Abstract: In a sickle cutting system including a plurality of guard fingers at spaced positions across a cutter bar across which a reciprocating sickle knife passes, each guard finger has a forwardly projecting tip portion in front of a ledger surface and a rearwardly projecting tang portion connected to a rear end of the tip portion and extending therefrom over the ledger surface to a rear edge of the tang portion located over the blade. The lower surface of the tang portion includes a first portion adjacent the tip portion which is generally parallel to the ledger surface and a second portion adjacent the rear edge which is inclined at an angle away from the ledger surface. The width of the tang portion across the rear of the tang portion is equal to or greater than 1.5 inches.

Abstract: A harvesting header is operable in a first mode of operation by engagement of a skid at the cutter bar for cutting along the ground. A gauging system operable in a second mode includes four ground engaging members supporting the header such that the cutter bar skid plate is at a controlled distance from the ground. The ground engaging members include a long skid and removable gauge wheels are carried on an elongate beam pivoted adjacent the cutter bar and extending to the rear of the frame and adjustable by an upstanding telescopic mast up to a position to allow the cutter bar to run on the ground. A resilient suspension can be provided at the rear of the beam at the junction to the post. The location under the table allows a very high adjustment of the cutter bar in the second mode.

Abstract: A harvesting header is operable in a first mode of operation by engagement of a skid at the cutter bar for cutting along the ground. A gauging system operable in a second mode includes four ground engaging members supporting the header such that the cutter bar skid plate is at a controlled distance from the ground. The ground engaging members include a long skid and removable gauge wheels are carried on an elongate beam pivoted adjacent the cutter bar and extending to the rear of the frame and adjustable by an upstanding telescopic mast up to a position to allow the cutter bar to run on the ground. A resilient suspension can be provided at the rear of the beam at the junction to the post. The location under the table allows a very high adjustment of the cutter bar in the second mode.

Abstract: A clip for a draper of a crop header is arranged to cover a portion of a cleat of a draper where the lower run of the draper comes into contact with a lower support track which confines the lower run to a location clear of the cutter bar and a forwardly extending beam of the crop header frame. The clip forms a channel which features teeth presented at an inside of the channel for biting into the cleat so as to retain the clip thereon with the teeth forming ramped surfaces which can slide along the cleat upon installation of the clip, for example by press fitting the clip downwardly onto the cleat.

Abstract: A header assembly for a combine harvester includes a header carried by an adapter on the feeder house of the combine controlling an angle of the header defined by a tilt cylinder and height of the header at the feeder house. Wings of the header are carried on gauge wheels the height of which relative to the header frame can be adjusted by cylinders. A driver interface inside the cab includes inputs to be set by the driver of cutter bar height and header angle. These are converted by the controller program into inputs for the tilt cylinder and the gauge wheel cylinders.

Abstract: A sickle cutting system is mounted on a header for forward travel over ground having a standing crop thereon and includes a cutter bar with a plurality of knife guards and at least one sickle bar with a drive system for driving the sickle bar through repeated cycles of reciprocating movement from start-up of the system through to a shut-down. The drive system includes an arrangement to halt the sickle bar on shut-down at a predetermined position of the knife blades relative to the knife guards and preferably the position where the blades lie intermediate two knife guards. The system can be halted by either a physical stop member at the required position or by detecting the position of the sickle bar during operation and causing it to halt the required position. The detection can be carried out by counting pulses generated by markers on a rotary member of the drive system.

Abstract: In a crop harvesting machine there is provided a pair of hydraulic float cylinders for a header relative to a vehicle, where a float pressure to the cylinders is directly controlled by an electronic control supplying a variable control signal to a PPRR valve arrangement to maintain the float pressure at a predetermined value. At the set pressure a predetermined lifting force is provided to the header. A position sensor is used to generate an indication of movement and/or acceleration. The electronic control is arranged, in response to changes in the sensor signal, to temporarily change the control signal to vary the lifting force and thus change the dynamic response of the hydraulic float cylinder. In order to reduce static friction so that the system can react quickly, an arrangement is provided for causing relative reciprocating movement in an alternating wave pattern between the piston and cylinder.

