Abstract: A harvesting head height control circuit (162) for controlling the height of an articulated harvesting head (104) that is supported on a combine harvester (102) during harvesting in an agricultural field includes an ECU (164) configured to raise and lower the portions of the articulated harvesting head. The ECU (164) receives signals indicating the magnitude of a rearward force acting upon the articulated harvesting head and automatically changes the commanded operating height of the articulated harvesting head (104).

Abstract: A cutterbar knife drive cleaning apparatus for a header of an agricultural harvester is disclosed. The apparatus cleans the knife drives by discharging pressurized air from an apertured conduit toward the knife drive. Movement of a cutterbar supporting arm causes rotation of the conduit to produce a sweeping action of an air curtain over the knife drive in order to blow dirt and debris from the knife drive as the harvester traverses a field.

Abstract: An agricultural combine (100) has a windrow control circuit that controls the profile of windrow (154) based upon signals received from a sensor (152).

Abstract: A vibration sensor is mounted on the central shaft, such that it senses vibrations induced into the feed roll assembly in a direction transverse to the rotational axis of the feed roll.

Abstract: An independently automated mechanical transplanter for dispensing seedlings into a furrow located in the ground or in a field. The transplanter includes at least one automated transplanter unit mounted to a transportable frame. A trundle is mounted to the transportable frame having a plurality of gripper fingers. Each automated transplanter unit has a seedling tray for presenting a plurality of seedlings to the trundle to grip and extract the seedlings from the seedling tray. The transplanter also includes a moveable conveyor belt having a plurality of pockets attached thereto; the trundle configured to transfer the plurality of seedlings into the plurality of pockets as the conveyor belt moves; and each individual pocket configured to open when positioned directly over a delivery chute for dropping the seedlings into a planting shoe for delivery into the open furrow.

Abstract: A system and method of automatically adjusting an amount of agricultural granular material delivered to a field in response to vehicle steering activities. The system includes a sensor that is associated with a steering system of a vehicle configured to apply the material to a field. The sensor is connected to a controller that is configured to determine a deviation value associated with discrete turning activities. The controller is configured to manipulate operation of a first commodity delivery system and a second commodity delivery system such that different amounts of the agricultural material can be delivered to alternate lateral sides of the vehicle in response to turning activities.

Abstract: A system is provided for planting multiple types of seed and automatically switching between the varieties during planting in a single planting pass of a planting session of row-crop planting an agricultural field. The system may include a selector assembly arranged between a multi-compartment on-row hopper and a seed meter at each row unit of a planter. A control system controls selector valves of the selector assembly to switch from releasing of seeds of a first type from the on-row hopper the seed meter to releasing of seeds of a second type from the on-row hopper to the seed meter for providing a switchover of seeds being planted from the seed meter, from the first to the second type when the seed meter cross a boundary between different zones of the agricultural field.

Abstract: A row unit for a seeding machine includes a frame and first and second seed meters. The first seed meter has a first metering member for singulating seeds, and the second seed meter has a second metering member for singulating seeds. A conveyor having a conduit defining a path for receiving seeds from the first and second seed meters is configured to discharge the seeds from the seeding machine. A wall is movably mounted with respect to the frame between a first position and a second position. In the first position the wall intersects the path of the conduit for guiding a seed into the conduit, and in the second position the wall is spaced from the path of the conduit.

Abstract: In a method of operating a seed cart, a compartment is provided defining a volume for receiving a commodity. A distribution manifold is provided including two sets of passages, the distribution manifold being associated with the compartment to selectively receive a commodity in one or both of the two sets of passages. A fan is operated to create an air stream. The air stream from the fan is divided into a plurality of primary tubes. An inlet divider plenum is provided having two outlets in communication with each one of the primary tubes. The flow of air from each of the plurality of primary tubes is divided amongst the two corresponding outlets with a corresponding movable vane within the inlet divider plenum such that an airflow ratio between the two sets of passages is controlled in response to the position of the vane.

Abstract: A crop lifter apparatus has a bracket for attachment to a header guard finger. A cylindrical groove in a front portion of the mounting bracket has an axis perpendicular to a travel direction and a lock bolt hole is defined through the mounting bracket at the groove. The rear of a finger support member has a cylindrical wall engaged in the groove, and defines a cylindrical lock aperture with an axis coincidental with the axis of the groove. A slot in the rear of the support member is oriented perpendicular to the axis of the lock aperture. A lock cylinder is engaged in the lock aperture and a lock bolt extends through the lock bolt hole and the slot and into the lock cylinder and is tightened to secure the support member to the mounting bracket at a selected finger angle. A length of the lifting finger may be adjustable.

