Patents by Inventor James R. Schmidt

James R. Schmidt has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8763353
    Abstract: A harvesting machine includes a harvesting header with a header frame, a cutterbar assembly attached to the header frame along the length thereof and configured to cut a crop, and a draper assembly positioned behind the cutterbar assembly and operable to receive severed crop material from the cutterbar assembly. The draper assembly includes a center draper that delivers crop material to a feeder house of the harvesting machine and oppositely spaced side drapers that deliver crop material to the center draper. The harvesting header is operable to flex and thereby follow an uneven terrain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2014
    Assignee: AGCO Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher T. Sauerwein, Randy Lohrentz, James R. Schmidt, Gagan Sethi
  • Patent number: 8601780
    Abstract: A harvesting header includes a header frame, a flexible cutterbar assembly mounted to the header frame, a plurality of laterally spaced apart support arms, and a draper assembly. The support arms are attached to and cooperatively support the cutterbar assembly and are pivotally coupled to the frame for swinging movement about a laterally extending axis. The draper assembly includes a side draper carried on multiple ones of the support arms so as to flex with the cutterbar assembly. The draper assembly includes rollers and a roller frame that operably interconnects the interior support arm and a respective one of the rollers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: AGCO Corporation
    Inventors: James R. Schmidt, Christopher T. Sauerwein, Randy Lohrentz, Bernard D. Regier, Stanley R. Clark, Alan R. Bergkamp
  • Patent number: 8534037
    Abstract: A harvesting header includes a header frame, a flexible cutterbar assembly attached to the header frame, a draper assembly supported behind the cutterbar assembly for conveying severed crop materials received from the cutterbar assembly, and a plurality of laterally spaced apart support arms attached to and cooperatively supporting the flexible cutterbar assembly, with each support arm being pivotal about a lateral axis. The header further includes stop structure associated with a respective one of the support arms, with the stop structure located forwardly of the lateral axis and defining a limited range of angular support arm movement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2013
    Assignee: AGCO Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher T. Sauerwein, Randy Lohrentz, Gagan Sethi, James R. Schmidt
  • Publication number: 20120279191
    Abstract: A harvesting machine includes a harvesting header with a header frame, a cutterbar assembly attached to the header frame along the length thereof and configured to cut a crop, and a draper assembly positioned behind the cutterbar assembly and operable to receive severed crop material from the cutterbar assembly. The draper assembly includes a center draper that delivers crop material to a feeder house of the harvesting machine and oppositely spaced side drapers that deliver crop material to the center draper. The harvesting header is operable to flex and thereby follow an uneven terrain.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 17, 2012
    Publication date: November 8, 2012
    Applicant: AGCO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Christopher T. Sauerwein, Randy Lohrentz, Gagan Sethi, James R. Schmidt
  • Publication number: 20120266582
    Abstract: A harvesting header includes a header frame, a cutterbar assembly mounted to the header frame, and a conveyor assembly supported behind the cutterbar assembly to receive crop severed by the cutterbar assembly. The conveyor assembly includes a pair of side conveyors and a fore-and-aft draper located between the side conveyors. The header further includes a central crop-conveying member that overhangs the rear margin of the fore-and-aft draper and a floor pan that at least partly defines a transition area. The floor pan presents a forwardmost edge adjacent to and rearward of the rear margin. The forwardmost edge is located above a lower run of the draper to direct severed crop materials from the upper run of the draper and to facilitate crop material flow through the transition area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2012
    Publication date: October 25, 2012
    Applicant: AGCO CORPORATION
    Inventors: JAMES R. SCHMIDT, CHRISTOPHER T. SAUERWEIN, RANDY LOHRENTZ, BERNARD D. REGIER, STANLEY R. CLARK, ALAN R. BERGKAMP
  • Patent number: 8266880
    Abstract: A harvesting machine includes a harvesting header with a header frame, a cutterbar assembly attached to the header frame along the length thereof and configured to cut a crop, and a draper assembly positioned behind the cutterbar assembly and operable to receive severed crop material from the cutterbar assembly. The draper assembly includes a center draper that delivers crop material to a feeder house of the harvesting machine and oppositely spaced side drapers that deliver crop material to the center draper. The harvesting header is operable to flex and thereby follow an uneven terrain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2012
    Assignee: AGCO Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher T. Sauerwein, Randy Lohrentz, James R. Schmidt, Gagan Sethi
  • Patent number: 8240116
    Abstract: A harvesting machine includes a harvesting header with a header frame, a cutterbar assembly attached to the header frame along the length thereof and configured to cut a crop, and a draper assembly positioned behind the cutterbar assembly and operable to receive severed crop material from the cutterbar assembly. The draper assembly includes a center draper that delivers crop material to a feeder house of the harvesting machine and oppositely spaced side drapers that deliver crop material to the center draper. The harvesting header is operable to flex and thereby follow an uneven terrain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2012
