Rolling crop guide for disc mower conditioners

Details Rolling crop guide for disc mower conditioners Rolling crop guide for disc mower conditioners

1999-10-04

2001-03-27

Pezzuto, Robert E. (Department: 3671)

Harvesters

Gang

Reexamination Certificate

active

06205752

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to a machine for severing standing crops from the ground to initiate a harvesting process and, more particularly, to a mower conditioner incorporating a rotary disc cutterbar having a preselected number of transversely oriented cutter modules having rotatable discs supported thereon and carrying knives to sever standing crop by an impact action and convey the severed crop to a conditioning mechanism before being discharged to the ground.
Disc cutterbars have been utilized in agricultural harvesting implements for many years. Each disc cutterbar includes a plurality of transversely spaced disc cutters driven for rotation about a generally vertical axis. Each disc cutter has two or three knives pivotally mounted on the periphery thereof to sever standing crop from the ground through an impact action. For background information on the structure and operation of disc cutterbars, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,262, issued to E. E. Koch and F. F. Voler, the descriptive portions thereof being incorporated herein by reference.
The construction of disc cutterbars has evolved over the years to the configuration of having a modular construction with cutter modules and spacer modules, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,019, issued to L. J. Pingry, the descriptive portions of which are incorporated herein by reference. In some instances, the cutter modules and the spacer modules were integrally formed into one unit such as shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,629, issued to R. Ermacora and H. Neuerburg.
When cutting certain crops or under certain crop conditions, for example, tall and/or entangled crops or long viney crops, with a disc mower conditioner, a device is needed to guide the crop into the cutterbar knives so that the crop is cut cleanly instead of being pushed ahead of the machine, or being caught and pulled into the conditioning rolls without being cut by the rotating knives. Without an effective crop divider, such crops or crop conditions will cause a poor cutting of the crop, create a re-cutting of the crop, and/or plugging the machine. If the crop is not cut, but instead is pulled into the conditioning rolls, the power to the rolls increases significantly. The tractor engine RPM drops and the torque on the driveline components increases, and the lugs on the conditioning rolls wear. In addition, viney crop can wrap around the rolls if the vines are not cut.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of this invention to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art by providing an improved crop divider for disc mower conditioners.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a viney crop guide for the inboard end of a disc mower conditioner to force the viney crop into engagement with the first disc cutter.
It is another object of this invention that the crop divider is constructed to rotate as crop material is engaged thereby.
It is a feature of this invention that the crop guide is constructed of a series of generally circular members that provide a leading edge that has a curved portion to direct the crop downwardly as the guide is advanced into the crop to be cut.
It is another feature of this invention that the rolling crop guide can be used as an optional attachment mounted by fasteners from the mower conditioner header shroud.
It is still another feature of this invention that the rolling crop guide is constructed in the form of a series of rolling coulters that are mounted in bearings to facilitate operation thereof.
It is an advantage of this invention that the rolling coulters will rotate easily with the crop material engaged thereby.
It is another advantage of this invention that the rolling crop guide permits operation of a disc mower conditioner in severe crop conditions without increased power requirements resulting from the conditioning rolls engaging unsevered crop material.
It is yet another feature of this invention that both lateral opposing side sheets of the disc mower conditioner are provided with a rolling crop divider.
It is a further feature of this invention that the rolling coulters are arranged in an overlapping, trailing orientation to present a curved leading edge that is highly effective in dividing crops under difficult conditions.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a rolling crop divider for a disc mower conditioner that includes at least two rolling coulters mounted on the side sheet of the machine by bearings.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a disc mower conditioner incorporating a modular disc cutterbar which is durable in construction, inexpensive of manufacture, carefree of maintenance, facile in assemblage, and simple and effective in use.
These and other objects, features and advantages are accomplished according to the instant invention by providing a disc mower conditioner utilizing a disc cutterbar to sever standing crop material by impact action. The side sheets of the disc mower conditioner are provided with a rolling crop divider that can be an optional attachment. The rolling crop divider is constructed as a series of overlapping rolling coulters mounted to the side sheet by bearings to enhance the rolling operation of the coulters. The rolling coulters effectively divide the crop material to direct tall and entangled crops into the header to be severed by the rotating knives. The coulters are arranged in a trailing orientation to present a curved leading edge that is highly effective in directing tall, entangled or viney crops downwardly into engagement with the adjacent disc cutter.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4385484 (1983-05-01), Ehrhart et al.
patent: 5768865 (1998-06-01), Rosenbalm et al.
patent: 5778647 (1998-07-01), McLean et al.
patent: 5970689 (1999-10-01), Hoffman et al.

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