Stubble stomper with self-resetting breakaway feature
AssigneeMacDon Industries Ltd.
InventorsScott Dietsche, Cyrus Nigon, Reid Christ
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A stubble stomper is disclosed that attaches to a crop harvesting header on an agricultural machine. The stubble stomper includes a mounting bracket that attaches to the header frame of the crop harvesting header, a hinge assembly that is rotatably attached to the stomper mounting bracket and is rotatable between a default position and a breakaway position, and a stomper shoe that is pivotally attached to the hinge assembly. The stubble stomper has a self-resetting feature from the breakaway position that allows the stubble stomper to re-engage to its default position as the agricultural machine moves in a forward direction of travel.
Claims15
A stubble stomper comprising:
- a stomper mounting bracket adapted for mounting the stubble stomper to a crop harvesting header on an agricultural machine;
- a hinge assembly rotatably attached to the stomper mounting bracket and rotatable between a default position and a breakaway position;
- a stomper shoe pivotally attached to the hinge assembly by a bushing for engaging crop stubble as the agricultural machine travels across a field;
- a torsion spring surrounding the bushing that is coupled between the hinge assembly and the stomper shoe biasing the stomper shoe in a first rotational direction relative to the hinge assembly to position the stomper shoe for engaging the crop stubble;
- and
- a spring pin attached to the stomper mounting bracket for selective engagement with the hinge assembly, wherein when the spring pin is engaged with the hinge assembly, the hinge assembly is in the default position preventing rotation in the first rotational direction and a second rotational direction and when the spring pin is disengaged from the hinge assembly, the hinge assembly is in the breakaway position allowing rotation in the first and second rotational directions.
A crop harvesting header comprising:
- a header frame;
- a cutterbar attached to the header frame;
- and
- a stubble stomper attached to the header frame, wherein the stubble stomper comprises:
- a stomper mounting bracket mounted to the header frame;
- a hinge assembly rotatably attached to the stomper mounting bracket and rotatable between a default position and a breakaway position;
- a stomper shoe pivotally attached to the hinge assembly by a bushing for engaging crop stubble as the crop harvesting header travels across a field;
- a torsion spring surrounding the bushing that is coupled between the hinge assembly and the stomper shoe biasing the stomper shoe in a first rotational direction relative to the hinge assembly to position the stomper shoe for engaging the crop stubble;
- and
- a spring pin attached to the stomper mounting bracket for selective engagement with the hinge assembly, wherein when the spring pin is engaged with the hinge assembly, the hinge assembly is in the default position preventing rotation in the first and second rotational directions and when the spring pin is disengaged from the hinge assembly, the hinge assembly is in the breakaway position allowing rotation in the first and second rotational directions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.