Abstract: An intense forage conditioning machine includes: a mower, either a cutter bar or disks, perpendicular to the direction of travel for cutting fresh forage off the ground to leave a stubble; a conveying unit to move the cut forage; a macerating unit composed of a series of grooved rolls rotating at different speeds to severely condition the conveyed cut forage; and a double track pressing unit to compress the macerated forage and to deposit the resulting thin mat on the stubble. The macerating unit can be used without the tracks and can comprise only three rollers arranged to form two nips. The rollers can be grooved and can rotate at different speeds.

Abstract: A corn cob collection apparatus is described which may be pulled behind a combine so that the corn plant residue being discharged from the combine will be collected by the apparatus with the apparatus separating the stalks, husks, etc., from the heavier cobs. The cobs, once separated from the husks, stalks, etc., are conveyed to the wagon box provided on the wheeled frame of the apparatus. The separation of the stalks, husks, etc., from the corn cobs is achieved by passing a stream of air through the corn plant residue with the lighter stalks, husks, etc., being discharged to the ground with the cobs being collected in a wagon box on the apparatus.

Abstract: A method of harvesting grain involves placing a cutting and harvesting head on the front of a prime mover, moving the prime mover and the head through a field of mature grain plants with grain thereon. The grain bearing plants are then cut with the head, and then moved to a grain separating station on the head. The grain is then separated from the plants within the head, captured, and then moved to a grain reservoir on the prime mover. The severed plants are then deposited into the field after the grain is separated therefrom. A combine or prime mover has a grain harvesting head on the forward end thereof. A cutter bar or the like is on the head to cut grain bearing field plants. A conveyor moves the cut plants to threshing elements on the head for separating grain from the severed plants. A grain conveyor on the head moves the grain to a grain reservoir on the combine. An exit port is on the head for depositing all of the plants in the head on the field from which the plants were cut.

Abstract: A hand portable grain threshing device includes a base, a reel with elongate paddle members, a mesh screen mounted over the top of the reel, a trough and collection member for collecting grain heads or kernels, a variable speed actuator for rotating the reel which cuts the stems of crop plants below the grain heads and which centrifuges the grain heads into the trough, and a blower unit for blowing the chaff out of the threshing device and moving the grain heads into the collection member. The user carries this threshing device into a field and holds this device upon the crop plants with the crop plants extending upward within the device, and the paddle members in cooperation with the front edge of the base cuts off the stems below the grain heads which are centrifuged about the interior side of the mesh screen into the trough and into the collection member for the user to test the amount of moisture in the grain heads.

Abstract: A no-burn process for fostering growth of a mature perennial grass crop in a field. The process includes: (a) providing seed-containing heads on the grass crop; (b) removing seed from the seed-containing heads to leave a standing remnant of the grass crop in the field, the standing remnant having a top surface which is elevated above the ground; (c) leaving the standing remnant unburned; (d) applying a layer of nitrogen beneath the top surface of the unburned standing remnant within about three months of removing the seed from the seed-containing heads; and (e) depositing a substantially uniform layer of light reflecting material beneath the top surface of the unburned standing remnant throughout the field within about three months of removing the seed from the seed-containing heads.

Abstract: A portable device as disclosed for threshing grain to obtain a sample to be tested, for example, for its moisture content, disease, and protein content. The grain sampling device includes a housing with a handle enabling the device to be carried, an inlet for sampled grain, a chaff outlet and a collection drawer for the threshed grain kernels. Grain entering the inlet first passes through a declustering device consisting of a first group of stationary, transversely disposed pins and a second plurality of transversely disposed pins that are carried on a rotating first gear wheel. The threshing function is performed between a vertically disposed, stationary surface having a layer of resilient, frictional material, and a second gear wheel disposed in substantially parallel, spaced relation to the stationary surface, and which includes a layer of resilient, frictional material in disk form that defines a movable threshing surface.

