Rotary Cutting Reel Patents (Class 56/156)
  • Patent number: 4637625
    Abstract: A lawn mower hitch assembly including a leading hitch device and a trailing hitch device secured to a respective leading mower vehicle and a trailing mower vehicle, and operatively connected to each other for free pivotal movement about a substantially vertical axis, whereby one or more lawn mower vehicles can be towed in tandem and in offset lateral relationship by a leading tractor vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 1985
    Date of Patent: January 20, 1987
    Inventor: John B. Blackwell
  • Patent number: 4589250
    Abstract: Apparatus detachably mounting to the header platform of a combine in aligned relation to the sickle bar assembly for converting over to sunflower harvesting. The assembly comprises a plurality of sunflower pans attached in spaced apart, slightly elevated relation to a tubular support member that mounts to the header platform via a plurality of chainbuckle and stop members. Assembly requires only the aligning of the attachment to the header platform and the tightening of the turn buckles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 1984
    Date of Patent: May 20, 1986
    Assignee: Faul Manufacturing, Inc.
    Inventor: Albert Faul, Jr.
  • Patent number: 4546600
    Abstract: A mobile agricultural harvester has a crop header connected to the harvester main frame for vertical swinging movement by a pair of pivot collars held against a pair of upright posts by releasable fasteners.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 1984
    Date of Patent: October 15, 1985
    Assignee: Allis-Chalmers Corp.
    Inventors: Garry W. Busboom, Larry R. James
  • Patent number: 4514967
    Abstract: An articulated riding mower comprised of a sulky unit pivotally connected to a walk-behind mower. To attach the sulky to the walk-behind mower, the mower deck includes a bridge support overlying the mower deck between the rear corner positions thereof. The bridge support has depending extensions at the corner positions mounted on the axle of the rear wheels. The depending extensions of the bridge support are, in turn, rigidly fastened to the respective corners of the mower deck. A central portion of the bridge support carries a pivotal connection including a bearing for removably attaching the sulky to the walk-behind mower. In a preferred embodiment, the handle of the walk-behind mower is connected, at its lower end, directly to the bridge support.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 1983
    Date of Patent: May 7, 1985
    Assignee: Roper Corporation
    Inventors: Joseph E. Scanland, David B. Skillman
  • Patent number: 4483131
    Abstract: A mounting and dismounting system for a rear-mounted cotton harvester or similar implement which permits the tractor to be removed from under the crop receptacle without utilizing a hoist or other large equipment. By attaching dismounting stands to the rear cross auger frame and to the rear lift frame assembly, the rear basket posts which normally are connected to the tractor axle can be lifted therefrom by extending the hydraulic cylinders connected to the rear lift frame assembly. The front basket support posts are unpinned from the forward frame of the basket, and as the rear basket posts tilt rearwardly, the basket is lifted to provide clearance in the forward direction. The tractor can then be driven out from under the basket. An extension hose is connected to the lift cylinders so that they remain connected to the source of pressure on the tractor as the tractor is driven forwardly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 1982
    Date of Patent: November 20, 1984
    Assignee: Deere & Company
    Inventor: Francis E. Schlueter
  • Patent number: 4444000
    Abstract: A harvester header (12) of the detachable type is provided with a transverse hollow beam (46) at its lower rear which optimizes available space. The beam (46) is of quadrilateral cross section with its rear wall (51) presenting openings (71, 72, 111, 112) beneath the header discharge opening (19) for centering and latching the header (12) to the feeder conveyor housing (13). The top wall (53) of the beam (46) slopes forwardly and downwardly in parallel supporting relation to the rear portion (39) of the header floor (36).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 1982
    Date of Patent: April 24, 1984
    Assignee: Allis-Chalmers Corporation
    Inventors: Michael H. Enzmann, Lyle L. Jensen
  • Patent number: 4441305
    Abstract: A multi row corn cutter harvester is disclosed having two positions of operation when connected to a three point towing bracket of a tractor. The harvester may be connected either alongside the tractor in an operating mode or behind the tractor in a second operating mode. A system of drive including relative locations of input and output shafts and connections is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 1982
    Date of Patent: April 10, 1984
    Assignee: Karl Mengele & Sohne GmbH & Co.
