Abstract: A combine harvester includes a straw discharge rotor discharging into a straw stream and a sieve discharging into a chaff stream and a weed seed destructor section receiving the chaff and weed seeds for devitalizing at least some weed seeds. The straw is maintained out of the chaff stream by a guide construction having a front curved section underneath the rotor and a rear section which comprises a row of cantilevered flexible fingers which flex to assist in flow of the straw thereover and release of the straw from the rear end thereof. The rear ends of the fingers are thus unconnected and allow the straw to be freely released onto a dividing wall extending to the entrance to a straw chopper. The row of fingers can be carried on a support bar which is reciprocated around a transverse axis by a connection to a reciprocating element of the combine.

Abstract: Weed seeds are destroyed in the chaff from a combine harvester by repeated high speed impacts caused by a rotor which accelerates the discarded seeds in a direction centrifugally away from the rotor onto a stator including angularly adjustable stator surfaces around the axis. Thus the discarded seeds rebound back and forth between the rotor and the stator to provide a plurality of impacts. The destructor is mounted on or coaxially with a suitable drive shaft in the straw stream such as the chopper rotor shaft. The rotor is mounted on bearings relative to the chopper rotor drive shaft and is coupled thereto by a releasable coupling between plates radial to the shaft so that the rotor can be stopped while the chopper rotor continues to operate in the event of a fault in the weed seed destructor.

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 in a direction centrifugally away from the rotor onto a stator including angularly adjustable stator surfaces around the axis. Thus the discarded seeds rebound back and forth between the rotor and the stator to provide a plurality of impacts. The seeds are carried axially of the rotor by a controlled airstream so that they move to an axial discharge location where a discharge fan is mounted. The angle of the discharge around the rotor axis can be changed to direct the seeds to the side of the combine away from a straw chopper, towards the guide fins of the tailboard of the chopper, or into the housing of the straw chopper.

Abstract: A combine harvester separates crop into straw and chaff and weed seeds using a sieve, a chopping rotor with a spreading device and at least one weed seed devitalization section. The components can be operated in a first mode where both the first material and said second material are directed to the chopper and a second mode the first material is directed to the chopper inlet and the second material is directed to the WSD. This can be effected by providing a guide wall which has a leading edge attached adjacent a rear edge of the sieve and extends rearwardly therefrom. The chopper and the WSD can also be moved to provide the change of modes. A construction of destructor mill with an outer stator on the housing is also disclosed along with a method of feeding the lost grain to the WSD.

Abstract: A combine harvester separates crop into straw and chaff and weed seeds using a sieve, a chopping rotor with a spreading device and at least one weed seed devitalization section. The components can be operated in a first mode where both the first material and said second material are directed to the chopper and a second mode the first material is directed to the chopper inlet and the second material is directed to the WSD. This can be effected by providing a guide wall which has a leading edge attached adjacent a rear edge of the sieve and extends rearwardly therefrom. The chopper and the WSD can also be moved to provide the change of modes. A construction of destructor mill with an outer stator on the housing is also disclosed along with a method of feeding the lost grain to the WSD.

Abstract: A combine harvester separates crop into straw and chaff and weed seeds using a sieve, a chopping rotor with a spreading device and at least one weed seed devitalization section. The components can be operated in a first mode where both the first material and said second material are directed to the chopper and a second mode the first material is directed to the chopper inlet and the second material is directed to the WSD. This can be effected by providing a guide wall which has a leading edge attached adjacent a rear edge of the sieve and extends rearwardly therefrom. The chopper and the WSD can also be moved to provide the change of modes. A construction of destructor mill with an outer stator on the housing is also disclosed along with a method of feeding the lost grain to the WSD.

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 in a direction centrifugally away from the rotor onto a stator including angularly adjustable stator surfaces around the axis. Thus the discarded seeds rebound back and forth between the rotor and the stator to provide a plurality of impacts. The seeds are carried axially of the rotor by a controlled airstream so that they move to an axial discharge location where a discharge fan is mounted. The angle of the discharge around the rotor axis can be changed to direct the seeds to the side of the combine away from a straw chopper, towards the guide fins of the tailboard of the chopper, or into the housing of the straw chopper.

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 in a direction centrifugally away from the rotor onto a stator including angularly adjustable stator surfaces around the axis. Thus the discarded seeds rebound back and forth between the rotor and the stator to provide a plurality of impacts. The destructor is mounted on a suitable drive shaft within the straw path and the chaff and weed seed material is carried from the rear end of the sieve to the destructor on the straw chopper by one or more fans driving the material through a transfer duct.

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 in a direction centrifugally away from the rotor onto a stator including angularly adjustable stator surfaces around the axis. Thus the discarded seeds rebound back and forth between the rotor and the stator to provide a plurality of impacts. The seeds are carried axially of the rotor by a controlled airstream so that they move to an axial discharge location where a discharge fan is mounted. The angle of the discharge around the rotor axis can be changed to direct the seeds to the side of the combine away from a straw chopper, towards the guide fins of the tailboard of the chopper, or into the housing of the straw chopper.

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 in a direction centrifugally away from the rotor onto a stator including angularly adjustable stator surfaces around the axis. Thus the discarded seeds rebound back and forth between the rotor and the stator to provide a plurality of impacts. The seeds are carried axially of the rotor by a controlled airstream so that they move to an axial discharge location where a discharge fan is mounted. The angle of the discharge around the rotor axis can be changed to direct the seeds to the side of the combine away from a straw chopper, towards the guide fins of the tailboard of the chopper, or into the housing of the straw chopper.

