Abstract: The upper and lower finger portions of the sickle guard comprises two separate components which are disconnected at their tips so that the knife sections of the sickle can project forwardly beyond at least one of the fingers during operation and thereby provide a self-cleaning action for the gap defined between the two fingers and through which the sickle reciprocates. The size of the gap can be precisely adjusted for maximum cutting efficiency through the use of an adjusting set screw adjacent the rear of each upper finger which incrementally forces the two fingers apart in a fulcruming action to the extent permitted by mounting bolts of the guard when the screw is operated.

Abstract: In a rotary crop baler for producing cylindrical crop bales, a simulated bale size and shape indicator is provided which provides the baler operator with a graphic representation of the size and shape of the bale being formed in the baler. The preferred indicator includes a potentiometer for producing a signal representative of the overall size of the bale, a plurality of potentiometers for producing corresponding signals representative of the shape of the bale, and an indicator including a signal processor and display liquid crystals or the like for producing the graphic simulation of the size and shape of the bale being formed.

Abstract: A reciprocating plunger of a square baler has a series of cleanout probes fixed to an oscillating drive arm which reciprocates the plunger. The probes sweep along a path adjacent portions of a horizontal frame member of the plunger as the plunger moves through its operating cycle in order to remove the accumulation of loose crop materials from the same. The probes are arranged to swing away from the path of travel of needles which carry baling twine or wire upwardly through the plunger and toward an overlying knotting device, to thereby avoid interference with the needles and substantially prevent the needles from carrying any loose crop materials toward the knotting mechanism.

Abstract: An inexpensive square baler is provided with an arcuate baling chamber and a plurality of spaced apart plunger elements shiftable about a kidney-shaped, closed loop path of travel. The baling chamber is partially defined by a horizontal table and a wrapper which have a number of common openings each corresponding to one of the elements. During a return stroke portion of the plunger elements, the latter retract out of the baling chamber and re-enter the chamber between the openings in the table to enable the chamber to accumulate significant quantities of crop materials without interference with the plunger elements during their return stroke portion thereof.

Abstract: The baler has a "vertical" bale starting chamber in which the upwardly moving rear belts and the downwardly moving front belts cooperate to tumble and roll incoming material into a bale. When the bale reaches full size in the expanded chamber, the bale is lifted while still in its chamber to a wrapping station where it continues to spin as a binding wrapper is applied. During the lifting of the finished bale and subsequent application of the wrapper, fresh material entering the continuously moving baler is confined beneath the finished bale in a new starting chamber, whereupon the cycle is repeated. As the new bale grows, a discharge ramp becomes formed by certain stretches of the belts and rollers to gravitationally discharge the wrapped bale from the baler without stopping advancement of the machine.

Abstract: An eccentric drive mechanism includes two shafts that are coupled to a wheel-like drive member such as a pulley, with one of the shafts being in offset relation to the other shaft and the central axis of the drive member. Each shaft represents inclined, flat wall portions in mutual inter-engagement, and the wall sections are releasably brought into a position of wedging contact with each other and to the drive member in order that the rotative position of one of the shafts is retained in a certain, predefined orientation relative to the rotative position of the other shaft and to the drive member. The drive member is supported on both sides to avoid imposition of cantilever-type loadings, and the mechanism can be readily disassembled and re-assembled when desired to realign and reposition the rotative orientation of the two shafts relative to the drive member. The eccentric shaft is coupled to a sway bar of the header for oscillation of the sickle.

Abstract: An electrical circuit is provided for testing for an open circuit or short circuit in an inductive coil, solenoid, or the like. The preferred circuit includes a computer activated device for selectively imposing a direct current voltage on a coil, a detector for detecting current flow through the coil induced by the voltage and for producing a current flow signal indicative of the magnitude of the current flow, a comparator for comparing the current signal with the reference signal and for producing respective first and second comparison signals when the current flow magnitude is respectively less than or greater than a reference magnitude, and a computer for determining whether the respective first and second comparison signals are produced during respective first and second points in time, such being a test indicative of the electrical integrity of the coil, solenoid, or the like.

