Patents Examined by Thomas B. Will
  • Patent number: 12063888
    Abstract: A self-propelled picking vehicle for pineapples based on scraper transportation is provided and includes a baseplate, a driving mechanism, and a propelling mechanism. The driving mechanism is disposed on the baseplate, the propelling mechanism is disposed at a lower end of the baseplate, and the driving mechanism is connected to the propelling mechanism. A front end of the horizontal chain conveyor is provided with a cutting plate. The cutting plate is provided with two disk blades, outer sides of the two disk blades are provided with dividers, and a fruit protector is disposed between the two disk blades. A fruit picking mechanism is disposed on an upper end of the fruit protector. The entire process has achieved automated pineapple picking, efficiency of picking and transportation is improved, and labor intensity of fruit farmers is greatly reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2024
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2024
    Assignee: South Subtropical Crop Research Institute, China Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences
    Inventors: Zhong Xue, Xiumei Zhang
  • Patent number: 12059606
    Abstract: A golf green hole-making device has longitudinal, radial, and angular directions, and includes a cutting cylinder, a structure, a weight, a weight propulsion device, a soil expulsion piston, a piston driving mechanism, and an expulsion activating mechanism. The cutting cylinder has an open end that is freely movable longitudinally. The structure includes a guide with which the weight engages to move along a weight path between first and second endpoints, when propelled by the weight propulsion device, causing the weight to strike the cutting cylinder and urge the cutting cylinder in the longitudinal direction. The soil expulsion piston moves inside the cutting cylinder along its axis. The piston driving mechanism transfers force from the weight propulsion device to the soil expulsion piston to drive the soil expulsion piston towards the open end. The expulsion activating mechanism engages and disengages the piston driving mechanism in relation to the weight propulsion device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2024
    Assignee: KSAB GOLF EQUIPMENT AKTIEBOLAG
    Inventor: Carl Gustav Falk
  • Patent number: 12052941
    Abstract: A system for calibrating tool depth as an agricultural implement is moved across a field may include an implement frame and a ground-engaging tool supported on the implement frame, with the ground-engaging tool configured to penetrate soil present within the field to a penetration depth. Additionally, the system may also include a frame position sensor configured to capture data indicative of a distance between the implement frame and a surface of the field. Furthermore, a controller of the disclosed system may be configured to determine a penetration depth value of the ground-engaging tool based on a received input. Moreover, the controller may be configured to determine a correction factor based on the data captured by the frame position sensor. In addition, the controller may be configured to adjust the determined penetration depth value based on the determined correction factor to calibrate the penetration depth value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2024
    Assignee: CNH Industrial America LLC
    Inventors: Douglas James Rylander, Trevor Stanhope, Joshua David Harmon
  • Patent number: 12041881
    Abstract: The invention comprises a rake that functions in the same position both when pulled and pushed and its stiff tines (39) are flexibly (9) pivoted or fastened with a spring (9) onto the rake head (16) that consists of an axle (16) made of a tubular section that is open is one side and the tines (39) have double ends (17).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2024
    Assignee: Innotank Oy
    Inventors: Fredrik Serlachius, Jukka Enäjärvi
  • Patent number: 12041880
    Abstract: The invention relates to a self-propelled agricultural machine, for example a self-propelled merger, said self-propelled agricultural machine being provided with at least one motor, at least one elongated unit for carrying out, in use, an agricultural operation on the land, a first wheel axle and a second wheel axle located at a distance from the first wheel axle, wherein the first wheel axle and/or the second wheel axle is/are to be driven by the motor for moving the agricultural machine, wherein the elongated unit is movable from a transport position to a working position and vice versa, so that the maximum width of the self-propelled agricultural machine in the unit's transport position is less than in the unit's working position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2024
    Assignee: PLOEGER OXBO EUROPE B.V.
