Importance

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Abstract

A crop conditioning apparatus includes two parallel fluted intermeshing rollers mounted for rotation about respective axes for passage of crop material therebetween and for movement of the axes in a direction to increase and decrease the spacing the rollers. The rollers and flutes are substantially rigid, such that rotation of the rollers while intermeshing without crop material therebetween and while out of synchronism causes unacceptable noisy contact between the flutes. Each roller being driven by a respective one of two motors arranged to generate substantially equal torque so as to tend to rotate the rollers at common angular velocity. A timing arrangement for maintaining the rollers in synchronism includes a gear wheel having a plurality of gear lobes thereon projecting radially outwardly therefrom on one roller and a disk parallel to the gear wheel with a plurality of rollers projecting outwardly from one face of the disk into a position between the gear lobes of the first member. The gear wheel is formed of a flexible material so that the lobes can flex to an amount such that the intermeshing thereof does not prevent the rollers from relative rotation caused by the presence of crop material therebetween.

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First Claim