A grain cleaning system in a combine harvester including a pair of side walls, a rear wall that extends between the side walls, a sieve that oscillates in a fore and aft path between the side walls, a fan unit for generating a cleaning airstream, and an outlet for discharging residue from a grain cleaning process. The outlet is framed in part by a lower edge of the rear wall. An aperture is provided in the rear wall to provide a means of air relief to enhance the fore to aft flow of the cleaning airstream. Optionally, an auxiliary fan may be provided to drive air through the aperture.

An improved self-propelled grain harvester and threshing machine characterized by the sieves, cleaning fan and grain tank being beneath the grain harvester's threshing system which puts the center of gravity in the bottom of the machine and eliminates the need for conveying the grain throughout the machine for cleaning and to the top of the machine for storage. This configuration eliminates several clean grain conveying systems and reduces the length of the reprocess tailings elevator giving the machine a safe low profile and center of gravity when the machine is empty and the center of gravity lowers as the grain tank fills.

A harvester includes a measuring device for detecting a grain number of a crop flow, in which a sensor of the measuring device detects via a measuring signal kernels impacting an impact surface of the measuring device, and a processing unit of the measuring device is arranged to detect and calculate the grain number by using the measuring signal, wherein the rising edges of the measuring signal are recorded and form a measurement for the grain number. Furthermore, the measuring device for detecting a grain number and method for detecting a grain number are also provided.

A preparation section of a combine harvester that is configured to receive a mixture of grain and material other than grain (MOG) from a threshing section of the combine harvester. The preparation section includes a conveyor positioned beneath the threshing section that is configured to transport the grain and MOG in a downstream direction toward a cleaning section, and a deflector positioned at a downstream end of a conveyor that is configured to launch the grain and MOG into the air and cause at least partial separation of the MOG and grain prior to falling onto the cleaning section.

An agricultural harvester includes a chassis, at least one ground engaging traction member connected to the chassis, a cleaning system held by the chassis and configured to clean crop material, and an elevator supplied with the crop material. The elevator includes a housing having a crop material inlet that receives the crop material, a boot portion that forms a bottom of the housing, and a plurality of paddles configured to convey the crop material through the housing and away from the boot portion in a generally vertical direction. The elevator further includes a hinged wall section that includes a flexible steel sheet and a UHMW material plastic or other durable wear resistant flexible material overlying the sheet and facing an interior of the elevator. The hinged wall section may be a boot door or a head door.

An agricultural harvester includes a chassis, a cleaning system carried by the chassis, and a crop material elevator for receiving crop material that has passed through the cleaning system. The crop material elevator has a top-most end, a bottom-most end, a first inlet between the top-most end and the bottom-most end, and a second inlet between the top-most end and the first inlet. The agricultural harvester also includes an auger system for supplying crop material from the cleaning system to the crop material elevator. The auger system includes a first auger defining an auger axis for supplying crop material to the first inlet, a second auger defining a second auger axis, and a crop material conveyor for supplying crop material from the second auger to the second inlet.

A combine comprising a chassis, a crop residue handling system including a residue chopper, residue spreader, a spreader chute and a swath selection door, a receiver configured to determine a location of the combine, and a controller that controls the residue handling system. The controller configured to determine the location of the combine on a map, execute a crop residue spreading mode in response to the controller determining that the location of the combine is located in a designated crop residue spreading zone indicated on the map, and execute a crop residue windrow mode in response to the controller determining that the location of the combine is located in a designated crop residue windrow zone indicated on the map.

Combine harvesters are provided for use in harvesting seed corn from corn plants in fields. In connection therewith, a method for producing such seed corn from the corn plants, for use in growing subsequent corn plants, includes measuring a moisture content of corn kernels on ears of the corn plants in the field and removing, by one of the combine harvesters, the ears of corn from the corn plants when the moisture content satisfies a threshold moisture content. The method then includes separating the corn kernels from cobs of the ears of corn onboard the combine harvester and collecting the separated corn kernels for use as seed corn, whereby one or more subsequent corn plants can be grown from the collected corn kernels.

A threshing section of an agricultural harvester. The threshing section includes a threshing drum and at least one concave assembly positioned proximate to the threshing drum. The concave assembly has a plurality of modularized assemblies, each modularized assembly being independently configurable.

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.