MACDON INDUSTRIES LTD.

A crop harvesting header having a frame mounted on a propulsion vehicle has a cutter bar carrying a sickle knife and a draper transport. The draper is guided at its front edge by a longitudinally extending rail mounted on the frame for movement therewith. The cutter bar is mounted on the frame at spaced positions by spring blades attached to a fixed beam at the rear which allow up and down flexing movement of the cutter bar relative to the draper engagement member. At the center discharge the cutter bar is carried on shorter blades which are carried on a beam in front of the front draper roller. The small amount of flexing of the cutter bar combines with a balanced three piece header frame to provide effective ground following.

A method of navigating an agricultural implement through a field in an operative direction as it is being towed by a tractor. The method comprises providing the implement with a main mounting assembly, which is mountable to the tractor and has a stationary main beam, and a toolbar movably supported on the main beam in a lateral position so as to be shiftable laterally relative to the operative direction to align the toolbar relative to crop rows, the toolbar including row units configured to pass between crop rows; obtaining an image of the field with a camera; segmenting the image to identify a plurality of the crop rows extending in the operative direction within a field of vision of the camera; and adjusting the lateral position of the toolbar to maintain the row units between the plurality of crop rows while avoiding damage to the crops.

A method of navigating a vehicle through a field as it is being towed by a tractor. The method comprises obtaining an image of the field, segmenting the image to identify one or more crop rows, and steering the vehicle to avoid the one or more crop rows.

A header for a crop harvesting machine includes front and rear wheel arrangements that pivot about respective upright axis between a field orientation and a perpendicular transport orientation, while having respective suspensions arrangements movable between different suspended heights. A biasing spring provides lift assist to carry weight of the wheel arrangement during adjustment of the suspension elevation while being isolated from the suspension once set at any one elevation. The front wheel arrangement includes an anti-rotation latch that locks the front wheel in the field orientation automatically upon disconnection of a hitch arm. A second wheel of the rear wheel arrangement can be held in a raised position relative to a first wheel in a field orientation. Load bearing surfaces between the suspended rear wheels and the header frame abut one another when latching to the header frame to isolate the suspension from the header frame in the transport orientation.

A sickle cutting system is mounted on a header for forward travel over ground having a standing crop thereon and includes a cutter bar with a plurality of knife guards and two sickle bars driven at a phase angle difference where the drive system has a phase difference control component operable to drive the first and second sickle bars at a first phase angle difference typically at or around 180 degrees difference to minimize vibration when no cutting action is occurring and at a second phase angle difference which can be at or around 90 degrees to minimize variations in loading applied to the drive system when the cutting action is taking place.

A header for harvesting agricultural crops includes a cutter bar assembly coupled to a header frame, the cutter bar assembly flexible upwardly and downwardly relative to the header frame between opposite ends thereof for contouring to the field. The cutter bar assembly includes a guard bar extending across a front portion of the header frame between the opposite ends thereof, the guard bar split into at least a first lateral section and a second lateral section operatively coupled at a guard bar joint. A protruding element extending from the first lateral section is received by a receiving element on the second lateral section at the guard bar joint to horizontally align the first and second lateral sections of the guard bar between the opposite ends of the header frame while allowing relative lateral movement therebetween during upward and downward flexing of the cutter bar assembly.

A header is supported by a pair of hydraulic float cylinders, where a float pressure to the cylinders is directly controlled by an electronic control supplying a variable control signal to a PPRR valve arrangement to maintain the float pressure at a predetermined value. At the set pressure a predetermined lifting force is provided to the header. A position sensor is used to generate an indication of movement and/or acceleration and/or velocity. The electronic control is arranged, in response to changes in the sensor signal, to temporarily change the control signal to vary the lifting force and thus change the dynamic response of the hydraulic float cylinder. A lift force greater than that required to lift the header can be provided by a lift cylinder and can be opposed in a controlled manner to apply a controlled downforce by the back of the same cylinder or by a separate component.

Crop is carried into a feed opening of a harvester by two side drapers, two rear back sheets defining an opening between inner edges, a central feed draper and a roller with end flight portions and a central finger portion located above the feed draper. In this geometry, a bottom tangent to the flight portions has a position which is at a height below the rear edge of the side drapers. The roller axis of the feed roller is behind the rear edge of the side drapers and behind a common plane containing the back sheets. The inner guide roller of each of the first and second side drapers is located inwardly of the inner edge of the first back sheet and inwardly of an outer end of the end flight portion. A forward most tangent to the flight portions projects forward of or proud of the common back sheet plane.

In a crop harvesting machine there is provided a pair of hydraulic float cylinders or springs for a header such as a rotary mower relative to a self-propelled vehicle, where a float spring force is controlled to provide a predetermined lifting force is provided to the header. The spring force is varied in response to detection of ground speed to decrease the lifting force at higher ground speeds. A position sensor is used to generate an indication of movement and/or acceleration. The electronic control is arranged, in response to changes in the sensor signal, to temporarily change the control signal to vary the lifting force and thus change the dynamic response of the hydraulic float cylinder. In order to reduce static friction so that the system can react quickly, an arrangement is provided for causing relative reciprocating movement in an alternating wave pattern between the piston and cylinder.

A sickle cutting apparatus having a plurality of knife guards and a sickle bar having a plurality of sickle knife blades driven for reciprocating movement relative to the knife guards. The length of the cutting edge of each knife blade from a transverse rearmost cutting line at which a cutting action occurs is increased to a length greater than 2.2 inches; the width at the rear of the ledger surface of each guard is increased to greater than 1.2 inches; and the front edge of the blade is formed with an apex to shed crop material to one or other side of the apex.