Patent ID: 8544250

Claim:
A draper platform ( 100 ) having a direction of travel through a field (“V”) and a leading edge, comprising: an elongate frame ( 102 , 104 , 106 ), said frame being elongate and disposed to carry crop in a direction transverse to the direction of travel through the field; a plurality of support arms ( 246 ) pivotally coupled to the frame and extending forward therefrom; a reciprocating knife ( 140 ) disposed at the leading edge of the draper platform and extending substantially the entire width of the draper platform; a left side conveyor ( 116 ) disposed behind the reciprocating knife and supported on a first plurality of the support arms and having an endless belt ( 122 , 124 , 126 ) disposed to carry crop from the left side of the draper platform to a central region of the draper platform; a right side conveyor ( 120 ) disposed behind the reciprocating knife and supported on a second plurality of the support arms and having an endless belt ( 128 , 130 , 132 ) disposed to carry crop from the right side of the draper platform to a central region of the draper platform; a center conveyor ( 118 ) disposed between the left side conveyor and the right side conveyor and supported on two adjacent support arms ( 246 A, 246 B) of the plurality of support arms located between said first and second plurality of the support arms, said center conveyor having an endless conveyor belt ( 134 ) supported at least on parallel front and rear rollers respectively having transverse axes and about which the endless conveyor belt forms a loop and may rotate to carry crop in a direction opposite to the direction of travel; a first connection assembly releasably connecting a first side of the center conveyor ( 118 ) to one of the two adjacent support arms ( 246 A, 246 B) and a second connection assembly movably connecting a second side of the conveyor ( 118 ) to another of the two adjacent support arms permitting the first side of the conveyor ( 118 ), when the first connection assembly is released, to move downward relative to the second side of the conveyor, as permitted by the second connection assembly, and thus downward away from the first support arm of the two adjacent support arms a distance sufficient to permit the endless conveyor belt to be removed from the center conveyor in a direction parallel to the axes.