    Assignee: AGCO Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher T. Sauerwein, Randy Lohrentz, James R. Schmidt, Gagan Sethi
  • Patent number: 8230670
    Abstract: A harvesting header includes a header frame, a flexible cutterbar assembly, and a plurality of laterally spaced apart support arms that are attached to and cooperatively support the flexible cutterbar assembly. The header also includes a draper assembly with a side draper carried on multiple ones of the support arms so as to flex with the cutterbar assembly. The side draper includes an endless flexible draper belt presenting laterally endmost margins, with upper and lower crop-conveying runs extending between the margins. The header further includes pivoting structure mounted relative to the header frame at a rear pivot location so that the pivoting structure projects forwardly from the rear pivot location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2012
    Assignee: AGCO Corporation
    Inventors: James R. Schmidt, Christopher T. Sauerwein, Randy Lohrentz, Bernard D. Regier, Stanley R. Clark, Alan R. Bergkamp
  • Publication number: 20120151893
    Abstract: A harvesting header includes a header frame, a flexible cutterbar assembly attached to the header frame, a draper assembly supported behind the cutterbar assembly for conveying severed crop materials received from the cutterbar assembly, and a plurality of laterally spaced apart support arms attached to and cooperatively supporting the flexible cutterbar assembly, with each support arm being pivotal about a lateral axis. The header further includes stop structure associated with a respective one of the support arms, with the stop structure located forwardly of the lateral axis and defining a limited range of angular support arm movement.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 27, 2012
    Publication date: June 21, 2012
    Applicant: AGCO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Christopher T. Sauerwein, Randy Lohrentz, Gagan Sethi, James R. Schmidt
  • Publication number: 20120079800
    Abstract: A harvesting machine includes a harvesting header with a header frame, a cutterbar assembly attached to the header frame along the length thereof and configured to cut a crop, and a draper assembly positioned behind the cutterbar assembly and operable to receive severed crop material from the cutterbar assembly. The draper assembly includes a center draper that delivers crop material to a feeder house of the harvesting machine and oppositely spaced side drapers that deliver crop material to the center draper. The harvesting header is operable to flex and thereby follow an uneven terrain.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2011
    Publication date: April 5, 2012
    Applicant: AGCO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Christopher T. Sauerwein, Randy Lohrentz, Gagan Sethi, James R. Schmidt
  • Patent number: 8145978
    Abstract: A system and method are provided for efficiently initializing a redundant array of independent disks (RAID). The method monitors host write operations and uses that information to select the optimal method to perform a parity reconstruction operation. The bins to which data access write operations have not occurred can be initialized using a zeroing process. In one aspect, the method identifies drives in the RAID array capable of receiving a ‘WriteRepeatedly’ command and leverages that capability to eliminate the need for the RAID disk array controller to provide initialization data for all disk array initialization transfers. This reduces the RAID array controller processor and I/O bandwidth required to initialize the array and further reduces the time to initialize a RAID array. In a different aspect, a method is provided for efficiently selecting a host write process for optimal data redundancy and performance in a RAID array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2012
    Assignee: Summit Data Systems LLC
    Inventors: Christophe Therene, James R. Schmidt
  • Publication number: 20120036819
    Abstract: A harvesting header having a flexible cutterbar assembly utilizes draper belts behind the cutterbar assembly to gently consolidate the severed crop materials and deliver them to a point of discharge and delivery, such as to the feederhouse of a combine harvester. One embodiment has draper assemblies and a central conveyor fixed relative to the flexible cutterbar assembly, while another has the draper assemblies and central conveyer flexible with the cutterbar assembly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 26, 2011
    Publication date: February 16, 2012
    Applicant: AGCO CORPORATION
    Inventors: James R. Schmidt, Christopher T. Sauerwein, Randy Lohrentz, Bernard D. Regier, Stanley R. Clark, Alan R. Bergkamp
  • Patent number: 8096101
    Abstract: A harvesting header having a flexible cutterbar assembly utilizes draper belts behind the cutterbar assembly to gently consolidate the severed crop materials and deliver them to a point of discharge and delivery, such as to the feederhouse of a combine harvester. The cutterbar assembly is supported by pivotable support arms such that it is operable to flex along the length thereof in response to changes in terrain as the header is advanced. One embodiment has draper assemblies and a central conveyor fixed relative to the flexible cutterbar assembly, while another has the draper assemblies and central conveyer flexible with the cutterbar assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2012
    Assignee: AGCO Corporation
    Inventors: James R. Schmidt, Christopher T. Sauerwein, Randy Lohrentz, Bernard D. Regier, Stanley R. Clark, Alan R. Bergkamp
  • Patent number: 8091330
