Patent ID: 9717175
Date: 2017-08-01
CPC Classifications: A01D

Claim:
1. A rock guard for a transverse rotary disc cutterbar used on an agricultural harvester for crop cutting while propelled in a forward direction comprising: a plurality of transversely spaced apart rotating discs geared for simultaneous rotation about generally upstanding axes, each disc having a pair of knives removeably attached by a connector in diametric opposition on the disc for rotation therewith, the pairs of knives on adjacent discs being rotationally offset by 90 degrees; and a rock guard disposed adjacently beneath the rotating knives of each of the plurality of discs, the rock guard having an upper surface generally parallel to and spaced apart from a plane defined by rotation of the knives, a leading edge, and a first access channel in the upper surface having a depth which increases the spacing to the plane of the rotating knives, the first access channel aligned on a first radial axis from the respective upstanding axis, each rock guard further comprising a second access channel similarly configured to the first access channel but rotationally offset to a second radial axis oriented such that one half of the knives on the cutterbar may be simultaneously aligned with the respective first access channels or second access channels on the plurality of rock guards.