Patent ID: 7290341

Claim:
A knife for cutting crop materials, comprising: a base portion, the base portion having an interior edge and a pair of end edges, the base portion having an exterior region opposite the interior edge, the base portion having opposite major faces; and a plurality of teeth extending from the base portion, each tooth of the plurality of teeth being defined by a perimeter edge, the perimeter edge of the tooth including: a leading edge portion; a transition edge portion extending between the leading edge portion of the tooth and an adjacent tooth; and a trailing edge portion, the trailing edge portion extending between the leading edge portion of the tooth and an adjacent tooth of the plurality of teeth; wherein the leading edge portion is formed by a leading edge surface, the leading edge surface lying substantially in a plane that is oriented at a first bevel angle with respect to one of the major faces; wherein the transition edge portion is formed by a transition edge surface, the transition edge surface being oriented with respect to one of the major faces at a second bevel angle; wherein the trailing edge portion is formed by a trailing edge surface, the trailing edge surface being oriented substantially perpendicular to the major faces; wherein the transition edge portion is curved in a side profile of the tooth; wherein the trailing edge surface of each tooth extends from the leading edge surface of the tooth to the transition edge surface of an adjacent tooth.