Patent ID: 6955035

Claim:
A sickle bar hold-down for use with a sickle bar cutting apparatus, said cutting apparatus having an elongate frame member generally transverse to the direction of travel of the cutting apparatus, a plurality of sickle guards having finger portions extending forwardly from said frame member; said guards rigidly affixed to said frame member, and an elongate reciprocating sickle bar assembly including a plurality of knife sections with angled forwardly converging cutting edges, each said cutting edge intersecting with a cutting edge on the adjacent section at a rearward vertex and registering with said cutting edges of said guards as the sickle bar assembly reciprocates, a plurality of hold-downs, one associated with each finger portion of each sickle guard, each said hold-down comprising: an elongate one-piece body having a finger-like tapered front portion, and an opposing generally rectangular box-like rear portion with a width, a top surface and an opposing bottom surface, said front portion including a lower generally horizontal planar surface corresponding to part of said bottom surface and adapted to align with a sickle guard and knife section, said box-like rear portion further including a generally planar first rear surface generally perpendicular to the planes of said top and bottom surfaces; at least one hole through said elongate body for affixing the hold-down to a sickle bar; and said bottom surface of said rear portion of said elongate body positioned to intimately contact said sickle bar assembly and being generally horizontal and planar and including a ridge across the said width of said rear portion and protruding perpendicularly away from said lower surface of said elongate body, said ridge having a rear surface corresponding to said first rear surface of said box-like rear portion and a generally parallel registration surface closely spaced from said rear surface toward said tapered front portion, whereby said ridge registration surface may register with a portion of the sickle bar assembly and thus properly align and maintain the spatial relationship between the finger-like front portion of the hold-down and the sickle guard.