US RE40,614 E1
	Rotary cutter bed harvester with non-auger conveying means for outboard cutters
Raymond F. Schmitt, Hesston, Kans. (US); Cecil L. Case, Newton, Kans. (US); Martin E. Pruitt, Hesston, Kans. (US); and Michael L. O'Halloran, Hesston, Kans. (US)
Assigned to AGCO Corporation, Duluth, Ga. (US)
Filed on Jan. 26, 2004, as Appl. No. 10/765,031.
Application 10/765031 is a reissue of application No. 08/234225, filed on Apr. 28, 1994, now 5,433,064, filed on Jul. 18, 1995.
Int. Cl. A01D 34/66 (2006.01); A01D 34/82 (2006.01)

U.S. Cl. 56—6  [56/13.9; 56/DIG. 6; 56/DIG. 11]

11 Claims

[ 7. In a machine for mowing crop materials, the improvement comprising: a cutter bed including a series of rotary cutters extending across the path of travel of the machine and rotatable about individual upright axes, said cutter bed further including an elongated, transversely extending, generally flat, hollow gear case below the cutters; a crop discharge opening located behind the cutter bed for receiving severed crop materials from the series of cutters; a pair of transversely extending, oppositely rotating conditioning rolls disposed within and spanning said discharge opening above and behind the cutter bed for conditioning crop materials received from the cutters, said discharge opening having a pair of opposite ends, said series of cutters including a group of multiple pairs of intermediate cutters positioned in front of and aligned with said discharge opening with the first and last cutters of said intermediate group being located adjacent said opposite ends of the discharge opening, said series of cutters further including at least a pair of opposite end cutters located outboard of the first and last cutters of the intermediate group and outboard of said discharge opening; means for driving the cutters of said intermediate group in oppositely rotating pairs of directing severed material between the cutters of each pair and into the discharge opening, the first and last cutters of the intermediate group rotating generally inwardly toward the discharge opening across the front of the cutter bed; means for driving the end cutters in the same direction as their next adjacent first or last cutter of the intermediate group such that the end cutters and the first and last cutters of the intermediate group all rotate generally inwardly toward the discharge opening across the front of the cutter bed, said means for driving the end cutters including gears within said gear case; and non-auger conveying means operably associated with each end cutter and its next adjacent intermediate group cutter for moving cut crop materials inwardly toward said discharge opening, said conveying means including an outer upright, generally cylindrical impeller, an inner upright, generally cylindrical impeller, and an intermediate upright, generally cylindrical impeller between said outer and inner impellers, said impellers all being disposed higher than the cutters and rotatable in the same direction as one another such that front extremities thereof move generally inwardly toward the discharge opening, said intermediate impeller comprising a drum having an at least substantially solid exterior wall.]