Abstract: A nut harvester includes a frame drawn by a tractor over nut and debris windrows on the ground of a nut orchard. The nut harvester collects the nuts from the windrows and separates the debris collected therewith while minimizing the dust emissions and airborne pollutants generated by the nut harvester. The nut harvester includes three primary sections: a pick-up section, a stationary grid section, and a conveyor/fan section. The pick-up section includes finger assemblies which engage the ground to propel the nuts and debris forwardly and upwardly into a rotating feed reel which in turn deposits the nuts onto a stationary grid. The stationary grid includes a number of parallel bars which are spaced to prevent the nuts from falling therebetween. Wipers extend transversely across the grid and advance the nuts therealong.

Abstract: A variable diameter belt type power transfer assembly having a drive sheave and a driven sheave, both of which are adjustable and include a pair of opposing coaxial flanges, one of which is axially movable relative to the other, is disclosed wherein both flanges of the drive sheave are provided with first and second belt engaging surfaces flaring radially outwardly with respect to each other so as to define first and second variable diameter belt receiving grooves therebetween. A dual range of velocity ratios between the drive sheave and the driven sheave is obtainable by selectively positioning a drive belt in the respective variable diameter belt receiving grooves.

Abstract: A harvester thresher or combine has a picking slot through which grain stalks are pulled to separate the stalks from the grain heads. Two oppositely rotated, parallel shafts are located at opposite sides of the picking slot. Each shaft has at least one cutting disk in close cutting relationship with the cutting disk of the other shaft. A vaned crusher element is mounted adjacent to each cutting disk and has its radial vanes arranged for intermeshing with the vanes of the element on the other shaft. The tips of the vanes project outward farther than the periphery of the adjacent cutting disk for assisting in pulling the stalks through the picking slot for chopping and crushing by the cutting disks and crushing elements.

Abstract: A field thrasher includes a housing assembly and a thrashing assembly. The housing assembly includes an upper thrashing enclosure with a mouth opening and a chaffe discharge opening. A lower, collection enclosure is mounted below the thrashing enclosure and includes a grain discharge opening, an air discharge opening and a chaffe discharge opening. A spout is mounted on the thrashing enclosure in communication with the mouth opening. The thrashing assembly includes a flail subassembly comprising a rotor shaft rotatably mounted in the thrashing enclosure and tines extending outwardly from the rotor shaft. A drive subassembly includes a motor drivingly coupled to the rotor shaft and mounted on top of the thrashing enclosure. A fan subassembly is mounted in a fan compartment at an upper end of the thrashing enclosure and provides an airflow through the housing.

Abstract: Harvested agricultural produce is distributed and temporarily stored in an elongated, low-profile bin mounted and supported above a frame so as to substantially center the weight of the produce over the frame. The bin has an input and an output end and is capable of movement between a receiving position in which produce is loaded into the bin and an unloading position in which produce in the bin is transferred out. In moving into the unloading position, the bin is translated in a longitudinal direction from the input end to the output end, and the output end of the bin becomes elevated. Means are provided to support the bin over the frame in the receiving and unloading positions, and to drive the bin therebetween. A conveyor belt in the floor of the bin shifts produce within the bin and unloads produce into a transport carrier.

Abstract: A sugar cane harvester primary extractor apparatus is provided for separating cane crop leafy trash material from a harvested stream of conveyed cut billets. The apparatus is used with chopper cane harvesters wherein cane billets are fed continuously into a cleaning chamber in the form of a hollow housing interior of the extractor and a powered extractor fan directed air and leafy trash exiting the cleaning chamber upwardly. Air intakes are in the form of a plurality of side air intake openings each having correspondingly placed vertically extended louver plates angled inwardly of the housing outer wall, each of the side openings and louver plates being spaced along the housing wall beginning at a first position adjacent the cane billet feed inlet and extending rearwardly therefrom toward the middle of the extractor housing.

