Abstract: Broadly, one aspect of the present invention is an articulated combine having increased on-board grain storage capacity (e.g., 1,200 bushels) and which is composed of a forward unit having an operator's cab, an engine, a grain harvesting assembly, a grain transfer assembly, and being devoid of an on-board grain bin; and a rearward unit jointedly attached to the forward section and having, steerable and powered wheels, an on-board grain bin for receiving grain from the forward section grain transfer assembly, and a grain off-loading assembly. The grain transfer assembly, joint, and grain off-loading assembly and controls, form other aspects of the present invention.

Abstract: A two-row cane harvester 10 simultaneously harvests two rows of sugar cane in a green tropical cane field. A pair of topper mechanisms 54 top the cane stalks while base cutters 80 base cut the cane. Base cut cane is received base first into the harvester intake. The cane is cleaned in a whole stalk condition with a cleaning mechanism 92 that includes a plurality of rotating tines 100 moving in a direction to engage and force the cane leaves toward a base of the cane stalk, thereby efficiently stripping the cane leaves. An extractor blower 106 removes the leaves from the rotating tines and the cleaned cane. A stalk cutter mechanism 120, 122 may be adjusted to cut the cleaned cane stalks into selected billet lengths. Cane is preferably fed into the cutter mechanism at a speed greater than the ground speed of the harvester moving through the field. Another blower or fan may be used to remove remaining leaves from the billets.

Abstract: A grain threshing mechanism including a power source having a preselected rotational speed, a concave assembly and a device operably connecting the concave assembly in driven communication with the power source for rotation thereby, a rotor assembly positioned for independent rotation within the concave assembly, and a drive system connecting the rotor assembly in driven communication with the power source for rotation thereby, the drive system including the transmission and a planetary gear set, the transmission being operable for selecting at least one predetermined rotational speed range for the rotor assembly and the planetary gear set being operable for varying the rotational speed of the rotor assembly within the at least one predetermined rotational speed range.

Abstract: The crop engaging element of the present invention is a hollow structure having a smooth curved convex top portion which terminates in a concave trough before extending into a radially extending lip. The hollow structure is provided with sidewalls and a rear wall. The sidewalls extend upwardly to enclose the sides of the trough. The element is provided with leading and trailing mounting flanges for mounting the element to the exterior surface of a combine rotor.

Abstract: Broadly, one aspect of the present invention is an articulated combine having increased on-board grain storage capacity (e.g., 1,200 bushels) and which is composed of a forward unit having an operator's cab, an engine, a grain harvesting assembly, a grain transfer assembly, and being devoid of an on-board grain bin; and a rearward unit jointedly attached to the forward section and having, steerable and powered wheels, an on-board grain bin for receiving grain from the forward section grain transfer assembly, and a grain off-loading assembly. The grain transfer assembly, joint, and grain off-loading assembly and controls, form other aspects of the present invention.

Abstract: A crop harvesting combine having a body with a feeder house at its front end. The feeder house carries a detachable header which may be wider than the body and can thus be detached when moving the combine. The feeder house is vertically moveable in an arcuate path from a header ground contacting position to an elevated position. A first thrashing cylinder is in the header and a second thrashing cylinder is at the front of the combine body. The arcuate path of the feeder house has its center approximately at the rotational axis of the second thrashing cylinder so the distance between the axes of the first and second cylinders remains approximately constant as the feeder house is moved vertically. Downstream of the thrashing cylinder are a plurality of separation cylinders, at least some of which have concaves thereunder for reorienting elongate trash before being discharged.

Abstract: A method of harvesting grain involves placing a cutting and harvesting head on the front of a prime mover, moving the prime mover and the head through a field of mature grain plants with grain thereon. The grain bearing plants are then cut with the head, and then moved to a grain separating station on the head. The grain is then separated from the plants within the head, captured, and then moved to a grain reservoir on the prime mover. The severed plants are then deposited into the field after the grain is separated therefrom. A combine or prime mover has a grain harvesting head on the forward end thereof. A cutter bar or the like is on the head to cut grain bearing field plants. A conveyor moves the cut plants to threshing elements on the head for separating grain from the severed plants. A grain conveyor on the head moves the grain to a grain reservoir on the combine. An exit port is on the head for depositing all of the plants in the head on the field from which the plants were cut.

