Chopping blade of a forage harvester and method for producing said chopping blade

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12557734-B2
Application number	US-202217976484-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 28, 2022
Priority date	Nov 5, 2021
Publication date	Feb 24, 2026
Grant date	Feb 24, 2026

Abstract

Chopping blade ( 10 ), having a basic body ( 11 ), which has a fastening portion ( 12 ) for fastening said chopping blade to a chopping drum and a cutting portion ( 13 ) which is angled in relation to the fastening portion, and having a crop-guiding element ( 15 ) which is fastened to the fastening portion ( 12 ) and is intended for guiding chopped harvested crop, wherein a guide surface ( 16 ) of the crop-guiding element ( 15 ) has a curved contour. A distance (a) between the beginning of the guide surface ( 16 ) of the crop-guiding element ( 15 ) and a transition edge ( 14 ) between the fastening portion ( 12 ) and the cutting portion ( 13 ) of the basic body ( 11 ) is between 4 mm and 8 mm. The guide surface ( 16 ) runs rectilinearly in a first portion ( 18 ) with a length (b) between 4 mm and 8 mm, wherein said first portion ( 18 ) encloses an angle (α) between 18° and 22° with the fastening portion ( 12 ). The first portion ( 18 ) merges into a concavely curved second portion ( 19 ), the radius of curvature (Rx) of which is between 21 mm and 25 mm and which has a wrap angle (β) between 29° and 33°. The second portion merges into a concavely curved third portion ( 20 ), the radius of curvature (Ry) of which is between 18 mm and 22 mm and which has a wrap angle (γ) between 24° and 28°. The third portion merges into a convexly curved fourth portion ( 21 ). A maximum height of the crop-guiding element is between 24 mm and 30 mm.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A chopping blade ( 10 ) of a forage harvester,
having a basic body ( 11 ), which has a fastening portion ( 12 ) for fastening the chopping blade ( 10 ) to a chopping drum and a cutting portion ( 13 ) which is angled in relation to the fastening portion ( 12 ) and is configured for harvested crop to be chopped, having at least one crop-guiding element ( 15 ) which is a roll profiling element and is fastened to the fastening portion ( 12 ) and is configured for guiding chopped harvested crop, wherein a guide surface ( 16 ) of said crop-guiding element has a contour which is curved at least in sections and begins at a distance from the one transition edge ( 14 ) between the fastening portion ( 12 ) and the cutting portion ( 13 ), characterized in that a distance (a) between the beginning of the guide surface ( 16 ) of the at least one crop-guiding element ( 15 ) and the transition edge ( 14 ) between the fastening portion ( 12 ) and the cutting portion ( 13 ) of the basic body ( 11 ) is between 4 mm and 8 mm, the guide surface ( 16 ) of the at least one crop-guiding element ( 15 ) runs rectilinearly adjacent to the beginning of said guide surface in a first portion ( 18 ) with a length (B) between 4 mm and 8 mm, wherein the first portion ( 18 ) of the at least one crop-guiding element ( 15 ) encloses an angle (α) between 18° and 22° with the fastening portion ( 12 ) of the basic body ( 11 ), the first portion ( 18 ) of the at least one crop-guiding element ( 15 ) merges into a concavely curved second portion ( 19 ), the radius of curvature (Rx) of which is between 21 mm and 25 mm and which has a wrap angle (β) between 29° and 33°, the second portion ( 19 ) of the at least one crop-guiding element ( 15 ) merges into a concavely curved third portion ( 20 ), the radius of curvature (Ry) of which is between 18 mm and 22 mm and which has a wrap angle (γ) between 24° and 28°, the third portion ( 20 ) of the at least one crop-guiding element merges into a convexly curved fourth portion ( 21 ), a maximum height (c) of the crop-guiding element ( 15 ) is between 24 mm and 30 mm starting from the fastening portion ( 12 ) of the basic body ( 11 ).

2 . The chopping blade according to claim 1 , characterized in that the fourth portion ( 21 ) of the at least one crop-guiding element ( 15 ) has a radius of curvature (Rz) between 5 mm and 7 mm, wherein the fourth portion ( 21 ) merges into a fifth portion ( 22 ) of the guide surface ( 16 ), which fifth portion runs parallel to the fastening portion ( 12 ) of the basic body ( 11 ) and defines the maximum height (c) of the crop-guiding element ( 15 ).

3 . The chopping blade according to claim 2 , characterized in that the fifth portion ( 22 ) of the at least one crop-guiding element ( 15 ) merges into a rectilinearly running sixth portion ( 23 ) which encloses an angle ( 8 ) between 23° and 27° with the fastening portion ( 12 ) of the basic body ( 11 ).

4 . The chopping blade according to claim 3 , characterized in that the at least one crop-guiding element ( 15 ) is closed by portions ( 24 , 25 , 26 ) adjoining the sixth portion ( 23 ).

5 . The chopping blade according to claim 3 , characterized in that the sixth portion ( 23 ) of the at least one crop-guiding element ( 15 ) merges into a convexly curved seventh portion ( 24 ) and the seventh portion ( 24 ) into a rectilinearly running eighth portion ( 25 ) which is adjacent to the fastening portion ( 12 ) of the basic body ( 11 ).

6 . The chopping blade according to claim 5 , characterized in that the eighth portion ( 25 ) of the at least one crop-guiding element ( 15 ) merges into a ninth portion ( 26 ) which makes contact with the second portion ( 19 ) of the respective crop-guiding element ( 15 ).

7 . The chopping blade according to claim 6 , characterized in that the eighth portion ( 28 ) is welded to the second portion ( 19 ).

8 . The chopping blade according to claim 1 , characterized in that the first portion ( 18 ), the second portion ( 19 ) and the third portion ( 20 ) of the at least one crop-guiding element ( 15 ) each bear a wear-protection coating.

9 . The chopping blade according to claim 8 , characterized in that the wear-protection coating is composed of a tungsten-carbide alloy.

10 . A method for producing a chopping blade according to claim 1 , having the following steps:
providing the basic body ( 11 ), which has the fastening portion ( 12 ) and the cutting portion ( 13 ) which is angled in relation to the fastening portion ( 12 ), providing the at least one crop-guiding element ( 15 ) by roll profiling a metal sheet, fastening the at least one crop-guiding element ( 15 ) to the basic body ( 11 ).

11 . The method according to claim 10 , characterized in that the at least one crop-guiding element ( 15 ) is coated with a wear-protection coating at least on the first portion ( 18 ), on the second portion ( 19 ) and on the third portion ( 20 ).

Assignees

• Claas Saulgau Gmbh

Inventors

• Stengele Martin
• Spachtholz Christian

Classifications

• A01F29/095

  Mounting or adjusting of knives · CPC title

• A01F29/09

  Details · CPC title

• A01D43/08 Primary

  with means for cutting up the mown crop {, e.g. forage harvesters} · CPC title

• A01F29/06 Primary

  having rotating knives with their cutting edges on a cylinder surface, e.g. of the helical-type · CPC title