Abstract: A metering apparatus for distributing an agricultural product in a field has a meterbox configured for association with a hopper for receiving agricultural product from the hopper. A rotatable metering element is disposed within a chamber in the meterbox, and the rotating metering element is configured to deliver the agricultural product at a regulated rate from the hopper through the chamber to a product distribution line. Delivery of the agricultural product to the product distribution line may be selectively stopped by a reversibly inflatable seal between the metering element and an outlet to the distribution line, a reversible seal formed by contact between the metering element and an inlet from the hopper to the chamber, or a disengagement structure for disengaging the agricultural product from the metering element while the metering element continues to rotate.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides a transformable agricultural planter that is structured and operable to transform to a Transport Configuration wherein a width of the planter is less than or equal to a Department Of Transportation maximum load width for which special ‘Wide Load’ permits are not required. The planter includes a support cart including a telescoping support axle having a plurality of wheel assemblies mounted thereto and a plurality of actuators connected to the telescoping support axle. The actuators are operable to extend and retract the telescoping support axle such that a spacing between the wheel assemblies can be set to any desired distance. The planter additionally includes a main toolbar assembly connected a toolbar lift and spin assembly rotatably mounted to the support cart and operable to rotate, raise and lower the main toolbar assembly between the Transport Configuration and a Planting Configuration.

Abstract: A plant material trimming device includes two end walls supporting a rotatable perforated tumbler, a rotatable reel with helical blades, and a blade mechanism pivotably connected to the end walls of the device. The blade mechanism includes: (i) a blade bar configured to cut plant material in cooperation with the helical blades when the device is in operation; (ii) a first arm operatively associated with the blade bar; and (iii) a second arm pivotably connected to the first arm such that the second arm can pivot downward when the blade mechanism is unlocked. A tightening block may be threadedly connected to the second arm and connectable to one of the two end walls. The tightening block may be configured for adjusting the pitch of the blade bar relative to the helical blades when the blade mechanism is locked to the end walls.

Abstract: A direct drive seed metering device for a row crop sowing machine with a seed metering disc rotatable about a central shaft having a plurality of seed capturing and retaining holes for capturing and retaining the seeds and laying them in a controlled manner in a furrow. The seed disc has a flexible sealing member attached to an inner wall of the housing and sealingly pressed against a face of the metering disc thereby forming a vacuum chamber by a the vacuum generator that lowers the air pressure on a face of the metering disc so as to capture and retain the seeds. The vacuum chamber is created by the vacuum generator being fluidly connected to the chamber through a hollow shaft of a drive motor and through a perforated hollow hub.

Abstract: A direct drive seed metering device for a sowing machines with a rotatable vacuum chamber operated by vacuum and driven by a coaxial electric motor. The rotatable vacuum chamber has a seed metering disc for capturing seeds from a reservoir and laying them in a controlled manner in a furrow in the soil. The rotatable vacuum chamber is created by a concave plate located within the housing and sealingly attached to a face of the seed metering disc that is supplied a vacuum by a non-rotatable tube having a protruding hollow member, a flange and an of extraction outlet attached to a vacuum generator. A motor with an annular hollow-shaft is coupled to the concave plate wherein the vacuum generator lowers the air pressure on a face of the metering disc so as to capture and retain the seeds within the seed capturing and retaining holes arranged on another face of the metering disc opposite the rotatable vacuum chamber.

Abstract: A modular autonomous agricultural vehicle includes a drive module having a frame, a ground-engaging element rotatably coupled to the frame, a power source, and a drive motor receiving power from the power source and coupled to the ground-engaging element for rotating the ground engaging element. At least one toolbar module is detachably coupled to the frame for coupling the drive module to an agricultural implement or another modular toolbar segment. The modular toolbar preferably includes multiple toolbar modules coupled to each other in series to form the modular toolbar.

Abstract: A work vehicle includes a vehicle body, a blade supported on the vehicle body, a pair of first hydraulic cylinders for moving the blade upward and downward, a pair of second hydraulic cylinders for tilting the blade forward, backward, leftward, and rightward, a pair of stroke sensors for detecting stroke amounts of the pair of first hydraulic cylinders, and a controller for controlling a position of the blade based on a difference in the stroke amounts of the pair of first hydraulic cylinders when, in a state where one second hydraulic cylinder is at the one stroke end or the other stroke end, the other second hydraulic cylinder is driven from one stroke end to the other stroke end.

Abstract: A grapple apparatus may comprise at least one grapple arm movable between an open and a closed position, and having a proximal arm portion and a distal arm portion. The apparatus may include a primary actuator having extended and retracted conditions to move the proximal arm portion, and a secondary actuator having extended and retracted conditions to move the distal arm portion. The primary actuator may be configured such that an initial rate of movement of the primary actuator from the extended condition toward the retracted condition is slower than an initial rate of movement of the secondary actuator from the extended condition toward the retracted condition to produce substantially complete movement of the distal arm portion of the at least one grapple arm toward the open position before movement of the proximal arm portion toward the open position is initiated.

Abstract: The present document shows a spring suspension device for an agricultural implement, including a casing, a beam extending through the casing, and four spring elements disposed in a space between the casing and the beam. The casing and the beam are resiliently rotatable relative to each other about a rotational axis extending along a longitudinal direction of the beam. The spring elements differ substantially from each other with respect to shape or material properties, and first and second side faces of the beam, which interact with the respective spring elements, differ substantially from each other with respect to the radius of curvature, viewed in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction.

Abstract: By varying the agricultural product application rates when a product delivery system travels through predetermined overlap areas, the drawbacks of over seeding such overlap areas may be substantially reduced. As a result, a product delivery system may travel without stopping meter sections and without dragging a seeding tool through a completely seeded region.