Abstract: A crop harvesting header including a pickup reel mounted for rotation about a reel axis includes a plurality of reel bats peripherally disposed and having outwardly extending fingers rotatable about a bat axis. A cam track surrounding the reel axis includes a cam surface and a guide surface. A linkage associated with each reel bat has first and second cam followers that engage the cam surface at first and second contact points displacing the linkage while traversing the cam track, the linkage being coupled to cause rotation of the reel bat about the bat axis for changing an angle of attack of the fingers. A guide follower engages the guide surface at a third contact point between the first and second contact points and is offset to cause the first and second cam followers and the guide follower to maintain contact with the guide surface while traversing the cam track.

Abstract: An apparatus including: a deformable protective housing including circumscribing deformable barrier side walls defining a variable volume internal hermetic chamber for housing an electronic component in a protected atmosphere.

Abstract: A system for cleaning a flow of harvested crop including a suction device between an inlet (1) and an outlet (3), the inlet being equipped with a hood (5) in which is formed a circulation path of the flow of suction air between the inlet and a suction opening (6). The suction device further including a drum (7) rotating relative to the hood, the hood being positioned in the drum to form a suction area (10) on the exterior of the wall, the suction area being delimited circumferentially by respective upstream (10a) and downstream (10b) edges. The system further including a conveyor (11) for the flow of crop, a device (12, 13) to recover the portion of the flow of crop that is not sucked up, and a device (14, 15) to recover the portion of the flow of crop that has been sucked up in the area. The circulation path of the hood (5) forms a deflector for the flow of suction air, the deflector is arranged to balance the speed of the flow of air along the suction opening (6).

Abstract: A green cicer bean harvesting method and apparatus. A harvesting combine (100) comprises a threshing apparatus (130) including a rotatable cylindrical drum (132) with an apertured outer wall (134), a main beater (140) and a plurality of satellite beaters (144, 146, 148), and a conveyor system (120, 122, 124) for transporting de-podded beans to a hopper (111), and a pod net conveyor (126) that filters the beans entering the hopper. A return chute (128) returns podded beans from the pod net conveyor to the drum. The apertures in the drum increase in size from smaller apertures at the front of the drum to larger apertures at the rear of the drum. The combine, drum, and beater operating parameters and dimensions are selected to enable effective mechanical harvesting of green cicer beans.

Abstract: A drive system for the sieves in an agricultural combine that includes a flywheel for improving the fatigue life of the sieves. The flywheel minimizes damaging accelerations in the sieves that result from speed variations in the drive shaft. A hydraulic motor is also provided for directly driving the sieves without the use of belts.

Abstract: A pickup reel for a harvesting platform including a reel support structure with a reel shaft rotatably supported thereon. A plurality of radially extending arms are mounted to the reel shaft and a plurality of transverse rockshafts are mounted to the radially extending arms and are axially offset and parallel to the reel shaft and span the width of the platform. Radial fingers are mounted on each rockshaft. A cam is mounted to the support structure adjacent one or both ends of the rockshafts and defines an endless cam path about the reel shaft. A crank arm attached to each rockshaft carries a cam follower that engages the cam path for following along the path. The cam path is configured to cause the crank arms, and thus the rockshafts, to rotate about the respective rockshaft axis to vary the attitude of the fingers relative to the ground as the cam followers move along the cam path. The cam is segmented, having two or more cam segments joined together to form the endless cam path.

Abstract: The present invention provides an improved harvester particularly of the type for harvesting peas. The harvester employees an improved technique of harvesting peas and similar crops. Instead of attempting to break the stem of the plant by pulling it away from the ground, which is the usual technique employed by current harvesters, the individual plants are drawn upwards then cut with a cutting bar or like device. This technique may be utilized by harvesters built specifically for this type of harvesting, or by existing harvesters after modifying the reel of the harvester, The improved harvester comprises a cutting bar, a rotary reel, a plurality of tines arranged in a plurality of rows on the reel, cam tracks and cam followers for raising the plurality of tines relative to crops in front of the cutting bar, as the reel rotates, thereby lifting the crops upwards to a position for cutting.

