VORRICHTUNG ZUM FUEHREN EINER ERNTEMASCHINE ENTLANG DER PFLANZEN

Guidance control means for guiding a harvester along plant rows, especially maize, comprising two oppositely disposed spring-loaded feeler elements (4) arranged at two swath board points of the harvester. The feeler elements (4) are so connected with inductive transmitters (5) that the transmitters in the rest position of the feeler elements are adjusted to provide output voltages which are equal but of opposite polarity. On the detection of a row (6) of plants, the deflection of the feeler elements (4) takes place either equally or unequally. Unequal deflection of the feeler elements as a consequence of, for example, varying row spacing or lateral displacement, provides a resultant output voltage of the feeler element pair equal to the difference of the output voltages of the two transmitters and to a first approximation proportional to the displacement of the scanned row of plants. This voltage difference can be amplified and applied to act on a hydraulic steering system of the harvester to provide a steering correction.