Crop stubble masher for harvesting machine

A self-propelled combine has a pair of forward drive wheels and carries a forward, transversely elongated, harvesting header having a plurality of generally fore and aft passages adapted to receive respective rows of crop material as the machine advances and a cutting apparatus for each passage for severing the crop relatively close to the ground as it moves along the passage to leave a short upright crop stubble in each row. Two of the passages are in general fore and aft alignment with the respective drive wheels so that the wheels run over the stubble, and a pair of stubble mashing devices are mounted on the header forwardly of the respective drive wheels, each device including a skidlike stubble engaging element that is biased downwardly into contact with the ground so that it mashes the crop stubble against the ground in advance of the wheel to reduce tire wear caused by the wheel rolling over the upright stubble.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a self-propelled harvesting machine, such as a 
combine or the like, and more particularly to a harvesting machine having 
a forward header that is adapted to remove crop material from a field as 
the machine advances, leaving a relatively short upright crop stubble in 
the field. Such a header is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,982,384, also 
assigned to the assignee herein. The row crop header that is shown in said 
patent includes a plurality of independent row units that are mounted on 
the header frame for independent vertical floating adjustment, so that the 
row units are free to follow the contour of the ground. Each row unit 
includes a fore and aft passage adapted to receive a row of crop material 
as the machine advances, a cutting apparatus adapted to sever the crop 
from the field relatively close to the ground as it moves rearwardly along 
the passage and a conveyor for conveying the severed crop rearwardly along 
the passage to a crop converging auger that feeds crop material rearwardly 
through a feeder housing to a crop treating mechanism in the combine. the 
weight of each row unit is partially counterbalanced by a spring and the 
rest of the weight is supported on the ground by a pair of ground-engaging 
shoes that slide along the ground on opposite sides of each row. 
While with the forward drive wheels of the combine preferably run between 
the rows, with certain size combines and with certain row spacings it is 
necessary that one or both of the drive wheels drive on top of a row, 
rolling over the stubble left in the row. With the trend for narrower row 
spacings and larger high floatation tires, the possibility of avoiding 
running on a row is reduced. 
One of the features of the row crop header shown in said U.S. Pat. No. 
3,982,384 is the ability of the individual row units to sever the crop in 
each row very close to the ground, which, in the case of crops such as 
soybeans, is highly desirable to reduce harvest losses. However, the 
relatively short crop stubble stands upright and when the drive wheels 
roll over the short upright stubble, which in many cases is quite rigid, 
the stubble penetrates the tire, rather than being deflected or bent over 
by the rolling tire as it would be in the case of a longer stubble. While 
the stubble does not puncture the tire, the numerous penetrations into the 
tire thread causes rapid wear of the tire. As is well known, the large 
tires on modern combines or the like are very expensive, so that the 
accelerated tire wear significantly increases the cost of operating the 
machine. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
According to the present invention, an attachment is provided for a 
harvesting machine for mashing down the crop stubble in advance of the 
machine wheels to reduce the penetration of the stubble into the machine's 
tires and thereby prolong the life of the tires. 
An important feature of the invention resides in the simple and economic 
construction of the attachment which can be provided on new machines as an 
option or easily attached to machines already in the field. 
Another feature of the invention resides in the use of a leaf spring to 
bias a crop engaging element downwardly against the crop stubble with 
sufficient force to crush the stubble. 
Still another feature of the invention resides in the provision for 
adjustable stop means for limiting the lowermost position of the crop 
stubble engaging element so that the element can be raised out of the way 
when the machine is being transported or when the stubble mashing feature 
is not necessary.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
The invention is embodied in a self-propelled combine, indicated generally 
by the numeral 10, only the forward portion of the combine being shown in 
the drawings. As is well known the combine has a main separator body 12 
mounted on a pair of forward laterally spaced drive wheels 14 and 16 and a 
forward elevated operator's station 18. The combine body has a forward 
crop inlet in communication with the rearward end of a forwardly extending 
feeder housing 20 that has its rearward end pivotally connected to the 
combine body 12 for vertical adjustment by means of a hydraulic cylinder 
21 extending between the body and the feeder housing. 
Mounted on the forward end of the feeder housing 20 is a transversely 
elongated header indicated generally by the numeral 22, the header being 
adapted to remove crop material from the field and deliver it to the 
feeder housing 20, wich has a conveying mechanism for moving the crop 
material into a conventional crop treating mechanism in the combine body. 
The heater has a rigid transversely elongated frame 24 that includes a 
transverse beam 26 that spans the width of the header below the forward 
edge of a header floor 28. The header floor extends rearwardly to an 
upright rear wall 30, and a transverse crop converging auger 32 extends 
between the opposite sides of the header immediately above the floor for 
converging the crop toward the center of the header where it is discharged 
through an opening in the rear wall 30 that registers with the forward 
inlet end of the feeder housing 20. 
