Abstract: A horizontal seat suspension for a vehicle for isolating horizontal ride vibrations for low frequencies normally found in large tractors, or other off the road vehicles, a provision for adjusting the seat to a desired position, and also a provision for selectively locking or activating the horizontal suspension.

Abstract: A hydraulic draft control system for use on a tractor and having a pilot valve regulating flow and pressure for automatically operating a draft control valve. The pilot valve opens and closes in response to draft loads sensed on the tractor to control the opening and closing of the control valve for raising and lowering of an implement on the tractor.

Abstract: An aggregate feed chute for an asphalt plant includes a diverter wall which may be selectively actuated to capture the entire discharge stream of a material conveyor for sampling purposes without the necessity of moving the feed chute with respect to the drum mixer or the conveyor.

Abstract: A water dam in the form of a cup is secured around the head of a fastener to confine water that leaks pass the fastener to a localized area.

Abstract: An axial flow combine with a transverse rotor (18) employs a combined impeller and chopper (66) having knives which strip crop material from a rotor discharge paddle impeller (34), chop it in cooperation with selectively retractible blades (96) and throw it rearwardly through a discharge passageway (56) to a downwardly opening discharge (57). The chopper (66) may be driven at either one of two speeds and eliminates the need for the usual impeller employed to move crop material from the threshing rotor discharge impeller (34) to the rear discharge (57) of the combine.

Abstract: In order to provide a higher cutting speed for a high speed harvester (11) torsion bars (31, 68) are connected to opposite ends of a crop cutting sickle (28). A pair of levers (46, 62) which connect the torsion bars (31, 68) to the sickle (28) carry a pair of removable counterweights (56, 96) which can be sized to change the resonant frequency to substantially correspond to the desired cutting speed. The levers (46, 62) may be interconnected by an adjustable tie bar (111) for hard to cut crops which is of sufficient mass to replace the counterweights; or, counterweights (156, 196) may be added to adjust the resonant frequency and hence the resonant cutting speed.

Abstract: Resonant frequency operation of a reciprocating sickle (28) of a mowing device is achieved by connecting a torsion bar (97) to its actuating lever (82). The torsion bar (97) spring rate is such that when installed in a sickle and drive system, the resonant frequency of the sickle and its drive falls within the range of frequencies at which the sickle is reciprocated during crop cutting operations.

Abstract: A movable winch adapted to be aligned on a guide track above each of the filter bags in a baghouse to secure the bags at a predetermined tension within the baghouse.

Abstract: An asphalt mixture storage bin in which an anti-segregation device is incorporated to eliminate the segregation of large aggregate pieces in a uniformly blended asphalt mixture as the mixture is transferred to a storage bin. The anti-segregation device is constructed of plate steel and is rolled and welded into a frustrum of a cone and suspended in the stream of aggregate discharging from a conveyor. The arrangement causes the material to form a small central conical pile and an uneven but conically peaked series of deposits forming a donut-like configuration around the central conic pile.

Abstract: An asphalt plant apparatus is disclosed having a material lifter cage arranged in coaxial relationship within a mixing drum. The lifter cage includes a plurality of cage lifters having a trough-like configuration for collecting material in the drum and spilling the material in a veil over the cross section of the drum as the cage lifters pass through a rotational path of travel. The cage lifters are divided into two sets alternately arranged about the lifter cage. The two sets consist of a first set of cage lifters having a material retaining surface fixed at an angle with respect to a radial line extending from the axis of rotation and a second set of cage lifters fixed at an angle approximately 20.degree. different from that of the first set. As the cage lifters pass through the path of travel, the first set of lifters spills material over an arc of the path approximately 20.degree.

Abstract: A piston and cylinder unit for a gyratory crusher including a cylinder having an upper piston carrying the crusher head and a lower piston dividing the interior of the cylinder into a hydraulic chamber and a gas chamber. The hydraulic chamber is selectively chargeable with hydraulic fluid to adjust the crushing gap between the crusher head and the bowl of the crusher, and the gas chamber is connected in communication with a pressure relief chamber within the lower piston to provide an accummulator within the unit accommodating the momentary displacement of the crusher head by noncrushable materials moving through the crushing gap during crushing operations.

Abstract: A weed destroying system carried on a vehicle and having electrodes for contacting weeds and a high voltage generator and a step-up transformer for supplying high voltage to the electrodes is provided with a tamper-proof safety system having redundant safety interlocks to effectively ground the vehicle and redundant safety interlocks to prevent energization of the generator until the vehicle is traveling at a predetermined speed and which de-energizes the generator if any one safety interlock is bypassed or fails in an unsafe condition, thereby requiring plural simultaneous failures to create a condition that is hazardous to the operator or to a bystander. The safety system also provides immediately-visible warning of the electrical hazard created by the apparatus and provides visual and aural indications to the operator when a safety interlock has been bypassed or is jammed closed.

