Patent ID: 7870709

Claim:
An automatic lateral tilt control system for a header of an agricultural plant cutting machine, comprising: at least one driver connected to the header and configured so as to be controllably operable by a header tilt command input for varying an angle of lateral tilt of the header relative to the plant cutting machine; a lateral inclination sensor configured and operable for providing information representative of a lateral tilt angle of the machine relative to a reference; and a controller programmed and operable for automatically monitoring the information representative of the lateral tilt angle of the machine and at least one additional characteristic, wherein the controller calculates a predicted angle representative of the laterally inclined surface to the reference, the predicted angle is calculated from the lateral tilt angle of the machine and the at least one additional characteristic, and when the machine is disposed on a laterally inclined surface and the machine is tilted, the inclination sensor provides information of the lateral tilt angle of the machine relative to the reference to the controller, the controller compares the predicted angle with the tilt angel of the machine, if the difference between the predicted angle and the lateral tilt angle of the machine differs by at least a predetermined amount, then the controller responsively adjusts the angle of lateral tilt of the header relative to the machine, so an angle of lateral tilt of the header relative to the reference is at least substantially equal to the angle of the laterally inclined surface.