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 in a direction centrifugally away from the rotor onto a stator including angularly adjustable stator surfaces around the axis. Thus the discarded seeds rebound back and forth between the rotor and the stator to provide a plurality of impacts. The seeds are carried axially of the rotor by a controlled airstream so that they move to an axial discharge location where a discharge fan is mounted. The angle of the discharge around the rotor axis can be changed to direct the seeds to the side of the combine away from a straw chopper, towards the guide fins of the tailboard of the chopper, or into the housing of the straw chopper.

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 in a direction centrifugally away from the rotor onto a stator including angularly adjustable stator surfaces around the axis. The weed seed destructor is driven with a straw management system from an output shaft of the combine harvester so that the full power required for both passes through a belt which includes more than four longitudinally extending v-belt ribs and reinforcing cords located in a base band above the ribs at uniformly spaced positions across the width of the belt so that a replacement drive pulley on the output shaft has a width not significantly greater than a conventional output pulley which it replaces.

Abstract: A cutting blade for vegetation is provided for example for use in a straw chopper or rotary mower. The blade body includes a first base material and at least one hard surface bead formed on at least one surface of the base material extending up to a cutting edge of the base material. Beads can be applied longitudinally by the heat energy from the cladding laser system to form pockets so that the blade is serrated by the pockets when supplied with additional wear increasing the pockets to maintain the serrations. The chamfered side face of the blade body forming the cutting edge can also be formed using heat energy from the same laser cutting and cladding system.

Abstract: Weed seeds are destroyed in the chaff from a combine harvester by primary and secondary destructors where the primary feeds to the secondary. The secondary can use repeated high speed impacts caused by a rotor mounted in one of a pair of side by side housings which accelerate the discarded seeds in a direction centrifugally away from the rotor onto a stator including angularly adjustable stator surfaces around the axis. The primary can also use an impact arrangement of a different and simplified structure or can use another destruction modality such as radiation.

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. The stator bars are formed from bent sheet metal which are L-shaped or U-shaped in cross-section to define a first leg lying in a cylindrical surface surrounding the axis of the rotor and a second leg extending outwardly from the cylindrical surface connected to the first leg at an apex at a leading end of the first leg relative to the direction of rotation of the rotor. When U-shaped, the bars are symmetrical and can be reversed when the second leg is worn for extended life.

Abstract: A cutting blade for vegetation is provided for example for use in a straw chopper or rotary mower. The blade includes a first base material and a plurality of hard surface beads of at least two different materials formed on at least one surface of the base material extending up to a cutting edge of the base material wherein the plurality of hard surface beads lie alternately side by side with touching side edges and one contains at least one different material of a different hardness relative to the other so that differential wear rates are created, and a wear profile is controlled. The softer material is burnt away at the edge by the cladding laser to form pockets so that the blade is serrated by the pockets when supplied with additional wear increasing the pockets to maintain the serrations.

Abstract: A combine harvester includes a straw chopper, spreading device and a weed seed destructor (WSD) which acts on the weed seeds in the chaff so as to cause devitalization. The WSD includes a discharge mouth where the WSD causes generation of an air flow which exits through the mouth. The system is operable in two modes where in both the straw is directed to the straw spreading device. In the first mode the chaff is directed into the WSD and in the second mode the chaff is carried past the WSD on a guide surface and is converged inwardly to drop into the air stream from the WSD. In both modes the chaff is spread using the air stream from the WSD at least to the sides either by feeding to the spreading device or by combining with the stream of straw after it leaves the spreading device.

Abstract: A residue management system of a combine harvester includes a tailboard with a guide surface and guide fins for spreading of the residue to the sides. At least one of the fins includes a leading portion which is smoothly concavely curved up to a trailing portion which intersects with the leading portion at a change in direction or defined bend in the sheet metal. The trailing portion thus extends across and intersects with a path of the residue as it passes along the concave side surface at the leading portion and leaves the end of the leading portion to apply increased pressure on the stream and thus increase the spreading action. The trailing edge of the trailing portion is also inclined to a line across the trailing portion at right angles to the tailboard surface which causes the residue to leave the trailing edge at different angles.

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 in a direction centrifugally away from the rotor onto a stator including angularly adjustable stator surfaces around the axis. Thus the discarded seeds rebound back and forth between the rotor and the stator to provide a plurality of impacts. The seeds are carried axially of the rotor by a controlled airstream so that they move to an axial discharge location where a discharge fan is mounted. The angle of the discharge around the rotor axis can be changed to direct the seeds to the side of the combine away from a straw chopper, towards the guide fins of the tailboard of the chopper, or into the housing of the straw chopper.

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 in a direction centrifugally away from the rotor onto a stator including angularly adjustable stator surfaces around the axis. Thus the discarded seeds rebound back and forth between the rotor and the stator to provide a plurality of impacts. The seeds are carried axially of the rotor by a controlled airstream so that they move to an axial discharge location where a discharge fan is mounted. The angle of the discharge around the rotor axis can be changed to direct the seeds to the side of the combine away from a straw chopper, towards the guide fins of the tailboard of the chopper, or into the housing of the straw chopper.