Abstract: A system for threshing podded produce such as peas and beans, which may be harvested with their vine attached. A horizontal, cylindrical, rotating screen encloses a main beater having numerous paddles of height about one-twelfth the beater diameter. Paddles are pitched at an angle of about 25 degrees to a plane including the axis of the main beater and are also raked backwards by about 15 degrees from radial. A counter-rotating first satellite beater disposed above the main beater collects produce which has been macerated between the main beater and the screen and cooperates with the main beater, the linear tip speeds of the paddles and blades of both beaters being identical, to discharge a radially narrow, high-speed stream of macerated material across the interior of the cylindrical screen against a first sieving region of the screen above a second satellite beater.

Abstract: A straw discharge assembly allows the beater to reach further towards the rotational axis of the threshing rotor, thus enabling it to remove a greater percentage of the straw which otherwise collects on the housing frame members. The beater has a barrel-shaped body, but it takes on an hourglass shape as it is divided into a center section with shorter blades and two side sections with longer blades, giving the center section a smaller effective diameter than the two side sections. The beater does not interfere with the rotational path of the rotor housing frame even though it is effectively closer to the housing frame. With their longer blades, the side sections are closer to the rotating frame legs and can therefore pull down and discharge more of the obstructed straw. The discharge grate is conformed to the effective shape of the rotor in a similar fashion.

Abstract: A peanut cleaner for cleaning freshly harvested peanuts in the field includes structure for initially vibrating the peanuts to loosen moist field soil, trash, fines and clinging vine segments therefrom, structure for thereafter subjecting the loosened soil, field trash, fines, vine segments and peanuts to a free fall downwardly along a substantially vertical flow path while subjecting the vertical flow path to a lateral and slightly upwardly inclined flow of at least slightly dehumidified air to thereby blow at least the lighter loosened soil, field trash, fines and vine segments laterally from the vertical flow path of peanuts and still further structure for repeatedly elevating the peanuts from a reticulated support surface therefor and allowing the peanuts to free fall, by gravity, back downwardly onto the reticulated surface to thereby loosen and remove therefrom any remaining clinging soil, field trash, fines and vine segments from the peanuts.

Abstract: A cleaning apparatus for fruits or vegetables includes a plurality of rods disposed in parallel about a common axis and defining a space having an intake opening and a discharge opening. The rods include driven rods rotated about their respective axes and nondriven idler rods. The rods are moved along a closed circular path surrounding the axis as the driven rods are rotated. The food items being cleaned can be fed through the cleaner from the intake to the discharge opening by a feed mechanism in the form of an auger brush.

Abstract: In the harvesting of legumes, apparatus having a plurality of rods mounted on a rotating axle provides a vibratory contact force to the seed containing pods to provide acceleration and impact forces to separate the seeds from the shells or pods containing the seeds, and an auger feeds the pods through the apparatus to optimize the time the pods are in contact with the rods.

Abstract: In the harvesting of legumes, apparatus having a plurality of rods mounted on a rotating axle provides a vibratory contact force to the seed containing pods to provide acceleration and impact forces to separate the seeds from the shells or pods containing the seeds.

Abstract: The invention provides a drum shaker apparatus for use in seed or vine crop harvesters with improved effectiveness in removing seeds or fruit from the plant portion of the crop. The drum shaker includes a rotatable drum to which is mounted a counterweight mechanism having at least three rotatable counterweights, each counterweight having an axis of rotation spaced apart from its center of mass, and means for rotating the counterweights in a phased relationship. Usually, the drum is rotated at a constant angular speed, onto which is superimposed the oscillatory movement caused by rotation of the counterweights. The drum shaker further includes tines extending outward from its surface for engaging the crop. The present invention provides tines of varied stiffness arranged on the drum so as to create relative movement of adjacent tines, which tends to shear the seeds or fruit from the plants.

Abstract: A chili harvester in the form of a vehicle that is self propelled for movement along rows of chili pepper plants and including rotatably driven picking units for removing chili pods from the plants and depositing them onto rearwardly and upwardly extending conveyors which deposit the chili pods and any leaves, stems or other trash material into a rotatable separating drum. The rotating separating drum is mounted and driven for rotation about an inclined axis with the chili pods and other material being deposited in the upper end thereof and migrating forwardly toward the lower end with trash and other material dropping between circumferentially spaced members which form the separating drum.