Agricultural rake
AssigneeFella-Werke G.m.b.H.
InventorJuergen RIEDEL
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An agricultural rake including a frame, ground engaging wheels for supporting the frame on the ground, and at least two rotors each of which is driven in rotation about a respective vertical rotor axis and mounted to the frame by a folding linkage that permits folding movement of each rotor between a working position and a raised position. Each rotor has at least one ground engaging guide wheel mounted inwardly of crop engaging tines with a height adjustment mechanism permitting adjustment of the rotor operating height. For road transport, a control system automatically retracts each ground engaging guide wheel into the respective rotor in the raised position to reduce overall width.
Claims11
An agricultural rake comprising:
- a frame;
- ground engaging wheels for supporting the frame on the ground;
- at least two rotors each of which is driven in rotation about a respective vertical rotor axis and mounted to the frame by a folding linkage that permits folding movement of each rotor between a working position and a raised position around a longitudinal axis, each rotor comprising:
- a hub;
- a plurality of tine arms extending substantially radially from the hub and having crop engaging tines attached to the radially outermost ends thereof;
- and
- a rotor running gear comprising at least one ground engaging guide wheel mounted inwardly of the tines below the hub to a height adjustment mechanism;
- and
- a control system coupled with each height adjustment mechanism and arranged to automatically retract each ground engaging guide wheel towards its respective hub when the respective rotor is moved to the raised position.
A method of operating an agricultural rake having at least two rotors each of which is driven in rotation about a respective vertical rotor axis and mounted to a frame by a folding linkage that permits folding movement of each rotor between a working position and a raised position around a longitudinal axis, wherein each rotor comprises a hub, a plurality of tine arms extending substantially radially from the hub with crop engaging tines attached to the radially outermost ends thereof, and a rotor running gear comprising at least one ground engaging guide wheel mounted inwardly of the tines below the hub to a height adjustment mechanism;
- the method comprising:
- automatically retracting each ground engaging guide wheel towards its respective hub when the respective rotor is moved to the raised position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.