Abstract: A crop harvesting header includes a cutter bar arranged across a forward edge of a header frame structure, a draper or auger transport arrangement for transporting the cut crop for further processing, and a reel with tines mounted on angularly spaced tine tubes each driven in a pivotal movement around its own bat axis as the reel rotates. The tine tubes are mounted on bearings where each bearing includes a cylindrical collar carried by support members on the reel and a cylindrical bearing member within the collar. The hollow tine tube has its peripheral wall punched to define an indented recess at each end of a transverse hole so that opposed projecting portions projecting on the bearing member are pulled into the recesses by a transverse fastener through the hole.

Abstract: A swather includes a swath compression panel with a downwardly and rearwardly inclined undersurface for applying a downward compression force on the swath between the front and rear wheels. A mounting assembly includes an actuator operable in response to a speed and/or direction of travel of the tractor for raising the panel to a retracted position under the tractor. A bottom stop halts downward movement of the actuator before the panel engages the ground. The panel includes an upwardly and rearwardly inclined curved rear portion to smoothly release the compressed crop. The panel is mounted on the tractor frame at a position thereon rearward of a transverse beam connected to the front wheels so that the swath is released from the discharge opening of the header and can expand for discharge to the ground before the swath is engaged by the front end of the panel.

Abstract: A tractor has hydraulically driven wheels at a cab end and castor wheels at an engine end. Each driven wheels is driven by a hydraulic motor with a continuous adjustment of the motor displacement, with the motor being driven by a pump also having continuous displacement. The motor displacement is controlled by an electronic controller in response to stroking of the speed control lever to manage the displacement to provide required drive torques at different points in the stroke. There is provided an automatic steering system having a guidance controller arranged to receive GPS position information which controls the steering by differentially adjusting the displacement of the motors so that the automatic steering is independent of the manual steering which controls the pumps.

Abstract: A gauging system is adapted for use with a crop harvesting header of the type having a pair of wing frame portions connected to a center frame portion by a balancing linkage and which is operable in a first mode of operation by engagement of a skid plate of each wing frame portion along the ground. In one embodiment of the invention, the gauging system includes i) outer gauge wheels supporting the outer ends of the wing frame portions such that the skid plate is at a controlled distance from the ground and ii) inner gauge wheels proximate the center frame portion for supporting the inner ends of the wing frame portions such that the skid plate is at a controlled distance from the ground according to a second mode of operation of the header.

Abstract: A crop harvesting header includes a cutter bar arranged across a forward edge of a header frame structure, a draper or auger transport arrangement for transporting the cut crop for further processing, and a reel with a reel drive mechanism for driving rotation of the reel including a variable speed drive motor and a drive transmission having two different drive ratios for high and low speed reel operation. The transmission is mounted in a housing with a readily removable cover part allowing access to a chain and sprocket drive system where the chain can be loosened to allow it to be transferred from one set of cooperating sprockets to another. The reel shaft is movable to release the chain tension and adjusted by a cam and ratchet arrangement.

Abstract: In a swather a support arm is attached to the header to carry the heavy hydraulic hoses which are connected to the tractor for supplying the drive fluid to the hydraulic system of the header. The support arm is articulated so as to accommodate the up-and-down and twisting movement of the header relative to the tractor during harvesting action and this supported to prevent collapse when the hoses are disconnected from the tractor manifold. The support arm is attached at the rear to the tractor preferably at the wheel strut by a releasable ball joint coupling. From the coupling at the wheel strut, there is a free portion of the hydraulic hoses which extends to the manifold at the tractor where the ends of the hoses are attached to manually graspable handle portions which can be lifted away and the attached to a bracket on the support arm.

Abstract: In a cutter bar having a upper and lower knife guards in cooperating pairs mounted on a support bar where each guard includes at least one point extending forwardly to define a channel therebetween in which the knife reciprocates, the upper knife guards are attached to an upper surface of the support bar by a compressible resilient pad between an under surface of the upper knife guard and the upper surface of the support bar, at least one hold down screw fastener engaged between the upper knife guard and the support bar which holds the upper knife guard on to the resilient pad and forms a fulcrum and at least one adjustment screw between the upper knife guard and the support bar behind the screw fastener so that adjustment of the screw increases an amount of compression of the compressible resilient pad.

