Agricultural header with cutter tracking reel
AssigneeCNH Industrial America LLC
InventorsJoel T. Cook, Joshua S. Joyce
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An agricultural vehicle includes a chassis and a header carried by the chassis. The header includes: a header frame; a cutter movably coupled to the header frame; a reel arm pivotably coupled to the header frame; a reel carried by the reel arm and including a plurality of tines; a variable displacement fluid cylinder including an interior chamber, a first piston linked to the reel arm placed within the interior chamber and a second piston placed within the interior chamber, the interior chamber defining a shared volume between the first piston and the second piston; and a piston driver linked to the cutter and configured to translate movement of the cutter relative to the header frame into displacement of the second piston within the interior chamber.
Claims20
An agricultural vehicle, comprising:
- a chassis;
- and
- a header carried by said chassis, said header including:
- a header frame;
- a cutter movably coupled to said header frame;
- a reel arm pivotably coupled to said header frame;
- a reel carried by said reel arm and including a plurality of tines;
- a variable displacement fluid cylinder including an interior chamber, a first piston linked to said reel arm placed within said interior chamber and a second piston placed within said interior chamber, said interior chamber defining a shared volume between said first piston and said second piston;
- and
- a piston driver linked to said cutter, said piston driver being configured to translate movement of said cutter relative to said header frame into displacement of said second piston within said interior chamber.
An agricultural vehicle, comprising:
- a chassis;
- and
- a header carried by said chassis, said header including:
- a header frame;
- a cutter movably coupled to said header frame;
- a reel arm pivotably coupled to said header frame;
- a reel carried by said reel arm and including a plurality of tines;
- and
- a variable displacement fluid cylinder including:
- a first piston linked to said reel arm;
- a second piston;
- and
- a shared volume of fluid between said first piston and said second piston, said second piston being linked to said cutter such that movement of said cutter relative to said header frame displaces said second piston and said first piston and causes pivoting of said reel arm.
A method of controlling a reel carried by a reel arm of an agricultural vehicle with respect to a position of a cutter, comprising:
- controllably moving said cutter, said cutter moving causing a displacement of a second piston within a variable displacement fluid cylinder;
- and
- displacing a first piston which is within said variable displacement fluid cylinder and is linked to said reel arm, said displacing being caused by a shared volume of fluid between said first piston and said second piston acting on said first piston responsively to said displacement of said second piston.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.