Abstract: A vehicular forage harvester has a trailer wagon pivotally connected ther with a chute operating to deliver an agricultural crop cut by the forage harvester into the trailer wagon. The chute includes a flexible section which enables the discharge end of the chute to be maintained in a position to deposit the crop into the trailer wagon when the wagon is pivotally moved relative to the forage vehicle.

Abstract: Corn-earlage is processed so that the kernels and corn-cobs are finely chopped while the husks retain their raw fiber structure. The mixture of the finely chopped kernels and corn-cobs along with husks is placed in a silo to produce ensilage. If the ensilage is to be used to feed hogs, it is removed from the silo and passed through a screen or separating drum for adjusting the fiber content of the material. Depending on the fiber content desired, the material is introduced into the screen drum provided with a number of serially arranged rows of screen plates. Each row has a removable plate which can be replaced with other plates having larger or smaller openings for achieving the desired fiber content in the ensilage to be fed to the hogs. The drum axle is inclined to the horizontal and is adjustably supported at the inlet end of the drum so that its height relative to the outlet end can be varied.

Abstract: In an agricultural attachment, a gearing arrangement is provided to connect a driven gear in the attachment to a power take-off connection on a tractor. The gearing arrangment includes drive gears spaced laterally apart, each of a different size, and each mounted on a different shaft. The drive gear shafts are disposed in spaced parallel relation to the shaft on which the driven gear is positioned. The drive gears are mounted in a casing formed by two half shells and can be swung through an arc about the axis of the shaft of the driven gear for affording an optimum connection to the power take-off connection of the tractor.

Abstract: A self-driven forage harvester including a main vehicle and a trailer opeively joined therewith wherein the trailer includes an upwardly inclined scraper floor and an axle with a pair of drive wheels located below the forward half of the scraper floor. The main vehicle also includes a drive axle and drive wheels with a drive unit for the forage harvester being mounted thereabove. A pair of steering wheels are located forwardly of the main vehicle drive wheels.

Abstract: An implement particularly for harvesting corn stalks including a pair of ight counter rotating conveying rollers which define therebetween a cutting station to which crop material is conveyed by stalk guides, with the conveying rollers having knives radially extending therefrom and blades located above the knives. A counter-knife cooperates with the knives to cut the crop material which is then engaged by the blades and propelled rearwardly to a plurality of feed rollers rotating about horizontal axes. The blades are formed with rearwardly curved leading edges and axially extending conveying members are provided on the conveying rollers above the blades. The blades and the knives are angularly arranged about the conveying rollers to be alternately passed through the cutting station during rotation of the conveying rollers.

Abstract: In a lifting and tipping mechanism a lever drive unit includes two pairs of scissors arms with each pair pivotally mounted on an oppositely disposed leg of a U-shaped undercarriage, a swing mechanism is provided for guiding the movement of the scissors arms from a folded position on the undercarriage to an extended lifting and tipping position upwardly from the undercarriage. The swing mechanism consists of an elongated sliding guide in which a guide member, fixed to one end of one of the scissors arm of each pair is slidably displaced by a hydraulic linear motor. The sliding guide has a first part which extends parallel to the legs of the undercarriage in the folded position of the scissors arms and a second part which extends angularly upwardly from the first part. As the scissors arms open from the folded position, the guide member moves from the first part into the second part. The sliding guide can be formed in a single member or it can be made up of two separate members.

Abstract: In a forage harvester, a plurality of spaced knife supports are angularly spaced apart around the periphery of a rotatable cutter drum. A straight beater bar is displaceably fixed to each knife support so that the beater bars have an impact edge which rotates past a counterknife at the inlet of the harvester. The side surfaces of the beater bars leading in the direction of rotation are disposed at a slight angle to the side surfaces of the counterknife. The beater bars are spaced apart at about 15 to 20 degrees relative to the axis of rotation of the cutter drum and the dimension of the overall arrangement is such that the spacing between impact edges of adjacent beater bars is about 60 to 100 mm.

Abstract: A garbage disposal unit is provided with a stationery compacting piston fixed at the upper end thereof and with a fixed receptacle member at the lower end thereof. A movable combination member adapted to act as both a receptacle and a compacting piston is mounted intermediate the fixed piston and the fixed receptacle. The disposal unit is thus capable of separately handling different types of garbage, with bottles, cans and the like being placed within the movable combination member to be compacted by upward movement thereof for compacting engagement with the upper fixed piston. Ordinary foodstuffs may be placed within the fixed receptacle at the bottom of the unit and movement of the combination member downwardly enables utilization of the combination member as a compacting piston for crushing garbage within the lower fixed receptacle.

Abstract: A tray-type elevator conveyor for conveying a rack or load carrier is provided with an endless conveyor chain, an outer pair of straddle levers for pivotally suspending the load carrier, and an inner pair of straddle levers pivotally connected to the conveyor chain at one end and to the outer straddle levers at the other end. The length and number of inner straddle levers are variable for accommodating different paths of travel around the curved portion of the conveyor and for supporting different sizes of load carriers. By using the inner straddle levers to connect the chain and outer straddle levers, the path around the curved portion of travel on the chain can approximate a portion of a circle.