    Abstract: A harvesting machine includes a draper header with a header frame, a crop-cutting assembly attached to the header frame along the length thereof and configured to cut a crop, and a draper assembly positioned behind the crop-cutter assembly and operable to receive severed crop material from the crop-cutter assembly and convey the material laterally. The draper assembly includes a draper belt with a crop-retaining rib to retain severed crop material on the draper belt and to restrict movement of the crop material back to the crop-cutting assembly. At least one belt guard is attached to and disposed along the crop-cutting assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2012
    Assignee: AGCO Corporation
    Inventors: Randy Lohrentz, Christopher T. Sauerwein, James R. Schmidt
  • Publication number: 20110258387
    Abstract: A system and method are provided for efficiently initializing a redundant array of independent disks (RAID). The method monitors host write operations and uses that information to select the optimal method to perform a parity reconstruction operation. The bins to which data access write operations have not occurred can be initialized using a zeroing process. In one aspect, the method identifies drives in the RAID array capable of receiving a ‘WriteRepeatedly’ command and leverages that capability to eliminate the need for the RAID disk array controller to provide initialization data for all disk array initialization transfers. This reduces the RAID array controller processor and I/O bandwidth required to initialize the array and further reduces the time to initialize a RAID array. In a different aspect, a method is provided for efficiently selecting a host write process for optimal data redundancy and performance in a RAID array.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2011
    Publication date: October 20, 2011
    Inventors: Christophe Therene, James R. Schmidt
  • Publication number: 20110185693
    Abstract: A harvesting header having a flexible cutterbar assembly utilizes draper belts behind the cutterbar assembly to gently consolidate the severed crop materials and deliver them to a point of discharge and delivery, such as to the feederhouse of a combine harvester. One embodiment has draper assemblies and a central conveyor fixed relative to the flexible cutterbar assembly, while another has the draper assemblies and central conveyer flexible with the cutterbar assembly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 12, 2011
    Publication date: August 4, 2011
    Applicant: AGCO CORPORATION
    Inventors: James R. Schmidt, Christopher T. Sauerwein, Randy Lohrentz, Bernard D. Regier, Stanley R. Clark, Alan R. Bergkamp
  • Patent number: 7979773
    Abstract: A system and method are provided for efficiently initializing a redundant array of independent disks (RAID). The method monitors host write operations and uses that information to select the optimal method to perform a parity reconstruction operation. The bins to which data access write operations have not occurred can be initialized using a zeroing process. In one aspect, the method identifies drives in the RAID array capable of receiving a ‘WriteRepeatedly’ command and leverages that capability to eliminate the need for the RAID disk array controller to provide initialization data for all disk array initialization transfers. This reduces the RAID array controller processor and I/O bandwidth required to initialize the array and further reduces the time to initialize a RAID array. In a different aspect, a method is provided for efficiently selecting a host write process for optimal data redundancy and performance in a RAID array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2011
    Assignee: Summit Data Systems LLC
    Inventors: Christophe Therene, James R. Schmidt
  • Publication number: 20110154795
    Abstract: A harvesting machine includes a harvesting header with a header frame, a cutterbar assembly attached to the header frame along the length thereof and configured to cut a crop, and a draper assembly positioned behind the cutterbar assembly and operable to receive severed crop material from the cutterbar assembly. The draper assembly includes a center draper that delivers crop material to a feeder house of the harvesting machine and oppositely spaced side drapers that deliver crop material to the center draper. The harvesting header is operable to flex and thereby follow an uneven terrain.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 9, 2011
    Publication date: June 30, 2011
    Applicant: AGCO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Christopher T. Sauerwein, Randy Lohrentz, Gagan Sethi, James R. Schmidt
  • Publication number: 20110131940
    Abstract: A harvesting machine includes a harvesting header with a header frame, a cutterbar assembly attached to the header frame along the length thereof and configured to cut a crop, and a draper assembly positioned behind the cutterbar assembly and operable to receive severed crop material from the cutterbar assembly. The draper assembly includes a center draper that delivers crop material to a feeder house of the harvesting machine and oppositely spaced side drapers that deliver crop material to the center draper. The harvesting header is operable to flex and thereby follow an uneven terrain.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2011
    Publication date: June 9, 2011
    Applicant: AGCO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Randy Lohrentz, Christopher T. Sauerwein, James R. Schmidt
  • Patent number: 7937920
    Abstract: A harvesting header having a flexible cutterbar assembly utilizes draper belts behind the cutterbar assembly to gently consolidate the severed crop materials and deliver them to a point of discharge and delivery, such as to the feederhouse of a combine harvester. The header includes laterally spaced support arms attached to and cooperatively supporting the flexible cutterbar assembly. The support arms are pivotally coupled to the frame for swinging movement about a laterally extending axis so that the cutterbar assembly is operable to flex along the length thereof in response to changes in terrain as the header is advanced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2011
    Assignee: AGCO Corporation
    Inventors: James R. Schmidt, Christopher T. Sauerwein, Randy Lohrentz, Bernard D. Regier, Stanley R. Clark, Alan R. Bergkamp