Brendon C Nafziger

7536846, May 26, 2009

Jun 17, 2008

12/140986

Martin E. Pruitt - Hesston KS, US
Brendon Nafziger - Canton KS, US

AGCO Corporation - Duluth GA

A01D 34/00

56 136, 56 6

A rotary cutter assembly has a spindle journaled by a bearing assembly. A cutter mounting member is fixed to the spindle for rotation therewith and has an outermost annular skirt that flares radially outwardly and downwardly to a lowermost peripheral edge. The bearing housing that supports the bearing has an upstanding rib that surrounds the lower peripheral edge of the mounting member and projects upwardly beyond the same for a short distance. This overlapping relationship between the rib and the lower skirt periphery prevents the ingress of foreign materials into close proximity with the bearing assembly to thereby prolong its useful life.

7661253, Feb 16, 2010

Dec 19, 2007

11/960056

Martin E. Pruitt - Hesston KS, US
Brendon Nafziger - Canton KS, US
Stanley R. Clark - Hesston KS, US

AGCO Corporation - Hesston KS

A01D 34/00

56 136, 56 6

A modular rotary cutter bed is formed by a series of essentially identical cutter modules mounted end-to-end along the length of a common support beam. Guards for the cutters of the modules are arranged such that each guard overlaps and bridges the seam between an adjacent pair of modules so as to increase the structural rigidity of the cutter bed. Each guard is attached at its front end to the noses of a pair of adjacent modules and at its rear end to the support beam to increase structural integrity in all directions. A second embodiment does not utilize a common support beam for the modules but instead relies upon the interconnections between adjacent modules and bridging overlap of the guards to rigidify the cutter bed.

7726108, Jun 1, 2010

Jan 14, 2009

12/353831

Martin E. Pruitt - Hesston KS, US
Brendon Nafziger - Canton KS, US

AGCO Corporation - Duluth GA

A01D 34/00

56 145, 56 6

A wide-cut harvester having a rotary cutter bed that takes a wider cut than the opening to the conditioner rolls of the machine employs a pair of stub augers at opposite corners of the opening to assist in directing cut crop material into the opening for treatment by the conditioner rolls.

8291685, Oct 23, 2012

Oct 4, 2010

12/897423

Martin E. Pruit - Hesston KS, US
Brendon Nafziger - Canton KS, US

AGCO Corporation - Duluth GA

A01D 43/00

56157

In an example embodiment, a harvesting header includes a helper roll having at auger flighting configured to move crop material laterally inward. The auger flighting may be outboard of a crop receiving area. The helper roll may be placed rearward of a cutter mechanism and forward of a conditioning roll of the header. The axis of rotation of the helper roll may be positioned slightly above a cutting plane of a cutting bed so that the auger flighting extends vertically past the cutting plane. In an example embodiment, at least a portion of the auger flights are positioning outboard of a conditioning roll of the header.

8297033, Oct 30, 2012

Oct 4, 2010

12/897447

Martin E. Pruit - Hesston KS, US
Brendon Nafziger - Canton KS, US

AGCO Corporation - Duluth GA

A01D 43/00

56157

In an example embodiment a harvesting header has a cutter mechanism to cut crop material, a discharge opening through which the crop material may be discharged, at least one conditioning roll to condition crop material cut by the cutter mechanism that passes through the discharge opening, and a helper roll extending laterally outward of the discharge opening. A support may be provided at the discharge opening for rotatably supporting the helper roll. In one example embodiment the helper roll comprises a first sub-helper roll and a second sub-helper roll that are rotatably coupled to a bearing assembly mounted at the discharge opening.

8601778, Dec 10, 2013

Oct 22, 2012

13/657159

Brendon Nafziger - Canton KS, US

AGCO Corporation - Duluth GA

A01D 43/00

56157

In an example embodiment, a harvesting header includes a helper roll having an auger flighting configured to move crop material laterally inward. The auger flighting may be outboard of a crop receiving area. The helper roll may be placed rearward of a cutter mechanism and forward of a conditioning roll of the header. The axis of rotation of the helper roll may be positioned slightly above a cutting plane of a cutting bed so that the auger flighting extends vertically past the cutting plane. In an example embodiment, at least a portion of the auger flights are positioning outboard of a conditioning roll of the header. The helper roll may be supported within the cutting zone and comprised of a plurality of sub-helper rolls.

20120174550, Jul 12, 2012

Jan 12, 2012

13/348735

Martin E. Pruitt - Hesston KS, US
Brendon C. Nafziger - Canton KS, US

AGCO CORPORATION - Duluth GA

A01D 34/00

56 106

Disclosed is a crop harvesting header configured for attachment to a mobile frame of a harvesting machine. The header has a cutter mechanism to cut crop material and a pair of laterally extending crop conditioner rolls to condition crop material cut by the cutter mechanism. The header includes a header power system having first and second main hydraulic motors and a belt and sheave drive configured to transmit power from the main hydraulic motors to the pair of conditioner rolls. The header also includes an auxiliary drive motor directly connected one of the conditioner rolls of the pair of conditioner rolls.

20120210691, Aug 23, 2012

Feb 17, 2012

13/399603

Martin E. Pruitt - Hesston KS, US
Brendon C. Nafziger - Canton KS, US
James W. Schroeder - Newton KS, US

AGCO CORPORATION - Duluth GA

A01D 34/52

56255

A crop harvesting header has a cutter bed to cut crop material as the harvester advances through a field. The cutter bed includes a plurality of rotatable cutters having knives extending from opposing ends of the cutters. Each cutter has a generally elliptical knife carrier, and a pair of knives at opposites ends of the carrier, wherein a portion of each knife extends beyond the end of the carrier to expose a cutting surface to sever the standing crop. Each knife is shaped such that its width dimension at a proximal end where mounted on the knife carrier is narrower than its width dimension at a distal end extending away from the knife carrier.