Patent ID: 7877974

Claim:
A mechanism for controlling the position of a swathgate on a mower-conditioner header of an agricultural harvester, the header being vertically positionable between raised and lowered positions and having a conditioning mechanism for conditioning severed crop material and ejecting it rearwardly along a crop flow path, the mechanism comprising: a swathgate pivotably connected to the header and having a generally planar working surface movable in generally opposing first and second directions about a pivot axis thereby allowing said planar surface to attain an angular attitude with respect to the crop flow path based on the header vertical position; a control link connected between a chassis of the harvester and said swathgate at a connection point wherein the connection point does not move relative to the chassis, the control link configured for pivoting said swathgate in said second direction when the header is moved with respect to the chassis toward the lowered position and for allowing said swathgate to pivot in said first direction when the header is moved toward the raised position; and a tension member connected to said swathgate and said header for maintaining a bias force on said swathgate in said first direction.