Abstract: A harvester is provided for mechanized harvesting of vine crops such as cucumbers. A harvester head is provided with a plurality of rollers, each of which comprises a cage structure rotatable about a central longitudinal axis, a rotatable shaft within the cage structure and extending generally parallel to but offset from the longitudinal axis of the cage structure, and a plurality of fingers mounted to the shaft and extending radially outward through the cage structure. Because the shaft and the cage structure rotate about offset axes, the extension of the fingers beyond the cage structure varies along the rotational arc of the roller. The rollers are preferably mounted to provide maximum extension of the fingers during lifting of the vine mat and crop. Belts on the forward roller are spaced apart to permit dispersion of soil picked up with the vine mat.

Abstract: A portable thrasher includes a housing with an interior, a mouth for passing crop heads into the interior, a grain discharge opening and a chaffe discharge opening. A thrashing assembly includes a primer mover mounted on the housing, a generally cylindrical flail subassembly driven by the prime mover and an oscillating sieve panel separating the housing interior into an upper, chaffee compartment and a lower, grain compartment.

Abstract: Method and device designed for arranging and packing plants and their respective root lumps. The method and device are employed in relation to plants which have grown in a seedling unit containing a large number of plants and soil lumps arranged in a plurality of rows and lines adjacent each other and in uniform rectilinear check pattern. After removal of void soil lumps containing no plants and soil lumps containing badly developed plants, the remaining healthy plants are gripped and placed in channels in the same pattern they were in in the seedling unit with a separate channel for each row. The plants are then conveyed in the channels from an input end towards an output end, and gaps between the plants are eliminated in the channels not later than upon reaching the output end. A certain number of plants so collected are then removed from the channels and placed in a transport container.

Abstract: A wheel mounted harvester having a tow hitch at each end thereof for towing by a tractor, and to allow the harvester to simultaneously tow a harvest trailer. The harvester is used in orchards to pick-up nuts for deposit into the trailer towed by the nut harvester. Crop pick-up and cleaning mechanics on the harvester are powered by the power-take-off unit of the towing tractor. The harvester structure uses a pulley and vertically oriented drive belt arrangement at the front end of the harvester to transfer power from the power-take-off shaft to a support shaft of a suction fan and hydraulic fluid pump mounted thereto. The suction fan and housing therefor is mounted at the center front end of the harvester. Affixed to the fan housing and extending rearward therefrom is an elongated vacuum chamber leading centrally into a debris separation chamber.

Abstract: A self-propelling harvester thresher comprises a threshing unit, a separating unit located downstream of the threshing unit, the separating unit extending along a traveling direction of the harvester thresher and operating in accordance with the principle of axial flow, and a transporting unit associated with the separating unit and transporting a grain-chaff mixture, the transporting unit being located laterally near the supporting unit.

Abstract: An automated ginseng root harvester having a feeder conveyor, an air flow for separating ginseng roots from various heavier and lighter objects, a pair of lateral separation conveyors, an inclined conveyor extending in the direction of the air flow and a plurality of further conveyors for inspection and collection of the ginseng roots. The implement of the present invention dramatically reduces the manual labor involved in ginseng root harvest and insures substantially complete collection of all roots in a single harvest operation.

Abstract: The apparatus for harvesting crops, particularly seed crops, comprises a mobile support structure (20) and a crop stripping device in the form of a rotor (30), which may be attached to height adjustable arms and is driven by drive means (22). The rotor (30) carries transverse rows of crop stripping elements (1) which may be combined with transverse ribs. The crop stripping elements have prominent leading edges, for example each formed at the junction between two faces which are acutely inclined with respect to each other. The drive to the rotor is so arranged that during forward movement of the apparatus the crop engaging elements (32) are propelled progressively through the crop, moving upwards at the front region. Seeds and other plant parts detached by the action of the rotor are impelled into a crop flow passage (27) under a crop guide cover (21). A transverse auger (83) transfers the detached material into a duct (84) where an elevator (85) moves it over a screen (86) for separation of the seeds.

