Patent ID: 8726621

Claim:
A combined agricultural harvesting head and sensor arrangement for sensing the height of the agricultural harvesting head with respect to the ground over which it travels while the agricultural harvesting head is harvesting crops, the agricultural harvesting head having a frame that extends laterally and horizontally and generally perpendicular to a direction of travel of the agricultural harvesting head as it harvests crops, the frame including a plurality of members extending generally forward in the direction of travel, a cutter bar that extends laterally and horizontally and generally perpendicular to the direction of travel being fixed to forward ends of the plurality of members and including a forwardly projecting flange, a plurality of mounting holes provided in said flange of the cutter bar in a number of repeating hole patterns extending substantially an entire length of the flange respectively provided for the mounting of a like number of skid shoes, a plurality of skid shoes of a number at least one less than said number of repeating hole patterns being bolted to the cutter bar respectively using all but at least one of said number of repeating hole patterns, with the plurality of skid shoes extending substantially the entire width of the agricultural harvesting head, and the sensor arrangement comprising: a mounting bracket bolted to the flange of the cutter bar using said at least one of said repeating hole patterns of the mounting holes provided for the mounting of at least one skid shoe in addition to said plurality of skid shoes; a sensor arm pivotally connected to the mounting bracket to pivot with respect thereto about an axis that extends generally parallel to the longitudinal extent of the cutter bar; and a sensor disposed to sense a position of the sensor arm with respect to the mounting bracket.