Corn Harvester

a machine that harvests mature grain corn and simultaneously removes the husks and chops up the leaves and stalks.

The Khersonets-7 corn harvester produced in the USSR is a double-row channel-type machine designed to harvest corn planted at interrow spaces of 70 and 90 cm. It can be adapted to harvest silage corn at the milky-wax stage and remove the husks (and simultaneously chop the green parts). The corn harvester is equipped with three types of detachable ear-strippers: beaters, for harvesting silage corn and chopping together the leaves, stalks, and husks; active rolls, for harvesting corn in the milky-wax stage and removing the husks; and passive rolls, for harvesting corn when the kernels are fully ripe. The husked ears are discharged into a cart hitched to the harvester. The chopped stalks and leaves, together with the husks, are loaded into a vehicle moving alongside. The corn harvester is part of a unit outfitted with a tractor (3-ton class). The working parts of the harvester are driven by the tractor engine, connected to the takeoff shaft by a gimbal gear. The unit is serviced by the tractor operator and the driver of the auxiliary vehicle.

The productivity of the mechanical corn harvester is as high as 1 hectare per hour. Its operating width is 1.4—1.8 m, and it picks two rows at once. In addition to the corn harvester, grain combines can be converted to harvest corn for grain.

There are many foreign models of the corn harvester, produced by the American companies Allis-Chalmers, Massey Harris, and Ferguson; the West German Klaas and FAR; and the French Riverra Casalisse. These machines use approximately the same technical design for stripping the ears from the stalk as do those produced by the USSR.