Abstract: An apparatus and method is disclosed for threshing seed crop, such as wheat, barley, rice, corn, beans and many others, by moving the seed crop circumferentially through a trough-shaped screen with openings through which the kernels can pass. A rotatable hub and a multiplicity of tines which project generally radially therefrom are coaxially rotatable relative to the screen. The hub and the tines are rotated so that the free tine ends, which are spaced from the screen, move past the screen at a speed approximately equal to the speed of the apparatus through the seed crop field. The hub and tines are vibrated to superimpose on their rotational movement a multiplicity of cyclical accelerations and decelerations as the seed crop moves from one side of the screen to the other to thereby separate the kernels from the plant growth.

Abstract: A cleaning system for a combine having a plurality of cleaning sieves which are operated to arrange grain in a thin veil or crop mat on the sieves. The cleaning system of the present invention includes an elongated transverse cleaning fan and an air plenum. The cleaning fan is rotatably driven about a fixed axis and includes a plurality of spaced apart blades peripherally disposed about the fan. The air plenum extends parallel to and along substantially the entire length of the fan for directing a forced flow of air from the fan rearwardly through the cleaning sieves. The air plenum includes upper and lower air directing baffles.

Abstract: A combine harvester, having threshing and separating means for threshing and separating crop material and a cleaning apparatus disposed to receive threshed and separated grain from said treshing and separating means and being operable to clean unwanted residue from the threshed and separated grain is disclosed wherein the cleaning apparatus, including at least a pair of cleaning sieves arranged to be oscillated generally back-and-forth for moving threshed and separated grain therealong while permitting the passage of cleaned grain therethrough, and further including a cleaning fan operable to direct a cleaning air blast to the cleaning sieves for urging unwanted residue to the threshed and separated grain into an airborne state for discharge from the combine harvester, is provided with an agitator positioned between the cleaning sieves.

Abstract: A self-propelled harvester thresher, comprising a device for a front product supply, and separating device arranged downstream of product supply device, the separating device extending in a longitudinal direction and operating in accordance with the principle of axial flow, the separating device including at least one rotor and a sieve housing surrounding the rotor and provided with inlet and outlet openings, the housing having a plurality of guiding members arranged parallel to one another and extending in a helical manner, the guiding members extending in a running direction and having front ends as considered in the running direction, the guiding members including at least two groups of guiding members, the front ends of the guiding members of one of the groups of guiding members being offset from the front ends of the other of the groups of the guiding members as considered in the running direction.

Abstract: A self-driven chopper-harvester for experimental plots of ground of reduced size, intended especially for collecting fodder plants, comprises a collecting and chopping device forming a first module to which is connected via an ejection duct to a second module comprising an automatic weighing and sampling assembly.

Abstract: This invention is a vegetable harvester which gets below the vines, picks the vegetables from such vines, and conveys the picked vegetables away from the harvest area for grading and other processing. This is accomplished through the provision of a pair of disc shaped picker heads which separate the vegetables from their vines and moves the same to a point adjacent a conveyor where they are deposited for conveyance.

Abstract: A nut harvester and separator, particularly for nuts such as pecans, almonds and walnuts, includes a wheeled frame drawn by a tractor over nut and trash windrows on the nut-orchard ground. Power-driven pick-up and lifting reels within a longitudinal plenum on the frame advance the picked-up material well into the plenum. A power-driven suction fan is open to the top of the plenum and draws atmospheric air into the plenum partially through a powered chain conveyor largely defining the bottom wall of the plenum. Atmospheric air is also drawn into the plenum through side inlets in an initial free fall zone of separation providing separation and removal of a large fraction of the light debris which is lifted through the suction fan and discharged to the atmosphere. Heavy, less aerodynamically responsive nuts are left behind to lodge on the conveyor along with the remaining fraction of light debris to form a blanket.

Abstract: Bypass grate and door control structure for a cotton-cleaning machine mounted on a cotton harvester, and structure for spreading conveyed cotton uniformly across the width of the cleaning machine. A control linkage moves two grates, a door sheet, and an air door assembly in unison between cleaning and bypass mode positions. In the cleaning mode, cotton is directed downwardly from the air duct into the cleaning machine by the grates while air, fine dirt and trash are diverted through the grates and over the air door assembly away from the cotton basket. The cotton conveying duct and air nozzle are shaped to spread cotton uniformly across the upper portion of the duct, and diverging vane structure located above the cleaning machine distributes the downwardly directed cotton evenly across sawgrid type cleaners. An adjustable green boll opening below the grate structure permits heavy trash to drop from the conveying system to reduce gumming.