    Inventor: Hendrik Willem Breure
  • Patent number: 12043970
    Abstract: A snow removal machine is provided which may prevent ejection of snow collected by a snow-collecting unit to an outside and may perform efficient snow removal. A snow removal machine includes a driving source, an auger housing, a rotating shaft to be driven and rotated by the driving source within the auger housing, and an auger arranged within the auger housing and to be driven and rotated via the rotating shaft, the auger includes snow-collecting blades located on both sides in a width direction of the auger and collecting snow toward a center of the auger in the width direction and a snow-throwing blade located at the center of the auger in the width direction, casting snow collected by the snow-collecting blades by a centrifugal force, and discharging snow to an outside via a chute, and the snow-collecting. blades are rotated at a lower speed than the snow-throwing blade.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2024
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Nobuo Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 12041865
    Abstract: A shovel is provided having a handle, a support assembly and a blade. The support assembly comprises a substantially flat mounting base adapted for connection to the blade and having first and second ends and front and rear regions. A shaft positioned at first angle to the base. First and second arms symmetrically arranged with respect to the shaft. The first arm connects the first end of the base with a central region of the shaft, and the second connects the second end of the base with a central region of the shaft. The shaft is formed with a hollow channel with a reinforcing rod disposed within the channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2024
    Inventor: John Zelenka
  • Patent number: 12043977
    Abstract: A bracket for mounting an excavation bucket on a coupler of an articulated arm. The bracket comprises a body extending in a plane and having a central portion. This bracket allows reversible mounting of the coupler of the excavation bucket by providing two pairs of adjacent concavities at a front and at a rear portion of the body which can alternately hold a corresponding pair of hinge shafts of a coupler in either orientation. Abutments at the front and at the rear are provided to further retain the coupler in the mounting bracket in either configuration. A bottom of the mounting bracket comprises notches that fit with corresponding portions of the bucket for improved securing of the bucket assembly on the mounting bracket.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2024
    Assignee: GROUP R.Y. BEAUDOIN INC.
    Inventors: Luc D'Amours, Alain Rivard, Rémi Beaudoin
  • Patent number: 12041873
    Abstract: A finger-bar-type mower in which blades reciprocate left and right to mow grass. The mower includes: a connection gear which is power-connected to a driving means of the mower; a reduction gear connected to the connection gear; a shaft rotating according to rotation of the reduction gear; a bridge accommodating and supporting the connection gear and the reduction gear; a blade which is power-connected to the shaft and is reciprocated left and right according to rotation of the shaft, the blade including cutting edges; a guide part supporting the bridge and extending along the blade; and wheels respectively connected to both ends of the guide part. The shaft is disposed in center regions of the blade and the guide part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2024
    Inventor: Jae-sik Min
  • Patent number: 12035655
    Abstract: A work machine includes a chassis, a header, and a control system. The header is coupled to the chassis and positioned to remove crop material from the ground. The header includes a reel to draw crop material into the header so that the crop material may be conveyed rearwardly and a plurality of actuators to move the reel relative to a frame of the header in use of the work machine. The control system is coupled to the chassis and includes a controller communicatively coupled to the plurality of actuators and a single user input communicatively coupled to the controller that is configured to provide an input signal to the controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2024
    Assignee: DEERE & COMPANY
    Inventor: John L. Peters
  • Patent number: 12035652
    Abstract: In the case of a mounting device for mounting a support arm, which moves a lifting tool, on a harvesting machine, a cylindrical bushing is mounted on a machine part. The bushing is enclosed by a retaining element on which the end of the support arm opposite the lifting tool is fixed. The bushing has a through-hole that receives a machine part and has an axis of symmetry extending eccentrically relative to the axis of rotation of the cylindrical bushing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2024
    Assignee: Reichhardt GmbH Steuerungstechnik
    Inventor: Andreas Reichhardt
  • Patent number: 12037756
    Abstract: A vehicle barrier includes a first post and a second post each having a top end and a planar wall, a barrier beam extending longitudinally in a same vertical plane as the first post and the second post and the barrier beam separating an attack side from an asset side, a first post connection attaching the barrier beam to the first post, the first post connection comprising a first beam plate extending from a first end of the barrier beam, a first post plate extending from the planar wall of the first post, and a first pin vertically disposed in the first beam plate and the first post plate, and a second post connection attaching the barrier beam to the second post.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2023
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2024
    Inventor: William H. Neusch
  • Patent number: 12029163
    Abstract: A work machine that has an implement coupled to the frame of the work machine, a first sensor coupled to the implement, a controller, and an implement position system that couples the implement to the frame. The first sensor identifies the orientation of the implement along more than one axis and the controller manipulates the implement position system to reposition the implement relative to the frame based on the orientation of the implement identified by the first sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2024
    Assignee: DEERE & COMPANY
    Inventor: David V. Rotole
  • Patent number: 12022757
