Concurrent field and transport cylinder actuation for mowing device transport
AssigneeCNH Industrial America LLC
InventorJeffrey Fay, II
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mower that is towed behind an agricultural vehicle. The mower has an integrated lateral transport mechanism that initiates deployment by concurrently activating both a transport actuator to move a transport frame and a transport swing actuator to rotate the trail frame.
Claims18
A method for actuating a lateral transport mechanism of a mowing device comprising a towing tongue, a trail frame rotatably coupled to the towing tongue, at least one windrow shield, and at least one windrow shield actuator coupled between the trail frame and the at least one windrow shield, the lateral transport mechanism comprising a transport frame supporting transport wheels, a transport actuator coupled between the towing tongue and the transport frame, and a transport swing actuator coupled between the trail frame and the towing tongue, the method comprising:
- initiating deployment of the lateral transport mechanism by concurrently activating both the transport actuator to move the transport frame supporting the transport wheels and the transport swing actuator to rotate the trail frame;
- stowing the at least one windrow shield adjacent to the trail frame using the at least one windrow shield actuator prior to concurrently activating both the transport actuator and the transport swing actuator;
- moving the transport frame from a stowed position and rotating the trail frame upon activation of both the transport actuator and the transport swing actuator until the transport wheels engage a transport surface;
- continuing to rotate the trail frame and halting movement of the transport frame after engagement of the transport wheels with the transport surface until the trail frame reaches a predefined position;
- resuming movement of the transport frame and halting rotation of the trail frame after the trail frame reaches the predefined position until the transport frame reaches a transport support position;
- and
- resuming rotation of the trail frame after the transport frame reaches the transport support position until the trail frame reaches a lateral transport position.
A mowing device comprising:
- a towing tongue;
- a trail frame rotatably coupled to the towing tongue;
- a field swing actuator coupled between the towing tongue and the trail frame;
- and
- a lateral transport mechanism comprising a transport frame supporting transport wheels, a transport actuator coupled between the towing tongue and the transport frame, and a transport swing actuator coupled between the trail frame and the towing tongue, the lateral transport mechanism configured to:
- initiate deployment of the lateral transport mechanism by concurrently activating both the transport actuator to move the transport frame supporting the transport wheels and the transport swing actuator to rotate the trail frame, wherein the initiating deployment of the lateral transport mechanism is conditioned on detecting the mowing device rotating the trail frame to a designated field position with respect to the towing tongue using the field swing actuator;
- move the transport frame from a stowed position and rotate the trail frame upon activation of both the transport actuator and the transport swing actuator until the transport wheels engage a transport surface;
- continue to rotate the trail frame and halt movement of the transport frame after engagement of the transport wheels with the transport surface until the trail frame reaches a predefined position;
- resume movement of the transport frame and halt rotation of the trail frame after the trail frame reaches the predefined position until the transport frame reaches a transport support position;
- and
- resume rotation of the trail frame after the transport frame reaches the transport support position until the trail frame reaches a lateral transport position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.