sharpener assembly for the cutting cylinder of a crop harvester

A stack-forming machine has a telescoping container defined by a vertically reciprocable, downwardly concave press that is received within an upwardly concave lower section that remains stationary during reciprocation of the press. When the press is raised and an upper door on the press and a lower gate on the lower section are opened, the stack may be discharged from the container. The upper door is normally held closed by an overlapping portion of the lower gate, the latter in turn being releasably latched in place, and while the lower gate is swung downwardly by gravity to its opened position as the press is raised, the upper door is powered to its open position through linkage that interconnects the door with the lower section of the container so as to utilize the upward movement of the press as the source of opening power for the door. Included within the linkage is a coil spring that permits the upper door to be held closed by the lower gate when the latter is latched, notwithstanding reciprocation of the press at periodic intervals during the stack-forming cycle.

Stack-forming machine having spring-powered, press-controlled tailgate

A rotor for crop handling machines has a plurality of double-pivoted, radially-extending arms and structure on the segments of each arm to position the segments such that any radially inwardly directed impact force, such as from stones and other obstructions, causes immediate buckling of the arm about its pivot points instead of fracturing the segments or bending their mounting pins. In one embodiment, each arm is provided with a positive stop between the segments that holds them in a pre-buckled condition such that the tip of the outer segment, with respect to the direction of rotation of the rotor, trails the common plane containing the pivotal axes of the double-pivoted arm. In a second embodiment the individual segments are constructed such that their centers of gravity are laterally offset, with respect to one another, causing the desired trailing relationship of the tip of the outer segment.

Crop harvesting rotor

In the interval between successive press cycles, crop material is picked up from the field and loaded into the stack-forming body of the machine. However, upon initiation of a press cycle, crop material, which continues to be picked up as the machine is advanced, is diverted into an accumulating chamber and collected within the latter until termination of the press cycle. Thereupon, the accumulation is discharged for recycling through the pickup and loading mechanism to be delivered into the forming body along with previously uncycled material. Alternative embodiments involve discharging the accumulation onto the ground ahead of the loader for pickup by the latter a second time, and discharging the accumulation either directly into the front or rear of the loader at a point above the ground.

Growing community of inventors

Newton, KS, United States of America

Richard James Buller