Abstract: A harvesting method gathers and threshes grain in the field, leaving behind the straw. It removes chaff and weed seeds from the field with the harvested grain, and separates the chaff, grain leavings and weed seeds from the grain in a separate yard plant. The chaff, grain leavings and weed seeds are compacted and crushed in a mill for use as animal feed. The simplified harvest units have augmented holding tanks, one version of which can be attached to (and detached from) existing farm tractors. An automated integrated yard plant (1) separates and cleans harvested grain and (2) compacts and crushes chaff, grain leavings and weed seeds for use as animal feed.

Abstract: The combine harvester has a threshing and separating rotor with a threshing cylinder section that cooperates with a concave to thresh crop material. A hydraulic motor drives the rotor. A hydraulic pump, driven by an internal combustion engine, supplies hydraulic fluid to the hydraulic motor to drive the rotor. An electronic controller receives a rotor speed measurement from a speed sensor and compares the rotor speed with a selected threshing and separating rotor speed selected by an operator of the harvester and stored in the electronic controller. When the rotor speed varies from the selected rotor speed, the electronic controller sends a signal to a displacement control to change the threshing and separating rotor speed to approach the selected rotor speed. The displacement control can reverse the flow of hydraulic fluid to the hydraulic motor to reverse the direction of rotor rotation.

Abstract: An automotive combine has a frame adapted to move in a travel direction along the ground, a front housing pivotal on the frame, a cutter on the front housing for cutting standing crop, and a main thresher on the front housing having a front intake and a rear output for taking in the cut standing crop at the intake, threshing it, and ejecting it at the output as a chaff/grain stream and a separate chaff stream. A pair of separate conveyors on the frame each have an intake at the rear output for receiving the chaff/grain stream and a respective output for ejecting respective portions of the chaff/grain stream. One of the conveyor outputs is vertically spaced above the other conveyor output. An upper sieve at the one conveyor output and a separate lower sieve at the other conveyor output receive the respective portions of the chaff/grain stream and separate kernels from chaff therein.

Abstract: A harvesting method gathers and threshes grain in the field, leaving behind the straw. It removes chaff and weed seeds from the field with the harvested grain, and separates the chaff, grain leavings and weed seeds from the grain in a separate yard plant. The chaff, grain leavings and weed seeds are compacted and crushed in a mill for use as animal feed. The simplified harvest units have augmented holding tanks, one version of which can be attached to (and detached from) existing farm tractors. An automated integrated yard plant (1) separates and cleans harvested grain and (2) compacts and crushes chaff, grain leavings and weed seeds for use as animal feed.

Abstract: A harvesting method gathers and threshes grain in the field, leaving behind the straw. It removes chaff and weed seeds from the field with the harvested grain, and separates the chaff, grain leavings and weed seeds from the grain in a separate yard plant. The chaff, grain leavings and weed seeds are compacted and crushed in a mill for use as animal feed. The simplified harvest units have augmented holding tanks, one version of which can be attached to (and detached from) existing farm tractors. An automated integrated yard plant (1) separates and cleans harvested grain and (2) compacts and crushes chaff, grain leavings and weed seeds for use as animal feed.

Abstract: A self-propelled windrower is provided with a platform including a reel which sweeps crop to be cut over a sickle cutterbar and into the nip of a pair of counter-rotating center-feed augers that, in turn, deliver the crop to the nip of a pair of counter-rotating conditioner rolls; and these driven components may be reversed to disgorge slugs of crop. The reversible drive includes a hydraulic pump carried by the traction unit and coupled to a motor carried by the platform. The hydraulic motor on the platform is coupled to power a main gear box which distributes power to the driven components of the platform. Operation of the pump is electro-hydraulically controlled with a single switch being operable to effect forward operation of the platform drive train, and with a second switch being designed to be moved and held in place to effect and maintain the drive train in reverse.

Abstract: A tracked agricultural combine vehicle for harvesting, hulling and sorting grain includes a grain working section driven via a tension roller clutch controlled power transmission belt and further including integrated control means for left and right side propulsion track assemblies wherein individual track steering commands in the form of differential track speed control are derived from a common steering wheel input; vehicle speed is controlled by a single input means which controls the speed of both tracks.

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: A machine for harvesting and decorticating ramie plants is shown in the form of a wheeled vehicle using an adjustable sickle bar or rotary blades located in the front of the machine for selecting the mature stalks. A series of entry points are provided for the plants, wherein the uniformly cut stalks travel back falling on an apron at a 45.degree. angle for the first decorticating butt drum. A leaf stripper strips any leaves left at the stalks just before the butt decorticator drum. The second decorticating drum has helically arrayed bars on its exterior surface, operably disposed adjacent a machined surface located on a first leg of a generally U-shaped breast plate, such that the interaction of the bars with the breast plate removes unusable portions of the plants adjacent the upper ends and frees the ramie fibers.

