US 9,807,927 B2Granted

Overlapping sickle section for a knife assembly

AssigneeCNH Industrial America LLC

InventorKarl William Klotzbach

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Abstract

An improved knife assembly for use with a header of an agricultural harvester. The assembly includes a knife head, a knife back and a plurality of sickle sections fastened to the knife head and knife back. The sickle sections include first and second portions where a second portion of one knife section overlaps a first portion of an another sickle section when the knife sections are arranged in adjacent relationship. The overlapping areas of the adjacent knife sections include aligned though holes which shared fasteners. The resultant construction reduces the overall knife assembly mass thereby leading to increased cutting speeds and corresponding harvester ground speeds. Additionally, the time and labor associated with manufacture and maintenance is reduced while the assembly strength and force distribution capability is enhanced.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A sickle section for use in a knife assembly having a plurality of sickle sections disposed in adjacent relationship, the sickle section comprising:

a first portion lying in a first plane, said first portion including:
a crop cutting region;
and
a knife back attachment region distal from the crop cutting region;
a second portion lying in a second plane spaced from said first plane and connected to the first portion about a first lateral side of the knife back attachment region;
and
an elongated notch at a juncture of the first portion and the second portion and proximate the connection of the second portion to the first portion, and
wherein the knife back attachment region comprises an upwardly extending transition region connected to the second portion at the first lateral side of the knife back attachment region, and a recessed area about a second lateral side of the knife back attachment region opposite the first lateral side, the recessed area sized so as to be configured to receive an upwardly extending transition region of a knife back attachment region of a first adjacently positioned and identically shaped sickle section, and
whereby the second portion is configured for overlapping a second adjacently positioned and identically shaped sickle section.

6 more elements

A knife assembly for use with a header of an agricultural harvester comprising:

an elongated knife back;
a first sickle section mounted on the knife back, the first sickle section including:
a first portion lying in a first plane, the first portion including:
a crop cutting region;
and
a knife back attachment region for attaching the first sickle section to the elongated knife back;
a second portion lying in a second plane spaced from said first plane and connected to the first portion about a first lateral side of the knife back attachment region, wherein the knife back attachment region includes an upwardly extending transition region connected to the second portion;
and
a notch at a juncture of the first portion and the second portion, and proximate the connection of the second portion to the first portion;
and
a second sickle section mounted on the knife back adjacent the first sickle section, the second sickle section including:
a first portion lying in the first plane, the first portion including:
a crop cutting region;
and
a knife back attachment region for attaching the second sickle section to the elongated knife back, wherein the knife back attachment region includes a recess about a second lateral side;
a second portion lying in the second plane spaced from the first plane and connected to the first portion of the second sickle section about a first lateral side of the knife back attachment region of the first portion of the second sickle section;
and
a notch at a juncture of the first portion and the second portion of the second sickle section, and proximate the connection of the second portion to the first portion of the second sickle section, and
wherein the second portion of the first sickle section overlaps a portion of the knife back attachment region of the second sickle section and the transition region of the first sickle section is received within the recess of the second sickle section.

16 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.