Abstract: The adjustable chaffer and lower sieve of a combine harvester are replaced by a cob catcher or cob-saving sieve which allows corncobs along with shelled corn to be recovered as a mixture from the harvester rather than separating the corn from the cobs and discarding the cobs. The cob-saving sieve comprises a framework incorporating parallel inclined vanes sufficiently spaced apart to allow cobs to pass therethrough and disposed at an angle to direct airflow from the harvester fan over the surface of the sieve for removal of unwanted material.

Abstract: A harvesting machine includes a mobile main frame adapted to advance over a field of standing crop and including a forward header having an axially transverse stripping rotor with stripping elements that impact the seeds on the standing crop and deliver them rearwardly to a crop converging auger, which discharges the separated crop material through a housing to a blower type elevator. The elevator delivers the material to a rotary type cleaner that separates the seeds from some of the other crop material, the partially clean seeds then being delivered to a conventional combine cleaning shoe that finishes the separation of the seeds from the rest of the crop material, the seeds then being delivered to a clean grain conveying system.

Abstract: In a sugar cane harvester having a defoliating device for scratching off the leaves of sugar canes, a plurality of separating means are disposed side by side with regular intervals such that leaves attached to sugar cane stalks are separated therefrom with the passage of sugar canes through the spaces between adjacent separating means.

Abstract: A cane harvester (10) having an endless conveyor (15) for elevating cane billets from a chopper (14) for deposit through a passage (44) onto a secondary elevator (16). A fan (17) directs a blast of air across the pasage (44) to force trash and leaves through an outlet chute (18). A rake assembly (25) is provided above the conveyor (15) to level and even the billets and trash thereon and an air jet arrangement (47, 48, 57, 58) is disposed at the upper end of the conveyor (15) to prevent build up of trash and assist the conveyance of trash and billets through the passage (44). A trash deflecting assembly (74) is provided in the outlet chute (18) so that the direction of trash exiting therefrom can be selectively varied.

Abstract: Apparatus for harvesting delicate produce comprising a chassis arranged to be hitched to a tractor and driven thereby, plant pick-up and conveyor apparatus, apparatus for separating agricultural produce from plants, conveyor apparatus for receiving produce from the separating apparatus and moving it to one side thereof, sorting conveyor apparatus and produce loading conveyor apparatus.

Abstract: A sugar cane harvester is disclosed in which chopped crop is conveyed from a chopping mechanism to a cleaning mechanism. The cleaning mechanism includes an extractor fan positioned in an upper portion of a cleaning cylinder and a substantially unobstructed air intake surrounding the periphery of the cleaning cylinder. The air intake draws air in a generally downwardly direction through the air intake and into the cleaning cylinder, and upwardly through a substantial portion of the crop after the crop exits from the chopping mechanism. Debris is expelled upwardly through the extractor fan, while cleaned crop drops into an elevator for transportation away from the cleaning mechanism.

Abstract: A process and apparatus applicable to solid-set fruit growth such as strawberries in which a single harvest applies to an entire solid-set field and the harvest does not destroy the plants but separates foliage and trash from the fruit in an aerodynamic sequence and subsequent singulation of the fruit occurs under conditions of aerodynamic levitation of the fruits and clusters at the point of cropping connective tendrils.

Abstract: A drying attachment for use with a combine (10) for harvesting grain is disclosed and claimed. The attachment includes a distributor receptacle (18) in which the shelled corn or other grain is received after being separated from cobs, husks, and other residue material. After being received in the receptacle (18), it is transferred through a plurality of drying tubes (20) to a storage bin (19). The residue material is burned in a furnace (22) which is carried by the combine (10). The heat thereby generated is conducted to the drying tubes (20) wherein moisture is absorbed from the grain passing through the tubes (20).