Abstract: A tracked agricultural combine vehicle for harvesting, hulling and sorting grain includes integrated control means for left and right side propulsion track assemblies wherein individual track steering commands in the form of differential track speed control are derived from a common steering wheel input and vehicle speed is controlled by a single input means which controls the speed of both tracks.

Abstract: A self-propelling harvester thresher has a cutting and transporting unit, a threshing unit having a threshing basket and a threshing drum, a transferring drum and a separating unit having a separating rotor and a separating housing with a drawing-in opening. The threshing drum has a plurality of threshing segments arranged on its periphery and offset relative to one another. The transferring drum is provided with a plurality of drivers arranged on a periphery of the transferring drum and offset relative to one another similarly to the threshing segments of the threshing drum.

Abstract: An automotive combine has a frame adapted to move in a travel direction along the ground, a front housing pivotal on the frame, and a cutter releasably mounted on the front housing for cutting standing crop. A main thresher on the pivotal front housing has a front input and a rear outlet for taking in the cut standing crop at the input, threshing it, and outputting it at the outlet as a kernel-rich stream and a separate chaff stream. A blower conveyor on the frame has an intake receiving the kernel-rich stream and an output provided with a conduit for blowing the kernel-rich stream from the outlet. A grain bin is mounted on the machine frame and a sieve on the frame underneath the outlet of the blower separates kernels from chaff in the kernel-rich stream and delivers the kernels to the grain bin while depositing the chaff on the ground outside the combine.

Abstract: A combine for harvesting a crop has a threshing assembly with a threshing rotor and a threshing grate. The threshing assembly locates within the framework of the combine. A threshing assembly frame mounts to the threshing assembly and is removably mounted to the framework of the combine so that the threshing assembly is held within the framework. The threshing assembly frame has a support leg for engaging the ground so that the frame and threshing assembly can be supported in a freestanding position when removed from the combine. The frame is oriented in the freestanding position to facilitate mounting of the threshing assembly frame and threshing assembly to the framework. The frame has a pair of side members that are located on opposite sides of threshing assembly which correspond to guide members mounted to the framework. The side members allow the threshing assembly frame to be inserted into and pulled out of the framework of the combine.

Abstract: A grain combine according to the present invention includes a header having two sickles which extend on opposite sides of the combine for severing crop from a field, and two augers which extend on opposite sides of the combine for moving crop inward to central section of the combine. A centerline drive mechanical power transfer means directly connects to the two sickles and two augers at a point intermediate of the two sickles and two augers. A feeder has two conveyors, one located above the other, for transporting crop from the header to a primary threshing rotor. The two conveyors converge towards an aft end of the feeder to compress the crop therebetween. A perforated plate is provided beneath the aft end of the feeder for separating prethreshed grain from the crop. The prethreshed grain is passed through the perforated plate, onto a prethreshed grain conveyor and transported to a sieve section.

Abstract: A crop gathering attachment for an agricultural harvester having a rotatable auger-like conveyor for transporting crop material, a stationary crank shaft mechanism enclosed in the conveyor and having a shaft portion disposed eccentrically and parallel to the rotational axis of the conveyor, and a retractable finger arrangement comprising a plurality of finger members pivotally connected at their inner ends to the shaft portion and projecting outwardly through guiding members provided in the peripheral wall of the conveyor. The finger arrangement is timed such that due to the eccentric disposition of the shaft portion, the finger members are reciprocated relative to the conveyor wall upon rotation of the conveyor, thereby protruding from the wall at one side of the conveyor for projecting into the crop material and being retracted relative to the wall at the generally diametrically opposed side of the conveyor for releasing the transported crop.

Abstract: The invention concerns a new arrangement of the reaping platform of harvesting machines with a feed drum (2) supported behind the cutter bar (3) in the direction of travel and with, where appropriate, a reel (5) interacting with it, the bearing arrangement of the feed drum (2) being adjustable forwards and backwards in the horizontal direction relative to the cutter bar (3) and, if appropriate, being adjustable so that it can move up and down in the vertical direction relative to the bottom of the reaping platform trough (1).

