US 12,225,850 B2
Corn harvester header with frontal guiding elements for crop alignment
Franco Alex Mezzano, Arias (AR)
Assigned to MAIZCO S.A.I. Y C., Córdoba (AR)
Appl. No. 16/972,477
Filed by MAIZCO S.A.I. Y C., Córdoba (AR)
PCT Filed Jun. 5, 2019, PCT No. PCT/EP2019/064681
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 4, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/234111, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 12, 2019.
Claims priority of application No. P180101535 (AR), filed on Jun. 7, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0267123 A1, Sep. 2, 2021
Prior Publication US 2022/0174876 A9, Jun. 9, 2022
Int. Cl. A01D 45/02 (2006.01); A01D 57/22 (2006.01)
CPC A01D 45/023 (2013.01) [A01D 57/22 (2013.01); A01D 45/025 (2013.01)] 7 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A corn harvester header comprising:
(a) multiple harvesting units placed adjacently to each other, where each one of said harvesting units comprises:
a central slot, wherein the corn plant is processed to extract the ears from the stalks; and
a pair of gathering chains on each side of the central slot comprising multiple attachments, wherein the attachments on each gathering chain are separated between each other at a distance sufficient enough to introduce an ear longitudinally to the chain; and
two gearwheels for the gathering chains;
(b) line divisors, each one placed between two adjacent harvesting units; and
(c) multiple frontal devices, each one of which is placed in front of and between two adjacent harvesting units, where the frontal devices are located in a plane higher than the gathering chains;
wherein each one of said multiple frontal devices comprises:
a pair of guiding elements, where the guiding element is selected from the group of: a chain that comprises multiple attachments or a belt that comprises multiple attachments;
two wheels; and
a support;
wherein one of the guiding elements is placed around said two wheels;
wherein one of the two wheels drives the guiding element, wherein the tangential speed of the guiding element, the separation of the attachments in the gathering chains, and the number of attachments in the guiding element are configured according to the distance between the plants in the field and to direct the plants to the gathering chains delivered by the divisors;
wherein one of the gearwheels on the front end of the gathering chains is double and also functions as the wheel driving the rotation of the guiding element of the frontal devices; and
wherein an opening is created by the angle set between the guiding elements, where the opening is greater than the width of the harvesting slot.