Patent ID: 7958711

Claim:
A harvesting header comprising: a cutterbar assembly extending transversely across the front of the header with respect to the normal direction of travel of the header; a draper assembly supported behind the cutterbar assembly, said draper assembly including a pair of laterally spaced apart, fore-and-aft extending rollers and an endless, flexible, laterally movable belt entrained around said rollers; a deflector disposed outboard of one of said rollers adjacent a front end thereof in position for blocking the ingress of crop residue into the interior of the belt, said cutterbar assembly having an outboard end located laterally outwardly beyond the front end of said one roller of the draper assembly, said belt presenting upper and lower runs, said upper run of the belt having a front edge; and a belt guard attached to said cutterbar assembly, said belt guard having an open lateral end spaced laterally outboard from said front end of said one roller and inboard from said outboard end of the cutterbar assembly, said deflector including a generally upright sidewall located inboard from said outboard end of the cutterbar assembly and spanning said open lateral end of the belt guard to substantially close the same.