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. 06, 2001
Filed:
Mar. 14, 2000
Michael James Mellin, Ottumwa, IA (US);
John Gregory Petersen, Ottumwa, IA (US);
Michael Joseph Verhulst, Ottumwa, IA (US);
Deere & Company, Moline, IL (US);
Abstract
A rotary cutter disc includes shields for the nuts of the knife mounting bolts. Each shield includes a U-shaped well in which a respective one of the nuts is located, the well being oriented so that its open side is directed away from the center of the disc, whereby centrifugal force ejects crop particles and other matter from the well. In one embodiment, the shield is provided with inclined wear surfaces which also serve as crop guide vanes. In a second embodiment, the shield is integral with a crop guide vane. In each embodiment, the underside of the shield is provided with a locating lug which is adjacent the knife mount bolt hole in the bottom wall of the shield. The disc is provided with an elongated knife mounting bolt hole and the shield locating lug is positioned to enter the elongated hole alongside the knife mounting bolt so as to properly orient the shield and keep the shield from rotating when the mounting bolt nut is being screwed on or off. In the case of the second embodiment, the crop guide vane is also provided with a locating lug that mates with hole provided in the disc.