Abstract: A peanut combine having a header for lifting peanut laden vines off the ground, an auger for distributing the peanut laden vines, a series of picking or thrashing cylinders for thrashing the peanut laden vines and a series of separator cylinders for removing the peanuts from the peanut laden vines. The separator cylinders include fingers which propel the vines and which rotate at a variable flailing speed. The fingers include tips which vary in angle with respect to the path which the fingers define as they rotate on the separator cylinders.

Abstract: A harvester thresher or combine has a picking slot through which grain stalks are pulled to separate the stalks from the grain heads. Two oppositely rotated, parallel shafts are located at opposite sides of the picking slot. Each shaft has at least one cutting disk in close cutting relationship with the cutting disk of the other shaft. A vaned crusher element is mounted adjacent to each cutting disk and has its radial vanes arranged for intermeshing with the vanes of the element on the other shaft. The tips of the vanes project outward farther than the periphery of the adjacent cutting disk for assisting in pulling the stalks through the picking slot for chopping and crushing by the cutting disks and crushing elements.

Abstract: A peanut combine is provided having a header for lifting peanut laden vines off the ground, an auger for distributing the peanut laden vines, a series of picking or thrashing cylinders for thrashing the peanut laden vines and a series of separator cylinders for removing the peanuts from the peanut laden vines. The separator cylinders include fingers which propel the vines and which rotate at variable speed. The fingers include tips which vary in angle with respect to the path which the fingers define as they rotate on the separator cylinders.

Abstract: A sugar cane harvester primary extractor apparatus is provided for separating cane crop leafy trash material from a harvested stream of conveyed cut billets. The apparatus is used with chopper cane harvesters wherein cane billets are fed continuously into a cleaning chamber in the form of a hollow housing interior of the extractor and a powered extractor fan directed air and leafy trash exiting the cleaning chamber upwardly. Air intakes are in the form of a plurality of side air intake openings each having correspondingly placed vertically extended louver plates angled inwardly of the housing outer wall, each of the side openings and louver plates being spaced along the housing wall beginning at a first position adjacent the cane billet feed inlet and extending rearwardly therefrom toward the middle of the extractor housing.

Abstract: An apparatus for harvesting crop including a rotor (11) mounting on a movable frame (12) and carrying a succession of transverse combs (14) each formed of an array of outwardly projectint teetch (15) traverse to the direction of movement of the apparatus through the crop. Each tooth (15) is pointed with side edges diverging away from the distal tip of the tooth. The rotor rotates in the overshot mode and the combs intrude into the crop and gather crop stems between adjacent pairs of teeth and detach grain and grain heads, or other required crop parts, by rubbing or breaking the parts free from the stems. The junction of adjacent teeth (15) preferably has an enlarged aperture (21) to assist striping and to allow withdrawal of striped stems. In other embodiments, the teeth may be replaced by a brush-like structure or by rods or other crop engaging elements, backed by plain transverse ribs for collecting and conveying detached crop parts.

Abstract: A rotor for a rotary threshing combine which is readily adjustable to provide a great variety of threshing patterns to suit the particular crops and conditions of use. The rotor drum has a plurality of mounting lugs affixed thereto in an array that includes longitudinal, circumferential, and helical rows. A variety of differently shaped threshing elements, each designed for efficient operation under particular conditions, is provided and said elements are selectively and interchangeably and releasably connectable to the mounting lugs.

Abstract: A harvester thresher includes a chassis, a housing, a threshing mechanism operating in accordance with the principle of a tangential flow, straw shaking means, and a threshing and separating unit located after the straw shaking means in the housing including a rotor and a casing, the threshing and operating unit operating in accordance with the principle of an axial flow and formed as a separate unit which is supported in the housing exchangeably so that it can be exchanged by another structural unit.

Abstract: In a conventional combine harvester which includes straw walkers which move in an orbital path so as to lift and move straw rearwardly along the straw walkers there is provided an improved attachment device including a surface which is inclined from a front edge upwardly and rearwardly to a rear edge at a position elevated above the saw-toothed side edge of the straw walker and at least one supplementary saw-toothed element positioned at the surface and having a saw-toothed upper edge for lifting straw over the surface and along the remainder of the straw walker. The attachment improves the separation action of the straw walkers and causes more grain to escape from the straw at the attachment with the grain then sliding downwardly and forwardly from the surface through perforations in the straw walker for collection on the conventional shoe.

