Forage harvester having combined cut-and-throw cylinder

摘要

The cutting cylinder has knife segments extending across its periphery in a staggered pattern so that each row winds essentially helically from end to end of the cylinder, thereby providing an effective shearing action as the knife segments cooperate with a stationary shear bar to sever incoming crops into countless short lengths. Air and crop cups located directly below the knife segments capture the short lengths before they can enter the interior of the cylinder and sweep the same through the cutting chamber, blasting them out the discharge spout without the assistance of an auxiliary fan. By keeping the elongated cups substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the cylinder and perpendicular to the path of travel of the entering crops, regardless of whether the cutting edges of the knife segments are arranged parallel to or slightly oblique to the axis of the cylinder, the full thrust of the spinning cylinder is utilized to propel the crop pieces up the spout for maximum efficiency. The air flow path within the cutting chamber is also designed to provide the most efficient use of operating power possible.