Abstract: Weed destroying apparatus carried on a vehicle has a generator; a step-up transformer having its secondary winding coupled to electrodes for contacting and killing weeds; a programmable semiconductor logic array; a first contactor coupled to an output of the logic array for connecting the generator to the transformer primary winding in the weed killing mode; a second contactor coupled to an output of the logic array for connecting the generator to electrical outlets for supplying electrical power to auxiliary farm equipment in a standby mode; a run/standby switch for providing binary signals to the logic array indicative as to whether the apparatus is to operate in the weed killing mode or the standby mode; a plurality of safety systems each of which has redundant interlock means for preventing an unsafe condition in which high voltage would be a hazard in the weed killing mode and sensing means for providing binary signals to the logic array indicative of whether each interlock means is in the safe condition

Abstract: Roller grate method and apparatus for simultaneously transporting, agitating and exchanging heat with a bed of solid mineral particles has elongated cylindrical horizontal rollers with gas passage apertures therethrough, a hopper for feeding mineral particles onto the rollers and forming a bed having a depth several times greater than the average diameter of the particles; a drive source to rotate the rollers and frictionally engage the cylindrical surfaces with the particles in the lowermost layer of the bed and urge the bed along a path of travel transverse to the axes of the rollers; elongated filler members disposed in the nip between adjacent rollers to prevent the particles from jamming the rollers and to provide resistance to the flow of the bed along said path of travel; and a heat chamber spanning the rollers and a fan for forcing a heat transfer gas stream through the gas passage apertures in the rollers and through the bed as it is being transported, the rollers and the filler members being adapted

Abstract: A bearing assembly for supporting one end of a shaker shaft from which a plurality of filter bags are suspended in a baghouse. The bearing assembly includes a stationary bracket mounted within the gas cleaning chamber of the baghouse, a supporting member having an upwardly extending knife-edge portion generally aligned with the longitudinal axis of the shaft and pivotally connected to the bracket for movement about a horizontal axis extending perpendicular to the axis of the shaft, and a shaft supporting block affixed to the end of the shaft having an inverted V-shaped notch sized to be received on the knife-edge portion to support the shaft in a manner accommodating axial and angular displacement of the shaft with respect to the stationary bracket of the bearing assembly.

Abstract: An inner peripheral seal ring on the inner periphery of a wear sleeve to seal axial flow of oil and permit heat radially transferred through the wear sleeve for cooler operation of the seal on the wear sleeve.

Abstract: The reciprocating cage sweep mechanism (26) for an axial flow rotary combine is supported by grooved self-lubricating plastic rollers (46) running on a pair of parallel support rods (42, 43). The bottoms of the grooves (81) of the rollers (46) are spaced from the rod surface to permit a squeezing action to occur as deposits of crop material and dust build up on the surface of the rods (42, 43). The squeezing action causes the deposits to be extruded rather than compacted on the rod surface. Thus, the buildup of deposits on the rods (42, 43) are reduced. The rollers (46) are individually supported on the reciprocating cage sweep carriage (41) by nonrotatable shafts (71) each of which has a spiral recess (74) in its cylindrical bearing surface (73). The spiral groove (74) induces egress of dust and other fine particles from between the complementary cylindrical bearing surfaces (78, 73) of the roller (46) and its shaft (71).

Abstract: An electrode plate arrangement for an electrostatic precipitator including a plurality of essentially identical plate assemblies secured in an opposing fashion to the opposite sides of a grid-like mounting frame extending across the interior of the precipitator. The plate assemblies on the upstream side of the frame include an ionizing zone for the dirty gas stream which feeds into serially aligned collecting zones in the opposing assemblies which in turn feed into a deionizing zone in the plate assemblies on the downstream side of the frame.

Abstract: A hydraulic pump/turbine discharge ring leveling, supporting and anchoring apparatus is disclosed which includes a prestressed anchor stud (21) connected between an upper foundation ring (28) and a flange portion (17') of a pump/turbine discharge ring (14) to secure the discharge ring (14) to the upper foundation ring (28). Prior to prestressing the anchor stud (21), a jack-bolt (43) mounted beneath the flange portion (17') is moved upwardly into engagement with the flange portion (17') of the discharge ring (14) to effect a leveling of the discharge ring (14). Thereafter the anchor stud (21) is prestressed by turning down a nut (54) engaging an end of the stud (21) projecting upwardly through the flange portion (17') of the discharge ring (14).

Abstract: A pair of nut locking cups are engaged on the external surfaces of a pair of nuts and are constructed so that the outside radius of a cup is equal to one-half of the distances between adjacent studs to allow the cups to be placed on the nuts regardless of nut position with the outside radii of the cups remaining in contact with each other; a locking bar is positioned across the two adjacent studs with the studs being welded to the bar; the locking cups are also welded to the locking bar and thus form a positive lock between the studs and the anchor point for the nut lock cups.