Patent ID: 7261632

Claim:
A self-propelled harvesting machine comprising: an internal combustion engine; a propulsion system that can be operated to cause said harvesting machine to move across a field with a propulsion speed; a crop material pick-up device for picking up crop material from a field; a crop material processing device for processing the crop material that has been picked up; a control unit configured to specify the speed of said internal combustion engine; a through-put measurement device for determining the through-put of said harvesting machine, wherein said control unit is configured to vary an operating speed of said internal combustion engine depending on the signal from said through-put measurement device; and a gear transmission with a variable gear ratio being coupled between said internal combustion engine and one of said crop material processing device and said crop material pick-up device, through which the speed of said one of said crop material processing device and said crop material pick-up device can be kept approximately constant and thus independent of the operating speed of said internal combustion engine.