A plurality of row units 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, and 39 are mounted side by 
side on the header frame 24 for independent vertical adjustment of the 
respective row units, and the row units are respectively adapted to 
receive adjacent rows of crop material indicated by the numerals 40, 41, 
42, 43, 44, and 45 respectively. The construction of the header 22 and of 
the individual row units is described in greater detail in said U.S. Pat. 
No. 3,982,384, and are not shown or described in detail herein, although 
to further the understanding of the present invention some of the 
components of one of the row units are schematically shown in the drawings 
and described herein. As is apparent, each row unit extends forwardly from 
the transverse beam 26, the rearward end of the row unit being pivotally 
mounted to the header frame, with part of the weight of the forward end of 
the row unit being supported on a ground engaging shoe 46 that rides 
between the adjacent rows, so that each row unit is independently 
vertically swingable to follow the contour of the ground. Each row unit 
includes a pair of rearwardly converging gathering members 48 that direct 
the crop material in a fore and aft passage 50, and a cutting apparatus 52 
is mounted at the forward end of each passage 50 relatively close to the 
ground so that crop material is severed close to the ground as it moves 
into the passage 50. A conveying device (not shown) is provided for moving 
the crop material rearwardly along the passage and depositing the crop 
material on the floor 28 immediately in front of the auger 32, which 
converges the crop as previously described. As the cutting apparatus 52 
severs the crop material from the field it leaves a relatively short 
upright stubble, indicated by the numeral 54 in FIG. 3. 
Suspended from the underside of the header are a pair of stubble mashing 
attachments 56 and 58 that are respectively in alignment with the passages 
50 for the row units 35 and 38 for crushing the stubble 54 left in the 
rows 41 and 44 respectively. As is apparent, in the illustrated 
embodiment, the attachments 56 and 58 are respective forwardly of and in 
fore and aft alignment with the drive wheels 14 and 16, which run on top 
of the rows 41 and 44 respectively. In some machines, the spacing between 
the rows and the wheels 14 and 16 and the tire sizes for the wheels are 
such that only one of the wheels would be in fore and aft alignment with a 
crop row, in which case only a single stubble mashing attachment would be 
necessary. 
Since the attachments 56 and 58 are identical, only the left hand 
attachment 58 will be shown and described in detail. The attachment 58 
includes a rearwardly extending arm 60 that is mounted on a transverse 
pivot 62 at its forward end, the pivot 62 being carried by a bracket 64 
attached to the underside of the beam 26. A pan-like shoe or stubble 
engaging element 66 is mounted on the underside of the rearward end of the 
arm 60. As is apparent, the pan-like element is slightly wider than the 
passsageway for the row unit with which it is aligned and is almost the 
width of the tire of the wheel with which it is aligned, the shoe or 
stubble engaging element being somewhat arcuate so that its leading edge 
is above the ground while its central portion rides along the ground. A 
leaf spring 68 has its forward end attached to the beam 26 above the arm 
60 while its rearward end is connected to the arm 60 above the shoe 66, 
the spring 68 biasing the arm and consequently the shoe downwardly. A 
chain 70 extends upwardly from the rearward end of the arm 60 to a chain 
attaching bracket 72 on the header frame 24 at the bottom of the rear wall 
30. The chain 70 limits the downward swinging movement of the arm 60 and 
the chain attachment bracket 72 has provision for connecting different 
links of the chain to the bracket to vary the effective length of the 
chain and thereby the lowermost position of the arm 60. 
In operation, as the machine advances, the respective header row units 
34-39 receive the respective rows of crop material 40 to 45, severing the 
crop material from the field relatively close to the ground to leave a 
short upright stubble 54, which, particularly in dry weather, is 
relatively rigid. The chain 70 is adjusted so that it is sufficiently long 
to permit the stubble mashing attachment shoe 66 to ride along the ground 
on top of the row. Preferably, the leaf spring 68 is selected and adjusted 
so that approximately 80 pounds of downward force is applied to the shoe 
66 when the header is in normal operating position. Since the shoe 66 is 
arcuate, the stubble is bent forwardly as it passes under the shoe, and 
the downward force on the shoe is sufficient to mash or break th stubble 
so that it does not penetrate the tire immediately to the rear of the 
stubble mashing attachment. 
Since the attachment arm 60 will swing downwardly as far as the chain 70 
permits and a certain amount of downward movement is desirable from the 
normal position of the arm to permit the stubble engaging element to 
follow the contour of the ground, the shoe hangs below the header when the 
header is raised. If desired, to reduce the height that the header must be 
raised for transport without dragging the stubble mashing attachment along 
the ground, the effective length of the chain 70 can be shortened by 
simply retracting the cylinder 21 so that the header is in its lowermost 
position and reconnecting the chain 70 to its attachment bracket 72 in a 
shortened position, so that the arm will no longer swing downwardly as the 
header is raised.