Abstract: Harvesting apparatus for produce such as paprika comprising a chassis, a pick-up and primary separation assembly mounted on the chassis and including first and second helical elements, each including an elongate helical portion and a tip portion, and side conveyors for raising separated produce; and separation means including rollers for grasping at least a portion of a plant and adjacent rotating apparatus for engaging the produce thereon for separation thereof from the plant.

Abstract: Nuts on the ground are propelled by an air jet issuing from one tubular branch of a hand-held nut harvester into an opposing conveyor branch where the nuts are lifted until they strike a deflector in a separator chamber. Deflected nuts descend from the separator chamber to an attached collection receptacle. Debris entrained with nuts in the conveyor branch of the harvester is subjected to a venturi action produced by convex and concave spoon-like elements in the throat of the separator chamber immediately beyond the nut deflector and is swept through a rear downturned debris conduit or horn. The harvester can clear itself of debris through operation of an air stream diverter valve which diverts most of the harvesting air stream produced by a back-pack blower on a reverse path through the conveyor branch of the harvester.

Abstract: A threshing machine for peas consisting of a horizontal sieve drum rotatable about a longitudinal axis, containing at least two beater shafts located with their axles parallel to the longitudinal axis of the sieve drum to form several threshing areas, a longitudinal conveyor at the inlet end of the sieve drum for throwing threshed product thereinto characterised in that a prebeater unit comprising a plurality of beater mechanisms extends in a longitudinal direction above the longitudinal conveyor and below a fixed hood, the beater mechanisms having shafts mounted laterally across the width of the longitudinal conveyor and equipped with beater arms staggered with each other in the direction of rotation which beater arms may oscillate freely within their plane rotation.

Abstract: A method of harvesting cotton includes cutting the cotton plant a short distance above ground, clampingly hold the bush with its main stem substantially in the vertical and imparting revolving movement to the plant at high speed, thus causing cotton bolls to be thrown off the plant by centrifugal force and collecting the thrown off bolls.

Abstract: A method for cleaning threshed grain in a combine harvester is disclosed wherein the threshed grain is conveyed into a cleaning cylinder that is rotatably driven at a sufficient speed to impart centrifugal forces on the threshed grain to urge the grain through sieve openings during each entire 360 degree revolution of the cleaning cylinder. The cleaning sieves are mounted within axially extending cleaning shoes connected to the rotating cleaning cylinder for individual reciprocatory movement along a generally axial direction inclined inwardly toward the axis of rotation to convey the threshed grain rearwardly and help the cleaned grain pass through the sieve openings. Simultaneously with the rotating of the cleaning cylinder and the reciprocating of the cleaning shoes, a fan blows air through the sieves in the cleaning cylinder to make the unwanted residue airborne for discharge rearwardly from the cylinder, the air also being directed through the threshold grain twice before it is received on the sieves.

Abstract: The present invention comprises a bean harvesting apparatus mounted on the forward end of a motorized combine. The harvesting apparatus has a housing open along its leading edge for the reception of bean stalks. A power driven cutter bar is provided along the front of the housing which cuts the bean stalks and deposits them into the housing through the opening. A power driven suction apparatus creates a vacuum in the housing which urges the bean stalks upward and into the housing, following cutting. A power driven conveyor belt is disposed longitudinally across the housing. The conveyor belt is sufficiently porous to allow the drawing of a vacuum therethrough. A scraper mechanism scrapes the bean stalks from the conveyor belt, thereby dropping the bean stalks into the bottom of the housing. A power driven auger is disposed near the bottom of the housing which receives the bean stalks dropped from the conveyor belt.

Abstract: A method and apparatus is disclosed for mechanically removing loose debris from harvesters such as grape harvesters moving along a row of living plants from which it dislodges grapes along with elongated canes and other debris, all of which are collected and moved rearwardly of the harvester to a debris collecting point. The grapes and some debris are then moved transversely outward from the living plants. At least one vine engaging finger is moved through the collecting point for engaging long pieces of debris, such as canes, and deflecting the canes into snagging engagement with the plants which pull the canes and other debris attached thereto free of the harvester as the harvester moves away from the snagged canes.

