Abstract: A support assembly for supporting a moveable member of an agricultural combine is provided. The support assembly includes a moveable member, such as a foldable chaff pan assembly for spreading chaff and other crop residue from the rear of an agricultural combine, a support member and a resilient member connected to the support member for supporting the moveable member. The resilient member can be configured as an arched shaped or cylindrically shaped member.

Abstract: A grape processing apparatus and method is described and which includes a screen, a cleated conveyor belt with a bottom flight and which is spaced from the screen, and a source of bunches of grapes which have associated stems, and which are fed into a predetermined space between the bottom flight of the cleated conveyor belt and the screen, and wherein the bunches of grapes move along the screen in a rolling and tumbling motion to separate the individual grapes from the associated stems, and wherein the individual grapes are collected thereafter.

Abstract: An combine harvester comprises threshing and separating chambers having cover plates on which groups of vanes may be adjusted by individual tie plates utilizing an off-center pivot point for the vanes and a two-bolt system. The two-bolts being the maximum number of bolts needed to secure each vane wherein one of the bolts is an off-center pivot point while the other of the bolts extends through the cover plate to secure the tie plate for each group of vanes.

Abstract: A combine tray lift system for selectively positioning a combine tray includes a pair of tray lift assemblies attachable to combine tray securing nuts on opposite sides of a combine. Each tray lift assembly includes a rotatable sleeve having a handle, a protrusion, and locking members disposed therefrom. A bar member is coupled between the protrusion and the tray securing nut such that rotating the sleeve adjusts the position of the combine tray. A locking bar is provided for engaging a selected one of the locking members to hold the tray in a selected position. In a preferred embodiment, a lock disengaging member is coupled to the handle such that the locking bar can be disengaged while gripping the handle.

Abstract: There is described a screen device (3) for a harvester-thresher for a test field, comprising at least one frame (9) receiving a cleaning screen (11) and an adjusting means (12) for adjusting the frame (9) pivotally mounted about a transverse axis (10) in the chassis (1), where the adjusting means (12) consists of an actuating shaft (13) parallel to the swivel axis (10), mounted in the chassis (1) and connected to a swivel drive, which actuating shaft has at least one swivel arm (14) connected with the frame (9) via a connecting rod (15).

Abstract: A crop stripper has a moving shaker pan between the stripper drum and an auger receiving the gathered crop parts from the drum. The pan has a conveying platform arranged in a series of descending steps from the stripper drum to the auger. It is constrained to oscillate in a manner in which the front end has both horizontal and vertical components of movement whereas the rear end moves along a small downwards incline. It is found that these features help to promote the rearward movement of crop parts such as grain, so reducing spillage in the space between the stripper drum and the auger.

Abstract: An agricultural combine cleaning system including a cleaning sieve having a series of generally parallel slat rows arranged in at least first and second cleaning sections. A first series of passages is provided between adjacent slat rows of the first cleaning section while a second series of passages is defined between adjacent slat rows of the second cleaning section. A slat adjustment assembly having a single controller is provided for adjusting the first and second passages in the first and second cleaning sections simultaneously in response to movement of the single controller. The controller is threadably connected to an actuator whose endwise disposition controls the angular displacement of the slat rows and thereby the passages between adjacent slat rows.

Abstract: The cleaning assembly of the present invention is provided with a precleaner. The precleaner precleans and directs the chaff rich mixture from the separating assembly to the chaffer downstream from where the grain rich mixture from the threshing assembly is introduced to the chaffer. The precleaner is mounted to the chaffer and is provided with a step pan section and a louvered cleaning section for precleaning the chaff rich mixture.