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:
Jul. 30, 2002
Filed:
Jul. 09, 2001
Dirk J. Desnijder, Wondelgem, BE;
Cyriel R. J. De Busscher, Sijsele, BE;
Adrianus Naaktgeboren, Varsenare, BE;
Sandor W. Van Vooren, Aardenburg, NL;
Guy H. J. Osselaere, Loppem, BE;
New Holland North America, Inc., New Holland, PA (US);
Abstract
A forage harvester and a method of operating the same which comprises a crop processor unit located in a crop flow between a cutterhead and a blower rotor, the crop processor unit being for handling crop material including kernels, the crop processor comprising a pair of counter-rotating processor rolls arranged to crack kernels between the rolls when the rolls are in a first position, both processor rolls being movable away from each other to move each roll substantially out of the crop flow into a second position. A cover plate is preferably arranged to move and cover the lower roll when the rolls are in a second position and to isolate the lower roll from the crop flow. The processor rolls are preferably driven by independent drives. One of the drives can be a hydraulic motor supplied with pressure from a hydraulic pump which can also work as a motor. When used as a motor the cutterhead may be driven in the reverse direction for maintenance purposes.