Patent ID: 6962040

Claim:
A sickle knife apparatus for cutting a crop comprising: a cutter bar arranged to be located at a position for moving through a crop to be cut; a plurality of fixed knife guards mounted on the cutter bar and projecting forwardly therefrom; a first sickle having a first bar extending substantially along the full length of the cutter bar and mounted for transverse reciprocation along the cutter bar relative to the fixed knife guards and including a plurality of first blades carried on the first bar along the length of the first bar; each of the blades of the first sickle being movable back and forth, as the first bar is reciprocated, between a position at one knife guard and a position at a next knife guard, across a space between the two knife guards in a cutting action and each of the blades having left and right side cutting edges arranged for cooperation with right and left side surfaces of the knife guards in the cutting action; a second sickle having a second bar extending substantially along the full length of the cutter bar and mounted for transverse reciprocation along the cutter bar relative to the fixed knife guards and including a plurality of second blades carried on the second bar at spaced positions along the length of the second bar; each of the blades of the second sickle being movable back and forth, as the second bar is reciprocated, between a position at one knife guard and a position at a next knife guard, across a space between the two knife guards in a cutting action and each of the blades having left and right side cutting edges arranged for cooperation with right and left side surfaces of the knife guards in the cutting action; wherein the first and second sickles are reciprocated at a phase difference different from 180 degrees so that, as each in turn of the first and second sickles moves toward an end of its stroke and thus ceases its cutting action, the other of the first and second sickles is providing a cutting action.