Drive means for a crop harvesting machine

Claim 1

A crop harvesting machine, comprising: a mobile frame adapted for movement across a field in a forward direction, said frame including a main portion extending transversely to said forward direction and a side portion; an elongated header suspended from said mobile frame so as to be vertically movable relative to said mobile frame and disposed in transverse relationship to said forward direction forwardly of said transverse main frame portion and laterally adjacent said side frame portion, said header operatively mounting means for severing and delivering crop from the field to rearwardly of said header; a pair of upper and lower elongated conditioner rolls rotatably mounted on said main portion of said mobile frame so as to be disposed in transverse relationship to said forward direction rearwardly of said header, said rolls being operable for receiving crop delivered rearwardly of said header and conditioning said delivered crop, said upper roll being mounted for movement toward and away from said lower roll; a gearbox assembly mounted on said side frame portion and including generally fore-and-aft extending rotary input drive transmission means and a transversely extending rotary output shaft drivingly coupled to said input means, said output shaft having one end extending toward said conditioner rolls and an opposite end extending away from said rolls; upper telescopible shaft means articulately intercoupling said one output shaft end with said upper roll for rotatably driving the latter while accommodating movement of said upper roll relative to said lower roll; gear means mounted on said side frame portion and on said opposite end of said output shaft and extending downwardly thereform; lower transversely extending shaft means drivingly intercoupling a lower portion of said gear means with said lower roll, said gear means, in turn, drivingly intercoupling said lower transverse shaft means with said opposite end of said output shaft such that said lower roll is rotatably driven in a direction opposite to that in which said upper roll is driven by said one output shaft end; drive mechanism on the side of said header adjacent said side frame portion for operating said severing and delivering means of said header; drive transmission means mounted on said side frame portion and on said opposite end of said output shaft adjacent said gear means and extending generally forwardly therefrom; and forward telescopible shaft means articulately intercoupling a forward portion of said drive transmission means with said drive mechanism on said header side for rotatably driving the latter for operating said severing and delivering means while accommodating movement of said header relative to said frame, said drive transmission means, in turn, drivingly intercoupling said forward shaft means with said opposite end of said gearbox assembly output shaft.