Patent ID: 7921627

Claim:
A draper belt guard assembly operable to be attached to a laterally extending flexible cutterbar assembly of a harvesting header, wherein the header includes a draper belt having a leading edge spaced rearwardly and upwardly from the cutterbar assembly, said draper belt guard comprising: a pair of shiftably interlocked belt guards operable to be attached to and disposed along the cutterbar assembly to accommodate and move with the cutterbar assembly during flexing thereof, each of the guards being configured to extend from the cutterbar assembly to a location adjacent the leading edge of the draper belt, said pair of belt guards including interengaging ends that cooperatively form an interlocking joint that permits relative swinging movement between the guards of the pair and restricts relative up-and-down movement between the ends, said interengaging end of each belt guard including overlying and underlying sections, with the overlying section extending over a corresponding part of the other belt guard of the pair and the underlying section extending under a corresponding part of the other belt guard of the pair, said belt guards each presenting an upright wall and a generally rearwardly extending wall, with each section of the interengaging ends being located along a corresponding one of the walls, said generally rearwardly extending walls of the belt guards cooperatively presenting a substantially flush upper surface, said interengaging ends of each belt guard of the pair being oppositely arranged such that the guards are similarly oriented end-to-end, with the overlying section at one end being disposed along the upright wall and the overlying section at the other end being disposed along the generally rearwardly extending wall, and the underlying section at the one end being disposed along the generally rearwardly extending wall and the underlying section at the other end being disposed along the upright wall.