Combine harvester

Combine harvester is a farm machine used, mainly in developed countries, to harvest wheat and often other cereals. Harvesting grain by hand with a scythe was very hard slow work, so the reaper was welcomed by farmers of the early 19th century.

The first combine harvester was built by Hiram Moore and John Hascall in 1836 but commercial versions first became available nearly 100 years later. A combine harvester does three jobs. It cuts the crop. It threshes the grain from the crop. It cleans and delivers the grain to the combine grain bin.

The combine harvester later replaced the ear corn picker, bringing shelled corn to the edge do the field.

The modern combine harvester with a single operator can harvest grain at a rate 100 times of what was achievable with 19th century technology. Modern combine harvesters are equipped with board computer for controlling and monitoring the machines working parameters and the quality of harvesting operations.

Satellite navigations systems support the generation of digital yield maps. Combine harvester are also equipped with vision systems comprising several video cameras outside the machine for surveying the harvested area.

The energy required by a combine harvester is generated and transmitted by the power system, which can be divided into the propulsion (traction) subsystem and process driving system. Both subsystem share the energy generated by a diesel engine.
Combine harvester