Deere + Company

Dolly Y. Wu Pllc

Orthman Manufacturing Co.

Timothy Arthur Deutsch

Jeffrey Scott Wigdahl

Joel M Schreiner

Virgil Dean Haverdink

Russell D Copley

Jeffrey Robert Fox

Michael Lee Pearson

Donald H Sheldon, Jr

Gary L Warnsholz

Howard C Hadley

Wendell Keith Vardeman

Raymond Dean Vardeman

Wesley G Carney

Dolly Y Wu

William Edward McCoy

Wendell Dean Vardeman

James Thomas Noonan

Kevin Jacob Goering

Dohn W Pfeiffer

John Franklin Reid

Robert Thomas Casper

Francis E Schlueter

David Carl Winter

Jesse D Haecker

Jerrell William Harden

Peter A Basile

Kenneth C McConnell

Richard Lee Forest

Lowell H Neumeyer

Jerry Bob Hall

Russell Jerrell Harden

Steve A Junge

Steve H McBee

Alex D Foessel

Arthur L Hubbard

Robert Matthew Bares

John A Gola

Donald Lee Goodrich

Scott Francis Stueck

Jeffrey J Ringwald

Steven A Junge

Jeffery D Behan

Clark S Papke

Floyd Pascal Hicks

Maurice Vincent Salz

Billy Paul Brown

An example machinery includes an automated crop management motorized vehicle having an intelligent, modularized image sensor (e.g. camera or video) system that is portable to other crop management vehicles such as a combine, planter or a tillage machine. The image sensor system includes a framework having a bank of procedures for monitoring and control of navigation, spray application, weeding, seeding, machine configuration, in real time as the machines go through a crop field throughout a crop cycle. One example implementation includes electronic circuits, with more than one set mounted on a platform that facilitates moving the setup to other agricultural machines. The framework captures, preserves and corrects the captured images for real time analysis and response, and for spray management to improve crop yield that is correlated with the machine settings and crop management practices.

Monitoring and control implement for crop improvement

Performance information indicative of operator performance of a mobile machine is received. A performance opportunity space is identified, indicative of possible performance improvement. Savings identified in the performance opportunity space are quantified.

Agronomic variation and team performance analysis

An example machinery includes a crop management motorized vehicle having an intelligent, modularized image sensor (e.g. camera or video) system that is portable to other crop management vehicles such as a combine, planter or a tillage machine. The image sensor system includes a framework having a bank of procedures for monitoring and control of navigation, spray application, weeding, seeding, machine configuration, and so on, in real time as the machines go through a crop field throughout a crop cycle. One example implementation includes electronic circuits, with more than one set mounted on a platform that facilitates moving the setup to other agricultural machines. The framework captures, preserves and corrects the captured images for real time analysis and response, and for crop yield analysis that is correlated with the machine settings and crop management practices.

Image sensor and module for agricultural crop improvement

A compact row unit positioning structure includes a gear and mating toothed surface to positively position agricultural row units on an implement. An electric or hydraulic motor may be used to drive the gear and move row units individually or in groups to change row spacings, follow rows or move row units to a maintenance position. In one embodiment, position sensing structure such a row finder or GPS device connected to a controller operates the positioning structure. Automatic on-the-go row alignment may be implemented, and various row spacings, skip-row patterns or repair access positions may be provided either manually or automatically.

Adjustable row unit structure

A grapple device is provided for handling cylindrical cotton modules each having its circumference wrapped with a length of plastic sheet wrapping material. The grapple is equipped with a RFID reader for determining the location of a loose inner tail section of the wrapping material to which is attached an RFID tag assembly. The grapple device is also equipped with powered rollers which can be driven so as to cause the cotton module to be rotated about its axis so as to position the loose tail section of the wrapping material at an upper location of the module so as to permit a bottom surface location of the module to be slit by operation of a cutting device so as to release the cotton from the wrapper when the cotton module is positioned over a conveyor floor of a cotton gin. The powered rollers are then driven to aid in the removal and collection of the of the wrapping material from the module. In one embodiment, a separate set of powered rollers are provided for removing the wrapping material.

