How do combine harvesters work

The combine blows fast-moving air over the collection area to remove very lightweight items such as dust and other fine particles. The remaining material is mostly grains. Trailings are recirculated through the combine to go through the process again. Materials often need to circulate through the threshing and separation process multiple times before grains fully separate. Grains are then lifted from the bottom of the combine and into the grain tank using a grain elevator.

The grain auger the large arm that swings out moves contents stored in the grain tank into the grain cart. Typically the grain cart is pulled by a tractor moving alongside the combine while it continues harvesting. Waste products stalks, etc are discharged through the rear of the combine and returned to the field. The discharge is typically collected by a baler at a later time. The first combine harvester, which was capable of reaping, threshing and winnowing cereal grain, was invented by Hiram Moore in Since then, the combine harvester has had a long and interesting history of advancements and improvements.

Despite significant improvements in productivity and design, the basic operation of the combine harvester has remained almost the same since it was invented [2]. The invention of the McCormick reaper by Cyrus Hall McCormick in was a technology breakthrough that was instrumental to the creation of the early combine harvesters.

The McCormick reaper was a horse-drawn machine that cut grain stalks in a more efficient way. The combine harvester because more prevalent in the s when farmers began to attach them to tractors. In the s the self-propelled model was created and could cut areas wider areas.

The self-propelled models started out with a manual transmission and evolved in the s to a spring and hydropic type system to allow the machine to operate at four different speeds. This eventually evolved into today's high-performance hydrostatic drive systems.

Early versions of the combine harvester required more than 12 horses to provide power. Horses were gradually replaced with steam engines that used hay. Eventually, most combine harvesters models adopted diesel or gasoline engines. One of the most important technology developments for combine harvesters was the integration of a continuously variable transmission CVT. CVTs enable the combine to vary its ground speed while maintaining a constant engine and threshing speed.

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Read the latest issue. The Anatomy of a Combine The header cuts off the plant close to the ground and moves the whole plant into the machine. Farmers switch out the header depending on if they are harvesting corn, soybeans or other crops. The cut crops move toward the center via spinning augers and travel up a conveyor. The threshing segment of the combine beats the cut crops to break and shake the grains away from their stalks. The separated grains travel by conveyor into a grain tank.

When the grain tank is full, a tractor with a grain cart on the back pulls alongside the combine. The grain is carried up from the tank by an elevator and shoots out of a side pipe, or unloader, into the grain cart. This is the part of the machine that cuts through the stalk of a plant right next to the ground. It then moves the plant through the machine.

There are different headers for different crops. Conveyors move the separated grain into the grain tank for holding. Other conveyors move the chaff i. Once the grain tank is full, the elevator carries the grain up to the unloader where it is shot into a grain cart. As the residue is blown out the back of the machine, it is passed through the straw chopper to reduce the debris size and make it uniform and manageable.

Basically, a combine is just a binder style cutting device that is used to deliver grain into a threshing machine that has been modified to work as it moves along through the crop.

The cutting and gathering component of the combine is designed for the purpose of taking in the grain with as little straw as possible. This component is called a header. The threshing cylinder of a combine rubs the grain across the concave surface removing it from the heads.

Some grain manages to slip through and go along with the straw to the straw deck. At this point, it is shaken out and delivered into the cleaning shoe. Most of the chaff and grain goes straight into the cleaning shoe and is then put through sieves and blown with a blast of air to separate the debris from the grain.

Once it is been blasted with air, the grain falls into the clean grain auger and is conveyed into an elevator and then into a storage tank. The remaining straw falls out the back of the combine. There are different types of combine heads which can be interchanged depending upon the type grain you are harvesting. This is also called the grain platform or the platform header. This type of header has a reciprocating knife cutter bar along with a revolving reel that has plastic or metal teeth that cause the cut crop to fall onto the head.

Wheat headers are also called draper headers because they use rubber or fabric aprons in the place of the cross auger. The draper header allows the grain to be fed through more quickly than do cross augers. This results in more grain being put through the machine and a higher yield. Even so, in some events standard platform headers are used instead of wheat headers for simple cost-reduction. These are also known as pickup headers.

This type of header is used for crops that have been precut and placed into swathes or windrows. This type of header is most frequently used in Canada and other new northern locations. This type of header has snap rolls that are especially designed for stripping the leaves and stalk from the ear. This results in less material being sent through the throat.