US 9,750,187 B2Granted

Adjustable row unit deck plate for a header of an agricultural harvester

AssigneeCNH Industrial America LLC

InventorEric L. Walker

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Abstract

An adjustable row unit for a header of an agricultural harvester, the adjustable row unit including a movable deck plate. The movable deck plate is connected to a row unit frame extending in a fore and aft direction of the header. A pivot shaft extends in the fore and aft direction and is pivotably connected to the row unit frame and the deck plate. A rocker assembly connects the deck plate to the pivot shaft for enabling selective positioning of the deck plate relative to the row unit frame in a direction substantially transverse to the fore and aft direction and whereby parallelism between the deck plate and an opposing deck plate is maintained throughout the crop harvesting process.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A row unit for a header of an agricultural harvester comprising:

a row unit frame extending in a fore and aft direction of the header;
a first deck plate carried by the row unit frame;
and
an adjusting mechanism comprising:
at least one bearing connected to the row unit frame;
an adjusting arrangement for moving the first deck plate in a first direction transverse to the fore and aft direction, the first direction being toward or away from an adjacent deck plate, and
a rocker assembly that moves the first deck plate in a first direction transverse to the fore and aft direction independently of the adjusting arrangement, comprising a first pivot shaft extending in the fore and aft direction, the first pivot shaft comprising a first end connected to the first deck plate at a first location and a second end connected to the first deck plate at a second location, the at least one bearing pivotally mounting the first pivot shaft to the row unit frame to constrain movement of the first location relative to the second location in the first direction.

4 more elements

A row unit for a header of an agricultural harvester comprising:

first and second longitudinally extending stripping plates mounted on a frame and having opposed stripping edges which define a gap between them, the opposed stripping edges extending in a longitudinal direction;
and
a gap adjusting mechanism comprising:
an adjusting arrangement for moving the first and second stripping plates in opposite directions transverse to the longitudinal direction and toward or away from one another to adjust a size of the gap;
and
a rocker assembly comprising:
a first pivot shaft extending in the longitudinal direction, the first pivot shaft comprising a first end connected to the first stripping plate at a first location and a second end connected to the first stripping plate at a second location;
a first bearing pivotally mounting the first pivot shaft to the frame;
a second pivot shaft extending in the longitudinal direction, the second pivot shaft comprising a first end connected to the second stripping plate at a third location and a second end connected to the second stripping plate at a fourth location;
a second bearing pivotally mounting the second pivot shaft to the frame;
and
an adjustable connection that adjusts the size of the gap independently of the adjusting arrangement and independently of respective pivot positions of the first and second pivot shafts.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.