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:
Nov. 09, 1999
Filed:
Jan. 30, 1998
Claus-Joseph Vogelgesang, Mandelbachtel, DE;
Deere & Company, Moline, IL (US);
Abstract
A forage harvester is equipped with a milling arrangement or kernel processor comprising a pair of rolls which are mounted on parallel axes and adapted for being counter-rotated so as to operate on chopped crop products introduced into the nip of the rolls. The rolls each have an outer circumference defined by larger and smaller diameter sections arranged one after the other along the length of the roll. In one embodiment the larger diameter sections of one roll are located in an annular groove defined between the larger diameter sections of the other roll, these sections being opposite to the smaller diameter sections of the other roll. The overlap between the large diameter sections of the rolls defines shear faces at opposite sides of the sections for cutting crop parts into smaller pieces. The outer circumference of these smaller and larger diameter sections are each provided with a tooth profile and the respective profiles of the opposed sections are spaced apart to form a gap which is sized relative to the size of kernel being processed so that the kernel is split or crushed as it passed through the nip of the rolls. According a second embodiment, the large diameter sections of one of the rolls are each in the form of a flat cutting disk having an outer portion that runs through a slot defined between large diameter sections of the other roll. In this case, the one roll has small diameter sections which are identical to and respectively disposed opposite the large diameter sections of the other roll. These latter mentioned oppositely disposed sections are each provided with tooth profiles like those of the sections of the first embodiment.