Abstract: Bales emanating from the discharge end of a baler are received on an accumulating trailer provided with a weighing scale that, in combination with an electrical system, automatically determines the weight of certain of the successively issuing bales and conveniently displays such weight to the operator in the cab of the towing vehicle so that the operator can monitor the quality and condition of bales prepared by the machine on an ongoing, non-stop basis. An onboard computer preferably forming a part of the electronic system controls the process and assures its accuracy, while also providing information such as the average weight of bales weighed since last resetting the system.

Abstract: Quick attachment of crop handling headers to harvesters employs one or more wedge locks, utilizing the mechanical forces thereof to, in turn, tightly and firmly wedge an elongated tongue portion of the header into mating relationship with a header-supporting channel member on the harvester. For fast and easy attachment and release, reciprocable wedge-like latches are jammed into corresponding keepers with progressively increased tightness through use of reciprocable latch shifters readily accessible to the operator at ground level exteriorly of the ends of the header support. An exceptionally strong joint is effected as the latches and their keepers jam the tongue into the channel member.

Abstract: In a harvester wherein the frame is raised relative to ground wheels for roading purposes and such elevation of the frame stretches flotation springs to thereby lift the harvesting header off the ground, the amount of flotation force exerted by the springs on the header can be quickly and easily adjusted by only partially raising the frame and then inserting mechanical stops which prevent retraction of hydraulic lifting cylinders when pressure is relieved therein. By inserting a variable number of such stops in a stack, the flotation force can likewise be adjustably varied.

Abstract: Quick attachment of crop handling headers to harvesters employs one or more wedge locks, utilizing the mechanical forces thereof to, in turn, tightly and firmly wedge an elongated tongue portion of the header into mating relationship with a header-supporting channel member on the harvester. For fast and easy attachment and release, reciprocable wedge-like latches are jammed into corresponding keepers with progressively increased tightness through use of reciprocable latch shifters readily accessible to the operator at ground level exteriorly of the ends of the header support. An exceptionally strong joint is effected as the latches and their keepers jam the tongue into the channel member.

Abstract: The discharge hood of an agricultural combine has a housing suspended from the bottom thereof in disposition for receiving straw from straw walkers of the combine into a rotary chopper which impacts the straw and propels it rearwardly out through a spreader, while at the same time creating a current of air flowing through the housing. A second inlet positioned forwardly adjacent the straw inlet of the housing is located to receive a stream of chaff from a forwardly disposed chaff discharge of the combine so that both the chaff and the straw are passed through the chopper, admixed into a single stream, and propelled upwardly and rearwardly from the combine to be strewn and scattered across the ground behind the advancing machine. A booster fan adjacent the chaff discharge augments the air suction created at the chaff inlet of the housing by the high-speed chopping rotor to assure conveyance of the light chaff particles across the free space between the chaff just discharged and the chopper housing.

Abstract: Standing crops severed by sickle mechanism at the leading edge of the machine are swept upwardly and rearwardly along a platform by a rotating reel to a lower, center-gathering auger and an upper, spaced distributing auger that converge the materials centrally and distribute them evenly across a discharge opening ahead of rearwardly positioned conditioning rolls. As severed materials pass through the machine, the flow is gently and progressively converged vertically due to the distances between the reel and the underlying platform, the two augers, and the conditioning rolls becoming progressively smaller.

Abstract: A high speed rotor in the chute of a forage harvester is used to crack kernels in chopped forage impelled to the rotor. The rotor itself has four or more rows of elongated, spaced-apart plates provided with blunt cracking edges, and a deflector, disposed upstream of the rotor, is adjustable for a wide range of positions and diverts the flow of material to allow control over the degree of cracking.

