A crop cutting device including a crop guiding surface, a plurality of parallel knives, and an actuating mechanism for moving the knives between a retracted inoperative position below the crop guiding surface and an extended operative position. A portion of the knives projects above the crop guiding surface. A plurality of movable operating members is associated with respective ones of the plurality of knives and movable from a first position in which the knives are in the retracted inoperative position, to a second position in which the knives are in the extended operative position. A support frame holds the operating members in a sliding relation to the support frame. The knife insert assistant is coupled to the support frame and configured for blocking a sliding movement of the operating members relative to the support frame during a movement of the support frame from the retracted position to the employed position.

An agricultural baler includes: a chassis; a pickup carried by the chassis and including a plurality of rotatable tines configured to pick up crop material; a baling chamber carried by the chassis and configured to form a bale from crop material; and a feeding assembly carried by the chassis and configured to receive picked up crop material from the pickup and supply crop material to the baling chamber. The feeding assembly includes: a rotatable rotor carrying a plurality of projections configured to feed crop material to the baling chamber as the rotor rotates; and a shear bar disposed between the pickup and the rotor and configured to cooperate with the projections carried by the rotor to condition crop material before the crop material is fed to the baling chamber by the projections.

A chopping blade for a straw chopper comprises a fastening opening, two side faces, and cutting edges arranged on one or both ends of the side faces. At least one of the side faces is equipped with means for reducing the frictional resistance of the chopping blade relative to the air and/or the chopping material.

A driver assistance system of an agricultural work machine constructed as forage harvester, wherein the agricultural work machine comprises a header for gathering crop, a chopping device having a chopping drum and chopping knives for comminuting the crop, and a monitoring device operable to generate a signal containing information about the wear status of the respective chopping knife and/or about the distance of the cutting edge of a chopping knife from a shear bar. This information is compared with a reference value, and the agricultural work machine has activation devices for activating and deactivating a knife grinding process and means for change of position of the shear bar. The monitoring device is integrated in the driver assistance system so that the driver assistance system automatically detects when a knife grinding process or a change of position of the shear bar must be activated or deactivated.

A detection arrangement for detecting a wear status of a chopping knife arrangement of a chopping device provided for processing a product flow, wherein the chopping device has a revolving chopping drum receiving the chopping knife arrangement and at least one shear bar which cooperates with the chopping knives, with a sensor arrangement which has a magnetic exciter arrangement and a flux conducting device magnetically coupled thereto. The sensor arrangement provides a pole arrangement which forms at least one magnetic pole with a pole surface for conducting magnetic flux, wherein at least a portion of the chopping knife passes the pole arrangement during a rotation of the chopping drum. A voltage induced when a chopping knife arrangement passes the sensor arrangement forms the measured magnetic value, which is used by the evaluation unit to determine the state of wear of the chopping knife arrangement.

An agricultural harvester includes a chassis; a threshing and separating assembly carried by the chassis; and a chopper assembly carried by the chassis that receives crop material from the threshing and separating assembly. The chopper assembly includes at least one movable chopping knife; a plurality of counter knives movable between a first knife position and a second knife position, the plurality of counter knives configured to cooperate with the at least one chopping knife to cut crop material when in the first knife position; a shear bar movable between a first bar position and a second bar position; and a linkage assembly connected to the plurality of counter knives and the shear bar such that the linkage assembly is selectively actuable to simultaneously move the plurality of counter knives and the shear bar between their respective first and second positions.

A combine (10) having a feeder housing (20) for receiving harvesting crop, a separating system (24) for threshing the harvested crop to produce grain and residue, at least one of a yield monitor or a loss monitor, a crop cleaning system (26) for separating the grain from the residue, a residue chopper (114) for chopping the separated residue, an automated chopper pan (116) positioned below the residue chopper (114), the automated chopper pan (114) having adjustable perforations, and a controller coupled to the at least one of the yield monitor or the loss monitor. The controller is configured to determine at least one of throughput from the yield monitor or loss from the loss monitor, compare the at least one of throughput or loss to respective throughput thresholds or loss thresholds, and control the automated chopper pan (116) to adjust the perforations based on the threshold comparison.

A crop cutting device including knives pivotally mounted below a crop guiding surface. Each knife is pivotable between a retracted position in which it is located below the guiding surface and an extended position. At least a cutting edge of the knife projects above the surface. A selector mechanism selectively holds spring loaded parts of operating members to maintain the corresponding knife in its retracted inoperative position while the operating member is moved to its second position. The selector mechanism includes a shaft carrying a plurality of cam elements which are mounted on the shaft and arranged to be moved to a position for blocking a respective spring loaded part upon rotation of the shaft from a non-holding to a holding position.

An agricultural combine has a chassis that supports a feederhouse receiving cut crop material from an agricultural harvesting head. A rotor and concave arrangement receives the cut crop material to thresh the cut crop material and to separate the cut crop material into a flow of grain and a flow of straw. A cleaning shoe receives the flow of grain from the threshing and separating mechanism to clean the flow of grain and to provide a flow of clean grain and a flow of chaff. A residue management system receives the flow of straw and the flow of chaff. The residue management system has a straw chopper that rotates in a first direction in a windrowing mode to windrow the flow of straw and rotates in a second direction opposite the first direction in a chopping mode to chop the flow of straw.

A detection arrangement for detecting a state of wear of a chopping assembly comprises at least one magnet arrangement which includes a magnetic excitation arrangement and a flux-conducting device magnetically coupled thereto. The magnet arrangement provides a pole arrangement which forms at least one magnetic pole for outwardly conducting magnetic flux. At least one portion of the chopping blades moves past the pole arrangement during a rotation of the cutting cylinder, and forms an air gap arrangement including at least one air gap with respect to the pole arrangement and, as a result, at least one magnetic circuit excited by the excitation arrangement is closed via the chopping blade. At least one portion of the magnetic flux generated by the magnetic excitation arrangement is longitudinally guided in the chopping blade at least across one longitudinal portion of the chopping blade.