An angular gear arrangement for mower knife driven in an oscillating manner, including a transmission housing, an input shaft, which engages in the interior of the transmission housing, a rotor, which is mounted in the transmission housing to be rotatable about a first axis of rotation by a first bearing, a crankshaft, which engages in the receiving space of the rotor through the receiving opening and is mounted in the receiving space, to be rotatable about a second axis of rotation by a second bearing, a driving element, which is non-rotationally connected to the rotor and mounted so as to be rotatable about the first axis of rotation by at least one third bearing, and support means, which are arranged in the transmission housing and on which the third bearing is axially supported, the support means being releasably fastened to the transmission housing.

A drive arrangement for the reciprocating drive of a cutter bar comprises a hydraulic gear motor with a housing and a gearwheel, which is set in motion around a first axis by a hydraulic medium, and an eccentric drive, which comprises an eccentric element that can be rotatably driven by a gearwheel around a second axis parallel to the first axis, and a drive element connected to the eccentric element, which is, or can be, connected to the cutter bar.

A knife drive assembly for use in a harvesting header is disclosed. The knife drive may be mounted near the center line of the cutter bar of the header. Mechanical power from the power unit behind the header (typically the combine power output shaft) may be translated for application to two knife assembly sections in the cutter bar at the front of the cutter table. Movement of the two knife assembly sections with this apparatus can be fully synchronized and 180 degrees out of phase, to maximize cutting effectiveness and minimize vibration of the header. The unitary drive assembly may allow for rapid repair and manufacture, and the size and weight of the knife drive assembly may represent a significant weight and balance advantage over the prior art.

A sickle cutting system is mounted on a header for forward travel over ground having a standing crop thereon and includes a cutter bar with a plurality of knife guards and two opposed sickle bars driven in opposite phase with a drive system for driving the sickle bar through repeated cycles of reciprocating movement from start-up of the system through to a shut-down. The drive system includes a control device responsive to the sensor signals from both of the first and second drive systems for advancing or retarding one of the first and second drive systems so that a number of sensor signals obtained from the first drive system is continually maintained so as to be substantially equal to a number of sensor signals obtained from the second drive system to maintain the sickle bars in opposite phase.

A drive arrangement for the reciprocating drive of a cutter bar comprises an input element which can be set into a continuous pivoting movement by a drive device, and an output element which is coupled to the cutter bar and is coupled to the input element by a coupling rod. The output element is pivotably connected to a first end of a first lever and of a second lever, which levers, for their part, are pivotably mounted. The levers and the output element are dimensioned in such a manner that the output element essentially only carries out a lateral movement.

A drive arrangement for the reciprocating drive of a cutter bar comprises an input element which can be set into a continuous pivoting movement by a drive device, and an output element which is coupled to the cutter bar and is coupled to the input element by a coupling rod. The output element is pivotably connected to a first end of a first lever and of a second lever, which levers, for their part, are pivotably mounted. The levers and the output element are dimensioned in such a manner that the output element essentially only carries out a lateral movement.

The pivoting action sickle drive has a low profile allowing incorporation in or below a floor of a header of a plant cutting machine to allow passage of cut plant material thereabout. The drive includes a substantially flat rotatable input element, and a drive arm connected eccentric thereto for eccentric rotation along an epicyclical path. The arm extends to a connection with a pivot arm of a pivot element that connects to a knife arm that drives a sickle knife assembly, such that the pivot element, knife arm and knife assembly will be reciprocatingly driven by the eccentric rotation of the drive arm. A second drive can oppositely drive a second sickle knife assembly, such that opposite forces generated by the drives will cancel. The drives can be packaged in a forwardly tapered or curved enclosure, and the pivot elements can be correspondingly shaped to streamline the drives.

The pivoting action sickle drive has a low profile allowing incorporation in or below a floor of a header of a plant cutting machine to allow passage of cut plant material thereabout. The drive includes a substantially flat rotatable input element, and a drive arm connected eccentric thereto for eccentric rotation along an epicyclical path. The arm extends to a connection with a pivot arm of a pivot element that connects to a knife arm that drives a sickle knife assembly, such that the pivot element, knife arm and knife assembly will be reciprocatingly driven by the eccentric rotation of the drive arm. A second drive can oppositely drive a second sickle knife assembly, such that opposite forces generated by the drives will cancel. The drives can be packaged in a forwardly tapered or curved enclosure, and the pivot elements can be correspondingly shaped to streamline the drives.

A knife head drive assembly for a header of an agricultural harvester including a knife head assembly for attachment to a forward end of the header. A first pivot arm and a second pivot arm are carried by the knife head assembly and are pivotably connected by a linkage. A rotating crank is operatively connected to and extending substantially transverse to the knife head assembly for engagement with a drive. A reciprocating shaft is connected to the rotating crank and either of the pivot arms or the linkage. Operation of the knife head drive assembly results in substantially linear, opposed oscillating motion of cutter bars carried by the knife head assembly.

A header for an agricultural harvester including an epicyclical drive gear train operatively connected to a first cutter bar, an epicyclical driven gear train operatively connected to a second cutter bar, and a shaft extending between and operatively connected to the epicyclical drive gear train and the epicyclical driven gear train. The epicyclical drive gear train rotates in a first direction and the shaft is configured to rotate the epicyclical driven gear train in a second direction opposite the first direction or in the same direction as the first direction. Each of the epicyclical drive gear train and epicyclical driven gear train includes a bevel gear for operatively engaging bevel gears on the shaft. Operation of the epicyclical drive gear train and epicyclical driven gear train results in substantially linear oscillating motion of the cutter bars.