Abstract: The reciprocating plunger of the baler has needle slots in its crop-engaging face from which accumulating crop materials are ejected during each retraction stroke of the plunger by stationary, horizontally extending probes telestationary, horizontally extending probes telescopically received by the plunger. Consequently, the slots are maintained clear of any debris which would otherwise interfere with the smooth, trouble-free operation of tying needles of the baler as they periodically sweep across the bale chamber and through the needle slots at certain, preselected intervals in the baling cycle. The crop expelling probes are hollow and open along their lowermost extremities to permit the admission thereinto without interference of crop feeding fingers which introduce successive charges of crop materials up into the bale chamber from a loading duct below the latter in timed relationship with reciprocation of the plunger.

Abstract: A hold down for retention of reciprocable sickles of cutter assemblies is characterized by its inflexibility and provision of adjustability in relation to the cutter bar such as to preclude undue movement of the sickle sections away from their normal scissors-like cutting positions in cooperation with the sickle guards on the cutter bar. A strong, massive hold down body permits minimum running clearance of the sickle beneath wear pads on forwardly extending fingers integral with the body. After adjustment of a extensible bolt and nut assembly between the hold down and the cutter bar and clamping of the hold down to the cutter bar, essentially trouble-free use can be expected without undue clogging or failure to easily cut even the toughest of grasses, weeds, and crops generally.

Abstract: The squeeze cylinder is inverted with the cylinder casing attached to a transverse, overhead truss above the bale case and the piston rod projecting downwardly from the casing for attachment to the upper squeeze plate of the apparatus. Oil is supplied to the cylinder on the upper side of the piston, while the lower, vented side of the piston is open to the atmosphere via a vent/drain passage. The lower end of the cylinder is provided with a lowermost, annular shoulder bearing against the lower side of the supporting truss and with a snap ring on the opposite, upper side of the truss so that the shoulder and the snap ring cooperate to securely and readily secure the cylinder assembly in operating position.

Abstract: The baler uses a single rotary feeder to take crop materials from the center-gathering augers of the windrow pickup and to sweep such materials upwardly and rearwardly through a loading duct into the baling chamber via an opening in the bottom of the latter. A single set of side-by-side crop-engaging forks of the feeder rotates through 360 degrees of travel in a complete cycle of revolution that includes movement up into the bale chamber for presenting the crop materials to the plunger as the latter moves rearwardly in its compaction stroke. Such forks pass through clearance slots in the plunger as the latter wipes crop materials off the forks, but then the forks dip down quickly and temporarily out of the bale chamber into clearance positions as a trailing transverse knife on the plunger comes across the inlet opening of the chamber to sever any dangling strands of crop materials.

Abstract: A spring cushion assembly for a chisel plow shank is provided that eliminates the transmission of force from the shank and assembly spring to the tension rod of the assembly in directions transverse to the axis of the tension rod, thereby prolonging the life of the entire assembly. The spring cushion shank assembly includes a support frame pivotally supporting a shank, a spring interposed between a portion of the frame and the shank, and a tension rod received within the spring in non-contacting relationship. A seat supports the lower end of the spring and minimizes the tendency of the spring to buckle by coupling the spring to the shank about a pivot axis and by continuously aligning the longitudinal axis of the spring in intersecting relationship with the pivot axis as the spring is compressed.

Abstract: The forage receiving container box of a crop transporting vehicle is tiltable between a stowed position and a tilted operating position, and includes an unloading elevator spout that is shiftable by a position-control mechanism between stowed and extended positions simultaneously with the shifting of the container box from its stowed to tilted position. Tilting of the container box is accomplished by a first piston and cylinder assembly, and the motion imparted by the first piston and cylinder assembly is transmitted to the elevator by a normally retracted, second piston and cylinder assembly acting in the nature of a rigid link. Additionally, the second piston and cylinder assembly may be extended independently of the first assembly for lowering of the elevator independently of the position of the crop container box.