    Abstract: A system for detecting changes in the operating condition of frame assemblies of an agricultural implement includes a main frame assembly and a sub-frame assembly coupled to the main frame assembly, with the sub-frame assembly being configured to support a plurality of ground-engaging tools. The system also includes first and second load sensors configured to provide data indicative of a load applied through respective first and second portions of the sub-frame assembly, and a computing system communicatively coupled to the first and second load sensors. The computing system is configured to monitor the loads applied through the first and second portions of the sub-frame assembly based on the data provided by the first and second load sensors, and determine that a change in an operating condition of the sub-frame assembly has occurred based on a differential between the loads applied through the first and second portions of the sub-frame assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2024
    Assignee: CNH Industrial America LLC
    Inventor: Brittany Schroeder
  • Patent number: 12018453
    Abstract: A retention assembly to slidably retain a blade to a support bracket of a grader machine. The retention assembly includes a yoke adapted to be coupled to the support bracket, and the yoke includes a base wall, a first sidewall extending directly from the base wall, the first sidewall being configured to face the blade, and a second sidewall extending directly from the base wall, the second sidewall configured to face away from the blade and spaced apart from the first sidewall to define a cavity therebetween, along with the base wall. A retainer extends from at least one of the first sidewall, the second sidewall, and the base, and a bearing arrangement is received within the cavity and adapted to support the blade for sliding movement of the blade relative to the bearing arrangement. The retainer engages the bearing arrangement and retains the bearing arrangement within the cavity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2024
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Nathaniel Keith Harshman, James David Costner, III, David L Cox, Benjamin J Kovalick, Tanner Cade Koehne
  • Patent number: 12016271
    Abstract: Weed seeds are destroyed in the chaff from a combine harvester by repeated high speed impacts caused by a rotor mounted in one of a pair of side by side housings which accelerate the discarded seeds into contact with stator bars at angularly spaced positions around the axis of the rotor. U-shaped bars are symmetrical and can be reversed when the second leg is worn for extended life. Parts of the rotor and stator which are radially outward of other parts are formed with a higher resistance to wear approximately proportional to the radius so that the wear characteristics of the different parts are matched to the velocity of the particles impacting the different portions to generate symmetrical wear throughout the structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2024
    Assignee: Tritana Intellectual Property Ltd.
    Inventor: Dean Mayerle
  • Patent number: 12016267
    Abstract: A walk power mower comprises a housing having an upwardly and rearwardly extending handle that is gripped by an operator. A load cell is responsive to the force applied by the operator to the handle during a grass mowing operation. Input from the load cell is used by a control system to vary the ground speed of the mower in accordance with the sensed operator applied force through control of an electric traction drive motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2024
    Assignee: THE TORO COMPANY
    Inventors: Peter M. Arendt, Chris A. Wadzinski
  • Patent number: 12010944
    Abstract: A mower deck transport lock for a parallelogram lift linkage supporting a mower deck at any of a plurality of cutting heights where a striker plate contacts a height of cut selection knob. A transport bracket pivots into engagement with the striker plate only at a transport height above the plurality of cutting heights. A transport lock indicator is activated when the transport bracket pivots into engagement with the striker plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2024
    Assignee: DEERE & COMPANY
    Inventors: Jorge Cavazos Garcia, Maxwell G Anderson, Sebastian Baena, Wesley E Clontz
  • Patent number: 12010937
    Abstract: A header for a crop harvesting machine includes front and rear wheel arrangements that pivot about respective upright axis between a field orientation and a perpendicular transport orientation, while having respective suspensions arrangements movable between different suspended heights. A biasing spring provides lift assist to carry weight of the wheel arrangement during adjustment of the suspension elevation while being isolated from the suspension once set at any one elevation. The front wheel arrangement includes an anti-rotation latch that locks the front wheel in the field orientation automatically upon disconnection of a hitch arm. A second wheel of the rear wheel arrangement can be held in a raised position relative to a first wheel in a field orientation. Load bearing surfaces between the suspended rear wheels and the header frame abut one another when latching to the header frame to isolate the suspension from the header frame in the transport orientation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2024
    Assignee: MacDon Industries Ltd.
    Inventors: Russell George Lyons, Glen Frank Beamish
  • Patent number: 12010950
    Abstract: An agricultural harvester includes a header and a cab for an operator of the harvester. The header includes a frame, a support arm connected to the frame and a harvesting reel assembly. The harvesting reel assembly includes a central rotatable shaft connected to the support arm, a reel member extending widthwise across the harvesting reel assembly and connected to the central rotatable shaft for rotation therewith, and a first cam assembly rotatable about a first end of the central rotatable shaft. The first cam assembly includes a first cam plate, a first non-circular cam track for guiding rotation of the reel member and a first adjustor. The first adjustor is operatively engaged with the first cam plate and pivotably connected to the support arm for adjusting a rotational position of the first cam assembly relative to the central rotatable shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2024
    Assignee: CNH Industrial America LLC
    Inventor: Nathan R. Drzal