Patent ID: 7165386

Claim:
A rake for raking agricultural crop material, the rake adapted to be towed by a tow vehicle in a forward direction of travel, comprising: a trolley; a pair of linkages interconnected with the trolley and movable in a generally vertical plane between a raised position and a lowered position; means for moving the linkages between the raised position and the lowered position; a pair of rake arm supports, wherein each rake arm support is suspended from one of the linkages and is pivotably interconnected therewith for movement about a generally vertical pivot axis, and wherein each rake arm support includes a horizontal support member that is pivotable about the generally vertical pivot axis; a rake arm, carrying a raking means, interconnected with each rake arm support, wherein the rake arms and the raking means are in a lowered operative position when the linkages are in the lowered position and are in a raised inoperative position when the linkages are in the raised position; and a pair of control members, wherein each of the control members is interconnected between the trolley and one of the rake arm supports, wherein the pair of control members are configured to pivot the pair of rake arm supports about the generally vertical pivot axes to an open position when the linkages are in the lowered operative position, and to pivot the pair of rake arm supports together about the generally vertical pivot axes to a closed position toward one another when the linkages are in the raised inoperative position; wherein the linkages and the rake arm supports are configured and arranged to maintain the rake arm supports in a suspended orientation during movement of the linkages between the raised inoperative position and the lowered operative position and when the linkages are in the raised position.