Abstract: A rotary mower is mounted onto a skid steer loader through a four bar linkage on each side of a mower housing. The linkage is arranged to pivot relative to a mounting bracket on the skid steer loader and relative to a mower housing, with differential lengths between upper and lower sets of links of the four bar linkage. The upper link on each side of the mower is slidably connected to the mower housing to permit the mower housing to pivot a limited amount about a traverse axis during normal operation. The links include stop members that engage when the mower is raised a selected amount to stop relative movement between the links and also to shut off power to the motor driving the mower. The forward end of the housing has depending chains mounted with a channel and providing a shield.

Abstract: An agricultural machine includes a body, a connecting mechanism, an operating device for pivoting the connecting mechanism into at least two working positions, transmission elements which include at least one gearbox, and a control mechanism intended to pivot the gearbox into operating positions corresponding to the working positions of the connecting mechanism. In accordance with the invention, the control mechanism is installed, among others, between the gearbox and the operating device. This control mechanism can also include a first control cylinder installed between the connecting mechanism and the body and connected in series to a second control cylinder installed between the body and the gearbox.

Abstract: A tow bar assembly for a tractor which enables up to three implements to be simultaneously pulled through a field utilizing a conventional hitch of the tractor. The tow bar assembly includes hitch dollies which are pivotally mounted so as to be moveable about both horizontal and vertical axes to a primary support beam and a pair of outrigger beams which are pivotally connected at opposite ends of the primary support beam in such a manner that the dollies are permitted to follow the natural terrain when the tow bar assembly is in use. Implements, such as hay balers, may be selectively hitched to the dollies.

Abstract: An agricultural machine includes a body, a connecting mechanism, an operating device for pivoting the connecting mechanism into at least two working positions, transmission elements which include at least one gearbox, and a control mechanism intended to pivot the gearbox into operating positions corresponding to the working positions of the connecting mechanism. In accordance with the invention, the control mechanism is installed, among others, between the gearbox and the operating device. This control mechanism can also include a first control cylinder installed between the connecting mechanism and the body and connected in series to a second control cylinder installed between the body and the gearbox.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a shredder for plants especially including a hitching device and a casing which is open downward and which is fitted with lateral skids. This casing has at least one gearbox with a substantially vertical shaft which can be driven in rotation and which carries one or more knives at its lower end. The invention is noteworthy in that the casing is connected to the hitching device by rods which are articulated to the casing and to the hitching device by axes and in that structure which allow the casing to pivot and to move with respect to the hitching device in directions transverse to the direction of forward travel are arranged between the rods and the hitching device and/or the casing.

Abstract: A mowing machine includes a harvesting mechanism which extends during mowing transversely to a working direction, and a lightening device for the harvesting mechanism which includes at least one elastically deformable member whose action can be adjusted by way of an adjustment device connected to the elastically deformable member. The elastically deformable member can include a deformable envelope which contains a gas under adjustable pressure. The adjustment device can include a supply circuit provided with at least one electrovalve or gate connected to the deformable envelope. In an alternative embodiment, the adjustment device can include at least one jack connected to a mechanical spring, and a supply circuit provided with at least one gate or electrovalve connected to the jack.

Abstract: Machine for the automatic or semi-automatic trimming or cutting of vines and espalier-trained trees or shrubs. The machine includes at least one cutting assembly constituted by a plurality of cutting tools stacked about a common shaft. Each of these cutting tools includes a rotative circular cage having the shape of a scalloped disk with notches extending toward the cage interior and demarcated by teeth (5). The teeth include an extreme portion and superposed bars . The superposed bars extend from this extreme portion in the direction of the rotational axis of the rotating cage. Each of these cutting tools also includes an interior member which participates in the cutting action, and is housed in the rotating cage. The extreme portion of the teeth of the rotating cages forms a projecting angle, and the inclined edges of this pointed portion are provided with at least one notch.

Abstract: A dragged type mower having a body joined, at a front upper end thereof, to and suspended from an end of a boom of a travelling civil engineering machine through a suspending mechanism. The body includes a substantially rectangular-parallelepipedal frame, a cutter assembly having its shaft mounted horizontally and centrally in the frame, and a drive mechanism for driving the cutter assembly. Arcuate guide skids concentric with the cutter shaft and slightly greater in radius than the cutter shaft are provided at both side end sections of the frame from its front side to the bottom end thereof, and a horizontal guide roller is provided at the rear bottom end of the body.