    Inventor: Wilhelm Lippl
  • Patent number: 4435946
    Abstract: A multi-row crop harvesting attachment for use in combination with a combine consisting of two or more drive sections having a guide edge on each of its two sides, platform sections positioned between each pair of drive sections, each platform section having a guide edge on each of its two sides, each platform section's guide edge in transverse opposition to the adjacent drive section guide edge, and two divider sections positioned outside of each of the outer most drive sections, each divider section having a single guide edge, each divider section's guide edge in transverse opposition to the adjacent drive section guide edge. A longitudinally rearward and narrow flightway for crop stalks is formed by the opposed guide edges. The drive sections further consist of two augers, each positioned over a flightway adjacent to the drive section for guiding crop stalks longitudinally rearward along the flightways.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 1983
    Date of Patent: March 13, 1984
    Inventor: Leland E. Erickson
  • Patent number: 4329833
    Abstract: A self-propelled harvesting combine having a crop treatment means and a crop gathering means. The crop treatment means supported on a first wheeled chassis, which supports a power source for propulsion of the combine, operation of the crop separating and operation of the crop gathering means. The crop gathering means is supported on a second wheeled chassis which is pivotally mounted to the first wheeled chassis to be movable between a first position lying beside the first wheeled chassis and a second position trailing behind the first wheeled chassis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 1981
    Date of Patent: May 18, 1982
    Inventor: Homer D. Witzel
  • Patent number: 4280317
    Abstract: Coupling operations between a motorized vehicle and an attachment may be complicated when, due to uneven terrain, it becomes difficult to properly align a coupling component of the vehicle with a mating coupling component of the attachment. An adjustable coupling apparatus is provided which includes a coupling arm pivotally mounted on a support. An end of the arm includes a receptacle and an associated latch. The coupling arm is pivotable for varying the position of the receptacle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 1980
    Date of Patent: July 28, 1981
    Assignee: Sperry Corporation
    Inventors: Curtis H. Lindblom, Joe E. Shriver
  • Patent number: 4266617
    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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 1979
    Date of Patent: May 12, 1981
    Assignee: Excel Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: David L. Mullet, Raymond J. Rilling, Elmer D. Voth
  • Patent number: 4253295
    Abstract: A lateral float mechanism for a combine header is disclosed wherein the header is detachably mounted to a separate cradle assembly which is centrally pivotably mounted on the feeder house. Structure is provided for locking the header to the cradle assembly for preventing fore-and-aft movement between the cradle assembly and the feeder house and for selectively controlling the extent of pivotal movement of the cradle assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 1979
    Date of Patent: March 3, 1981
    Assignee: Sperry Corporation
    Inventor: Larimer J. Knepper
  • Patent number: 4203275
    Abstract: A tractor mounted corn harvesting unit has ground engaging steerable wheels, side frame members pivotally connected to the tractor, and a hydraulic cylinder connected between the tractor and the harvesting unit for adjusting the unit weight carried by the ground engaging wheels. The side frame members movably support the rear end of the harvesting unit on the tractor for up and down movement of the front end thereof, and the hydraulic cylinder operates to raise and lower the harvesting unit between an elevated position therefor, wherein the ground engaging wheels provide substantially no ground support for the front end of the harvesting unit, and a lowered position therefor wherein the wheels provide at least a partial ground support for the harvesting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 1978
    Date of Patent: May 20, 1980
    Inventor: Gary J. Vermeer
  • Patent number: 4202154
    Abstract: A crop harvesting header has a transversely extending crop consolidating component that detachably mounts either one of a plurality of interchangeable crop gathering components, such as a crop windrow-pickup or a row-crop. The lower front portion of the consolidating component is provided with a plurality of spaced apart truncated cone-shaped recessed structures which are respectively adapted to receive a corresponding number of truncated cone-shaped projecting structures mounted on the lower rear portion of the gathering component. The projecting structures are coupled within the recessed structures to detachably mount the crop gathering component forwardly of the crop consolidating component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 1976
    Date of Patent: May 13, 1980
    Assignee: Sperry Rand Corporation
    Inventors: T. William Waldrop, Joe E. Shriver
  • Patent number: 4189902
    Abstract: The disclosure is of a mower-conditioner comprising a cutting mechanism and a conditioning mechanism, the said machine being hitched laterally beside a tractor, preferably beside one of its rear wheels, and comprising at the same time a post connected on the one hand to a double-output control box fixed to the said wall and on the other to the bearing of an input pulley and a tube permitting the machine to oscillate about an axis oriented substantially according to the direction of travel of the machine, the said tube constituting its device for hitching in the working position, and the afore-mentioned post extending parallel with the wall of the conditioning passage nearer to the tractor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 1978
    Date of Patent: February 26, 1980
    Assignee: Samibem, S.A.
