Importance

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Abstract

An agricultural-machine intake has a frame adapted to travel along the ground in a travel direction, a transverse feeder fixed extending horizontally and transversely to the direction on the frame, a pair of end mounts on the frame and a center mount transversely flanked thereby, supports carrying the mounts on the frame for up and down movement generally tangential of the transverse feeder, and a jointed reel centered on and rotatable about at least one horizontal reel axis extending transverse to the direction through the mounts. The reel has outer ends journaled in the end mounts, a jointed center journaled in the center mount and axially subdividing the reel into two halves, and radially extending tines. Respective ground-engaging end and center skids are vertically displaceable on the frame. Respective end and center links connect the end and center skids to the respective mounts for synchronous vertical movement of the skids with the respective mounts. A drive rotates the reel about the reel axis and thereby picks crop up off the ground. An array of strippers fixed on the frame spacedly surrounds the reel between the tines. Thus the picked-up crop is pulled off the tines by the strippers.

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First Claim