Patents by Inventor Melvin William Keller

Melvin William Keller 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: 6058688
    Abstract: A windrower platform is constructed with a full-length, upper center-feed auger which counter rotates relative to and cooperates with lower, right- and left-hand cantilever-mounted augers to convey harvested crop to form a windrow on the ground at a central discharge zone of the platform. The various driven elements of the platform are driven from a main power distribution gear box having an input shaft coupled for being driven by a reversible hydraulic fluid motor. The upper auger is used for transmitting power to the opposite side of the platform from the main power distribution gear box and a transmission assembly is provided at this opposite side for driving the lower right-hand auger in a direction opposite to that of the upper auger.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2000
    Assignee: Deere & Company
    Inventors: Frederick Carl Krambeck, Melvin William Keller
  • Patent number: 5778644
    Abstract: A self-propelled windrower is provided with a platform including a reel which sweeps crop to be cut over a sickle cutterbar and into the nip of a pair of counter-rotating center-feed augers that, in turn, deliver the crop to the nip of a pair of counter-rotating conditioner rolls; and these driven components may be reversed to disgorge slugs of crop. The reversible drive includes a hydraulic pump carried by the traction unit and coupled to a motor carried by the platform. The hydraulic motor on the platform is coupled to power a main gear box which distributes power to the driven components of the platform. Operation of the pump is electro-hydraulically controlled with a single switch being operable to effect forward operation of the platform drive train, and with a second switch being designed to be moved and held in place to effect and maintain the drive train in reverse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 14, 1998
    Assignee: Deere & Company
    Inventors: Melvin William Keller, David Henry Diebold, Steven Lawrence Schmid, Stanley Paul Wellman, Frederick Carl Krambeck, Thomas Daryl Bebernes
  • Patent number: 5681117
    Abstract: A bearing or bushing retainer comprises two identical, separate segments which are generally c-shaped so as to permit the segments to each be removed from a cylindrical split plastic bearing mounted on a reel toothbar once bolts holding the two segments together are released and the segments moved axially relative to each other so as to disengage respective axially extending tabs of the segments from gaps defined between opposite ends of the segments. The segments have a relatively heavy cross section and are made of sintered powdered metal of relatively high carbon content, and are heat treated thereby resulting in a part having a long wear life and having a natural lubricity resulting in the extension of the wear lives of the retainer and of the bearing retained thereby.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 28, 1997
    Assignee: Deere & Company
    Inventors: Stanley Paul Wellman, Melvin William Keller