Deere + Company

Stanley P Wellman

Melvin William Keller

Thomas Daryl Bebernes

Steven L Schmid

Frederick Carl Krambeck

David Henry Diebold

A self-propelled windrower is provided with a platform including a reel which sweeps crop to be cut over a sickle cutterbar and into the nip of a pair of counter-rotating center-feed augers that, in turn, deliver the crop to the nip of a pair of counter-rotating conditioner rolls; and these driven components may be reversed to disgorge slugs of crop. The reversible drive includes a hydraulic pump carried by the traction unit and coupled to a motor carried by the platform. The hydraulic motor on the platform is coupled to power a main gear box which distributes power to the driven components of the platform. Operation of the pump is electro-hydraulically controlled with a single switch being operable to effect forward operation of the platform drive train, and with a second switch being designed to be moved and held in place to effect and maintain the drive train in reverse. Both switches cannot be operated at the same time, however the machine can be reversed with the platform lowered, fully raised, or anywhere in between.

Crop harvesting platform having a reversible drive for the reel,

A bearing or bushing retainer comprises two identical, separate segments which are generally c-shaped so as to permit the segments to each be removed from a cylindrical split plastic bearing mounted on a reel toothbar once bolts holding the two segments together are released and the segments moved axially relative to each other so as to disengage respective axially extending tabs of the segments from gaps defined between opposite ends of the segments. The segments have a relatively heavy cross section and are made of sintered powdered metal of relatively high carbon content, and are heat treated thereby resulting in a part having a long wear life and having a natural lubricity resulting in the extension of the wear lives of the retainer and of the bearing retained thereby.

Retainer for reel toothbar bearing

A pull-type mower-conditioner has a main frame including a pair of laterally spaced, downwardly projecting legs. A lower conditioner roll has opposite ends rotatably mounted to the main frame while an upper conditioner roll is mounted for arcuate movement towards and away from the lower roll by means of a pair of laterally spaced, L-shaped roll support arms that are respectively vertically pivotally mounted to the pair of main frame legs and have forwardly projecting legs in which opposite ends of the upper roll are rotatably mounted. A header is suspended from the main frame for vertical floating movement by a pair of four-bar linkages respectively coupled to opposite ends of the header and coupled directly between upstanding legs of each of the roll support arms and a bottom link of each of the four-bar linkages is a float spring that acts to simultaneously exert a lifting force on the header and a downwardly biasing force on the upper conditioner roll.

Arrangement using mower-conditioner header float springs to bias

A pair of twine arms are mounted for pivoting back and forth between first and second locations for dispensing twine into a bale chamber. The arms are oscillated by a reversible gear drive including a drive gear having a drive arm fixed thereto and coupled to an extensible and retractable hydraulic actuator through means of a resiliently extensible link which permits further extension of the actuator after the arms have engaged each other at their respective second locations. Accordingly, the arms dwell at their respective second locations, during such further extension of the actuator and then during retraction thereof until the link is restored to its normally unextended condition, thus permitting wraps of twine to be laid one on top of the other.

Dwell-effecting twine arm drive link

A twine dispensing mechanism for feeding twine into the bale chamber of a large round baler includes a double twine arm assembly comprising a first twine arm driven for sweeping its twine dispensing end across the front of the bale chamber and a second twine arm pivotally mounted to the first twine arm and having a twine dispensing end which may be selectively spaced from the end of the first arm by an adjustable spring biased bar assembly.

Growing community of inventors

Ottumwa, IA, United States of America

Stanley P Wellman