An adjustable vane system for use with a rotor cage of a threshing system of an agricultural harvester. The vane system includes a vane having a generally helically curved inner profile; a surface being an outer profile that is opposite the inner profile and is generally helically curved over a portion of the vane; a first flat portion proximate an end of the vane on the outer profile; and a second flat portion proximate to another end of the vane on the outer profile.

A transition cone for a threshing system of an agricultural harvesting machine has an inner surface with a tapering inner circumference between a wider upstream end and a narrower downstream end, and a plurality of vanes in the transition cone. Each vane extends between the upstream end and the downstream end and at least partly around the tapering inner circumference. Each vane includes an upstanding segment extending away from the inner surface, and a base segment extending from the upstanding segment along the inner surface on the downstream side of the upstanding segment. The base segment has a thicker proximal region adjacent the upstanding segment and a thinner distal edge opposite thereto, with a curved exposed surface extending there between.

An agricultural vehicle includes a chassis defining a rear; a header carried by the chassis and configured to collect crop material from a field; a track carried by the chassis; and a shredding assembly carried by the chassis that receives crop material collected by the header. The shredding assembly includes a shredder configured to shred received crop material; and a shredder pan carried by the chassis under the shredder that includes a shred assister configured to cooperate with the shredder to shred crop material and at least one track follower in contact with the track that allows the shredder pan to move along the track toward the rear of the chassis.

An agricultural vehicle, includes a chassis; a cleaning system carried by the chassis including at least one sieve and configured to clean crop material; and an unloader carried by the chassis and supplied with cleaned crop material from the cleaning system. The unloader includes: a roller; a belt wrapped around the roller; and an oblong housing at least partially enclosing the belt.

A threshing and separating system for an agricultural harvester includes a rotor configured to rotate about a rotor axis, a rotor cage at least partially enclosing the rotor and including a tailings return inlet formed therein and configured to couple to a tailings return elevator and an insert opening formed therein that is at least partially circumferentially aligned with the tailings return inlet relative to the rotor axis, at least one concave coupled to the rotor cage and defining a plurality of concave perforations, and a threshing insert removably coupled to the rotor cage and including at least one mounting opening. The threshing insert at least partially covers the insert opening and is positioned such that material from the tailings return inlet travels past the threshing insert before reaching the concave.

A harvest weighing mechanism utilizes a variable speed conveyor comprised of evenly spaced solid rods such that marketable product is suspended on the rods while small foreign material falls between the rods. The product moves at the same velocity as the conveyor until discharged and directed into an impact plate attached to an impact sensor. As the product collides with the impact plate the resultant deflection of the impact plate is converted to an electronic signal which is sent to a control box which uses an algorithm to convert radial velocity to linear velocity and through laws of energy conservation determines the weight of the product required to cause the deflection measured by the impact sensor.

A harvester lifts plant material and usable product off the ground using a header to create one or more distinct ribbons of material which are each fed axially into the front of rotating foraminous drums carrying stripper springs and within which a rotor with threshing springs and a screw conveyor on its outer surface is cooperatively mounted. The usable product thus separated from the plant material exits the foraminous drums to be collected and conveyed to the cleaning portion of the harvester. The product and foreign material are mechanically sized using a series of rollers and an air stream separates the product for subsequent trimming of stems therefrom. The product is then deposited on a sizing conveyor further separation and weighing.

A method for controlling crop material speed through a rotor/cage assembly of an agricultural combine. The method includes the steps of monitoring a grain loss of the combine; computing an engine power reserve value; and adjusting an orientation of a vane coupled to the cage responsive to the engine power reserve value and to the grain loss, a cleaning system load and/or a straw length.

A threshing and separating system for an agricultural vehicle includes: a rotor cage; a first vane rail movably connected to the rotor cage; a first vane portion pivotably connected to the rotor cage and linked to the first vane rail; a second vane rail movably connected to the rotor cage, the second vane rail being movable independently of the first vane rail; and a second vane portion pivotably connected to the rotor cage and linked to the second vane rail, the second vane portion and the first vane portion together defining a substantially continuous vane.

Weed seeds are destroyed in the chaff from a combine harvester by repeated high speed impacts caused by a rotor mounted in one of a pair of side by side housings which accelerate the discarded seeds in a direction centrifugally away from the rotor onto a stator including angularly adjustable stator surfaces around the axis. Thus the discarded seeds rebound back and forth between the rotor and the stator to provide a plurality of impacts. The seeds are carried axially of the rotor by a controlled airstream so that they move to an axial discharge location where a discharge fan is mounted. The angle of the discharge around the rotor axis can be changed to direct the seeds to the side of the combine away from a straw chopper, towards the guide fins of the tailboard of the chopper, or into the housing of the straw chopper.