Abstract: A sickle cutting apparatus includes a plurality of triple finger knife guards which are arranged side by side along the cutter bar to cooperate with a reciprocating sickle bar carrying a row of double blade knife sections and a set of hold-down members carrying hold-down fingers. The hold-down members are arranged alternately as a single finger and double finger with each hold-down member being connected to the cutter bar in association with a respective triple guard. In this way the hold-down fingers are arranged at alternate guard fingers leaving the intervening guard fingers open. The system includes both pointed guards with no tang and stub guard so that the user can select either to be used with the hold-downs. The hold down fingers are all individually adjustable so that the double hold-down have two adjustment screws which can be individually operated causing flexing of the bridge between the double fingers.

Abstract: A pull-type crop engaging machine such as a rotary mower comprises a frame mounted on transversely spaced field ground wheels for movement with a hitch arm extending to a tractor and a transport assembly attached behind the frame for moving downwardly to a transport position so that in the transport position the hitch arm extends from one end of the frame generally in the transverse direction for towing the machine in the transverse direction. The transport includes a transport ground wheel which acts to raise the frame to pass underneath the crop engaging system to support the machine on the wheel, on a second wheel behind the frame and on the hitch. The movement of the hitch and the wheel is connected and started at a position of the hitch so that the machine remains balanced. A shield behind the frame includes a portion which moves with the transport wheel.

Abstract: In a sickle cutting system, it has been found that a significant increase in ground speed while maintaining an acceptable level of cutting efficiency as measured by the average stubble length can be obtained by a combination of one or more of the features where the cutting stroke is reduced from the conventional length of 3.0 inches to a value of the order of 2.0 inches; the length of the cutting edge of each knife blade is increased to a length greater than 2.2 inches; the width at the rear of the ledger surface of each guard is increased to greater than 1.0 inches; and the front edge of the blade is formed with an apex to shed crop material to one or other side of the apex.

Abstract: A rear castor wheel for a tractor includes a beam carried on a fork which connects to a castor mounting assembly attached to a rear pivotal beam of the tractor. A suspension system connects the fork to the mounting assembly to provide suspension movement and includes a first transverse plate assembly attached to the mounting assembly intersected by a second plate assembly attached across the two sides of the fork. The plates are connected by a single elastomeric block located on a first side of the axis remote from the beam and two elastomeric blocks located between the first and second plate assemblies on a side of the axis closer to the beam so that upward movement of the beam causes compression of the first and second elastomeric blocks which are shaped such that the internal strain of the block as the beam moves upwardly is substantially uniform through the block.

Abstract: A crop feeding roller for a header includes a plurality of finger units within the roller each having a pair of fingers projecting outwardly for engaging crop outside the peripheral wall of the roller. The peripheral wall has opposed finger guide holes associated with the pair of fingers. Each finger unit including an inner member carrying the fingers and containing an elongate guide slot transverse to the axis of the roller and a stationary guide member within the guide slot at a position within the roller arranged to cause the inner member with the fingers of each of the finger units to reciprocate during the rotation of the roller. The guide slot is shaped with at least one curved lobe to one side of a transverse center section so that the slot can be S-shaped or C-shaped to improve the dwell time and swept area obtained by the finger movement.

Abstract: A pull-type rotary mower comprises a frame with a transverse main beam mounted on transversely spaced field ground wheels for movement with a central hitch arm extending to a tractor and a transport assembly attached to the main beam the frame for moving downwardly to a transport position so that in the transport position the hitch arm extends from one end of the frame generally in the transverse direction for towing the machine in the transverse direction. The transport includes front and rear transport ground wheel which act to support the machine on the wheels. A shield assembly, which in the field position extends rearwardly behind the frame to engage the crop emerging from a conditioner within a center discharge opening, includes at least a portion which is moved to a retracted position at the frame to allow the rear transport wheel to move to the transport position.