Crop harvesting platform having a reversible drive for the reel, cutterbar center-feed augers and conditioner rolls
US5778644A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 9, 1996 |
| Grant date | Jul 14, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 9, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S56/21
- WIPO fieldOther special machines
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
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. Both switches cannot be operated at the same time, however the machine can be reversed with the platform lowered, fully raised, or anywhere in between.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.