    Inventor: Pierre Kaetzel
  • Patent number: 4159613
    Abstract: The mower attachment includes a drive subassembly which is adapted to be detachably connected to the front axle of the tractor. Specifically, the drive subassembly is adapted to be connected to downwardly opening channel members rigidly secured to transverse, oscillating front axle member. The mower attachment also includes a mower subassembly which is connected to the drive subassembly by a draft link structure. The drive subassembly includes a clutch pulley rotatably mounted on a clutch pulley support bracket which is in turn pivotally connected to a frame part of the drive subassembly so that it may swing between clutching and declutching positions. The clutch pulley support bracket is connected to a clutch control lever on the tractor by a disconnectable clutch control linkage. The drive subassembly also includes an idler pulley disposed on an oblique axis forwardly of the clutch pulley.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 1977
    Date of Patent: July 3, 1979
    Assignee: Allis-Chalmers Corporation
    Inventors: Henry T. Knudson, Kenneth H. Klas
  • Patent number: 4113610
    Abstract: A harvesting combine apparatus comprising a compactly structured unit to be installed on and about a tractor and designed for easy maneuvering mobility among trees in orchards. The unit employs sequentially a slanted input conveyor in line with a horizontally positioned sorting conveyor and output guide ways for disposing agricultural products into containers, to be weighted and closed for shipping. The unit carries motors to drive the conveyors, which are powered by an external electrical or by attached mechanical to electrical current converted power source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 1976
    Date of Patent: September 12, 1978
    Inventor: Loren H. Mueller
  • Patent number: 4097059
    Abstract: A connecting bracket for connecting a lawn mower to a powered vehicle such as a motorcycle or the like including a first elongated rigid bracket for affixment to a lawn mower, an engaging element fixedly secured to the first bracket and providing an open-ended chamber therein, a second elongated rigid bracket for affixment to a powered vehicle, a ball element fixedly secured to the second bracket and adapted to be captured by the open-ended chamber, and means for removably retaining a portion of the ball element within the open-ended chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 1976
    Date of Patent: June 27, 1978
    Inventor: Joseph E. Springer, Sr.
  • Patent number: 4095545
    Abstract: An improved self-propelled floating dredging apparatus including a buoyant hull structure carrying a pilot house and engine compartment. The buoyant hull comprises a pair of longitudinally aligned parallel pontoons to provide flotation. A rigid boom structure extends forwardly from the medial portion of the hull structure and is adapted to pivot about a horizontal axis, from a horizontal position to a submerged position, in response to the action of a pair of power cylinders and an interconnecting linkage. A diesel engine in the engine compartment drives a centrifugal dredging pump and a hydraulic fluid pump. A hydraulically driven, steerable water jet propulsion assembly is mounted on a transom at the aft end portion of the hull structure. A hydraulically driven cable winch mechanism is also mounted on the hull structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 1977
    Date of Patent: June 20, 1978
    Assignee: VMI, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert H. Vaughn, C. Eugene Maitlen, Glen H. Davis, Randall E. Maitlen
  • Patent number: 4067176
    Abstract: Gathering unit attaching apparatus is provided for a forage harvester of the type having a basic processing unit and a crop gathering unit which articulates in a vertical plane relative thereto. The attaching apparatus includes an attaching yoke pivotally mounted on a fixed transverse axis provided on the basic unit in proximity of the feed rolls. The attaching yoke provides a movable auxiliary axis about which the gathering unit pivots during the attaching process and securing elements for locking the gathering unit to the yoke for field operation. Apparatus is provided on the basic unit for pivoting the yoke about the fixed axis between a lowered generally forwardly extending pickup position and raised operating and transport positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 1976
    Date of Patent: January 10, 1978
    Assignee: International Harvester Company
    Inventors: Manfried L. Hoch, Edward A. Fritz, Peter Sammarco
  • Patent number: 4058958
