Sickle Drives For Mowers, Combines

Sickle Drives For Mowers, Combines COMBINES Accessories 18-5-4 You can combine, mow or swath up to twice as fast with the new "Double Stroke" sickle drive for cutterbars, now on the market from SI Distributing. Designed for cutterbars less than 15 ft. long, it essentially "doubles the length of each stroke of the sickle," explains Joe Whitney, president. "We had tremendous farmer interest following FARM SHOW's initial report several years ago on the prototype. The unit is now in production and available for sale to interested farmers. "The Double Stroke drive allows much higher cutting speeds. For every revolution of the gear box pulley you get four cuts, allowing much slower sickle speeds for slower ground travel. If faster travel is desired, just speed up the drive by decreasing gear box pulley size, or increasing drive pulley size. "The gear box is a continuously running internal gear planetary drive that doesn't start and stop at the end of each stroke. Therefore, it can run faster, with very little vibration, even at speeds higher than a normal wobble box would run," Whitney explains. He notes that the new drive also helps reduce shatter loss because of its faster cutting action which slices off plants with virtually no jerking or jarring. It adapts to most mowers, combines and swathers equipped with cutterbars up to 15 ft. or less in length. Also new from SI Distributing, for cutterbars up to 30 ft. long, is the "Over Stroke" sickle drive. Similar in design to the Double Stroke, it drives the sickle 3-1/4 in. on each stroke, allowing for faster cutting speeds and longer section life. "A key feature of both the Double Stroke and Over Stroke gear boxes is that the sickle head runs in a linear motion rather than in an arc, resulting in less power required to operate, smoother operation and longer life," explains Whitney. He says both new drives will be available in the spring of 1995 for the more popular combine, mower and windrower cutterbars. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, SI Distributing, Rt. 3, Box 104, St. Marys, Ohio 45885 (ph 1 800 368-7773), In Canada, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Argis Ltd., Franz Greisbach, president, Box 154, Listowel, Ont., Canada N4W 3G8 (ph 519 291-4205).

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