Abstract: A tractor for moving within a borehole comprises an elongated tractor body and two propulsion assemblies that are longitudinally movably engaged with the body. The tractor body has annular pistons configured to receive hydraulic thrust to propel the body longitudinally. Each propulsion assembly includes a gripper and one or more propulsion cylinders. The gripper has an actuated position in which the gripper limits relative movement between the gripper and the inner surface of the borehole, and a retracted position in which the gripper permits substantially free relative movement between the gripper and the inner surface of the borehole. Each propulsion cylinder contains one of the pistons. The tractor includes a control assembly having a plurality of valves and hydraulic circuitry which control the sequencing of fluid distribution to the propulsion cylinders, and of the actuation and retraction of the grippers. A throttle valve controls the fluid flowrate to the pistons.

Abstract: An agricultural bale accumulator (100) comprises a load bed extension module (102) including at least one extension table (104) pivotally connected to a side (124) of a load bed (113) by a hinge (122) and moveable relative to the load bed (113) between a stowed position and an unstowed, bale accumulating, position which is co-planar with a load bed (113) and adjacent to the side (124) of the load bed (113). The agricultural bale accumulator (100) has a first lateral width dimension (160) when the first extension table (104) is in the stowed position to provide a first bale accumulating capacity. The agricultural bale accumulator (100) has a second lateral width dimension (161), greater than the first lateral width dimension (160), when the first extension table (104) is in the unstowed position to provide a second bale accumulating capacity, greater than the first bale accumulating capacity. An extension table support system (130) connected to a main frame (120) and/or the extension table (104).

Abstract: A straw buncher is provided for collecting straw in bunches when towed across a field and for releasing the straw at desired locations into large piles. The straw buncher includes a hitch for connecting to a towing implement and a frame extending generally upward and rearward therefrom for maximizing ground clearance. The frame is supported on a pair of wheels. A basket is pivotally mounted on a rear end of the frame. The basket includes a pair of side collecting members and a rear collecting member extending therebetween. The collecting members are in the form of mesh sheets extending generally upright from the ground. The rear collecting member is spaced upward from the ground and includes a plurality of ground engaging tines extending downward from a bottom end for turning up the straw from the soil such that it may be collected by the collecting members. Hydraulics are provided for raising the basket relative to the frame for releasing the collected straw.

Abstract: A drilling tool magazine and a horizontal boring machine having a drilling tool magazine in which automatic and reliable handling and access to any of the drilling tools to be handled is ensured, the drilling tool magazine (10) which is particularly suitable for horizontal boring machines (5) is fitted with a plurality of tool bays (12) so as to receive tools (8) in an essentially horizontal position; these tool bays are each formed by at least one drive catch (14) movable along a conveyance path.

Abstract: A sprocket is disclosed for driving a chain with a plurality of chain rollers. The sprocket may be used to drive a material removal chain of a trencher. The sprocket has various cut-aways or reliefs on each face thereof to more effectively clear particulate debris from beneath chain rollers during cutting or digging operations. The sprocket also has asymmetrical teeth designed to help minimize changes in pitch diameter due to debris entrained beneath chain rollers. Reducing changes in pitch diameter greatly reduces premature wear of the sprocket and its chain. Reducing changes in pitch diameter also greatly reduces the tendency for the chain to bind.

Abstract: A hay harvester has a double windrow cross-conveyor supported rearwardly of the harvesting header to receive a stream of conditioned crop materials from the header and transport the same laterally to an outboard position. A deflector adjacent the discharge end of the conveyor is maintained in a lowered position to direct materials to the ground to form a first windrow during a first pass and is then placed in a raised position during a return pass so as to allow the stream discharging from the cross-conveyor to be deposited close to the first windrow, thus forming a double windrow. The cross-conveyor is hingedly affixed to the vehicle in such a manner that the normally tilted down, lower front edge of the cross-conveyor can be raised up into a transport position for higher ground clearance or to switch to single swathing. The header and cross-conveyor are preferably plumbed in a parallel fluid flow relationship so that they are raised or lowered simultaneously.

Abstract: A remotely controlled motorized assembly for adjusting the vertical position of the doffer support shaft in the harvesting units a cotton harvesting machine. The assembly is retrofittable for use on existing harvesting units of cotton harvesting machines the doffers of which are designed to be adjusted using a manual adjustment screw. The invention includes a motor which is attached to the harvesting unit, intermediate gears, and a special opening or collar which fits onto the head of the manual adjustment screw of the doffer support shaft. The motorized assembly allows automatic or semi-automatic adjustment of the doffer support shaft without opening the harvesting units or shutting down the harvesting machine, saving considerable time and energy and promoting safety. Bipolar motors may be employed to allow for adjustment in either direction. A microprocessor and sensors may also be employed for automatic monitoring and adjustment of the doffer support shafts.

Abstract: A lawnmower with a tractor and a gang of mowers pivotally supported by the tractor for up and down motion when moving on the ground. A mower support arm is pivoted on the tractor and has a pivot axis for each of the mowers, and a camming action is created by the up and down mower movement and that causes the pivot axis to move horizontally relative to the tractor to thereby avoid having the mowers move horizontally, and it maintains a constant spacing between the mowers and avoids having the mowers collide when moving up and down. Shorter length mowers can thus be used in the gang and they follow the ground contour more closely.

Abstract: A drilling tool for drilling bore holes into the ground and for removing the drilled material using an air-lifting process. The drilling tool has a drilling head equipped at its lower surface with curing elements, whose upper surface is connected to hollow drilling rods having an inner conveying channel and from whose lower surface boring material mixed with a rinsing liquid is removed via the conveying channel. At the lower surface of the drilling tool head, inside a radial channel connected to the conveying channel, a cross-flow of the rinsing liquid, flowing radially inwards and having a high flow velocity, is produced for the purpose of carrying along the boring material.