    Abstract: A tractor mounted forage harvester includes a transverse hitch bar or frame, a crop processing unit mounted on the frame and a windrow pickup unit releasably attached to the front of the crop processing unit during the field operating mode. The total width of the harvester is reduced when converted to the transport mode by uncoupling the pickup unit, moving the same to the rear of the processing unit and the tractor, and coupling it to the frame via a subframe mounted thereon such that the major axis of the pickup unit is maintained in the same transverse relationship to the direction of movement of the forage harvester as when the unit is attached to the front of the processing unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 1976
    Date of Patent: November 22, 1977
    Assignee: Sperry Rand Corporation
    Inventors: Loren G. Sadler, Aquila D. Mast
  • Patent number: 4046399
    Abstract: A tractor towed vehicle having a frame and hydraulic functions powered by a plurality of hydraulic devices. An electrohydraulic valve assembly is coupled to the devices and is rigidly secured to the frame of the towed vehicle. A switching assembly having a plurality of switches is adapted for electrically switching the valve assembly with a cable coupled between the switching assembly and the valve assembly. The switching assembly is disposed within the tractor cab for easy access of the plurality of switches to the operator of the tractor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 1975
    Date of Patent: September 6, 1977
    Assignee: Control Concepts, Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth W. Zeuner, Alonzo B. Jarman
  • Patent number: 3982643
    Abstract: A detachable front end loader for a tractor constructed to not only be easily mounted and demounted from a tractor, but to also be self-supporting when demounted. A loader frame having a rectangularly-shaped base rests level on the ground when demounted and is mounted flush with the tractor main frame when mounted. By a combination of expanding and contracting the hydraulic lift cylinder and moving the tractor ahead, the loader can be elevated into a mounted position beneath the tractor and secured thereto. Means for releasably fastening the loader to the tractor main frame are easily manipulated by the operator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 1975
    Date of Patent: September 28, 1976
    Assignee: Deere & Company
    Inventors: William Roderick MacGregor, Dalton Harold Spicer
  • Patent number: 3975889
    Abstract: A harvesting combine header or platform having facilities whereby, by a quick attach and release operation, several crop pickup components may be operatively applied thereto. Anchor devices on the platform cooperate with special divider components on the reel assembly and with fast pins to releasably hold the reel assembly in place. Withdrawal of the fast pins frees the reel assembly from the platform. Similarly, bolting facilities are provided on the bottom and back wall of the platform and provide anchor points for a windrow pickup assembly. Unfastening of these bolting facilities frees the windrow pickup from the platform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 1975
    Date of Patent: August 24, 1976
    Assignee: International Harvester Company
    Inventors: Dathan R. Kerber, Richard E. Benson, John L. VandeWiele
  • Patent number: 3948025
    Abstract: A lawn and garden tractor is provided with a pair of laterally spaced mounting brackets formed to define a pair of forwardly opening receptacles located at the underside of the tractor between front wheels of the latter. Connected between the brackets and a mower located beneath the tractor is a draft frame including a transverse rod having opposite end portions respectively received in the pair of receptacles and prevented from rotating therein by a pair of spring loaded pins projecting through respective pairs of aligned apertures located in the pair of brackets and in a pair of circular plates fixed to the rod. A lever is fixed to one end of the rod to rotate the latter so as to properly dispose the circular plate for the insertion of the pins during attachment of the mower. The draft frame also includes a pair of draft arms respectively pivotally connected between the pair of plates and the mower.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 1975
    Date of Patent: April 6, 1976
    Assignee: Deere & Company
    Inventor: Leon Paul Erdman
  • Patent number: T101206
    Abstract: Apparatus for attaching a harvesting header to the vertically fixed subframes of a cotton harvester chassis including apertured horizontal header frame support plates extending forwardly from the lower portion of the subframes, latch pins on the header for engaging the apertures, linear adjustable drawing members releasably interconnecting the upper portion of the header to the upper portion of the subframe, and a pair of spaced vertical plates extending rearwardly from the header and intermeshing with a vertical interface member on the subframe, preferably being pinned thereto for operation of the harvester.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 1980
    Date of Patent: November 3, 1981
    Inventors: Horace E. Ralston, Jesse H. Orsborn