Abstract: The pinion gears of a rotary cutterbar equipped with a parallel-series arrangement of idler gears and pinion gears includes a pinion gear support pad formed integrally with the bottom wall of the gear housing and located in close relationship to a bottom surface of the pinion gear so as to prevent the latter from moving, once bearing wear or loosening of mounting hardware has occurred, to the extent that rolling elements of a bearing arrangement supporting the pinion drive shaft are permitted to fall out into the gear housing and cause additional damage to the gearing located in the housing.

Abstract: The pinion gears of a rotary cutterbar equipped with a parallel-series arrangement of idler gears and pinion gears includes a pinion gear support pad formed integrally with the bottom wall of the gear housing and located in close relationship to a bottom surface of the pinion gear so as to prevent the latter from moving, once bearing wear or loosening of mounting hardware has occurred, to the extent that rolling elements of a bearing arrangement supporting the pinion drive shaft are permitted to fall out into the gear housing and cause additional damage to the gearing located in the housing.

Abstract: A mower-conditioner includes a header or platform which is equipped with a rotary disc cutter bar having a relatively long length with at least two cutting units being outboard of a central discharge passage where a pair of conditioner rolls are mounted for receiving the cut crop. Aiding in conveying crop to the discharge passage are right- and left-hand sets of three crop converging drums provided at each side of the discharge passage. The outer drums of the two sets are respectively mounted to the top of the right- and left-hand end cutting units of the cutter bar while the other two drums on each side are located behind an inward and rearward extending line that is tangent to the cylindrical path traced by the outer and inner ones of the drums on each side of the discharge passage. In one embodiment, a direct drive transmission is provided, and in a second embodiment a hydraulic motor is provided, for driving the inner two converging drums of each set.

Abstract: A mower-conditioner includes a header or platform which is equipped with a rotary disc cutter bar having a relatively long length with at least two cutting units being outboard of a central discharge passage where a pair of conditioner rolls are mounted for receiving the cut crop. Aiding in conveying crop to the discharge passage are right- and left-hand sets of three crop converging drums provided at each side of the discharge passage. The outer drums of the two sets are respectively mounted to the top of the right- and left-hand end cutting units of the cutter bar while the other two drums on each side are located behind an inward and rearward extending line that is tangent to the cylindrical path traced by the outer and inner ones of the drums on each side of the discharge passage. In one embodiment, a direct drive transmission is provided, and in a second embodiment a hydraulic motor is provided, for driving the inner two converging drums of each set.

Abstract: A rotary cutterbar includes a gear case containing a series-parallel set of gears including idler gears and pinion gears for driving the cutting discs of the cutter units. The gear case includes top and bottom walls and the idler gears are each received on a hub including an enlarged upper end located in a hole provided in the top wall and a threaded lower end screwed into a hole provided in the bottom wall. The hubs each have a plastic outer shell encasing a metal insert extending axially within the shell, with the shell forming the sole contact between each hub and the gear case whereby vibrations and shock loads respectively due to gear tooth contact and a cutter knife contacting an obstacle are absorbed by the shell to lessen the transmission of noise and the magnitude of the impact force. O-ring grooves are provided in the plastic shell and receive o-rings for preventing leakage from the gear case through the holes in the top and bottom walls.

Abstract: A rotary cutterbar includes a gear case containing a series-parallel set of gears including idler gears and pinion gears for driving the cutting discs of the cutter units. The gear case includes top and bottom walls and the idler gears are each received on a hub including an enlarged upper end located in a hole provided in the top wall and a threaded lower end screwed into a hole provided in the bottom wall. The hubs each have a plastic outer shell encasing a metal insert extending axially within the shell, with the shell forming the sole contact between each hub and the gear case whereby vibrations and shock loads respectively due to gear tooth contact and a cutter knife contacting an obstacle are absorbed by the shell to lessen the transmission of noise and the magnitude of the impact force. O-ring grooves are provided in the plastic shell and receive o-rings for preventing leakage from the gear case through the holes in the top and bottom walls.

Abstract: A mower-conditioner includes a header or platform which is equipped with a rotary disc cutter bar having a relatively long length with at least two cutting units being outboard of a central discharge passage where a pair of conditioner rolls are mounted for receiving the cut crop. Aiding in conveying crop to the discharge passage are right- and left-hand sets of three crop converging drums provided at each side of the discharge passage. The outer drums of the two sets are respectively mounted to the top of the right- and left-hand end cutting units of the cutter bar while the other two drums on each side are located behind an inward and rearward extending line that is tangent to the cylindrical path traced by the outer and inner ones of the drums on each side of the discharge passage. In one embodiment, a direct drive transmission is provided, and in a second embodiment a hydraulic motor is provided, for driving the inner two converging drums of each set.

