Balanced sickle drive
AssigneeHesston Corporation
InventorsHarold Keith Garrison, Cecil L. Case, Allen A. White
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A sickle drive has a sway bar that is coupled with the sickle to reciprocate the latter during oscillation of the sway bar. The latter is operably coupled with a crank drive through a special linkage employing a pair of oppositely extending, short pitman links that compensate for one another adjacent opposite ends of the sickle stroke to vary the velocity of the sickle substantially sinusoidally. The oppositely directed inertia forces of the sickle adjacent opposite ends of its stroke, made equal by the special linkage, are balanced out by a pair of superimposed, oppositely rotating weights driven in timed relationship to reciprocation of the sickle, thereby presenting a substantially vibration-free drive.
Claims19
In apparatus for translating rotary motion into reciprocal motion:
- a rotary drive shaft;
- a single component eccentrically coupled with said shaft for orbital movement about the axis of the shaft when the latter is rotated,
- said component being pivotal about a second axis during said orbiting movement;
- a reciprocable member;
- and
- structure coupling said member with said component,
- said structure being pivotally connected to said component at a pair of spaced points on opposite sides of said second axis for reciprocating the member during rotation of said shaft.
In apparatus for translating rotary motion into reciprocal motion:
- a rotary drive shaft;
- a reciprocable member;
- a single component coupled with said member in a manner to limit movement of the component relative to the member to rectilinear reciprocation transversely of the path of travel of the member;
- and
- means eccentrically and pivotally coupling said component with the shaft for orbital movement about the axis of the shaft when the latter is rotated, whereby to drive said member along said path.
In apparatus for translating rotary motion into reciprocal motion:
- a single component;
- means coupled with said component for driving the same in a circular path of travel;
- a reciprocable member;
- and
- a pair of spaced apart, substantially equal length pitman links extending in opposite directions from said component and coupling the latter with said member for reciprocating the member with substantially equal acceleration and deceleration adjacent opposite ends of its path of travel upon actuation of said driving means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.