A finger-bar-type mower in which blades reciprocate left and right to mow grass. The mower includes: a connection gear which is power-connected to a driving means of the mower; a reduction gear connected to the connection gear; a shaft rotating according to rotation of the reduction gear; a bridge accommodating and supporting the connection gear and the reduction gear; a blade which is power-connected to the shaft and is reciprocated left and right according to rotation of the shaft, the blade including cutting edges; a guide part supporting the bridge and extending along the blade; and wheels respectively connected to both ends of the guide part. The shaft is disposed in center regions of the blade and the guide part.

A cutter guard assembly for a knife drive of an agricultural farm implement is provided. The cutter guard assembly includes a cutter bar assembly, a window frame, and a floor sheet. The cutter bar assembly has a cutter bar and a reciprocating knife assembly operatively connected to a knife drive. The window frame is rigidly attached to the cutter bar. The window frame includes an opening through which a knife arm of the reciprocating knife assembly extends through. The floor sheet extends rearwardly from the cutter bar and pivots relative to the window frame.

The tie rod end includes a housing with an inner bore that extends along a central axis. A stud is partially received in the inner bore and has a shank portion which extends out of the inner bore for attachment with a gearbox. The tie rod end further includes an elastic boot body which extends from a first boot end, which is sealed with the housing, to a second boot end. A boot bearing, which is made of a plastic material, is secured with the second boot end. The boot bearing is in a dynamic sealing engagement with the shank portion of the stud. The boot bearing presents a plurality of radially inwardly extending and annularly-shaped ribs that contact the shank portion.

A cover assembly for a knife drive of an agricultural header includes a cover having a channel configured to receive a drive arm of the knife drive. The channel faces upwardly with respect to a vertical axis of the agricultural header, and a lateral extent of the channel is configured to enable the drive arm to oscillate to drive a blade support of a cutter bar assembly to oscillate. Furthermore, the cover has a front section and a rear section, the front section extends upwardly and rearwardly from a front end of the cover to the rear section, the rear section extends continuously downwardly and rearwardly from the front section to a rear end of the cover, and the rear section is configured to be angled less than 45 degrees relative to a longitudinal belt of the agricultural header.

A cutting system includes knives attached to a continuously moving belt-type carrier. The carrier motion moves the knives past stationary counterknife fingers which are attached to or uniform with a cutterbar, as the cutting system is driven through a field of crop stalks, which are cut by the interaction between the knives and counterknives. One or more sensing devices produce signals or images related to the condition of the knives when the knives are moving past the sensing devices. A processing unit processes the signals or images and derives therefrom one or more parameters representative of the condition of the knives, and compares the parameters to a reference, to thereby monitor the condition. An agricultural implement such as a combine harvester, can be equipped with the cutting system.

A cutting assembly comprising a drive arm assembly and knife head assembly for a header of a plant-cutting machine is disclosed. The drive arm assembly generally includes a drive unit connected to a pivotable drive member and a bearing element with a rounded head. The knife head assembly generally includes a mounting bar and a clamping portion that collectively form a cavity for receiving the bearing element and forming a pivot joint. The knife head assembly is attached to a cutter bar such that the operation of the drive unit causes the cutter bar to have substantially linear motion by way of the pivot joint.

A sickle bar drive mount may include an arm and a sickle bar drive eye. The arm is mountable to a horizontally extending sickle bar. The sickle bar drive eye is to receive a sickle bar drive bearing of a sickle bar drive. The arm may extend along a first horizontal axis parallel to the sickle bar. The sickle bar drive eye is pivotally coupled to the arm for pivotal movement about a second horizontal axis perpendicular to the first axis.

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 center knife drive for a sickle of a plant cutting machine having an upwardly facing cover and at least one output element reciprocatingly movable by the drive above the cover for moving a knife of the sickle in a sideward reciprocating cutting action, including at least one cleaning flap in connection with the output element positioned and configured for reciprocating forward and rearward movement thereby, disposed above the cover and configured for cleaning loose material therefrom during the movement and for pushing the loose material from the cover to accommodate upward movement of the drive within a space below or in a floor of the machine, clearing the material from the path of the output element, and improved heat dissipation.

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.