Patent ID: 7877975

Claim:
An apparatus for selectively positioning a merger connected to a chassis of a windrower, the windrower having a direction of travel, said apparatus comprising: a merger having a forward edge and a rearward edge; a conveyor for moving crop material, said conveyor being disposed between said forward and rearward edges, having at least one generally planar working surface, and a directional axis defined by a direction of crop material movement by said conveyor; a movable frame supporting said conveyor, said movable frame selectively movable between working and non-working positions; a lift mechanism connected to said movable frame and configured for selectively translating said working surface along a first axis generally parallel to a direction of windrower travel, rotating said working surface about a second axis generally perpendicular to said working surface, laterally tilting said movable frame to elevate one end of said directional axis relative to an opposing end of said directional axis to impact an upward vector to crop material moved by said conveyor, and pivoting said movable frame about a third axis in a manner to move said forward edge vertically with respect to said rearward edge; an actuator connected to said lift mechanism for selectively moving said frame between said working and non-working positions and; the lift mechanism having first and second linkages, both linkages having first pivotal connections to the actuator for rotation about a rotational axis and a second pair of pivotal connections to the movable frame configured for rotation about a pivot axis, wherein the radial distance between the first and second pivotal connections of the first linkage is not equal to the distance between the first and second connections of the second linkage such that the pivotal axis and rotational axis are not parallel.