Handling and orienting cotton modules wrapped with material including RFID tag

An electronic controller with a sensed ground speed input calculates appropriate cotton harvester row unit speed based on harvester ground speed and a preset ground speed versus a unit speed curve. The controller includes an automatic or manual ratio adjustment input. The ratio adjustment input allows the unit speed to be increased or decreased from the preset speed. The controller reads row unit speed via unit speed sensors and sends a signal to the unit speed actuator or electronic drive control (EDC) on a hydro, variable sheave, or other variable drive device to adjust unit speed to the calculated value. A detector or field vision device such as a camera responsive to cotton on the plants provides a signal to the automatic ratio adjustment input to change the ratio for increased productivity and reduced machine wear.

Cotton harvester row unit speed synchronization control

A duct support and transition structure for the air system of a cotton harvester includes a plurality of upright telescoping duct sections connected to a vertically adjustable support tube extending transversely between the sections providing lateral support for the ducts. Hydraulically operated slide structure connected to the support tube moves the sections vertically between operating and transport positions and eliminates duct binding problems. A telescoping harvester basket supports forwardly extending hood structure. The hood structure opens downwardly towards the upper ducts and includes grates for exhausting air and debris. The ends of the ducts open upwardly rather than rearwardly into the hood structure. The basket can move to and from the dump position without interference from the ducts, and the hood structure reduces cotton loss without need for side shields.

Duct support and transition structure for a harvester

Cotton receiving structure includes a receptacle supported on a wheeled frame and a floor conveyor moving cotton towards an upright set of fingered rotors which feed the cotton into an upright hopper. The fed cotton is directed into a baler mounted on the frame for forming and wrapping. The compact wrapped bale is discharged from the baler and loaded onto a transport device using conventional bale handling equipment such as a tractor-mounted loader. The baler can be mounted directly on the frame with the receptacle and the hopper for movement as a unit to the desired field location for receiving cotton from the harvester basket. In an alternate embodiment, the baler can be a separate unit towed behind or towed independently of the frame and the receiver and hopper.

Cotton processing system and method of operation

A scrapping plate for improving cotton picker efficiency incorporate an angle in the bottom profile which forces cotton into the spindle before being released from the picking zone. The scrapping plate ribs which are spaced vertically from each other and located between adjacent rows of spindles are tapered so that rib surfaces are generally parallel to the spindle tapered surfaces in the picking zone. The parallel arrangement places cotton equidistant from the spindle along the length of the picking zone. In one embodiment, the ribs are tapered in the fore-and-aft direction to better hold cotton bolls in the picking zone. The forward portion of alternating ribs can also be terminated rearwardly of the leading portion of the plate to allow the cotton bolls to gather more easily.

Scrapping plate for a cotton harvester

A harvester includes an integral two-section baling device with the section movement designed to provide both a bale discharge function and a transport height reduction function. In one embodiment, one section of the device includes rollers which follow a downwardly sloped ramp as the sections are opened relative to each other. The sloped ramped additionally serves as a portion of a finished bale handler and bale support. In a second embodiment, an additional hydraulic cylinder system controls the downward movement of the opened sections towards the transport position. Existing baler functions are advantageously utilized to provide transport height reduction with a minimal amount of additional hardware, and the operator can switch between transport and operational modes quickly and easily.

Harvester with bale forming chamber having a transport mode

A narrow row harvesting unit for harvesting a crop planted in closely spaced rows. In a cotton picker, the crop removing portion of the unit includes a tandem drum arrangement. The unit includes first and second row receiving areas spaced on the order of twelve inches (30 cm) apart and separated by a narrow stalk lifter. The crop removing portion of the row unit provides transverse movement of a first row of the crop towards a second row of the crop behind the stalk lifter. In the cotton picker unit, a forward upright drum includes spindles projecting through a grid bar arrangement intercepting the first row of crop to move the plants laterally along grid bars into the main crop removing zone which is aligned with the second row. A cutter offset just ahead of the forward drum severs the plants in the first row, and a rotating column with plant engaging projections cooperates with the drum to direct the severed plants into the standing second row.

