Maiserntemaschine

1,122,013. Maize-harvesters. MASSEY FERGUSON Ltd. 3 Nov., 1965 [5 Nov., 1964], No. 46630/65. Heading A1F. A maize-harvester comprises gathering means for the maize-stalks having a cropreceiving opening in the direction of travel and stalk-feeding means immediately behind the opening to collect the crop and move it transversely to a snapping unit also disposed transversely of the direction of travel of the machine. The harvester comprises an attachment for the front of a conventional combine-harvester 1 having a cutter-bar 20 and table 12 including a double-auger 22 feeding crop into a conveyer-casing 10 leading to threshing mechanism. The harvester-reel is removed and a tubular beam 25 secured to the table above the cutter-bar. Adjustably mounted on this beam are a transverse series of gathering and snapping units, each comprising a pair of dividers 65, 66 adjacent to the inner faces of which are a pair of driven wheels 72, 73, having crop-engaging fingers 74 on their inner faces. The wheels co-operate with curved guides 68, 69, secured to the dividers, to define a throat 70 leading to a combined conveying and snapping roller 47. The part 47a of the roller 47 adjacent to the throat carries auger-flights 50 feeding the crop stems transversely into the snapping portion 47b where radial blades pull the stalks S downwardly so that the cobs E are snapped off by abutment between the edges of two plates 60, 61 overlying the roller 47, the gap 64 between the plates being too small to admit cobs which are deflected rearwardly (Fig. 6, not shown) on to the table-portion 18 and thence into the threshing mechanism.