ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 6 -- United States Patent no. 12,457,914, issued on Nov. 4, was assigned to DEERE & COMPANY (Moline, Ill.).
"Crop feeler device for machine row guidance" was invented by Mark E. Barker (Johnston, Iowa).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A crop feeler device comprising a rod. A pivot device is coupled to the rod. The pivot device is configured to pivot in two opposing directions. A housing is rotatably coupled to the pivot device. A pair of torsion devices is positioned colinearly on the pivot device. The torsion devices are configured to return the rod to a central position after a pivot of the pivot device. A rotary sensor is positioned to measure a rotation of the pivot dev...