Patent ID: 7743594

Claim:
A mechanism for guiding an agricultural windrower through a field of standing crop, the windrower having tractor for propelling the windrower across a field, a forwardly disposed header for severing a standing crop from a field and depositing the severed crop on the ground in a windrow, and a merger apparatus for selectively directing the location the severed crop is depositing on the ground, said mechanism comprising: the windrower header having generally opposing first and second side walls and a cutter mechanism disposed therebetween, said cutter mechanism having a cutting width bounded by opposing first and second cutting edges; a first elongate guide arm having a first end connected to said header and a generally opposing remote second end; a bracket for connecting said first end to said header adjacent to said first side wall, said bracket configured to allow movement of said first guide arm between a stowed position and a deployed position, said first guide arm disposed between said first and second side walls when in said stowed position and extending laterally away from said first side wall and said header when in said deployed position; and an observable marker connected to said second end, said marker being displaced from said first cutting edge a distance generally equal to said cutting width when said first guide arm is in said deployed position, wherein the distance between the observable marker and first cutting edge forms the width of a path of a subsequent swath adjacent to a present swath path of the header.