Abstract: A road resurfacing device has a frame on which is mounted a ripper bar for ripping the road surface, to a controlled depth, and behind it a separator for separating coarse and fine material in the road surface such the coarse material is deposited on fine material. The frame is supported by rollers extending across the frame. The ripper bar has depending teeth in rows on both sides of the ripper bar and is rotatable so that either sets of teeth, which may be at different heights, rip the road surface. The separator is formed of ground turning discs mounted on angled shafts to direct material first to one side and then to the other. The ground turning discs rotate counter to the direction of movement of the frame. A method of resurfacing a gravel road includes ripping the surface of the gravel road to break up fine and coarse material near the surface of the gravel road; and separating coarse material from fine material such that coarse material is deposited on top of the fine material.

Abstract: A harvesting machine includes a crop intake arrangement including either a reel or a crop hold down which operate to aid in the advancement of harvested crop into the machine for further processing. In the event of a jam or the presence of metal occurring, the crop intake arrangement may be operated in reverse so as to expel the jam and/or sensed metal. An actuator is provided for moving the reel or crop hold down between non-operating and operating positions and a first sensor for sensing a jam condition and/or the presence of metal is provided which sends a signal when such a condition exists, this signal being used to effect automatic operation of said actuator so as to move the reel or hold down to a non-operating position so as not to interfere with the expulsion of the jam and/or metal. Other controls are provided and other parameters are sensed for delaying and/or overriding the automatic positioning of the reel or crop hold down in their non-operating position.

Abstract: A perforating gun includes a guide, a first charge unit, a second charge unit and a linkage. The first and second charge units are coupled to the guide. The second charge unit is capable of being in a collapsed position for passing the second charge unit through a tubing and is capable of being in an expanded position for detonating the second charge unit. The linkage is connected to the second charge unit to communicate an applied force to cause the second charge unit to move the second charge unit along the guide toward the first charge unit when the second charge unit is at least partially in the expanded position.

Abstract: A crop harvesting implement operatively connected to a tractor having a wheeled frame, a draft tongue, a hydraulic cylinder interconnecting the frame and the draft tongue, a hydraulic cylinder interconnecting the frame and the draft tongue, and a hydraulic conduit system containing at least one flexible hose extending from the forward end of the draft tongue to the tractor, is provided with a hydraulic hose support pivotally mounted on the forward end of the draft tongue to support the flexible hoses at a position forward of the draft tongue. The pivoted hose support is mounted in a pivot bracket that is fixed to the forwardmost end of the draft tongue. The pivoted hose support includes a vertical portion defining a generally vertical pivot axis about which the hose support can rotatably move in conjunction with the pivoting motion of the draft tongue relative to the tractor and frame.

Abstract: A drive system for a corn harvesting header assembly on a combine. A power take-off shaft on the front end of the combine feeder assembly is drivingly connected to the header assembly line shaft by a coupler shaft.

Abstract: A rake made of a first rake part having a handle and a first rake head section connected to one end of the handle, and a second rake part having a second rake head section. The section rake part is detachably connected to the first rake part in a manner to have the first and second rake head sections form a full rake head. The second rake part is detachable from the first rake part for use alone, or with the first rake part to grasp a pile of debris.

Abstract: A trench leveling blade is movably mounted between a pair of side walls which are slotted to receive the bucket of a backhoe or other excavating machine. The blade is vertically adjustable with a hand operated jack screw. Rollers mounted in front and back of the blade support the blade during use and guide the blade during its vertical adjustment. A pair of adjustable scraper blades is provided on opposite sides of the leveling blade to clean the surface of the pavement adjoining the trench or any other surface being worked by the leveling blade.

Abstract: A spatial guide and support for attachment to a line trimmer includes a rotatable cutter head having a lawn cutting string mounted thereon and a main shaft extending upward therefrom, a moving member mounted on the main shaft of the cutter head for moving the cutter head and having a fastener secured on the main shaft of the cutter head, an auxiliary member mounted on the main shaft of the cutter head and having a mounting bracket rotatably mounted on the fastener of the moving member, a guide track secured on the mounting bracket, and an auxiliary moving wheel adjustably mounted on the guide track, and an adjusting member mounted on the mounting bracket of the auxiliary member for releasably securing the mounting bracket on the fastener of the moving member.

Abstract: A vegetation cutting tool such as a brush cutter, lawn mower, etc. includes a hub (110) for mounting on the rotary shaft of the brush cutter and blades (112) mounted thereto via pivoted links (116). In use the blades are held by rivets (114), having enlarged eccentric heads (122), which are received in keyhole-shaped slots in the blades. Thus the blades may be readily removed without tools by first rotating a blade and then translating it relative to the hub. The blades may be enlarged in width towards their distal ends which are radiused with a smaller radius than that of the cutting circle.

Abstract: A separation method and apparatus for separating components used in downhole well development activity, whilst in position down the well. Method and apparatus are characterized in that they do not make use of external mechanical forces, or internal fluid pressure, applied through the development apparatus to render the components in a separable state. The release is achieved through the use of a fusible metal element.

Abstract: An offset auger feed assembly for use with a grain harvesting combine. A grain elevator is used to lift the grain into a storage tank on the combine. The grain elevator encloses a plurality of paddles connected to a continuous chain. Sprockets located at the top and bottom of the grain elevator support the continuous chain. An auger trough is connected to the bottom of the grain elevator. An auger positioned in the auger trough feeds grain into the bottom of the grain elevator. The shaft of the auger is offset from lower sprocket that supports the continuous chain at the bottom of the grain elevator in such a manner that the lower sprocket and the continuous chain do not interfere with the flow of grain into bottom of the grain elevator.