Patent ID: 6895734

Claim:
A header attachment for an agricultural harvesting machine, said header comprising: a first gathering element comprising a rotatable pick-up reel including a plurality of pick-up tines adapted to be driven so as to cut and gather crop and to feed said crop in a direction substantially opposite to a direction of motion of a harvesting machine equipped with said header, wherein the first gathering element is driven by a first drive mechanism in the form of a continuously variable speed drive; and a second gathering element adapted to receive crop gathered by said first gathering element and to be driven so as to transfer said gathered crop in a direction substantially transverse to said direction of motion and towards intake elements of said machine, wherein said second gathering element includes a transverse auger and is driven by a second drive mechanism through a transmission shared with one or more driveable said intake elements, wherein said first gathering element is driven at a rate that is independent from a rate at which said second gathering element is driven.