Patent ID: 6341481
Filing Date: 2002-01-29
Classification: A01D

Abstract:
A header for a harvesting machine having a front and a rear and comprising:a plurality of laterally equispaced, side by side, rotatable augers extending forwardly at the front of the machine, each auger having a rotatable auger shaft which is included upwardly toward the rear, and an auger flight on the shaft, correspondingly inclined troughs located beneath each auger, each auger flight being rotatable in its corresponding trough, with a gap between nonoverlapping flights of the laterally equispaced, side by side, rotatable augers, where the laterally equispaced, side by side rotatable augers operate in a cooperating relationship without being mounted in independent chute structures to convey a portion of elongate trash material sideways on top of the laterally equispaced, side by side rotatable augers, correspondingly inclined slots extending rearwardly from respective slot entrances at the forward end of the header, the slots being sufficiently wide to allow passage of stalks of material to be harvested but too narrow to allow passage of crop ears or other material to be collected so that the crop ears or other material to be collected can be stripped from the stalks by the action of the slots in combination with a plurality of rotors, so that the rotors arc operative for both picking and conveying during forward movement of the header, and drive means for rotating the laterally equispaced, side by side rotatable augers, whereby the slots are defined between the adjacent troughs of the laterally equispaced, side by side rotatable augers and located substantially midway between adjacent auger shafts, and the lower portion of an auger flight, taken transversely, is rotatable in the lower portion of the trough and an upper part of the auger flight, taken transversely, is exposed above the trough.