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:
May. 01, 2012
Filed:
Jun. 09, 2011
Dwight E. Nickel, Newton, KS (US);
Michael L. O'halloran, Hesston, KS (US);
Dwight E. Nickel, Newton, KS (US);
Michael L. O'Halloran, Hesston, KS (US);
AGCO Corporation, Duluth, GA (US);
Abstract
As crop materials are severed from the field, they pass through two successive pairs of counter-rotating conditioning rolls before being returned to the ground. The front rolls are preferably ribbed, metal rolls wherein the ribs of one roll are intermeshed with those of the other roll so as to crimp the stems of the crop materials as they pass between the rolls. The hard metal ribs also aggressively feed the materials rearwardly into the second set of rolls, which are preferably compressive surface rolls made of rubber or the like and provided with wide, intermeshed bars about their periphery. The tension mechanism for the rolls includes single-acting hydraulic cylinders that squeeze the rolls together to the extent permitted by adjustable stop structure used to set gaps between the rolls. An accumulator is hydraulically connected to the hydraulic cylinders for cushioning the tension mechanism.