Patent ID: 8393135

Claim:
A harvesting header operable to harvest a crop, said harvesting header comprising: a header frame; a flexible cutterbar assembly mounted to the header frame to extend lengthwise in a lateral direction relative to the normal direction of travel of the header, said flexible cutterbar assembly being operable to flex along the length thereof in response to changes in terrain as the header is advanced, a crop-conveying assembly supported on the header frame behind the cutterbar assembly, said crop-conveying assembly including a pair of side conveyors and a fore-and-aft draper located between the side conveyors, said side conveyors configured to receive severed crop materials from the cutterbar assembly and convey the materials laterally to the fore-and-aft draper, said fore-and-aft draper being configured to move the severed crop rearwardly, said fore-and-aft draper including a draper frame swingably supported on the header frame at a pivot, with the draper frame projecting forwardly from the pivot, such that the draper frame is operable to swing relative to the header frame, said fore-and-aft draper including a draper belt supported on the draper frame to present a rearwardly moving run for conveying the crop rearwardly; and a pair of central arms swingably supported on the header frame, each of said central arms being pivotal about a laterally extending axis and located on respective sides of the draper frame, with each of the central arms being coupled to the draper frame so that swinging movement of each of the central arms generally coincides with swinging movement of the draper frame.