Block copolymers for making surgical articles such as sutures have a first block, a second block wherein the first block includes about 40 mole percent to 65 mole percent of repeating units derived from glycolide randomly combined with about 60 percent to 35 percent of repeating units derived from lactide, and the second block contains a higher proportion of repeating units of glycolide than the first block.

Absorbable block copolymers and surgical articles fabricated therefrom

An apparatus for harvesting crop including a rotor (11) mounted on a movable frame (12) and carrying a succession of transverse combs (14) each formed of an array of outwardly projecting teeth (15) traverse to the direction of movement of the apparatus through the crop Each tooth (15) is pointed with side edges diverging away from the distal tip of the tooth The rotor rotates in the overshot mode and the combs intrude into the crop and gather crop stems between adjacent pairs of teeth and detach grain and grain heads, or other required crop parts, by rubbing or breaking the parts free from the stems The junction of adjacent teeth (15) preferably has an enlarged aperture (21) to assist striping and to allow withdrawal of striped stems In other embodiments, the teeth may be replaced by a brush-like structure or by rods or other crop engaging elements, backed by plain transverse ribs for collecting and conveying detached crop parts

Crop harvesting apparatus and methods

The present invention describes a threshing and separating device of a self-propelled combine harvester, in which the stream of material fed to the threshing or separating device is so divided in the latter that a part quantity, mainly in the middle region, is fed directly to a narrower separating, threshing or conveying device and the remaining part quantity is conveyed, mainly from both sides, into the over-threshing region, the transfer zone being designed so that the material is guided by means of guide devices in such a way that it passes into the transfer zone during the second revolution. This transfer zone is followed by a separating drum or a conveying device which feed the material to a further separating drum clearly wider than the transfer zone and projecting beyond the latter on one side or on both sides.

Self-propelled combine harvester

A drainage system is for a compressor assembly that includes at least one separator with a chamber. The system includes a drain valve fluidly coupled with the separator chamber and adjustable between open and closed states. An actuator is operatively coupled with and adjusts the valve between the open and closed states or/and a sensor senses when the valve is open. A pressure sensor is configured to sense pressure within the chamber and a logic circuit is coupled with the pressure sensor and determines when the valve either has been or should have been adjusted to the open state. The logic circuit also generates an output signal or/and operates a device when the chamber pressure remains substantially constant or varies by less than a predetermined amount subsequent to the valve being opened and/or when the chamber pressure varies by at least the predetermined amount after the valve is opened.

Drainage system for compressor separators

A rotary combine includes a rotor having a longitudinal axis of rotation and a concave removably mounted adjacent the rotor. The concave is removable in a direction outwardly transverse relative to the axis of rotation of the rotor. In a preferred embodiment, a concave assembly includes a longitudinally extending frame having first and second sides spaced circumferentially around the rotor. Each of the first and second sides is transversely moveable relative to the axis of rotation of the rotor. A concave insert is removably mounted to the frame. A method for adjusting the position of the concave assembly is also provided and includes moving at least one of the first and second sides of the frame in a direction transverse to the axis of rotation. A method for replacing the concave insert is also provided.

Concave assembly and support structure for a rotary combine

In an axial flow rotary separator, each radially extending finger-like crop-engaging element of the rotor is individually and obliquely journaled on a fixed eccentric shaft. Push bars spaced 90 degrees apart rotate about the axis of the separator to drive the fingers so that the finger tips describe a circular path eccentric to the separator casing and inclined to its axis. The plane of rotation of the fingers and the speed of rotation of the rotor are chosen so that the fingers maintain the crop material in an annular mat in contact with the inside wall of the casing and propel it spirally downstream. Finger element bearing housings are split for convenient assembly and repair.

Rotor for an axial flow rotary separator

In a combine harvester having a twin rotor axial flow rotary separator with side-by-side separator portions downstream of a conventional threshing cylinder and concave, crop material is guided by an overhead beater and guide plate into the overhead triangular receiving zone of a casing infeed portion disposed between the separator casings and the threshing cylinder. The triangular opening has, as its base, the transverse beater and for its isosceles sides, converging diagonal or helical edges of the upper semi-cylindrical truncated portion of an infeed casing. The rotors are contra-rotating in a direction such that incoming material is carried downwards into a bite between the rotors and then propelled around a semi-cylindrical lower half of the infeed casing to the outer walls of the casing where continued upward and inward motion is controlled by generally helical guide surfaces so that the material continues in a spiral path downstream within the infeed casing and then into the separator casing proper. Upstream increased diameter paddle-like portions of the respective side-by side rotors reach towards the upstream edge of a center divider wall of the infeed casing and cooperate with that edge and each other to divide incoming material evenly into the respective rotor casings.

Feeding arrangement for an axial flow rotary separator

A harvesting machine includes a mobile main frame adapted to advance over a field of standing crop and including a forward header having an axially transverse stripping rotor with stripping elements that impact the seeds on the standing crop and deliver them rearwardly to a crop converging auger, which discharges the separated crop material through a housing to a blower type elevator. The elevator delivers the material to a rotary type cleaner that separates the seeds from some of the other crop material, the partially clean seeds then being delivered to a conventional combine cleaning shoe that finishes the separation of the seeds from the rest of the crop material, the seeds then being delivered to a clean grain conveying system.

Harvester machine for stripping seeds from a standing crop

An agricultural combine having a transverse threshing cylinder and concave and an axial separator. The axial separator is provided with two side-by-side axial separator units, each unit having a rotor and a casing for housing the rotor. The casings are non-concentric housing having a semi-circular top, a semi-circular bottom and straight side walls joining the top and bottom. The rotor is provided with fixed teeth that extend radially outward from the rotor. The rotor is located at the bottom of the casing so the teeth can engage and penetrate the crop material at the bottom of the casing. The rotor throws the crop material upwardly against the top of the casing which is provided with downwardly projecting spiral vanes for directing the crop rearwardly. The rotor is rotated so that the tip speed of the teeth is greater than or equal to 11.8 m/sec and less than or equal to 20.9 m/sec.

Operation parameters for an axial separator

A harvester strips seeds from a standing crop while essentially leaving the stems of the crop attached to the soil. The harvester comprises a mobile main frame and a vertically adjustable harvesting header carried thereby. A first axially transverse rotor is mounted on the header with its axis generally below the level of substantially all the seeds on the standing crop. The first rotor includes a hub and outwardly projecting stripper elements. The stripper elements define longitudinally spaced openings on the rotor periphery of a width greater than upper seed-bearing heads of the crop, permitting the introduction of the seed-bearing heads into the rotor interior as the machine advances so that the seeds are impacted by sides of the stripper elements interiorly of the outer end thereof. A second axially transverse rotor is disposed parallel to, above and forwardly of the first rotor and has a generally cylindrical outer periphery adjacent the periphery of the first rotor. The axis of the second rotor is generally above the level of substantially all the seeds on the standing crop. A motor drives the rotors in opposite directions with the front side of the first rotor moving upwardly and the front side of the second rotor moving downwardly. The first rotor is driven so that the sides of the stripper elements impact the seeds disposed within the openings in the rotor in a generally stemwise direction to knock the seeds from the stems and propel them tangentially from the rotor. A crop collector is mounted on the header behind the rotors to receive the seeds propelled rearwardly from the rotors.

Neil L. West

Papers

Rotor for an axial flow rotary separator

Feeding arrangement for an axial flow rotary separator

Harvester machine for stripping seeds from a standing crop

Operation parameters for an axial separator

Harvester for the impact-stripping of seed from a standing crop