Abstract: A tow bar implement for a tractor wherein two or three balers may be simultaneously pulled through a field utilizing a conventional hitch of a tractor. The implement includes a pair of outrigger beams which are pivotally connected at opposite ends of a primary support beam and which support motors for driving the input drive shafts of a pair of outer balers. A third baler may be hitched directly to the primary beam intermediate the outer balers.

Abstract: An implement includes a mid-mounted pivot tongue that is movable in a normal range of movement when the implement is working and to a transport position for towing the implement endwise when the implement is to be transported. Two embodiments of a stroke control device are provided and each acts to limit the stroke of a tongue-swing hydraulic actuator to operate for swinging the tongue through its operating range during normal operation of the implement, with each stroke control device being selectively operable to a stroke-freeing position permitting the actuator to operate through its entire stroke for moving the tongue beyond its operating range to a transport position. The stroke control devices and the tongue include cooperating structure for locking the tongue in its transport position.

Abstract: A pull-type harvesting machine is provided having a hydraulically controlled header tilt adjustment mechanism that can be operated from the tractor seat of a towing vehicle. The tilt adjustment mechanism includes a hydraulic tilt circuit and a remotely operated control valve assembly connectable with the tilt circuit and another operating circuit of the harvester. The valve assembly is shiftable between a pair of alternative positions for communicating either the operating circuit or the tilt circuit with the towing vehicle's source of hydraulic pressure. Accordingly, a single source of pressurized fluid may be controlled from within the towing vehicle to alternatively operate either the header tilt mechanism or another function of the harvester, such as swinging of a pulling tongue from side-to-side for lateral positioning of the machine relative to a towing vehicle.

Abstract: A farm machine, and a connecting and transmission device for a farm machine are provided in which the farm machine possesses various degrees of freedom with respect to a tractor vehicle. The connecting assembly includes a tow-bar having a primary tow-bar connected to two lower bars of a tractor hitching device, and a secondary tow-bar connected to a body which is equipped with work elements. A connecting and transmission device links the primary tow-bar to the secondary tow-bar. The assembly and connecting arrangements of the assembly provide a great range of mobility with respect to an axis extending approximately in the direction of advance, with the connecting and transmission device improved from a standpoint of the transmission of forces, with the primary tow-bar connected to the front and to the back of the connecting and transmission device.

Abstract: A fluidized bed scrubber for use in gas cleaning systems, comprising means for introducing a quantity of polluted gas into a first chamber; means for removing a portion of the pollutants from the polluted gas in the first chamber; means for introducing the polluted gas into a second chamber; and means for removing additional pollutants from the polluted gas in the second chamber. The invention also provides a method for cleaning polluted gas, comprising the steps of passing the polluted gas from a combustion source through a fluidized bed scrubber, removing a plurality of pollutants within the fluidized bed scrubber, passing the fluidized gas through a reactor, passing the fluidized gas through a filter in order to remove further quantities of pollutants, and emitting the now-clean gas into the atmosphere.

Abstract: An implement, such as a cutterbar on an agricultural harvesting machine, is automatically position-controlled to maintain a reference position relative to the ground surface. The implement is mounted so that it may be raised, lowered or tilted and the control is such that tilting movements are preceded by, or are carried out concurrently with, a raising or lowering movement when one end of the implement is at the reference position and the other end is between the reference position and the ground surface. Manually operated UP and DOWN switches not only control up and down movements of the implement but also inhibit and restore automatic control of implement positioning. A set/reset switch enables manual selection of a predetermined reference position or the selection of the present implement position as the reference position.

Abstract: An apparatus wherein a self-propelled tractor mounts a support plate, a spool, and a reversing motor mounted to the spool to effectively extend and retract a cable wound about the spool. The cable is directed forwardly to a mounting plate positioned rearwardly and coextensively of a rear edge of an associated lawn mower housing to permit extension and retraction of a lawn mower about an incline of an associated slope in use of the lawn mower. A modification of the invention includes a plurality of spools, each including a reversible motor mounted in association with each respective spool to permit steering of each spool by selective relative rotation of each spool.

