Harvester tine having a front-to-rear parting line in its strap and finger portion and one or more depressions on its finger portion

Abstract

A tine for use with a harvester. The tine is preferably an injection molded polymer pickup reel tine, which uses a front-to-rear mold parting line direction. The tine preferably has a snap ring or strap portion which is configured to engage a bat tube, as well as a finger portion which is configured to engage the crop during harvesting. Preferably, the front-to-rear parting line is along both portions. The front-to-rear parting line allows for the ability to provide a deep front-to-rear cross section for rigidity at the high stress area of the tine. Two front-to-rear material saving features can be utilized to minimize material usage and allow for relative consistent wall thickness, which results in a rigid cross section that maintains deflection stability in the normal direction of deflection. The preferred form of the tine cross section includes three deep oval sections or projections, connected by two oval depressions, but other variations are entirely possible while still resulting in effectively the same benefits.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.