Row crop harvester

Claim 1

A machine for cutting and chopping of crops with stalks which is adapted to be pulled in a direction of travel by a tractor or the like over the ground on which the crop with stalks to be harvested is located, comprising in combination, a guide casing having vertical wall means; a cylindrical drum rotatably mounted on the guide casing about a substantially vertical axis, said drum having gripper teeth extending from its periphery; the direction of travel of the drum corresponding to the twelve o'clock position on the drum, a first portion of said vertical wall means extending substantially parallel to the cylindrical surface of the drum at a distance therefrom from its 3-o'clock position to its 8-o'clock position and defining therewith a pulling in passage for the crop to be harvested, a second portion of said vertical wall means merging with said first portion and forming a feed trough which extends substantially tangentially with respect to said drum; a chaff blower having an inlet is operatively mounted contiguous to said feed trough; a pair of feed rollers are operatively mounted on said guide casing immediately upstream of said inlet of said chaff blower; cutting means are connected to said first portion of said vertical wall means and extend into said pulling in passage; whereby the stalks of the crop are adapted to be seized by the gripper teeth of the drum and transported into said pulling in passage in said cutting means where the stalks are cut off and thereafter the cut stalks are transported to the feed trough while assuming a progressive rearwardly inclined attitude with respect to the direction of travel of the machine.