Abstract: A self-propelled sugar cane harvester has a picking and comminuting device, an inclined conveyor, a discharge conveyor transversely inclined conveyor, a pressure fan located in the region of an outlet end of the inclined conveyor to direct an air stream through a comminuted sugar cane stream, and an additional suction fan arranged to provide for a uniform air stream in the region of transition between the inclined conveyor and the discharge conveyor and in an inlet region of a discharge hood.

Abstract: A low damage beet cleaner and elevator for a beet harvester is described. Beets are lifted elevationally between a lugged, endless elevator draper and an endless, upwardly inclined belt having flexible, finger-like projections. The draper and the belt are driven through their respective circuits with the belt being driven at a speed faster than that of the draper. The speed differential between the belt and the draper causes the finger-like projections to flexibly engage with the beets producing a brushing effect on the beets to clean them while they are being elevated for loading.

Abstract: In an infeed housing for a harvesting and threshing machine there is provided an improved infeed housing design that redirects the flow of crop material along its predetermined path of travel at a selectively creatable discontinuity in the floor of the infeed housing to ensure the ejection of stones and other non-frangible objects subsequent to their detection and prior to their reaching the threshing and separating apparatus of the combine.

Abstract: A radial blowing device for a harvester thresher cleaning arrangement has at least two blowers each having a double impeller with two sets of blades, two wind passages each extending from a respective one of the impellers, and two partitions each subdividing a respective one of the wind passages into two half passages, so that each of the half passages communicates with a respective one of the sets of blades of a respective one of the impellers, and each of the partitions extends up to the rotor of a respective one of the impellers.

Abstract: A husk separator for cleaning a mixture of corn ear fragments including pieces of corn cob, corn kernels, and pieces of corn husks includes a first generally planar comb having generally horizontal first tines positioned to support the fragments, and a second rotary comb having a central shaft and a plurality of generally radially extending second tines displaceable on rotation of the shaft between and past the first tines. This second comb is rotated with its tines passing through those of the first comb to separate husk pieces from the cob pieces away from the first comb. The husk pieces are then stripped off the second comb by a plurality of stripper elements located between the tines of the second comb and engageable with the husk pieces on rotation of this second rotary comb.

Abstract: An asparagus harvester capable of producing a harvested product with quality comparable to that which is manually picked so as to be readily acceptable to processors. The harvester employs a recirculatory flexible saw cutter with a powered blade cleaner at the downstream end of the cut-off pass of the cutter. It cuts the stalks for transfer to an elevator conveyor by a front blower, the elevated stalks being elevated and then dropped to hopper means past a controlled blower nozzle serving as a debris separator, the hopper means being periodically elevated and having a conveyorized bottom for power discharge of the harvested asparagus.

Abstract: A grape picking machine is disclosed which includes a device for detaching a grape harvest, a sealing device positioned at the level of grapevine trunks for recovering the grape harvest and preventing it from falling from the machine, and at least one device for evacuating the grape harvest from the machine. The machine includes a chassis carrying structure for driving each of the devices, the structure including towing apparatus raised at three points of a tractor having support blocks and a portico laterally positioned on the chassis. The portico has a front element inclined rearwardly with respect to the vertical axis of the chassis and beating means are positioned on the front element for removing the grape harvest. The sealing device comprises non-aligned rows of scales.

Abstract: The drive unit of a conventional mechanically actuated shaker for removing comestibles from their support vines is supplanted by a pair of hydraulic motors capable of effecting extremely rapid forward and reverse movement of the shaker. An adjustable multivibrator circuit produces electrical pulses of predetermined duration and frequency. The pulses activate a solenoid-operated hydraulic valve supplying first the forward motor and then the reverse motor with hydraulic fluid. The quick, snapping action of the shaker afforded by the electro-hydraulic drive apparatus effectively denudes the plants or vines of their fruit.