Combine Harvester Types - Transverse Rotor GLEANER

By Phil Rowntree - 0428 659 056 - philr@farmtender.com.au

All modern combines have the same task to achieve, and it is one of the most labour-saving inventions of its time: They are designed to:

• Cut the crop
• Thresh the crop
• Separate the grain from the heads
• Clean the straw and chaff from the grain

• Transverse Rotor GLEANER:

  In February 1979, Gleaner made public the first transverse rotor, Which was released as model N6. Few months later the smaller N5 showed up and late 1979 the big N7 appeared. And the N7 put Gleaner on the map as the largest capacity combine offered in Nth America. The N7 carried that title for 20 years before the competitors could match it's capacity. Gleaner gave this patented design feature a name, Natural Flow.

   

  Natural Flow didn't require diverting the crop like the Axial designs. Which would help reduce feeding problems. The crop flow did not require a change of direction to enter the rotor, hence the name Natural Flow. This set-up also allowed Gleaner to use its hallmark stone ejection door in front of the cylinder. Another new feature to the combine world was the Accelerator Rollers which forces the grain onto the sieves. Grain was forced down at the rate of 1,500 feet per minute. This results in a thin flow of material through the air blast from one of the transverse fans outlets therefore increasing cleaning capacity without the need for a larger sieve area. This helped clean the grain before it hits the sieve which then cleaned it in the conventional manner. Having a transverse rotor allowed slope harvesting with less chance of grain loading one side of the cleaning area.

   

  Advantages:

  • High Capacity.
  • Low horsepower requirements.
  • Efficient use of available cleaning area.
  • Less moving parts.
  • Ability to handle wide range of crop types.

   

  Disadvantages:

  • Limited area for design improvement.
  • Poor residue spreading.
  • Combine width.