Abstract: An axial flow harvesting machine having at least one generally cylindrical rotor rotatably mounted within a casing and operable in conjunction with the casing to thresh and separate grain from straw material, and a plurality of mounting members provided on the periphery of the rotor to mount crop operating members for engagement with the straw material is disclosed wherein each of the mounting members have mounting surfaces oriented in a predetermined manner to orient the crop operating members in a predetermined orientation.

Abstract: A self-propelling field chopping machine comprises a chassis, a front cutting mechanism, a transporting channel provided with a throwing out pipe having a downstream end, a rotatable conveyor arranged upstream of the transporting channel and formed as a rotatable conveyor drum provided with paddels, a threshing device arranged between the cutting mechanism and the rotatable conveyor drum and operating in accordance with an axial flow system, a wind sieve device located at the end of the throwing pipe so that a grain-chaff mixture without straw is supplied to the wind sieve device, and a grain tank located under the wind sieve device.

Abstract: A cane harvester cleaning system for removing dirt and trash from cane billets, including a cleaning chamber. Cane billets mixed with trash are conveyed into an upper portion of the cleaning chamber. A fan and air duct are provided to blow air into the cleaning chamber and up through cane billets. A trash discharge is provided on the upper portion of the cleaning chamber to direct air from the fan and entrained trash out of the cleaning chamber. Cleaned cane billets pass out the lower portion of the cleaning chamber and into a discharge conveyor.

Abstract: An unloading chute for a combine which may be swiveled so as to discharge crop outside the combine to a loading vehicle which may be operated to receive crop from the unloading chute on either side of the combine.

Abstract: In a combine conveyor of the type with a conveyor surface, elongated carriers across the surface, and endless chains to move the carriers along the conveyor, resiliently deformable slats are used as carriers and such slats are adjustably secured at their ends to the chains by self-adjusting attachments. The slats are preferably flat, of spring steel, angled with respect to the surface, and in a trailing position. The attachments of the slats to the chains include an attachment link on the chain, and a slot-post arrangement for pivoting/sliding engagement. The slots are preferably in the slats. In one embodiment, an angled mounting surface forms part of the attachment link. In another, angling is achieved by twists in the slat near the slat ends.

Abstract: A gear mechanism for agricultural machines capable of being moved along a direction of propagation and of cutting plants whose growth is generally vertical, has a cutter for cutting along a line making a given angle with the direction of propagation, a screw for collecting the cut stems and moving them into a flux at a given angle with the direction of propagation, and bringing them to an opening for treatment. The gear mechanism causes lateral displacement of an assembly of stems located in front of the opening and inclining the displaced stems along a direction substantially in the direction of the movement of the flux so as to send them onto the flux prior to its entry into the opening. A guide guides the flux completed by the assembly of displaced, oriented and cut stems towards the opening. The mechanism has use, in particular, for cutting cereals and forage crops intended to be treated, for example, by threshing, ensilage, etc.

Abstract: A crop delivery system for an axial flow combine having a crop harvesting apparatus and a threshing apparatus including a rotor having an impeller at its forward end. The crop delivery system is interposed between the crop harvesting apparatus and the threshing apparatus. The crop delivery system includes a crop feeder, a transition housing with one or more transport vanes, and a crop delivery vane assembly. The transition housing surrounds the impeller and has an inlet end which opens to the crop feeder and an outlet end which opens to the the threshing apparatus. The crop delivery vane assembly is arranged with the transition housing substantially normal to the rotor and in crop receiving relation with the crop feeder. The vane assembly includes a plurality of delivery vanes for positively moving crop material rearwardly and peripherally outward toward the transport vanes.

Abstract: An axial flow combine harvester feed plate assembly for directing crop material from an elevator into a longitudinally extending threshing and separating rotor is disclosed wherein the feed plate assembly includes a surface extending upwardly and rearwardly to a junction with an arcuate surface to direct the mat of crop material being conveyed by the elevator in a linear path into a spirally extending flow path around the threshing and separating rotor. For axial flow harvesters having a pair of threshing and separating rotors, the feed plate includes a central divider member and a pair of transversely spaced side members providing an infeed configuration that eliminates dead spots in the transition of the flow of crop material from the elevator to the threshing and separating rotors to provide a smooth and efficient harvesting operation.

Abstract: Air assisted harvesting means having a manifold extending transversely across the cutter bar platform of a harvester with a plurality of tubes depending therefrom, and nozzles on the tubes arranged to discharge air streams some of which at least partly overlie the air streams of others, so as to provide a deep rearwardly moving air curtain.

