Hay harvesting machine

Abstract

A hay harvesting machine containing a rake wheel whose housing is formed by an upper housing portion non-rotatably connected with a vertical upright shaft and a lower housing portion rotatably mounted upon such upright vertical shaft. The lower housing portion is revolvingly driven by means of a gear drive, such as bevel gearing. In the lower housing portion, there are mounted tine supports pivotable about their lengthwise axis. These tine supports extend in tangential direction and, viewed in the direction of revolving motion, extend rearwardly. Each tine support is provided with a control arm carrying a control head or follower guided in a downwardly open control track or cam, having an essentially U-shaped cross-sectional configuration. This control track is located in a plane extending essentially perpendicular to the upright or vertical shaft. This control track possesses a control track section which is essentially coaxial with respect to the upright shaft and merges with a second control track section or portion extending at a greater spacing from the upright shaft than the first control track section or portion. By means of the control arms guided in the control track, the tine supports are pivoted from a rake position into an ineffectual or non-operating position and again back into the rake position.