Abstract: A second hayrake hitch for use with a tractor is disclosed. The hayrake hitch includes a generally U-shaped main frame of size and height to overfit a forward hayrake which is directly connected to the tractor. The main frame includes a main beam and a wheeled rear support bar which is pivotally interconnected relative to the main beam. A second hayrake is connected to a hitch bar secured to the rear support bar to enable the tractor to simultaneously pull the two hayrakes. A hydraulic cylinder extends between the rear support bar and a leg connected to the main beam and hydraulic lines interconnect the cylinder with the hydraulic coupling of the tractor. By hydraulically functioning the cylinder while the tractor is moving, the rear support bar can be pivoted relative to the axis of the main beam to thereby move the rear hayrake to the right or to the left relative to the front hayrake to simultaneously rake two hay windrows or one large combined windrow.

Abstract: A boom attachment which carries a work unit pivotally at its outer end and which is pivotally connected at its inner end to an upstanding support carried by a base is attached to the rear end of a tractor by a three-point hitch and is operated from a power take-off on the rear of the tractor. The boom is adjustable in a transverse plane at the rear of the tractor so that the work unit can be disposed at either side of the tractor without removing or replacing parts in making this adjustment. This adjustment is accomplished with a cylinder and piston unit which is connect at the side of the boom by outwardly extending pivots.

Abstract: A windrow mover having a frame with a linkage arm on each side. Each of the linkage arms having a first end pivotally attached near the front of and at a point on the axis of the frame. An axle is attached to a second end of each linkage arm defining an axis. Ground engaging wheels are mounted on each of the axles, thereby permitting movement of the frame over a groundsurface. A hydraulic cylinder is provided for moving the linkage arm such that the axis of the frame moves in a substantially vertical plane radially about the axis of the wheels as defined by the axle, thereby altering the spacial relationship between the frame and the wheels from an operative position where the front of the frame is adjacent the groundsurface to a transport position where the front of the frame is spaced from the groundsurface.

Abstract: A single-row tomato harvester. A tractor fully supported on its own wheels, has its wheels being spaced apart sufficiently to bridge a previously harvested bed and ride in its furrows. The tractor has its own hydraulic pump, a power take-off unit along the tractor's longitudinal centerline, and a rigid draw bar at its rear. A harvester assembly having no motive power is partially supported on wheels spaced apart widthwise at substantially the same distance as those of the tractor and has a series of hydraulically powered means. The harvester is offset by one bed from the tractor during harvesting. A tongue pivotally attached at one end to the harvester and the other end to said tractor, supports a hydraulic pump for operating the harvester's series of powered means. A longitudinally rigid drive line, swivel mounted to said pump's rotary shaft and to the tractor's power take-off unit, has telescoping means for automatically lengthening and shortening it.

Abstract: A tractor having a frame supported by ground-engaging drive wheels, a tool bar carried by the tractor and on which various implements may be mounted, the tool bar being universally mounted on the frame whereby the implement may be raised above or lowered to the ground, and can follow the contour of the ground, a power unit also mounted on the tool bar so as to have a direct driving connection to the implement not affected by the universal "floating" movement of the implement and tool bar, and a driving connection between the power unit and the drive wheels, of a type not affected by the relative movability of the tool bar and tractor frame, in order that both the implement and the tractor may be driven by a single power unit. Mechanism is also provided for pivoting the tool bar to elevate the implement above the ground when desired, for supporting the tool bar while implements are changed, and for holding the implement firmly against the ground when required.

Abstract: A frame having weed pulling apparatus attached thereto is adapted to be attached to a tractor hitch for lifting or lowering the frame. Pairs of pneumatic tires are rotatably mounted along substantially parallel axes. Each of the pneumatic tires has an axle with a sprocket affixed thereto. A chain is arranged to be disposed over a first sprocket and under the next adjacent sprocket, and so forth, for each adjacent sprocket such that each adjacent sprocket and thereby each adjacent wheel will rotate in an opposite direction. A chain lubricating structure is also attached to the frame. Weed guiding mechanisms are provided to prevent pulled plants from being deposited on top of the frame. Two wheels are pivotally attached to the frame in association with hydraulic cylinders.