Narrow row crop harvester with lateral conveying of cut row

Cotton accumulator structure includes an upright storage area supported behind the cab of a cotton harvester. A screened upper cover area is supported above the storage area by hydraulic cylinders which move the cover between a raised harvest position and a lowered storage position for reduced transport height. As harvested material is directed through ducts towards the storage area, debris can exit through the screened cover. The lower end of the storage area includes an opening for egress of the cotton. Several shafts having timed projections are journalled for rotation adjacent the opening about parallel axes. The shafts, when not rotating, generally close the lower end and prevent cotton from falling through the opening. To meter the cotton from the storage area to an operating on-board processor, a drive is activated to rotate the shafts. Preferably, the shafts are driven in counter-rotating fashion so that a given shaft rotates in the opposite direction from the next adjacent shaft, and projections on the shaft pull cotton from the storage area. Cotton is uniformly distributed from the storage area onto a belt extending from the processor which preferably is part of a compacting system on a baler or module builder located downstream of the storage area opening. The storage area facilitates continued harvesting during processor unloading and allows the processor to run only as needed to periodically unload the storage area.

Cotton harvester with accumulator

Crop severing and gathering structure is pivotally connected to the forward end of a cotton row unit housing adjacent a row receiving area. A cutter severs the lower portion of cotton plants offset from the row receiving area of the row unit. A conveyer includes a pair of opposed belts with gripping features which embrace the lower portions of the stems of the cotton plants and move the severed plants in a generally upright position into the row of standing plants that is entering the row receiving area. The severed cotton plants intertwine with the standing row at the front of the housing as the conveyor moves the plants against one side of the row. The standing row with intertwined plants enters the row receiving area, and tandem picking drums located on the same side of the row as the severing and gathering structure remove cotton from both the standing row and the severed plants. The opposed belts have surfaces which enhance the gripping and conveying of the severed plants, and rotating brushes above the cutters help gather and hold the plants in the upright position for cutting. The pivotal connection allows the severing and gathering structure to be adjusted to the desired lateral position for a given plant spacing and to be lifted out of the way for convenient access to areas in and near the housing, including access to the row unit door structure. Plant gatherers at the leading end of the severing and gathering structure can be adjusted for alignment with the forward direction when the lateral position of the structure is adjusted for different plant spacings.

Narrow row cotton harvester

A lay-down bar structure having one or more resilient polyurethane flaps supported by a rigid bar so that the edges of the flaps are offset slightly from the periphery of the primary cleaning drum of a cotton cleaner. The flaps are slotted and can be adjusted relative to the drum periphery. The flaps can also be stacked, and the number of flaps can be increased or decreased for a corresponding change in cleaner aggressiveness. The resilient flaps flex to allow large foreign objects to pass between the lay-down bar and the drum to thereby reduce drum damage, shock loads and plugging problems.

Lay-down bar for a cotton cleaner

A flexible insert for a cotton stripper finger assembly adapted for stripping cotton bolls from cotton plants planted in narrow row or broadcast configuration. The insert comprises a flexible plastic strip sandwiched between a conventional metal stripping finger and a metal hold-down member. The insert has edges extending outwardly from the metal stripping finger edges to reduce the effective width of the gap between fingers to more efficiently strip cotton bolls from cotton plants having relatively thin stalks. The portions of the insert which project beyond the metal stripping finger are sufficiently flexible to permit efficient stripping of cotton plants with thicker stalks. Since the effective gap width can change with changing plant conditions, the need to change gap-adjusting inserts is eliminated. The plastic material, which preferably is polyurethane having a durometer of approximately 93, resists sap build-up and improves cotton flow over the fingers.

Flexible finger inserts for cotton stripper fingers

Growing community of inventors

Newton, IA, United States of America

Timothy Arthur Deutsch