Patent ID: 7347277

Claim:
A header for a crop harvesting machine comprising: a header frame having an elongate support structure arranged across a width of the header; a mounting assembly attached to the header frame for releasably mounting the header frame on a vehicle in an operating position for movement across the ground carrying a crop to be harvested such that, when mounted on the vehicle, the header frame is supported on the vehicle in front of the vehicle for movement with the vehicle in a forward working direction transverse to the width of the header frame; the header frame having a plurality of support arms mounted on the support structure and extending therefrom forwardly of the working direction; a cutter bar extending across the width of the header having a cutter knife thereon for cutting a standing crop to be deposited into the header frame as the header is moved forwardly over the ground; a feed member mounted on the header frame for carrying the deposited crop along the header frame for collection at a discharge area of the header frame; at least one wheel mounted on the header frame for rotation of a rolling direction of the wheel between the working position, in which the rolling direction is along the working direction, through an angle of the order of 90 degrees, and the transport position, in which the rolling direction is along the transport direction; a hitch arm for connection to the header so as to apply a pulling force to the header from a tractor; and a height adjustment mechanism for adjusting the height of the wheel relative to the frame comprising: a first portion attached to either the frame or the wheel and a second portion attached to the other of the wheel and the frame; the first portion including a generally vertical guide slot and a plurality of locating receptacles at spaced positions along the guide slot, each receptacle having one end connected to the guide slot and a remote end recessed from the guide slot; the second portion including a horizontal locating bar which is mounted in the guide slot so as to extend across the guide slot and so as to be slidable, while remaining in the guide slot, upwardly and downwardly along the guide slot so as to adjust the height of the first portion relative to the second portion; the locating bar being movable from the guide slot into a selected one of the locating receptacles through said one end of the selected receptacle to said remote end of the selected receptacle, when a height has been selected, so as to hold the locating bar against movement along the guide slot; and a manually operable handle to which the locating bar is attached which is pivotally movable about an axis parallel to the locating bar so as to effect pivotal movement of the locating bar about the axis so that the locating bar moves between a locked position, in which the guide bar is in the selected receptacle, and an adjust position, in which the locating bar is slidable along the guide slot.