An agricultural harvester has a header and feeder drive system including a forward belt drive arrangement and a reverse belt drive arrangement. The forward belt drive arrangement includes a forward drive belt and a forward belt drive tensioner operated by an actuator. The reverse belt drive arrangement includes a reversing motor and a reverse drive belt selectively engaged with the feeder drive system by operation of the same actuator.

A drive arrangement for a harvesting header of a harvesting machine having a running gear on which a feeder housing is mounted. A front side of the feeder housing has a header mount that moves relative to the feeder housing and on which the harvesting header is detachably fastened. An automated coupling mechanism is provided to link a driven shaft from the harvesting machine to a drive shaft of the harvesting header as the header is connected to the harvesting machine. The drive connector connected with the header mount is movable relative thereto during the attachment of the harvesting header to axially align the driven shaft and drive shaft as the harvesting header approaches the feeder housing during the attachment to accommodate differing header drive shaft orientations.

A header for an agricultural harvester comprising a chassis and an auger having a tube extending in end to end relation with and rotatably supported by the chassis. The header further includes a drive mounted adjacent a mid-portion of the auger and operatively engaged with the mid-portion of the auger for driving rotation thereof. The header thus provides an auger which is driven at its mid-portion, thereby eliminating the hydraulic complexities of augers that are driven at their ends. In addition, when the auger tube is continuous, the mid-portion driven, continuous tube auger eliminates the crop dead spot that typically occurs when split augers are deployed.

A drive system of a header for an agricultural vehicle. The header includes a plurality of driven devices. The drive system includes a shaft configured for conveying motive power from the agricultural vehicle to the header, a gearbox configured for being located on the header and for transferring motive power to the plurality of driven devices, and a torque damper. The torque damper is operably connected in between the shaft and the gearbox. The torque damper is configured for reducing a magnitude of a torque spike.

A hydraulic system for use with an agricultural harvester header is provided. The hydraulic system includes a reversible hydraulic pump that drives a reversible hydraulic motor in a forward or harvesting direction and a reverse or header cleaning direction. The system can further include a second reversible pump similarly driving a second reversible hydraulic motor in forward and reverse directions. The pumps and motors can be used to operate various header implements, e.g., the first pump and motor may be used to operate at least a crop cutting knife and the second pump and motor can be used to operate at least one conveyor. The pumps and motors operate within hydraulic circuits which share their hydraulic fluid with the harvester's hydraulic fluid reservoir, thereby reducing system weight, complexity and maintenance requirements.

A header of an agricultural harvester for the transport of a flow of crop from a header to a combine feeder house. The header includes a frame having a floor, a conveyor assembly, and a drive mechanism. The conveyor assembly is mounted above the floor to urge a flow of crop material during harvesting operations, and the drive mechanism operatively connects to the conveyor assembly to drive movement of the conveyor assembly. The drive mechanism includes a drive motor mounted to the frame beneath the floor about a medial section of the header.

Harvesting vehicle, in particular forage harvester or combine harvester, comprising a mounting frame (10), wherein the mounting fame (10) is designed to couple an attachment to the mounting frame (10) and via the mounting frame (10) to the harvesting vehicle, and comprising a drive coupler (16) which engages with the mounting frame (10) and which is designed to form a drive connection between the attachment and the harvesting vehicle in order to transmit a drive power provided by the harvesting vehicle in the direction of the attachment, wherein the drive coupler (16) has a drive hub (17) which can be coupled to the harvesting vehicle, a coupling disk (19) which can be coupled to the attachment and a centering mandrel (22) which cooperates with the attachment, wherein the centering mandrel (22) is fixedly engaged with the coupling disk (19), a slide piece (24) which can be displaced in a translatory manner relative to the drive hub (17) is coupled fixedly in terms of rotation to the drive hub (17), and wherein the slide piece (24) is connected to the coupling disk (19) via universal joints (30, 31) such that the centering mandrel (22) can be displaced together with the coupling disk (19) and the slide piece (24) in a translatory manner relative to the drive hub (17).

Feederhouse gearboxes are provided for installation on combine harvesters. In embodiments, the feederhouse gearbox includes a gearbox housing, an output shaft rotatable about an output axis, and a primary drive input. The primary drive input is mechanically linked to an engine of the combine harvester when the feederhouse gearbox is installed thereon. A reverser drive input is mechanically linked to a reverser motor of the combine harvester when the feederhouse gearbox is installed on the combine harvester. The feederhouse gearbox further includes a selector mechanism within the gearbox housing and movable between a primary drive position and a reverser drive position, a primary gear train transmitting rotation from the primary drive input to the output shaft when the selector mechanism is in the primary drive position, and a reverser worm drive transmitting rotation from the reverser drive input to the output shaft when the selector mechanism is in the reverser drive position.

An arrangement for controlling the height and/or incline of a combine header for harvesting thin-stemmed crops includes a control system which is connected to a sensor for detecting the height of the combine header above the ground, and to an actuator for controlling the height and/or incline of the combine header and which can be operated to control the actuator in dependence on signals of the sensor. A mulching appliance with a cultivating tool for shredding plant stumps is attached to the combine header in a vertically movable manner following the contour of the ground, and the sensor is set up to detect the position of the mulching appliance relative to the combine header.

A header assembly for an agricultural harvesting machine comprises a first frame assembly, a second frame assembly that supports a cutter, and is pivotable relative to the first frame assembly, a float cylinder coupled between the first frame assembly and the second frame assembly, an accumulator, and fluidic circuitry that fluidically couples the accumulator to the float cylinder. The fluidic circuitry is configured to provide a first flow of pressurized fluid under pressure to the float cylinder, so the float cylinder exerts a float force on the second frame assembly, and based on a control input that corresponds to a lowering operation of the header assembly, provide a restricted flow of fluid, that is restricted relative to the first flow, between the float cylinder and the accumulator.