Abstract: A combine harvester is disclosed wherein the operative components thereof are built according to a modular concept. The combine harvester includes a threshing module, a separating module and a cleaning module, all of which are supported by a frame and operably interconnected. Each respective module is interchangeable with a like module having a different configuration.

Abstract: A drive system for the internal combustion engine of a large work vehicle, such as a self-propelled agricultural combine. The drive system comprising three concentric drive shafts that are housed in a housing for driving three separate usage assemblies. The outer and middle drive shafts are provided with bevel gear assemblies having output axes perpendicular to the drive shafts axis. The bevel gear assembly of the outer drive shaft is coupled to a series of four sequentially mounted hydraulic pumps, whereas the bevel gear assembly of the middle drive shaft is coupled to a forwardly extending drive shaft. An internal clutch is provided for operatively engaging and disengaging the middle drive shaft from the drive train.

Abstract: An improved combine conveyor of the type having a conveyor surface, elongated carriers across the surface, and endless chains to move the carriers along the conveyor. The carriers are resiliently deformable slats adjustably secured to the chains by self-adjusting, preferably double-pivoting, attachment devices. The slats are preferably flat, of spring steel, angled with respect to the surface, and in a trailing position with respect to their attachment to the chains.

Abstract: A baler has a housing normally displaceable in a travel direction along the ground and forming a rotary baling chamber, guides forming relative to the direction a passage having a forwardly opening front end and a rear end opening rearward into the chamber, a pickup device forward of the passage for picking a strand of crop up off the ground and feeding it up and back to the front end of the passage, and a conveyor having relative to a conveyor axis at least two angularly spaced sets of radially projecting and axially spaced arms engageable radially downward into the passage and movable backward in the passage to advance the strand of crop backward in the passage and into the baling chamber where it is wound up into a large cylindrical bale. The arms of each set are axially aligned with one another and angularly offset from the arms of the other set.

Abstract: A self-propelling harvester thresher includes a cutting device and a grain separating device positioned before the machine frame of the thresher and liftable and lowerable. Two transport units receiving a grain-straw chaff mixture from the separating device and transporting the same to a container on the machine frame are provided. Each transport unit is a screw conveyor having shovels at the feeding end and a sieve portion at the discharge end. Both transport units are positioned between the drive wheels of the thresher are parallel to each other and extend transversely of the grain separating device.

Abstract: An agricultural machine for producing a storable power fodder of grain and stalk product comprises a device for cutting a grain containing stalk product, a device for threshing the cut product, a device for separating during the threshing a part composed of stalk and leaf fraction, a device for throwing the separated part onto a field, and a device for comminuting a remaining part composed of grains and short straw.

Abstract: The invention relates to improvements to a harvester, particularly a harvester for harvesting herbage, cereals, or other plants.The harvester comprises a cutting device (2) followed by means (6) for channelling the ears toward an elevator conveyor (7) towards processing means more particularly thrashing means.It is characterized by the fact that it further comprises, at the rear of the cutting device (2), at least one means for gathering up the grains and ears left on the ground, which device covers a width substantially equal to the cutting device (2).

Abstract: The invention concerns a threshing method and the threshing equipment needed in its application which operates as part of a combine harvester working in the field. Threshing is performed by means of a roll (12) rotating about its axle shaft (11) and the flail bridge (13) composed of a cylinder (14), by guiding the material to be threshed into the space between the roll and the cylinder and by gathering the seeds separated by the flail bridge from the axially transferred vegetable material in that space. It is fundamental to the invention that during threshing the cylinder (14) with which the flail bridge (13) is composed is rotated in the opposite direction to the rotation of the roll (12). In order to clean the seeds separated during threshing a rotating drum screen (16) can be located outside the flail bridge cylinder (14). The invention is intended especially for the harvesting of sunflower seeds but it can also be applied for the harvesting of other cultivated crops, for example grain harvesting.

Abstract: A peanut combine having an improved separator system employing a series of parallel shafts all rotating in the same direction, each carrying a plurality of disks and a blower to separate the chaff from the peanuts. The disk assembly is substantially horizontal. The disks are offset relative to the disks on adjacent shafts so that disks on the two shafts interdigitate. The action of the rotating disks and the blower on the material flowing over the disks provides a more efficient cleaning mechanism for the peanuts.

Abstract: A process for the isomerization of maleic acid, its monoesters and monoamides in the presence of thiourea in anhydrous conditions at elevated temperature to the corresponding fumaryl forms yields intermediates which are useful in the synthetic pathways of aspartame and other useful polypeptides.