Patent ID: 7748202

Claim:
A system for controlling the speed of an agricultural harvester load that is coupled to an agricultural harvester engine of an agricultural harvester by a power transmitting arrangement, said system comprising: a first sensor coupled to the engine for sensing the actual speed of the engine; a second sensor coupled to the load for sensing the actual speed of the load; a power transmitting arrangement coupling the load to the engine and configured to provide a selectable plurality of speeds of the load for a given speed of the engine; an operator input device configured to receive input from an operator of the agricultural harvester requesting a change in speed of the load to a desired load speed; and a control unit for receiving a signal from the first sensor indicative of the actual speed of the engine, a signal from the second sensor indicative of the actual speed of load and a signal from the operator input device indicative of the desired load speed, said control unit calculating a ratio of the actual engine speed when the input was received from the operator to the desired load speed, said control unit configured to send a signal to the power transmitting arrangement to change the actual speed of the load to a different one of the selectable plurality of speeds corresponding to a speed having the same ratio to the actual speed of the engine after the actual speed of the load has been changed, as the revised load speed has to the actual engine speed when the input was received from the operator.