Automatic height control for a laterally pivoted harvester header

In a harvester including a mobile body and a forward mounted header carried by the body and including a laterally extending gatherer supported for oscillation in a generally upright transverse plane, the header being vertically adjustable with respect to the mobile body about a transverse axis, a control system for automatically controlling the height of the gatherers above the ground and the oscillation of the gatherer comprising:

• power means including at least one actuator, connected between the mobile body and the header and operable to raise or lower the header, pivoting about the transverse pivot axis, and operable to displace the gathereer with respect to the mobile body within the upright plane;
• independent left- and right-hand laterally extending arrays of sensors carried by and substantially spanning the gatherer, at least one sensor array including a sensor disposed approximately midway between the opposite lateral extremities of the gatherer, each sensor being associated with a laterally distinct portion of the gatherer and operable to generate a sensor signal related to the relative height of that gatherer portion above the ground;
• and
• control means including logic systems responsive to the sensor signals and operable to control the power means so as to seek to maintain all portions of the gatherer at a predetermined height above the ground.

In a harvester having a mobile body supporting a forward mounted, vertically adjustable header, the header including a feederhouse attached to the mobile body for pivoting about a transverse axis and having a forward connecting face for receiving and holding in fixed relation to said face, a laterally extending elongated gatherer, and the feederhouse including a generally tubular casing, a gatherer position control arrangement characterized in that:

• the connecting face of the feederhouse is generally rotatably deflectable relative to the combine body in an approximately upright plane;
• the gatherer includes spaced apart left- and right-hand ground-engaging sensor assemblies for sensing the relative height of respective left- and right-hand portions of the gatherer above the ground;
• it includes laterally spaced left- and right-hand hydraulic lift cylinders connected between the body and adjacent the connecting face of the feederhouse, hydraulically adjustable to control the height of the header, pivoting about the transverse axis, and the rotatable position of the gatherer relative to the combine body;
• and in that
• it includes automatic control means responsive to movement of the sensors relative to the gatherer portion to effect independent changes in the lengths of the respective left- and right-hand cylinders so as to seek to maintain the gatherer parallel to and at a preselected height above the ground.

In a harvester including a mobile body and a forward mounted header carried by the body and including a laterally extending gatherer supported for oscillation in a generally upright transverse plane, the header being vertically adjustable with respect to the mobile body about a transverse axis, a control system for automatically maintaining the gatherer parallel to the ground and at a selected operating height above it, comprising:

• power means connected between the mobile body and the header, operable to raise or lower the header, the header pivoting about the transverse axis for vertical adjustment, and operable to oscillate the gatehere with respect to the mobile body within the upright transverse plane;
• right- and left-hand sensors carried by right- and left-hand protions respectively of the gatherer, and including a sensor in at least one of said portions disposed approximately midway between the opposite lateral extremities of the gatherer, each generating an output representative of the height of the respective gatherer portion above the ground relative to the selected operating height;
• and
• control means including right- and left-hand sensor swithes responsive to the respective right- and left-hand sensors and operable to receive the sensor outputs and transduce them to raise or lower signals or no signal at each switch and connected to the power means and wherein said control means, responsive only to said raise and lower signals, activates the power means to control both the vertical adjustment of the header and the oscillation of the gatherer.