Combines lexion design

Do you have any information regarding the Versatile combine conceptIJ

Got my information from the book; A Farm Boy's Dream--The Story of Versatile. Didn't really spend much time on the trans-axial machine, just had pictures of the proto-type SP and the production PT. I remember my dad and uncle always commenting on the capacity that the versatile PT had especially if you hooked it up to a large 4WD. Perhaps Deere copied it with their CTS; which came first the CTS or the lexion rotariesIJ If you want information on their machine you might search under Versatile trans-axial 2000, I think that was the name of the PT.

Claas had the lexion in production in the UK and Germany in 1995 - 1996 i think about 3 years before JD had there STS.

The lexion design evolved from the CS combines ie 228's, 116's, 114's that Claas had in the 1980's They had cylinder tyne seperation that used eight rotors.

I was discussing this with some people the other day and one person claimed that Deere bought the patent for the CTS from Versatile, not sure if there is any truth to that.

boughtIJIJ o is that code for stoleIJIJIJlol lol

I don't believe that, the CS Claas was a totally different concept, all the cylinders were transverse, fed from one to the next. What's more it did not work very well in Europe either. New Holland had a combine in Europe called TF series which was similar to 480 except it "threw" the straw from the back of the twin flow cylinder to the choppers. The 480 screws it through 2 circular concaves.

I hate to say it, but I am pretty sure they just copied the concept and tweaked it a little. I never heard of them paying Versatile anything for it.

Deere had expressed interest in Versatile tractor and combine designs back in the late 1980s because of the real growth and performance potential of their designs. Deere spent time studying the Versatile 4WD tractors and the Versatile combine, including reliability and warranty information. After learning all they could, JD closed the door on Versatile then built their own component 60 series 4WD tractors and developed their CTS combine. Unfortunately the 4WDs had to compete against the new fangled Cat Challenger tracked tractors. The JD- CTS overshot beater couldn't compete against the undershot chevron impeller of a lexion. So what JD learned from Versatile was a little Johnny come lately.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that the Versatile resembled a gleaner with its front cylinder and a case-ih with its rear separators. The grain came in the front of the first cylinder and was separated into two streams, one went left and was screwed around the cylinder and concave to the outside and the other went right. Then at the outside end of the front concave the flow of material entered a rotor which did more threshing and futher separated the material. These rotors (one on each side) were about the size of a case-ih rotor, not a small one like in a New Holland TR. so in my eye the front cylinder was not a conventional cylinder like in a walker machine, but more like a Gleaner natural flow cylinder, only in a Gleaner all the flow comes in one end and goes out the other, where in a Versatile the flow came in the center and out each end. According to the PAMI tests done on the Versatile Transaxial combine, they never could get the grain loss down to the acceptable limit. The machine was a lemon.