Corn harvester combine assembly with corn removal attachment

Claim 1

A corn harvesting combine assembly for harvesting ear corn comprising: (a) detachable corn head means positioned at a forwardmost portion of the combine assembly for removing corn ears from planted corn stalks, said detachable corn head means having a plurality of forwardly extending gathering members positionable between rows of corn to be harvested and having a plurality of power driven snapping means positioned between associated pairs of gathering members for snapping corn ears from corn stalks received between said gathering members, said corn head means having power driven corn head conveying means for conveying the corn ears removed from the corn stalks by said snapping means to a central rearwardly positioned opening in said corn head means for subsequent removal from said corn head means; (b) detachable ear corn removal means attachable to a rear portion of said detachable corn head means for receiving ear corn from said corn head means; said ear corn removal means having a power driven removal conveyor means for conveying ear corn received from said corn head means to a transport vehicle such as a wagon; (c) combine means attachable to a rear end portion of said detachable corn head means in a corn processing mode of operation and attachable to a rear end portion of said detachable corn removal means in an ear corn removal mode of operation for selectively supporting and transporting said corn head means and said corn removal means and for driving said power driven components of said corn head means and said corn removal means, said combine means having a pair of forwardly mounted drive wheels and a pair of rearwardly mounted steering wheels, said combine means having an ear corn processing assembly for removing corn husks from the ear corn, shelling the ear corn, segregating the shelled corn and removing of husks, cobs and debris from said combine means; said ear corn processing assembly having a forwardly positioned opening for receiving ear corn from said corn head means in said corn processing mode of operation and said opening being blocked from receiving ear corn by a rearward portion of said corn removal means in said ear corn removal mode of operations; (d) said combine means having a power drive means for driving said power driven components of said corn head means in said corn processing mode of operation and for driving said power driven components of both said corn head means and said corn removal means in said ear corn removal mode of operation; (e) said combine means having a forward attachment portion attachable to a rear attachment portion of said corn head in said corn processing mode of operation and attachable to a rear attachment portion of said corn removal means in said ear corn removal mode of operation; (f) said detachable ear corn removal means having a forward attachment portion attachable to said rear attachment portion of said corn head in said ear corn removal mode of operation; (g) said detachable ear corn removal means being an integral unit of relatively compact size.