Abstract: A mower-conditioner includes a header or platform which is equipped with a rotary disc cutter bar having a relatively long length with at least two cutting units being outboard of a central discharge passage where a pair of conditioner rolls are mounted for receiving the cut crop. Aiding in conveying crop to the discharge passage are right- and left-hand sets of three crop converging drums provided at each side of the discharge passage. The outer drums of the two sets are respectively mounted to the top of the right- and left-hand end cutting units of the cutter bar while the other two drums on each side are located behind an inward and rearward extending line that is tangent to the cylindrical path traced by the outer and inner ones of the drums on each side of the discharge passage. In one embodiment, a direct drive transmission is provided, and in a second embodiment a hydraulic motor is provided, for driving the inner two converging drums of each set.

Abstract: A mower-conditioner includes a header or platform which is equipped with a rotary disc cutter bar having a relatively long length with at least two cutting units being outboard of a central discharge passage where a pair of conditioner rolls are mounted for receiving the cut crop. Aiding in conveying crop to the discharge passage are right- and left-hand sets of three crop converging drums provided at each side of the discharge passage. The outer drums of the two sets are respectively mounted to the top of the right- and left-hand end cutting units of the cutter bar while the other two drums on each side are located behind an inward and rearward extending line that is tangent to the cylindrical path traced by the outer and inner ones of the drums on each side of the discharge passage. In one embodiment, a direct drive transmission is provided, and in a second embodiment a hydraulic motor is provided, for driving the inner two converging drums of each set.

Abstract: A rotary disc cutter and a rotary impeller are disclosed as examples of devices which utilize a coupling arrangement forming a detent, for the cutter knives of the disc cutter and the impeller tines of the rotary impeller, which acts, in response to centrifugal force during operation, to retain the knives and tines in radially extended positions. In the rotary disc cutter and one variant of the rotary impeller, respective holes in ends of the knives and tines are shaped to cooperate with a square section of respective fasteners so as to accomplish the detent action, while in a second variant of the rotary impeller, the detent action is due to the cooperation between respective fasteners and complementary shaped tine mount sections.

Abstract: A mower-conditioner includes a header or platform which is equipped with a rotary disc cutter bar having a relatively long length with at least two cutting units being outboard of a central discharge passage where a pair of conditioner rolls are mounted for receiving the cut crop. Aiding in conveying crop to the discharge passage are right- and left-hand sets of three crop converging drums provided at each side of the discharge passage. The outer drums of the two sets are respectively mounted to the top of the right- and left-hand end cutting units of the cutter bar while the other two drums on each side are located behind an inward and rearward extending line that is tangent to the cylindrical path traced by the outer and inner ones of the drums on each side of the discharge passage. In one embodiment, a direct drive transmission is provided, and in a second embodiment a hydraulic motor is provided, for driving the inner two converging drums of each set.

Abstract: A rotary cutter disc includes shields for the nuts of the knife mounting bolts. Each shield includes a U-shaped well in which a respective one of the nuts is located, the well being oriented so that its open side is directed away from the center of the disc, whereby centrifugal force ejects crop particles and other matter from the well. In one embodiment, the shield is provided with inclined wear surfaces which also serve as crop guide vanes. In a second embodiment, the shield is integral with a crop guide vane. In each embodiment, the underside of the shield is provided with a locating lug which is adjacent the knife mount bolt hole in the bottom wall of the shield. The disc is provided with an elongated knife mounting bolt hole and the shield locating lug is positioned to enter the elongated hole alongside the knife mounting bolt so as to properly orient the shield and keep the shield from rotating when the mounting bolt nut is being screwed on or off.

Abstract: A rotary mower cutter disc includes a replaceable knife mount shield which, in one embodiment, comprises a unitary slotted body which is received over the edge of the disc and held in place by the knife mounting bolt. The nut holding the bolt in place is located within a cylindrical cavity of the shield. In a second embodiment, the shield in made in two pieces mounted in sandwiching relationship to the mounting location of the disc having a back-turned lip defining a slot received over the edge of the disc and with the other piece being located on the side of the disc beside the lip and forming the cylindrical cavity for protecting the nut of the knife mounting bolt.

Abstract: A mower-conditioner has a header equipped with a rotary cutterbar for severing crop and directing it to a crop conditioner spanning a crop discharge opening centered rearwardly of the cutterbar and having a width some-what less than the length of the cutterbar. The cutter discs at the extreme outer ends of the cutterbar are equipped with upright, crop converging drums. For shorter cutterbars, paddles are mounted only to the tops of the cutter discs at the extreme outer ends of the cutterbars for operating in conjunction with the converging drums to move cut crop inwardly and rearwardly to the crop conditioner. For cutterbars of an intermediate length, paddles are also provided on the pair of discs respectively adjacent the discs at the extreme outer ends of the cutterbar and for cutterbars having a longer length, short crop converging drums are mounted to these adjacent discs.

Abstract: A crop harvester header or platform includes a rotary cutterbar for cutting and directing crop to a crop conditioner having a length shorter than that of the cutterbar and being disposed centrally behind the cutterbar. The header is equipped with a crop converging structure including right- and left-hand drums or cages respectively mounted to the tops of right- and left-hand cutter discs respectively at opposite ends of the cutterbar, and further including right- and left-hand crop guiding or directing structures respectively disposed for guiding crop from forward locations of the drums or cages over the cutter discs respectively adjacent the end cutter discs and toward the crop conditioner.