Harvester Manufacturers Key Terms

Familiarize yourself with the terminology of harvester manufacturers

By Steven A. Ottem

Harvester manufacturers key terms can help you understand the type of machine you need for your fields. Since man first tilled the earth, he has been searching a way to mechanize the physical labor, and the search has been particularly fruitful. With equipment from harvester manufacturers, you can separate the grain from the stalk and head, gather crop from the field, cut stalks and stack your crop. You can use a harvester machine to harvest hay, tobacco, nuts, cotton or fruit crops.

Head or header

The reaping part of the combine, the one that cuts and gathers stalks, is the head, or header. Manufacturers design the head, usually located at the front of the harvesting machine, to harvest a particular crop. For example, manufacturers may sell a corn head, grain head or a head adapted to some other type of crop like sunflowers.
Try: For pictures and descriptions of corn and grain heads, go to Deere & Company. You can select different types of heads by using its menu.

Separator

The threshing machine part of the combine is the separator, or the separating system. The separator includes the part of the machine that takes the grain out of the head or from the cob and performs the winnowing process of cleaning the unwanted chaff and straw from the grain. Harvester manufacturers usually sell the separator separately from the head.
Try: CLASS of America offers an illustration detailing how the threshing process works.

Hydro

Most harvesters use a hydrostatic drive system that enables the operator to vary ground speed to meet harvest conditions without varying the engine speed, which would also effect the efficiency of the separator. Harvester manufacturers advertise the hydrostatic system by simply stating "hydro" in their blurbs.
Try: Integrated Publishing explains the principal of hydrostatic drives. The explanation includes a labeled diagram and shows the advantages of such a system.

Windrower

Another machine that harvester manufacturers sell is a windrower or swather. Windrowers gather the crop and pile it in a continuous row so a baler or combine can gather it. You can use it to harvest hay and small grain crops or as a way to hasten the drying of the crop. You can also windrow bean and nut crops.
Try: Equipment Locator offers pictures and descriptions of typical windrowers.

Module

Some harvesters such as those used for cotton or hay put the crop into bales. Harvest manufacturers may refer to these as modules.
Try: Think Quest pictures a cotton module that is the final product of a cotton harvester. CNH America shows a cotton picker at work producing cotton modules.

PTO

PTO is the abbreviation harvester manufacturers use for power take off. The PTO allows power to transfer from the tractor's engine to a harvester towed by the tractor.
Try: National Ag Safety Database gives you a close up drawing of a PTO shaft running from tractor to implement and goes into the use and safety issues of a PTO.