The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 02, 2026
Filed:
May. 09, 2022
Deere & Company, Moline, IL (US);
Darin L. Roth, Batavia, IA (US);
Kevin M. Tacke, Oskaloosa, IA (US);
Deere & Company, Moline, IL (US);
Abstract
An agricultural machine capable of sensing a harvested crop load includes a mower or mower conditioner implement, which may be referred to as a crop cutting implement, and a retractable linear device such as a spring or linear actuator. The crop cutting implement includes a flexible drive assembly with an endless loop, such as a belt, that is driven and supported by rollers. The retractable linear device resists movement of a first roller relative to a second roller. With this arrangement various characteristics of the agricultural machine, all of which are proxies for the position of the first roller relative to the second roller, may be measured by a crop load sensor to determine the quantity or load of harvested crop being processed by the flexible drive assembly of the agricultural machine.